Bones has been DJing since the 1980s, and his minimalist grooves go straight back to old-school acid, the least melodic of house-music variants. His newest CD, however, diverges at times from the dryness of acid into the warmth — even the romanticism — of recent German techno. Long-time followers of Bones will be surprised to find him selecting songs as deep-house rhythmic and plush as M.C. J featuring Sima’s "To Yourself Be Free" or as dreamily romantic as Bonesbreaks 7’s "Dreams on Plastic." And then there’s the space disco of Looney Tunes’ "Let the Beat Control Your Body" and the hip-hop-like slow beats of Equation’s "The Answer."

Still, a CD dominated by non-melodic break jams like Atomic Babies’ "Get Up," Robert Armani’s "Darkness," Paul Birken’s "Speaker Freaker," and Magic Mike’s definitively metallic "It’s Automatic" will never give off the perfumery of deep-house diva style. With his own audience to please, Bones knows when to stop digressing. What’s harder to figure is why after selecting his tracks he does not continuously mix them. What’s the sense of having a DJ as featured performer if he does only half his job?