Review: Put on your gladdest of drags and hit the main thoroughfare; for his debut album Reynolds is taking us to town and he's doing it with serious sonic style. Down To The Strip is a hazy, dusky balmy LA Miami night circa 1985. An album built up around the warmest filters, clever samples and velvet synths cruising at a smooth mid tempo and surprising with plenty of twists in the tale; highlights include the bending chords and slouching breaks of "Hold On", the sublime hypnosis of "Under The Moon", the strange jazzy spring of "Oh!" and the Roule style loopy finesse of "Chuggin Edits". Time to strip things back.
Review: Reversing the usual process, this EP of disco edits begins with a disco-fied take on a house classic, and not the other way around! Adeva's 'In And Out Of My Life' is the classic in question, and Birdee makes a fine fist of the repurposing job he's done. So, too, have Chuggin' Edits with 'Sat Feev', a cheeky Bee Gees refix, though your view on that may vary depending on what you think of the original. Elsewhere on the EP, Soul Avengerz' 'Right For Me' (original source unknown) is a solid disco houser, while Chewy Rubs take us back to the early 80s with their re-edit of The Real Thing's 'Foot Tappin''.
Review: Chuggin Edits still chuggin' for the best of dancefloors. The slamming of kick drums, snap of white noise and all matter of loops, sounds and samples sent through the filters in this latest release for the discofied Slightly Transformed. This newest streak of funk, disco and boogie bangers sees strings and soul vibrations layered over the top slap of a Daft Punk inspired bassline (in "All You Wanna Do Is Party") to the piano led disco romances of "Come On Over To My Place". Even housier still is "Now That I Have Found You" and don't be afraid of the '70s leisure suite that is "Times". Still Chuggin'.
Review: Fresh from showcasing his trademark brand of hypnotic dancefloor reworks on Seamus Haji's Re-Loved imprint, sometime Midnight Riot and Hot Digits artist Chuggin Edits makes his first appearance on Alpaca Edits for almost a year. There's much to admire across the five-track EP, from the Saccharine sweetness of drowsy Balearic rework "We Are Devotion" (the kind of softly spun AOR pop edit that screams "end of night jam"), to the triple-time blue-eyed soul cut-up of "Bit By Bit", via the 1980s Barry White haziness of "The Peach" and sun-kissed, trumpet-sporting warmth of the EP's superb closing cut, "Pleasure". In other words, it's another fine collection of unlikely, Balearic-minded reworks for steamy sunsets and tactile sunrises.
Review: 2018 was a big year for the fast-rising Chuggin Edits crew. Over 12 hectic months the mysterious rework merchants released eight EPs, flitting between such solid labels as Midnight Riot, Alpaca Edits, Masterworks Music, Hot Digits and Slightly Transformed. In contrast, this three-track outing on Re-Loved is, somewhat surprisingly, their first outing of 2019. Up first is the sparkling, filter-heavy, French Touch style disco-house of "My Life Will Never Be The Same Again", a celebratory outing that makes merry with choice loops from a glassy-eyed 1980s workout. "With You" is a driving revision of a soaring disco workout rich in puncy horns and delay-laden group vocals, while "Tell Me" is a low-down disco-funk throb-job laden with fuzz-tone guitar riffs, squally horns and urgent vocals.
Review: It's been a bumper year for fans of Chuggin Edits trademark band of sample-heavy disco revisionism and throbbing, mid-tempo edits. This outing on Slightly Transformed follows on from fine EPs for Alpaca Edits, FKR, Midnight Riot, Hot Digits and Bandolier. "I Know I Know" is, naturally, something of a loopy chugger; a spacey, AOR disco/Italo-disco style throb job that radically transforms a much-loved cosmic disco classic in mesmerizing fashion. Limpdisco is on hand to provide the obligatory remix, providing a revision that's closer in tone and style to the Gaz Nevada classic that inspired the Chuggin revision.
Review: The Chuggin Edits crew is renowned for serving up, well, chugging disco reworks. We were a little surprised, then, when we discovered that they've pushed up the tempo a little on this latest Bandolier excursion. This is not a criticism, though, because all three tracks hit the spot. We're particularly enjoying "I Get Satisfied", a bouncy, brilliantly edited and subtly tooled-up version of a jazz guitar and Hammond organ-powered funk workout slightly reminiscent of Mr Scruff's "Get a Move On". Elsewhere, "Boogie Business" is a densely percussive, trumpet-heavy jazz-funk-neets-disco-house slammer, while "Funky Music" is a hazy, flute-heavy chunk of summery, mid-tempo bliss.
