It's safe to say that the general electronica-listening public hadn't even heard of Playhouse throughout the late '90s and early 2000s, particularly stateside. This can, of course, be said about the majority of dance labels, but Playhouse isn't your ordinary dance label -- it sets the standard that other labels aspire to. So why hadn't the general electronica-listening public heard of Playhouse? Well, despite having released dozens of 12"s since its 1993 inception, Playhouse never went out of its way to release a CD compilation. If you wanted to hear a song, you had to hunt down the original 12", most of which went out of print quickly -- not exactly convenient. Thankfully, the long-overdue Famous When Dead arrived in 2001. Offering a broad sample of Playhouse's roster of producers -- Isolée, Losoul, Blaze, and Bodo Elsel, among others -- and some of their better work, the compilation showcases exactly why the label garnered so much praise. In general, the Playhouse aesthetic can be thought of as enigmatic: dancefloor-orientated yet listener-friendly, idiosyncratic yet familiar, quirky yet accessible, detached yet soulful, innovative yet traditional, minimal yet catchy. Whether the effeminate garage sound of Blaze's "Paradise" or the robotic dance-pop of Losoul's "Lies," the music never drifts too far into its quirky idiosyncrasies and never compromises its originality for the sake of accessibility. No matter whether you hear these tracks at the club while you're getting your groove on or at home while you're chilling out with a book, this music is never less than engaging, if not for its rhythms and hooks then for its fresh approach. Furthermore, despite the well of amazing music in the Playhouse catalog, Famous When Dead isn't overwhelming -- being only a single-disc CD, it's a perfect place to begin investigating one of dance music's undoubtedly most unique labels.