Sunday 18th September 2011. 20 Years Of House. All distilled into one precious night. And what a night it was.

Old friends, the club's founders, many of the legendary DJs who have helped to shape the club and its music policy over the years, current residents, staff both past and present and many music industry faces all came together to mark the making of dance music history as Ministry of Sound celebrated our 20th Birthday.

Right from the very start of the night the scene was set for a heady return to the halcyon days of Ministry's early days. The vibe from start to finish was electric, with a crowd that was solely dedicated to having a good time. And they definitely did - all you could see all night long was a sea of smiling faces, hands in the air and happy feet!

There was a sense that anything could happen, and in a sense it did - Jamie Principle put on an incredible live PA of 'I'll Take You There' with Frankie Knuckles, longtime resident Nippa drove a miniature tank through the club just because he could and our co-founder Justin Berkmann ripped up the 103 as if the past 20 years hadn't even happened.

And the magic continued in the Box. They say that 3 is a magic number - and so it proved as the night's headliners CJ Mackintosh, Frankie Knuckles and David Morales gave us a masterclass in just how house music should be done. Playing the kind of tracks you don't hear at most clubs anymore, what they gave us was a return to our New York, Paradise Garage-inspired roots of soulful, vocal, uplifting, feel-good, foot-stomping house. The infectious groove of the music filtered through the legendary sprung dancefloor and stacked speaker system, through the rainbow-hued lights and lasers into your feet, hands, chest, face until it became a very part of you, putting a smile on your face and your hands in the air. Which was filled with piano hooks, old skool drum breaks and 808 machines as the sheer simplicity of pure house music shone through in all its glory. This could just be our rose-tinted glasses talking, but back in our early days it really did feel like house music was there purely for one reason: to make you feel good. To lift you up, to make you dance, to make you revel in the moment and the music.

And we did, until David Morales ended both his set and the night with a moving tribute to his longtime friend and our co-founder Justin Berkmann (who had not long finished playing an incredible set of his own in the 103). As he praised Justin's vision of bringing what was a totally unique concept in clubbing to the UK, we got goosebumps all over - and not for the first time that night. With the club currently under threat from property developers and facing future closure, Sunday night was even more special, even more poignant, even more precious than it would have already been. A perfect night of celebration captured and crystallised in the clubbing sands of time.

And so I say, here's to you, Ministry of Sound - and to everyone who has been a part of your history - and once again Happy Birthday. Sunday night reminded the clubbing community just exactly how special you are - let's all hope that you really will be around for another 20 years.

To sign the petition to save Ministry of Sound, click here.

Say the word garage, and we don't know about you but for us it conjures up memories of those heady days around the turn of the millennium when the likes of Craig David, Artful Dodger, MJ Cole, Jaimeson, So Solid Crew and many more ruled the charts and brought garage to the mainstream of the music industry, the UK's national airwaves and the dancefloors of clubs around the country and the world!

Over the past decade and more, garage has evolved through different reincarnations - in the form of speed garage, 2-step, UK Funky, Future Garage - to come back stronger than ever in 2011. So to mark the scene's success, we bring you 2CDs that celebrate the freshest new UK Garage talent, the hottest current cuts and a sprinkling of the best-loved all-time anthems. The result is The Sound of UK Garage - we couldn't wait to give it a spin, so here's our album review...

CD1 kicks off with the massive Sunship remix of the recent Top 10 smash from Alex Gaudino and Kelly Rowland, 'What A Feeling', which perfectly sets the tone for a disc of vocal floorfillers that are guaranteed to get your head bobbing and toes tapping! This CD features some of the biggest recent dancefloor hits, including the Wideboys remix of the #2 smash hit from Wretch 32 ft Example, 'Unorthodox', the DJ Q mix of Toddla T ft Shola Ama 'Take It Back' and reworks of The One Hundred 'Break Me Down' and Fredrik Nyberg 'Breaking Up' - to name just a few! Blended in in perfect harmony are reworks of some absolute club classics, including including Kristine Blond 'Love Shy', Dreem Teem vs Artful Dodger & Craig David 'It Ain't Enough', Shola Ama 'Imagine', Ed Case 'Something In Your Eyes', Y-Tribe 'Enough Is Enough' - those tracks that will never get old, never stop making your heart skip a beat, never stop being able to tug at your heartstrings and your dancing feet alike!

CD2 then takes you darker and deeper into the current UK Garage scene, from the Paleface remix of the current club hit from DJ Fresh ft Sian Evans 'Louder' and the Submerse mix of Example's Number 1 smash 'Changed The Way You Kiss Me' to the Mike Delinquent Project rework of J Majik & Wickaman 'In Pieces'. This disc is about dirty, bass-heavy beats that make you want to go harder, faster! Focusing on some of the scene's hottest artists, it's also the perfect showcase for the diversity of garage with the likes of Submerse, Redlight and Club Asylum vs 8 Bit introducing shades of dubstep, grime and even reggae. But make no mistake - with melody at its heart, Disc 2 might be darker but it's still feel-good through and through!

From start to finish, this album is UK Garage at its very best -  sleek, sexy, funky and seriously uplifting. If you're a fan of garage in any incarnation, this is most definitely essential listening!

The Sound of UK Garage is out now - for more information, a full tracklisting and to get your copy, click here.