Review: With a whole string of tasty releases on a variety of top labels, Gary 'Chuggin Edits' Poulter has been a busy fellow this past six months. The Essex based DJ held a residency at the last Days of Shoreditch Summer 2017. He finally comes to Hot Digits Music with a hot five tracker full of quality cut and paste joints! From the pumping and hypnotic loops of "Pay The Price" (nailing that early French Touch vibe) via some soul-funk sources, there's also "31 Flavours" which goes for that Salsoul feel. Finally, he saves the best for last on two sultry and slo-mo resplices on the low slung tip, such as "Windy" and "My Drifting Mind" respectively.
Review: Chuggz is back! Once again flexing between neat digs and familiar finds, he kicks off 2018 the way he climaxed 2017 - with serious funk and flare. "Don't Let It Go 2 Ur Hed" makes you pull up your jeans and pay attention with its lush waving vocals and rolling groove, the string-laden "Keep On Doing Wot Ur Doin" will make you shout 'bo' in the most sensual hip-slinked way imaginable, "Maskerade" is a work of cosmic downbeat dreamy wonder while "Bye!" is a straight up walrus of a dreamboat. Let's hope he's not saying goodbye for too long....
Review: When Chuggin' Edits made their debut on FKR a few years back, their reworks tended towards the slow, groovy and head-nodding. As time has gone on, they've slowly ratcheted up the tempo in a bid for peak-time glory. This first outing on Disco Fruit continues that trend, laying down mid-tempo groovers primed to get feet moving out on the floor. Choose between the Hendrix style guitar solos, low-slung disco grooves, swirling strings and punchy horns of "Pick Me Up", the woozy deep house-disco warmth of "Satisfying", the flash-friend, disco-house stomp of "Splank" and EP highlight "Stomp!". With its cosmic synth swirls, glass-cut strings, elastic bass and hard-wired funk guitars, the track offers a perfect balance between intergalactic daydreaming and weighty dancefloor chops.
Review: Back in July 2016, we commented that Chuggin' Edits debut release - a fine E.P of largely slo-mo toe-tappers - did "exactly what its' title promises". The same could easily be said of this first outing on Alpaca Edits. "What Choo Gonna Do" sees the mystery editor make merry with one of disco's most sensual end-of-night head-nodders, Stephanie Mills' peerless "Wha Cha Gonna Do With My Lovin'". He or she expertly extends key instrumental passages whilst retaining Mills' brilliant vocal, the result being an extended period of pleasure. On the virtual flip, the chief chugger takes his or her scalpel to Lowrell's brilliant "Mellow, Mellow Right On", making it rise and fall in all the right places.
Review: It would be fair to say that Chuggin Edits Volume 1 does exactly what its' title promises. While closer "If There's Love Don't Throw It Away" reaches the dizzy heights of 120 BPM - along the way stretching and dubbing out a swirling, string-drenched chunk of loved-up disco-soul - the EP's other two tracks are slow, smooth, hypnotic and groovy. Choose between the walking bassline, sensual vocals, jazzy solos and head-in-the-clouds vibe of "The Cost Of Love", and "So Glad You're Mine", a toe-tappin', head-noddin', summer soul cool-down full of loose drum breaks, fuzzy horns and razor-sharp strings.
Review: Two years have passed since the last Masterworks Music label compilation, so this fourth volume is long overdue. It's another expansive affair, with boss man Danny "80s Child" Worrall offering up no less than 20 exclusives from a mixture of label regulars and new recruits. As you'd expect, there's much to enjoy, with highlights including the rubbery and celebratory disco goodness of Surgery Edits' 'Get Up and Boogie', the hazy house pleasure of Dirtytwo's 'Desire', the string-laden peak-time rush of Chris Grubinza's 'Feel The Rush', the revivalist 80s boogie brilliance of Slync and Evie Adams' 'Fantasy', and the wonderfully loved-up 80s soul-meets-nu-disco warmth of Paper Street Soul's 'Fwok!'.
Review: With 23 tracks to choose from, there's no faulting the value for money offered by this summer compilation from London's Slightly Transformed label. Such an extensive tracklist also offers plenty of scope for stylistic variety, with tracks ranging from laidback, groovesome boogie/soul jams like opener 'What Are We Gonna Do' to the mellow Balearic haze of 'Summer In The City', via the strident 80s attitude of 'Edgy', the looping filter disco of 'Something About Love', the authentic-sounding Blaxploitation funk of 'Mac And Carly Go Uptown', the Zapp/Cameo-isms of 'Firebabe' and even a bossa nova cover of Bill Withers. Serve poolside, accompanied by several mojitos, for maximum impact!
