[3] After establishing himself as a popular DJ and remixer throughout the 1990s, Sanchez decided he wanted to create more of his own music and record a studio album, feeling he had "a bit of a story to tell with [his life]."
Music critics have described the record as a disco house album which displays a disparate array of influences and styles, including garage, Latin and electro.
Numerous guest vocalists, including Cooly's Hot Box, N'Dea Davenport and Sharleen Spiteri, contribute vocals to the record.
Throughout the 1990s, disc jockey Roger Sanchez had been brought to a worldwide audience via his career as a remixer, but according to Dave Simpson of The Guardian, "[he] wasn't satisfied.
He said of making First Contact: "I think for me what happened was that rather than initially saying 'Oh, I want to do an album', it got to the point that after years of just doing one off singles and remixes, I started producing a couple of my own tracks and I just felt I had a bit of a story to tell with my life.
With First Contact, Sanchez said he wanted to create a "very personal" album that gave listeners "a little bit of background about where I'm from and where my mind is at, plus some of my own experiences so people could relate to it and vibe with it.
"[4] Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger described the production of "Another Chance" as Sanchez "hearing something in the winsome intro of an old Toto hit, cutting it loose, and then letting this tiny scrap of song spin through seven minutes of house music.
[12] Julie C of Resident Advisor said the song gives listeners a taste of the style of electronica music "now filtering through their air waves" that had been adopted by Daft Punk.
[12][14] The disco-styled diva house song "You Can't Change Me" is a collaboration with Armand van Helden and vocalist N'Dea Davenport,[9][13][12] The lyrics were based on an argument Sanchez had with his ex-girlfriend: "She became my manager and it broke up pretty badly.
"[4] "The Partee" is a big beat and house track driven by a brassy Latin music groove that highlights Sanchez's Dominican roots.
[12][13][15] "Ventura" is a 'formless' track based upon a chunky groove,[13][2] followed by the disco-styled "I Never Knew", which features strings and "lite-funk" vocals from the group Cooly's Hot Box.
The album was eventually licensed for release in the US by Musicrama, a Long Island City-based distributor that focuses on distributing imports into the American marketplace.
"[9] Michael Paoletta of Billboard magazine also hailed the record, writing that it effortlessly merges "sun-kissed beats" with "warm vocal stylings.
"[14] The BBC's reviewer said the album was an "excellent hour's work, because when this hits the streets it will send shivers down the spines of inferior wannabes who have been polluting the airwaves with second-rate dance music.
"[14] Dave Simpson of The Guardian called First Contact "an extraordinarily absorbing record" that sounds "at once eerily uplifting and emotional, statuesque and clinical.
"[11] "Another Chance" has continued to be popular in later times, with Freaky Trigger reviewer Tom Ewing later describing the album version of the song as "a clockwork miniature of momentum and regret.