Planet Groove: The Shaun Ryder Session

Celebrating, well, himself in this double-disc set of whistle-tweeting funk, acid house beats, and casually slurring idiosyncrasy, Shaun Ryder shoves a lit cigarette into the flesh of "This Is My Life" compilations with all the grace of fly vomiting on its own dinner. The seemingly addled mind of Ryder, probably best suited for collections like this, is still a fascinating travel guide: starting off with the definitive "Voodoo Ray" and then crushing it up against DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's "Summertime," scrubbing any sort of thematic groove in favor of randomly whipping out moody indie dance (New Order) or unforgettable '80s rap (Rob Base & EZ Rock), and — best of all — somehow getting away with putting Lil' Kim, Santana, and Serge Gainsbourg on the same record, Ryder proves himself to be one of the few figures in post-Brit-pop Britain to laud a pretension-free record collection. — Dean Carlson