Nine O'Clock Drop is an assembly of a baker's dozen of the ever-evolving Andrew Weatherall's favorite electro-leaning tracks from the first half of the '80s, thus paying something of a debt to the sounds that have influenced him throughout his illustrious career as a DJ and producer. Rather ambiguously, the artwork on the disc does nothing in the way of informing you that it isn't a mix. Each of the 13 tracks appear in their full glory, with no fades or cutaways -- so think of it as a specialist compilation from a cool, fictitious older brother who has a keen ear and knows how to sequence. Water-tight, semi-hollow, snapping basslines figure prominently throughout this hour-long set, as heard in Shriekback's "My Spine (Is the Bassline)," A Certain Ratio's "Water Line," and 23 Skidoo's "Vegas el Bandito" and "Coup," the latter of which was sampled by the Chemical Brothers' for "Block Rockin' Beats." Less organic tracks are selected in the form of Torch Song's (William Orbit) "P2E Remix," Dominatrix's "Dominatrix Sleeps Tonite," the Normal's hugely influential "Warm Leatherette," and Gina X Performance's "Nice Mover," which will no doubt appeal to fans of Air and Daft Punk. Weatherall also dubs it up through 400 Blows' "Black and White Mix Up," Colourbox's "Looks Like We're Shy One Horse," and Aswad's disc-closing "Warrior Charge." This certainly isn't your everyday dance music compilation featuring tracks from the '80s. Many of the selections are quite obscure, and it's no mere nostalgia kick either; thanks to the late '90s and early '00s resurgence of electronic pop, the endless recycling of many of these songs through sampling, and the outright timelessness of some of this material, Nine O'Clock Drop won't be something you enjoy once or twice and then forget about.