Bestsellers This Week

Review: Arriving at a fourth Midnight Riot label compilation in little over a year is no mean feat for Yam Who?'s ISM operation, and the key to their success lies in the diversity of sounds you can include within the overarching theme of nocturnal grooves. And of course the high standard of artists that contribute, with this bumper 23 track selection no different as Yam Who? call on some respected names to contribute; seeing the likes of Joey Negro, Ilya Santana, Rakyo and LTJ Experience puts you at ease as you know you are in good hands - the Negro edit of Yambee's Ballistic Brothers classic "Blacker" is a notable highlight. Yet the fact these established names don't overshadow the contributions of lesser known Midnight Riot newcomers such as Dan Butler and Caserta - indeed the latter Boston based producer provides perhaps the best example of a 'nocturnal groove' with his slow burning, beat down house cut "Get Down".

Review: Russian producer Valique is back with the latest installment of his successful disco edit series. He specialises in toughened, quanitised beats, lending old stuff a modern electro-house groove. Highlights here include his highly danceable take on The Smiths' "Barbarism Begins At Home", the skippy, cut up house shuffle of "Angry Brides" and the infectious electro-funk anthem "Like Dancing".

Review: Given his encyclopedic knowledge of music, you'd expect any compilation put together by Bill Brewster to be full of unlikely gems and lesser-known anthems. That's certainly the case with After Dark, the first in a new DJ-focused series from the Late Night Tales camp. From start to finish, Brewster's selections are spot on, from the lowdown, slo-mo disco oddness of Sheffield chanteuse Marti Caine's "Love The Way You Love Me" and wide-eyed, acid-laden kosmiche of Coober Peder University Band's "Moon Plain", to the dirty electrofunk of Zed Bias's "Koolade" (featuring Toddla T, of all people) and mid'80s percussion fest of Martin Kershaw's "Keep On Pokin". If that wasn't enough, Brewster has also unearthed a decent Jamiroquai record. The wonders never cease.

Review: The fantastically named A/Jus/Ted - veteran producers Justin Strauss and Eddie Mars on a collaborative tip - make their debut on Under The Shade. "A Brighter Light", featuring the treacle-thick soul vocals of Jeremy Glenn, sits somewhere between electro-soul, early Chicago house and Balearic nu-disco. As you'd probably expect from the soul-minded Strauss, the resultant track is effortlessly soulful, quietly uplifting and brilliantly produced. The same could be said of the more instrumental Re A/Jus/Ted remix, which blends skittering proto-house rhythms and electrofunk dub elements with woozy modern deep house. Like the original, it's excellent.

Review: Further proof of the blurred boundaries between nu-disco, deep house and '90s house revivalism is provided by this jaunty four-tracker from Auckland-based studio buff Shallow Taxi Club. There's much to admire about the crisp, vintage house pianos, twittering melodies and bumpin' beats of opener "Flashback", but it's the deep, Crazy P-ish nu-disco groovery of "Mark My Words" that most impresses. Choose between the baggy 'Disco Edit' and a delightfully touchy-feely rework from Greg Wilson faves Monkey Boots. The latter also turn "Melody of Creed" into a gorgeous slice of shuffling deep house bliss.

Review: Possibly named after his favourite retro toasted sandwich maker, Brevil is an Australian disco producer currently on his third outing for Kosta Ellis' Superbreak imprint. His sound is low-slung and dirty and any of the four tracks here are guaranteed to get everybody in the mood for some disco love. Highlights include the loopy and hypnotic "Slow N Low", the shimmering female funk of "Never Gonna Stop" and the rumbling bass and delayed drums-fest that is "Turn U On".

Review: The Legendary Sound Orchestra continues his attempt to provide disco edit lovers with something extraordinary, with a third collection of hand picked reworks. Predictably, there's plenty to enjoy, from his own sparse, piano-heavy version of Silvetti's Salsoul classic "Spring Rain", to the rolling, bongo-laden goodness of 78 Edits' sprightly but loopy "Don't You Know". Highlights-wise, it's a toss-up between Alkalino's baggy disco-soul shuffler, "Have A Ball", and Jimmy The Twin's superb, TR-707-enhanced "Party Down". The latter, a horn-heavy chunk of upbeat disco-funk, is arguably the Bristol-based scalpel fiend's best work to date.

