Two years and 13 releases since its first installment, Night Slugs present the second volume of our Allstars compilation series. To be released on CD and digital, it's a consolidation of our activity during 2011-2012 as well as a glimpse into some of what's lined up for 2013. That Allstars Vol 2 plays more as an album and less like a compilation, despite its various contributing artists' diverse styles, is testament to the gradual collective process of evolution that we have been undergoing since the label's inception in early 2010. Since the start we have been committed to a non-trend-driven, non-genrefied trajectory of music aimed for the club. Ideas in the camp are shared like memes, expressed musically through the dialog of our productions and DJ sets, and psychically through a collective understanding that few other labels can claim to share. Allstars 2 charts Night Slugs' move away from the early-digital world in which our music spent its infancy, and into a more developed, more textured universe. Proceedings open with the "Street Mix" of L-Vis 1990's 2011 single "Lost In Love", a collaborative rework by Jam City, Bok Bok and L-Vis himself, that sets the tone for what's to come: a combination of emotionally-charged intimate zones and agile, austere workouts of drums and bass that permeates this release. Many of the songs here can be considered trax, love songs, pop songs all at once, because we believe club music can be no less than all those things. Allstars Vol 2 traverses many territories, from Girl Unit's replicant Latin Freestyle on "Ensemble", Lil Silva's percussive half-time banger "The 3rd", the dread-vogue of Kingdom's "Stalker Ha" to the uniquely warm stadium-size Club of Jam City's "How We Relate To The Body", exuberant carnival techno on Helix's "Drum Track" (seeing digital release here for the first time) and the chrome-plated modern grime classic that is Bok Bok's original mix of "Silo Pass". Yet the threads that link these apparently disparate tracks together far outweigh their differences and make for an immersive long-playing experience. Night Slugs is about looking simultaneously forwards and backwards, and so Allstars Vol 2 debuts several brand new tracks. L-Vis 1990 contributes "Not Mad" from his forthcoming Ballads EP - a spacious workout of high-tech funk, laserbeam disco synth stabs, huge electric bass and claps on the one. Kingdom gives us "Bank Head", a club track in suspended animation that slowly unfurls, snap percussion and rolling bass bathed in a golden pad chorus. Egyptrixx gives a hint of the direction of his 2nd LP on the seismic deconstructionist, no-kickdrum techno of "Adult". Girl Unit expands the much-discussed outro of his warehouse-filling rap beat "Double Take" into a fully-fledged song of its own on "Double Take Part 2", with anthemic results. Finally, newest Night Slugs recruit, Kansas City's Morri$ contributes "White Hood", marrying the skittering 808s of Southern rap with sumptuous layers of melody that bring Allstars 2 to a fittingly epic close.