Cascine Standouts: 2010-2012

One of my favorite labels in the last few years has been the New York and London-based Cascine. I was initially attracted to their obvious love for both early 80’s post-punk and early 90’s dance-pop, but over time, their roster has expanded to encompass a wide array of electronic music that weaves together strands of italo disco, balearic house, post-punk, and dare I say, new jack swing.

You can get a sense of Cascine’s lush, lovely diversity of sounds via Cascine Standouts: 2010 – 2012, a 14-track retrospective culled from the label’s first two years. It’s hard to pick out favorites in a set like this, but I do return quite a bit to Chad Valley’s dreamily wistful sounds, Wintercoats’ contemplative orchestrations, and Jensen Sportag’s mellow grooves. (That being said, I’m a little bummed that Shine 2009’s duet with Paula Abdul didn’t make the cut.)

You can also purchase the set from iTunes.