An unfortunately named compilation that is zero percent no wave, but is about 70 percent good for modern punk/funk dance.

I like this compilation because it is not what it appears at first glance. Looking at the names of the artists, you probably would not make much of an attempt to hear Kickin Records presents No Wave. After all, haven't we heard Emerge, Silver Screen Shower Scene, Hoping, Dance To The Underground and House Of Jealous Lovers a million times already in 2002? But the fact is that this comp has lesser known version of these tracks (except for the opening track Emerge, which IS the version you have heard a million times already).

The comp starts off poorly. They really should have used one of the may remixes of the Fisherspooner classic. The Felix Da Housecat track is remixed by Jacques Lu Cont of Zoot Woman. This remix was originally on a CD single along with a remix by ADULT..

I like the Death In Vegas track. I had never listened to them before. They seemed to be corporate and mainstream. But Hands Around My Throat was co-written byADULT. and features Nicola Kuperus on vocals.

The Random Factor song is very immediate. You will like it first time you hear it, but will probably tire of it before the twelfth time you've heard it. Star You Star Me's Disco Dancer is the same type of song. It has treated vocals and is a decent song.

Morgan Geist (of Metro Area and Environ Records) does great work as a remixer later in the comp (on the Rapture track) but comes off a bit faceless on his own track Pico. There is nothing WRONG with Pico, it just isn't very distinctive. It has the same flaw as the DFA mix of Radio 4. DFA make Dance To The Underground an instrumental, but homogenize it with sweeping strings and sax. Hit skip!

Louie Austen's Hoping was a kick when it first came out as a 12inch on austria's Cheap Records, and was great on his Kitty-Yo full length and remix EP. The song has backing vocals by Peaches, and has a nod towards the Olivia Newton-John song Physical.

The track that I love most on this CD is Hard Traffikk, from the Norwegian artist Bjorn Torske. I had never heard his work before. Hard Traffikk is an instrumental that has killer bass and percussion. It has an 80s post-punk feel to it, which makes it a nice track to place ahead of The Notwist's Pilot.

Tiny Trendies' The Sky Is Not Crying has trombone that reminds me of the classic Groove Armada track The River. But the best use of horns (well actually woodwinds) goes to Morgan Geist in his remix of The Rapture's House Of Jealous Lovers, which directly follows the Tiny Trendies track. I have never liked The Rapture due to the Robert Smith styled vocals, but this instrumental version sounds more like A Certain Ratio than anything else. If you listen to this track without looking at the CD cover there is no way you would have it pegged as The Rapture.

I found this 2003 CD marked down to about half its original cost. If you see it for a cheap price and were at all interested in any of the things I mentioned in this review, it would be a decent purchase to make.