Review: The world's most famous Irish-Iranian DJ/producer serves up a fourth collection of disco and boogie re-edits on his own Re-Loved label. The album features 19 full-length tracks plus two hour-long mixed versions from Haji himself, and the artist roster reads like a Who's Who of the re-edit scene, featuring as it does names like Dr Packer, Chewy Rubs, Birdee and Chuggin' Edits. What's most pleasing, though, is the non-obvious nature of the tracklist: sure, Ian Ossia's opener 'Someone To Count' borrows from Dennis Edwards but that's about as far as we got with trying to identity source material before shrugging our shoulders and just sitting back to enjoy...
Review: You're only five years old once, so why not celebrate in style? And here Warrington lad Danny Worrall's disco and re-edits label Masterworks Music do just that, with an anniversary collection packing a whopping 50 back catalogue nuggets. You'll excuse us the full track-by-track, then, but suffice to say that this is the label that helped launch the careers of Dr Packer and Natasha Kitty Katt, both of whom feature here, and with names like Ziggy Phunk, Rayko, Alkalino, Chuggin' Edits and Fabiolous Barker also on bill, you should already have a pretty good idea what to expect. Classy stuff all round, and a great VFM package - here's to five more years!
Review: Going by the volume of tracks on show, it would be fair to say that Masterworks Music's "Bag of Tricks" is not a little handbag, but more like a Mary Poppins style bottomless carpetbag. The label's latest rummage through its seemingly endless contents has been a successful one, with the 20 showcased cuts including a wealth of fine fusions of disco, house, boogie, electro and 80s soul. It's uniformly dancefloor-focused, with highlights including the Afro-house/disco-tech fusion of JB Dizzy, the driving, spaced-out disco-house grooves of Mike Woods, the loose-limbed, off-the-wall edits of Chewy Rubs, the sweet disco-soul bounce of RocknRolla Soundsystem, the delay-laden synth sing-along styles of Rayko and the hot-to-trot brilliance of Downunder Disco.
Review: With the sun finally making its presence felt in the UK, it seems a fitting time for Slightly Transformed to unleash this epic compilation of "Summer Numbers" - cheery, disco-fired chunks of positivity tailor made for al-fresco sets and celebratory shindigs. Featuring a mixture of tried-and-tested re-edits and sample-heavy original compositions, the 19-track set boasts a pleasingly high number of highlights. These include - but are no way limited to - the talkbox-sporting '80s disco/jazz-funk fusion of Shit Hot Soundsystem's "Be With You", the warm and woozy, synth-laden bliss of Chuggin Edits' "Floating", the slow and steady head-nod of Old Chaps wonderfully soulful "Flight With Love" and the fizzing disco rush of Limpdisco's "Gimme Mo". Get To Know's "Music" - a chunky revision of a jazz-funk era dancefloor destroyer by Dayton - is also excellent.
Review: Every 12 months, Fingerman's prolific Hot Digits imprint serves up an epic compilation entirely made up of exclusive, previously unheard re-edits, reworks and original productions. They're invariably excellent and this year's edition - the fifth in total - is even more epic than usual. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing amongst the dancefloor focused 32-track selection, from the throbbing Italo-disco style electronic sleaziness of Peza's "I Gotta Little Love" and the bouncy, acid-flecked cheeriness of Limpdisco's "Rush Hour", to the angular nu-disco heaviness of Andy Kidd's "The Dope Cube", the sparkling 80s boogie goodness of LUP INO's "Don't Stop Fooling" and and disco-funk-goes-house pump of Fingerman's "Family Ties". Keep an eye out too for rock solid rubs by Dr Packer, Chuggin Edits, Rayko and Andy Buchan.
Review: Fingerman's Hot Digits label has now notched up 50 releases. To celebrate this landmark occasion, the man himself has selected 25 of his favourite cuts from the label's rapidly expanding back catalogue. As a showcase for everything that's good about the imprint, it does a bang up job, gleefully jogging between exotic mid-tempo disco and disco-funk (Frank Virgilio, Dr Packer, The funk District), slo-mo disco-acid (Fingerman's tremendous rework of B-Jam's "Sundog"), kaleidoscopic, reworked '80s boogie business (Casual Connection, Melon Bomb, the hard-tweaked filters and heady loop business of Chewy Rubs), tried-and-tested party-starters (Smashed Atoms, Get Down Edits remixing Stephen Richards) and giddy peak-time workouts (Shit Hot Soundsystem, Dave Gerrard, Thomas Maslo, Kiu D). As the old saying goes, this is all killer, no filler.
