Renaissance Presents Sequential

This two-disc set inaugurates a new series on the Thrive label, one that will be guided by progressive house DJ Hernán Cattáneo and will reflect his stated desire to bring together "tracks and remixes that translate to a world stage." House music is, like reggae, a genre built on fine distinctions, so it may not be immediately clear to the average ear what constitutes a provincial versus a cosmopolitan house track, but suffice it to say that the music on both of these discs is likely to appeal to adepts of any nationality or ethnicity. The first disc consists of mellower, deeper grooves while the second is given over to more hard-edged dancefloor material, but both discs do an admirable job of combining danceability with listenability. On the first disc, there are some especially fine moments from Dousk, whose "Florence" weaves a particularly dark and hypnotic spell, and Chris Ilopis, who makes the most of a small number of musical elements on "Dize Moi [Rhythm Code Remix]." Disc two opens powerfully with Bushwacka!'s gloomy but compelling "Beastman," and keeps things on that general track with such borderline aggro fare as "Destiny" by 16 Bit Lolita's and Marco Bailey's "Fatal Attraction [Instrumental Mix]." The two sides of Cattáneo's DJ personality complement each other nicely here; this is an auspicious beginning to his new series.