The latest releases reviewed.

VARIOUS Afterhours 3 Global Underground ***

The beast formerly known as chill-out may have soundtracked its last sunset as far as taste-makers are concerned, but there is still a healthy demand for undancefloor-like dance music. Global Underground's Afterhours series has pulled in sales of late with its smartly marketed blend of dark electronica, shuffling house and baked techno. Not surprisingly for the third outing, the formula remains the same, leaving it to the tunes to cut a dash and make an impact. What's most impressive is the span of sounds and genres that gets into the blender. It means that the dark sonic wonder of Killing Joke's Requiem, the familiar dusty footprint of Nightmares On Wax and the old-school disco freakery of Cerrone's Supernature all come smartly together without quite losing their individual looks and allure. w ww.globalunderground.co.uk Jim Carroll