As a British-born DJ, Carl Cox comes at house music from a much more acid-influenced perspective than do the American DJs who forged the genre and still epitomize it. Acid is a hard-edged, non-melodic, distortionist style with scant use for vocals, and it plays not well at all with the fans of bodily adornment, Latin rhythms, and plush dark beats who make American house music such a tangible nighttime treat.

No surprise, then, that the 13 tracks that make up Cox’s first major US release play down his trademark steely distortion in favor of lushness. Although the vocals do take a very secondary role, Cox’s rhythms alternate between — and even overlay — four-to-the-floor and triplets, in the New York manner; and his beats resonate more often than they rip. No one will mistake even the plushest moments here — Tony Thomas’s "Beginnings," Angel Moraes’s "Turn It Up," Lovesky’s "Drumz for Better Daze" — for Danny Tenaglia’s bosomy deeps, or the purple perfume of a Junior Vasquez set; and it doesn’t help that Cox’s mix style is coolly seamless, like Cevin Fisher’s, rather than fiercely diva-matic. Still, this set shows that Cox understands and can flash his stuff in the dressy rhythm drama that USA house will always be.