Various Artists

Germany's Force Inc. is the BMW of techno and house. It manufactures goods every week as if guided by quotas, and the quality rarely wavers from world-class. The imprint makes DJ tools that spinners can trust, and much of the output also works wonders in car CD players or on headphones. Force Tracks is Force's clubcentric subsidiary; Digital Disco showcases this brainiac company's more hedonistic side. It's commendable for labels to venture outside their signature sounds, but Digital Disco could be the first misstep in FI's existence.

More than half of the fourteen tracks here carry a strong whiff of saccharine, with even stellar artists such as Luomo (Finland's Vladislav Delay) and Data 80 (Sweden's Håkan Lidbo) sounding as insipid as Daft Punk's frommage-filled "Discovery." That said, the best cuts are extremely good. Swayzak's "Husky Bitch" is a lean, mean sex machine of tech-house righteousness; Metro Area's ideal copy of '80s electro is a sparse party jam with a menacing undertone; Mathias Schaffhäuser cranks out an Autobahn-cruising anthem; and Akufen's awesome "Deck the House" gets reworked by British prankster Herbert, who adds more refraction to an already discombobulated stormer. With less cheese clogging its intestines, Digital Disco could've been the MENSA member's party album of choice.