Time flies when you're having fun...time for the 7th instalment in our Underground series and we’re back with a 21st century guide to modern underground disco, boogie and Balearica. So get ready for Underground Disco - 2CDs packed full of disco delights! So, let’s get down to business – what does it actually sound like?! We found out so that you don’t have to – yes, it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it!

CD1 kicks off with Nicolas Jaar's 'Time for Us' setting a laid-back tone before melting into New Mjondalen Disco Swingers' 'Eurodans' - which trust us is not like any track you've heard before! Old-skool boogie with oodles of quirky touches, it’s pure tongue in cheek fun. Marcus Marr's remix of Tinpong takes things downtown with a groove so smooth it could melt in your mouth. Toby Tobias (who compiled Underground Disco) follows with his own track, the so-sexy-it's-positively-sultry ‘Macasu’. The next track in, 'Alphabet Disco', takes you back to more familiar disco territory with its synths and booming bassline, and is followed by one of the real standout tracks of the album - Storm Queen's 'Look Right Through'. With its deep, deep bassline, haunting melody and effortlessly emotive vocals, this is nu disco at its very best. The lush orchestration of I:Cube 'Falling' will have you doing just that, while Robbie Williams' 'Last Days of Disco' is deep boogie badness. Ike's 'Diskadenz' will soothe with its hypnotic piano hook; Still Going’s ‘Spaghetti Circus’ is a fiercely funky little number that will have you on the dancefloor with your hands in the air in no time. ‘Traffic Jam’ by Cobblestone Jazz takes things a little deeper and darker before the sheer shiny brilliance that is Tensnake’s remix of Azari and III ‘Reckless With Your Love’. Defiant vocals, funky bassline, twinkling percussion all awash with the summery 90s disco vibes that Tensnake is fast making his trademark = pure aural heaven. Next up is DJ Ringardos ‘Was Better in 88’, another perfect dancefloor filler, which leads nicely into Hercules and Love Affair ‘Blind’. With a bassline straight out of classic disco diva hits of the 70s and a soaring vocal, this is another of the strongest tracks on the whole album. By contrast, ‘High Hopes’ closes CD1 with its sexy slow jam.

CD2 starts off on a slow soulful tip with Dam-Funk's '10 West' seguing smoothly into the dreamy funk of Aeroplane's 'We Can't Fly' and Social Disco Club's 'By The Way You Move'. Toby Tobias’ 'The Feeling' is a lush slow groove; Space Dimension Controller's track 'Transatlantic Landing Bay' sounds like the perfect Sunday chillout track; while Gala Drop's 'Drop' and Mario Basanov's 'Caribbean Girl' introduce more of a laid-back tribal groove. Das Voit and Visti and Meyland kick things up a notch back into more discofied territory with ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Stars’, while the mournful vocals of Caribou's 'Odessa' are the perfect haunting overlay to the stripped-back groove underneath. MAVIS follow with 'Revolution', a blissed-out disco beauty featuring the vocals of disco legend Candi Station. I:Cube’s ‘Vacuum Jackers’ is more Balearic; the perfect sunset in Ibiza track. The vocals in DJ Nature's 'Destiny Reprise' are pure disco diva, while Ray Mang's 'Look Into My Eyes' is a real standout track with its beautifully delicate percussion swirling over a sensually languid beat and emotive piano. Sombrero Galaxy’s 'Journey Into The Centre Of The Sun' is the perfect ending to this sonic journey, appropriately sending you off into the sunset on a haze of heady summer nights.

Underground Disco is out now – get it on CD or download now for just £6.75.

Christmas is coming, so what better excuse do you need to work off those mince pies - it's that time of year when we all want to look our best for the party season! Which is why we've just released Running Trax 2. With our office Christmas party fast approaching and in fear of those tight-fitting party clothes showing up any lumps and bumps, we dusted off our running trainers and quite literally put the album through its paces. The things we do for you!!

CD1 kickstarts (sorry!) with Example's aforementioned summer anthem, which sets the tone for a disc full of pumping tunes to get you exhilarated! It's packed full of current club anthems from the likes of Fred Falke & Burns and Afrojack, which make perfect running mates for some huge club classics from Stretch & Vern, Ultra Nate and Calvin Harris. From disco to funky house to electro, it's the perfect way to get you feeling lively and shake off those cobwebs as you kick off your run. Things get a little harder faster towards the end as DJ Fresh, Unicorn Kid and Danny Byrd take you into drum n bass territory, which really got our heart rate up!

CD2 keeps the party going with huge hits from Dizzee Rascal, Axwell, Dennis Ferrer, Mylo and Reel 2 Real. It's uplifting, it's energetic, it's the perfect set of peak-time dancefloor hits to keep you moving and your heart racing! No word of a lie - even when our legs were starting to get tired, the tunes were so damn happy that we didn't want to stop running, because our ears were having too much fun!

And CD3 will have you smiling from the start - Tim Berg's MASSIVE summer smash 'Seek Bromance' can't fail to lift your energy levels! Followed by epic electro from the likes of Eric Prydz, Tiesto vs Diplo and Deadmau5, this is the big finale - those harder, faster tunes that will have you sprinting all the way to the finish line, accompanied by the sounds of two all-time classics from Da Hool and Faithless. Guaranteed to leave you on a pure adrenaline-fuelled high!

It was high fives all round as we finished our office run, but now we're off for a well-deserved rest - some mulled wine and maybe some online Christmas shopping! Speaking of which, Running Trax 2 is out now, so don't forget to pick up your copy here

.