Review: Arriving just in time for the summer season, Hot Digits delivers a compilation that is tailor made to soundtrack lazy, hazy days. Even Funkier's "Feel So Good Inside" is an irresistible, funk-fuelled disco groove, while Ben Jamin's "Handle" inhabits a similar space. Soaked in wailing guitar and soulful vocals, it's a wonderfully infectious track. Both Andy Buchan and P-Sol raise the tempo with string-filled disco workouts, while Fray Bentos' "Danced To Death" offers a more electronic take on this sound. The compilation does veer towards house on occasion - most impressively with the subtle drum builds and chord progressions on Down Under Disco's "On My Mind". In the main though, Year Nine impresses most when it draws on disco and funk influences, such as the raucous party jam that is label owner Fingerman's collaboration with Chewy Rubs, "Block Party Bad Boy".
Review: For their 100th release, Hot Digits bring us a truly outstanding collection that gathers together the best of the label's last 50 outings. Just one look at the talent roster involved should be enough to get any contemporary disco lover's tastebuds tingling, replete as it is with names like Fingerman, Dexter Jones, Fray Bentos, C Da Afro, Dave Mathmos and Jet Boot Jack, and suffice to say the music they provide doesn't disappoint one iota! With 30 full-length cuts plus two hour-long DJ mixes there's no room here to go into every track, but whether you like it deep n' chuggy, funky n' furious or boogie-tastic n' soul-tinged, you'll find plenty of fresh ammo for your disco machine gun here.
Review: Italy's Sound Exhibitions bring us a 19-artist, 24-track collection that's very much the proverbial "game of two halves (Brian)". The album opens with label boss Vito Lalinga's Afro-jazz workout 'Angola', but that's a little misleading because it's the only real Afro-flavoured cut on offer, and from 'Legend' onwards we drop down into moody, cinematic jazz/jazz-funk territory - you're never far from a warbling Hammond organ, a live-sounding double bass line or a soaraway sax solo here! But then there's a change of mood as, with a little push from M.A.D.Y's 'Tribal Disco' and C Da Afro's 'Speed Dial, we find ourselves propelled into nu-disco/disco-house territory for the rest of the set - albeit with those jazzual flourishes still seldom backwards in coming forwards. A very classy comp indeed.
Review: Rare Wiri's 'Retro Future Disco' series, launched in 2016, reaches its third installment - and with 10 tracks on offer, many of them coming from scene big-hitters like Alkalino, Ilya Santana, C Da Afro, Andy Buchan and of course label boss Rayko, nu-disco lovers will be salivating already! Generally speaking it's synth-tastic grooves inspired by Italo and cosmic disco that lead the charge here - though, given the talent roster, you'd expect a certain degree of stylistic variety, and you'll find such in Buchan's rawer, more funk-leaning 'Family Kings' and the soulful vibes of The Beatbroker's 'Belong 2 Me'.
Review: Unlike many of its rivals, Fingerman's Hot Digits label doesn't fill its' obligatory annual compilation with back catalogue cuts. Instead, we're offered a vast number of previously unheard re-edits, remixes and original productions. It's a successful blueprint and one religiously adhered to on Hot Digits: Year Seven, the popular imprint's latest must-check collection. There's not enough room to single out every sonic highlight, but our current favourites include the breezy boogie squelch of Ross Fitz's 'I Miss Your Love ('85 Mix)', the driving deep house haziness of Fingerman and Henri Le Blanc's 'Leave Your Cares Tonight', the neo-trance cheeriness of Picklejam's 'Endorphin Situation' and the stab-happy, peak-time house retro-futurism of 'The Feeling' by Downunder Disco.
Review: Here's one of those releases that really doesn't need a lot of explaining - anyone with even a passing interest in nu-disco should be more than familiar with all four artists involved, as well as the label! Hotmood brings the 70s vibes on the string-drenched, guitar-flecked 'You Are A Star', C Da Afro fast-forwards to the 80s boogie era with the shiny-suited 'So Good For Me', while Loshmi arguably gets the most inventive, mixing up Afro, Latin and spy movie soundtrack vibes on 'Regah'. It's the lazy, laidback funk/jazz-funk of Mitiko's 'Back To Dance', though, that takes the gold.
Review: Following the success of the label's first digital-only compilation, Lock and Load, Act of Sedition boss Bully Boy has decided to repeat the exercise. Like its predecessor, Perfect Pitch largely sidesteps re-edits featured on physical releases, instead delivering a bumper selection of previously unheard reworks. Those who prefer their edits gently beefed up with the addition of club-ready beats will find plenty to enjoy, from DJ Steef's tweak of Van Morrison classic 'Into The Mystic' and DJ Laurel's chunky revision of disco-funk slammer 'Peace Pipe', to Sucka Tommy's bustling rework of Paul Simon's 'Me and Julio Down By The School Yard' and C Da Afro's disco bumper 'The Sunset Groove'. If tape-style rearrangements are more your thing, we'd heartily recommend the edits from Al Kent and SanFranDisko.
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