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: 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: 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: 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: ISM Records' two Futurism EPs have proved so popular that label boss Yam Who has decided to use them as the inspiration for an expansive compilation of previously unreleased gems. Unlike the label's other popular strand, Midnight Riot, there's always been a bit more of an open-minded, eclectic feel about the Futurism releases. This is no different. Whilst rooted in nu-disco and deep house, Futurism: Shades of Space also touches on 21st century jazz-funk (Manmademusic), bongo-laden spiritual house (Nu Ak's "Fly Away"), fluid garage (Nega Tiv's excellent "Liquid Call"), woozy Balearica (Ben La Desh and Plan DAqua), block party boogie (Questlife feat Wildstyle, Freekwency) and nu-jazz (Hamish Balfour). More importantly, the quality threshold remains high throughout.

Review: Joey Negro's Z Records have a remarkable knack for knocking out vintage compilation after vintage compilation. Here though, they've really discovered a rare niche of unmined gold courtesy of Nuphonic's David Hill who acts as selector. As Hill explains "gospel music has often followed trends in secular music" and this album captures 24 attempts of gospel getting on the disco and boogie trains. Highlights include the hiNRG longing of "I Need You", the electro-soul of "Love Is The Message" and the piano & strings frenzy of "Awake O Zion".

Review: The mysterious V has got some balls. You see, it's common practice in re-edit circles to steer clear of certain big tunes and artists. V clearly didn't get the memo, because this second volume of party-hearty, floor-filling reworks contains sneaky dubs of tracks by Steve Miller (a smile-inducing version of "Fly Like An Eagle"), the Sex Pistols (a filter-heavy tweak of "Anarchy In The UK"), The Lovin' Spoonful ("Summer In The City") and The Beach Boys ("Good Vibrations", which gets a weirdly breaksy Balearic rework). Better, though, are the versions of the more disco and funk-inclined material. His Betty Wright rework ("Slip & Do It") is particularly magical.

Review: Nope, this ain't the return of mulleted 80s duo Black Lace, it's the latest comp from Dynamicron's Latino-centric nu-disco label Los Grandes. Once again they've searched high and low to gather the hottest re-edits. Highlights this time include Brevil's sultry sweaty "Sexy", Vinyladdicted's shocking percussion-led rework of 'cough', Jimmy Nail's "Ain't No Doubt", PCJ's baddass 70s disco rock freakout "I Like The Sound", DJ Butcher's faithful take on Mister Flaggio's Italo disco masterpiece "Take A Chance", and Craxi Disco's seductive and proggy synth-disco epic "Jerusalem".

Review: Hats off to 80s-obssesed Mullet Records man Casio Social Club; he's been releasing synth-pop influenced electro-house at a tireless rate for a few years now. This album collects the best of his remixes of other acts and it's an impressive selection: from the pulsating electro-soul of "Can You Feel It", to the Thin White Duke-ish, bass-driven new wave of "Right Off", the italo-disco pop of "Thinking Of You" and the Jam & Lewis vibes of "Forever Lasting". In short, packed full of retro dynamite.

Review: On the back of their decidedly smoochy Show Me Love EP, the scalpel fiends and disco/house crossover monkeys at Editorial HQ take another trip into the world of soft-focus groovery. As usual, there's plenty of decidedly touchy-feely fare to enjoy, from the tough bass and twinkling synths of Elias Tzikas' "Just For You" and Tiger & Woods-on-valium vibes of Sellouts' "Let Me Work", to the sensual, slo-mo soul of Get Down Edits' "Two-Timin' Lady". The ever-cheeky Ed Wizard and Disco Double Dee pair up for a silly, delay-laden re-tweak of the Knight Rider theme tune (really), whilst Debonair offers up a slick chunk of rush-inducing disco-house loveliness. Top stuff.

Review: 2009's M+M Sessions Volume One was undoubtedly one of the most essential disco/electrofunk compilations of recent times. Over the course of two discs, it brilliantly chronicled the productive studio partnership of celebrated NYC engineers and mixers John Morales and Sergio Munzibai. No disco collection was complete without it. Naturally, hopes are high for this second instalment. This time round, Morales (the sole survivor of the M+M partnership) has dug even deeper, dusting down previously unreleased versions of some lesser-known disco bangers. For disco completists, then, The M+M Sessions Volume 2 is a more exciting prospect than its predecessor. With 22 strong tracks to choose from - a number featured in both vocal and instrumental formats - picking highlights is tricky. It's perhaps no surprise that some of the real stand-out moments come from Leroy Burgess-related projects - see the deliciously dubbed-out take on the Fantastic Aleems' "Get Down Friday Night", the uplifting "Hooked On Your Love" (another Fantastic Aleems cut) and Logg's "Dancing In The Stars". There's a whole heap of Salsoul-related goodies, including Morales' soon-to-be definitive version of Inner Life's brilliant "Caught Up (In A One Night Love Affair)". Oh, and a couple of quite remarkable, previously unreleased dubs of vocal disco anthems. Well and truly essential.

Review: Having impressed with the first collection of re-edits earlier in 2012, the Legendary 1979 Orchestra gather together more floor-friendly reworks from friends and associates on their own Legendary Sound Research imprint. With different tempos, sounds and styles at play, it's a well-rounded collection. Contrast, for example, the tough 80s-electro-goes house vibes of Legendary 1979 Orchestra's "Burning" and the slow, soulful bump of 78 Edits' "Can't Have My Love". Or, for that matter, the breezy party vibes of Andrei's "Let's Go Raw" and the heavy funk of Richmed's "Do Your Thang". There's also some more 80s disco tweakery from Spanish edit workhorse Rayko.