Review: If you dig Masterworks Music's celebratory, feel-good approach to disco re-edits and reworks, we'd advise picking up this bulging, 26-track collection of killer cuts from the label's recent past. It begins with a superb disco-funk cut-up by The Funk District and ends with a smooth, rolling and glassy eyed boogie-era disco revision by Saskin S that's almost worth the admission price on its own. In between, you'll find a swathe of superb revisions from some of the edit scene's finest - South Beach Recycling, Hotmood, Chewy Edits and Dr Packer included - with the selected tracks variously touching on electrofunk, boogie, P-funk, Latino disco and super-sweet '80s soul.
Review: The third edition in Midnight Riot's White Isle-friendly compilation series arrives right on time for the summer and brings back a huge package full of sublime cosmic & spiritual soundtrack from around the globe. No surprises from the label, it's packed with hypnotic delights with touches of blue eyed soul, slo mo disco and tropical low slung groovers. Upping the standard it contains unreleased tracks & Balearic revisions from many of the Midnight Riot crew featuring Shalvoy & Hifi Sean, FSQ, Jack Priest, Northern Souls, Chewy Rubs, Dim Zach, Chuggin' Edits & Steve Cobby (Fila Brazillia) plus loads more all curated by label boss Yam Who?
Review: To kick-start a fourth year of disco-fuelled madness, Hot Digits chief Fingerman has put together this sizeable compilation of previously unheard exclusives. As you'd expect, there's far more killers than fillers to be found amongst the 28-track deep selection or re-edits and original productions. Highlights include the clarinet-laden electrofunk-meets-disco bounce of Frank Virgilio's "It's Your Boogie Baby", the disco-goes-hip-hop flex of Tony Disco's delicious "Rolling Paper", the sparkling nu-disco goodness of "When It Comes To Funk" by Stephen Richards, the driving disco-house bump of Ash Reynolds' "Cold Girl" and the fuzzy electrofunk wobble of Don Dayglow's "Many Things". Throw in fine contributions from Chewy Rubs, Le Visiteur, norse man Jarle Brathen and, of course, Fingerman, and you have a must-buy collection of cuts.
Review: We should probably think of this tasty compilation as an early Christmas present from Danny Worrall's Masterworks Music imprint. Removing the gift wrap reveals a veritable selection box of disco, boogie and nu-disco treats. Worrall kicks things off with the wiggly synth lines and looped grooves of "What Would You Do" (a re-edit of a well-known, singalong synth-disco anthem) before handing over the reins to a succession of well-regarded re-editors and producers. Highlights come thick and fast, from the sax-laden disco-house bounce of Hotmood's "This is How I Do" and the Clavinet-sporting disco-funk throb of the Funk District's "Holiday Bounce", to the soaring peak-time disco of Downunder Disco's "Party Down" and Chewy Rubs' cheeky, Moodymann-meets-Todd Terje loop jam "Future Love".
Review: York might not be the disco capital of the world, but the way the gang at Alpaca Edits carry on it might just as well be! They've been trotting out world class soul, disco and funk edits for a good while now, and here they deliver the second instalment of their compilation in aid of testicular cancer support. There are 15 quality scalpel jobs this time around, with highlights including the rumbling, evening poolside boogie of "I Need A Drink" by Hotmood, the punchy electro-disco of "Head Lights' by Stephen Richards and the white-hot 70s disco rock of "I'm A Man" Pontchartrain.
Review: Thunder Jam's latest release is something of a sprawling epic; a 23-track "Invasion" featuring some of the hottest names in the re-edit and nu-disco scenes, alongside contributions from lesser-known talents. There's much to admire throughout, from the low-slung boogie bass and cut glass disco strings of Phil Da Burn's "Wallflower" and the spacey synth-funk of Funk Bank's wiggly "Jamming With The Thunder", to the bouncy disco/New Jersey garage fusion of BOI's "The Gift" and the straightened-out sunshine soul of Dee Bunk's "Little Brown Eye Girl". Throw in solid contributions from Don Dayglo, Belabouche, C Da Afro and Andy Buchan, and you've got a pleasingly varied set of floor-friendly excursions.
Review: Nu-disco hero 80s Child has come a long way since Masterworks Vol 1, the inaugural release on his Masterworks label a year and a half ago. Now we have the follow-up and it reveals how the label's sound has grown. There are 26 sizzling bangers on board this time, boasting a million delirious dance floor moments. Highlights of which include the fizzy thump-funk of 80s Child's "Computerized", Peza's doomy analogue electro mash up "Filmed Message" and the smooth, synthetic boogie of "Much Too Much" by Deelicious.