Review: Whiskey Disco returns with a quartet of blisteringly good reworks from Dead Rose Music Company and Satin Jackets. Dead Rose Music Company open proceedings in style with "Nothin To Ya", a brilliantly low-slung, bass-heavy re-edit-turned-remix of the Jones Girls' "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else" that turns the delightful original into a dubbed-out chunk of dancefloor chugginess. The more upbeat "Too Late", based on a lesser-known favourite, is almost as good. Satin Jackets' "The Hustle" provides some looser - but still formidably heavy - dewy-eyed disco-soul thrills, while "I Can See The Light" is more Balearic than a wet, sloppy kiss from a grinning stranger.

Review: Following the success of the first three volumes of his AOR-tinged V's Edits series, Russian producer Valique (best known under his usual pseudonym for disco-flecked funk breaks) unleashes another EP of scalpel jobs. This time, the sources are a little more obscure (the silly artist names offer clues), but the party-starting remit remains. So, we get some chunky low-slung, Fleetwood Mac-ish rock ("Because"), a dash of hustling disco-funk ("Up"), a sprinkling of synth-bass laden funk-rock ("Soul Francisco"), a thickset house version of a soul classic ("Good Or Bad") and a big chunk of '90s US garage silliness ("Love You Too") - all tweaked and teased with an eye on dancefloor devastation.

Review: Larse is a hard act to track down and although we don't know much about them, one thing we do know is that Larse is very good at getting backsides moving. This turbo-themed EP boasts 4 original deep body-disco cuts, the standouts being the sublime and totally glamorous "Hot" and the (possibly even better?) Adana Twins remix, which is indeed based around a twisting bassline. What's not to love?

Review: This duo of edits was originally released by DJ Ionic's imprint, Kojak Giant Sounds, a few years ago. Although the choice of source material here is undeniably obvious, Rayko is fairly restrained in his rework's of Nick's AOR classic "Edge Of Seventeen" and Cara's 1983 benchmark electro-disco tune "Breakdance", providing a little bit of vintage class to modern dancefloors in the process.

Review: Trust us, in our experience when encountering someone who goes by a nickname like Fingerman, it's usually best not to enquire as to how they came to be christened so. Here though he seems intent for us to know his true story, and luckily for us he's explaining it through the language of music. "I Know Its Mine" is a snazzy, brassy anthemic jam, "Lenny's Disco" is super camp fun of the Carl Bean variety, "Outta Sight" is more low-slung stuff, and "Honky Honk", with its incredible sliding bassline, is the sound of a roof being raised!

Review: Anyone who decides to dedicate a fair chunk of his debut edits release to scalpel cuts of tracks from Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane and Stevie Wonder must have gonads the size of watermelons. Sitting down could be an uncomfortable proposition, then, for the mysterious V, whose seven-track debut EP also includes chunky, floor-friendly re-tweaks of The Kinks and Sly & The Family Stone (as well as a couple of stonking disco bangers). While some would argue that much of the material here didn't need messing with, he's done an excellent job. The Dub of "Whole Lotta Love", for example, is pitched just right, offering much more bang and exactly the right amount of disco dubbiness.

Review: Wow! Fans of either Escort or modern nu-disco (or both!) can now rejoice as the retro New Jersey band's eponymous LP has now been remixed by a string of key producers. It's a veritable feast, a smorgasbord even, of pulsating electronics, female vocals and the kind of music that makes you imagine you're Richard Gere in American Gigolo. Highlights include the voodoo weirdness of Sub Swara's take on "All Through The Night", the high octane Proper Heat mix of "Chameleon Chameleon" and Ewan Pearson's Tom Tom Club-esque version of "Cocaine Blues".

Review: Having previously danced the night away, the extended musical family behind the Editorial imprint sit down together for a nice spot of Sunday Brunch. In practice, that means a slightly deeper, groovier flex than some previous outings. There's plenty to enjoy, though, from the low-slung mutant nu-disco of JKriv's "Something Special" and the tumbling goodness of Sonicvibe's "Wet Level" (based on Rick James' "Cold Blooded"), to the original boogie sweetness of DJ Butcher's "All My Dub" (a much-needed tweak of Major Harris's long-forgotten "All My Life"). Of course, there are a couple of peaktime stompers, with Feza's Bohannon-ish "Feel Like" standing out.