Review: If your brain works like ours then you probably also sometimes think that it's perpetually the year 2020 also. To help us escape that wormhole is Tic Taci's 2020++ compilation that sends in 10 new and deeply cosmic electronic numbers that touch on disco, dub and the odd industrial post-wave session. This includes Jack Butters' remix of "Gone & Forgotten" next to a spaced out Balearic version of Field Of Dreams by Hardway Bros. Bossmann Duncan Grey delivers his own edit to Fjordfunk with its devilish vamp alongside some abstract acid by Martin Eve in "Small Time Hero". A trippy jam for the next time you gas it through the New Jersey turnpike with a cigar hanging out your mouth like Tony Soprano.
Review: Roam Recordings was set up by Jason 'JP Soul' Peters and Jeni 'Jeniluv' Erickson in 2001, and has since put out records by the likes of Demarkus Lewis, Rhythm Plate, Hesohi and Dino Lenny. For their 100th release/20th anniversary, though, they've avoided the obvious 'best of' route and instead serve up 21 brand new tracks coming from a mix of familiar names (Emperor Machine, DJ Rocca, Tronik Youth) and newcomers. The overall vibe leans towards cosmic and Italo disco, but that's a very broad-brush picture - there are tracks here that could, variously, be filed equally well under house, techno, electro, Balearica or prog. Psychedelic electronic disco at its best.
Review: To celebrate their eighth birthday, Play Pal Music has delved deep into its archives and put together two retrospectives of back catalogue tracks, "that sound as fresh now as when they were released". There's plenty to savour on this second volume, from the dubby, dark Italo-disco throb of Alda's 'Night Wolf', and the atmospheric, slow-motion chug of 'Cosmic' by Did Virgo, to the breaks-goes-new wave sleaziness of Fabio Me Llaman Soltero's strangely exotic 'Morena, Moreno (TYU REemix)' and the psych-rock-goes-kraut-disco hedonism of Mushrooms Project's 'Sake'. Throw in similarly impressive outings from Monoblock & PSLKTR (as remixed by Curses), Teniente Castillo and Vox Low, and you have a genuinely essential collection of inspired, off-kilter cuts.
Review: Founded in 2012, Madrid's Play Pal Music specialise in "new wave, post-punk, synths & guitars, fat bass, nu-disco, leftfield and anything in-between". That gives you an idea what to expect from this 15-track label compilation, as crossover styles like the punk-funk of late 70s New York, the new beat of late 80s Belgium and even the electro stylings of mid-00s Hoxton get thrown into the blender and mashed up into one gloriously sleazy, neon-lit, leather-clad dancefloor showdown that manages to be both a retro/nostalgic delight and forward-thinking at the same time. If 'Drop The Deal' or 'Walk The Night' are in your classics box, this is one to check for sure.
Review: Three years ago, Duncan Gray pitched up on Tici Taci with The Malcontent, a fine collection of druggy, oddball and suitably psychedelic nu-disco chuggers heavily influenced by new wave and the weirder end of '80s synth-pop. This high-quality follow-up explores similar sonic pastures, with Gray strutting between Depeche Mode style dark-pop ('The Owner', 'Twenty Seven Seven Twenty'), early New Order tributes (the acid-flecked 'Frank Lloyd Wrong' and 'Elegia'-ish 'Afer'), post-punk disco darkness ('Gone and Forgotten'), and deep, strobe-lit Italo-disco ('Learn More'). Arguably best of all though is closing cut 'Temps Perdu', an arpeggio-driven monster that's more hallucinatory than your average pot of mushroom tea.
Review: Viscera Transmissions' first 'Galactic Service Broadcasting' comp was released back in May, as a fundraiser for charities supporting the UK's National Health Service; now here comes Volume 2, with profits this time going to the homeless charity Shelter. With 16 tracks from as many artists to choose from, there's a fair degree of stylistic variety on offer, from the acid electro throb of Duncan Gray's 'Punish' to JMII's floaty, proggy 'Intika', but the emphasis generally is on that region of the contemporary disco spectrum where Italo, EBM and experimental electronica collide, with occasional forays too - as on Owain K's 'Quantum Leap' - into deep house territory. Interesting stuff all round.
Review: A serious helping of phat funk squelch here, served up in trio of mixes to suit a range of different times, moods and dancefloors. The Original Mix sits somewhere between contemporary funk, nu-disco and slo-mo house, as haunting sci-fi/horror synths and assorted bleeps n' squeaks weave their way in and out of the midtempo bass chug that forms the track's backbone. Mr BC's Tweakin' Acid Funk Remix injects a dose of 303 and could work as a warm-up cut on tech-house floors, while the Mijo Mix adds a treated, Germanic-sounding vocal and takes us into new beat/EBM-like territory.
Review: Sometime Sons of Slough man Duncan Gray is one of the disco-chug scene's more reliable producers, with releases on Nein, Play Pal and The Exquisite Plain to his name. Predictably, this outing on his own Tici Taci imprint is chock full of mid-tempo, mind-altering treats. Check, for example, the foreboding riffs, lo-fi percussion and strobe-friendly late night electronics of "Tweak", the rave-inspired filth of "Streak", and the low-slung, post-punk inspired darkness of "Freak". Fellow chuggers The Hardway Brothers give their spin on "Tweak", combining Gray's woozy, unsettling electronics with their own breakbeat influenced rhythms and alien melodies.
Review: London's Duncan Gray aka Tici Taci is back on Marseille based indie dance imprint The Exquisite Pain, with three servings of retro flavoured grooves. "1983" is a fitting title for something that sounds like a victorious scene from Miami Vice with its rock guitar riffs and '80s synth presents all working in blissful harmony. "Bloomers" features rich vintage synth power; glimmering arpeggios face off with spangling leads for total trance induction while the title track "Broontoon" goes for some slow burning and grinding EBM flavour, which will no doubt appeal to the kind of retroverts following this rising label in recent times.
Review: One half of Sons Of Slough (with Ian Weatherall) and Tici Taci label boss Duncan Gray is back but this time on London's Nein Records, usually known for their excursions in acid house and nu-disco. Following up releases by the likes of Cannibal Ink and Emperor Machine, his style is more than welcome here, no doubt. The original version of "Churn Again" gets off on a hazy '70s prog rock tip, just listen to that killer retro synth lead. There are some impressive remixes here; Berlin by way of Tel Aviv's cosmic traveller Moscoman gives it a sunny and balearic makeover while Frenchman Markus Gibb gives it a thumping modern vibe, quirky and with an attitude, sounding like something off Comeme; not a bad thing at all!
Review: A veteran all round musician (formerly of Sons Of Slough), Duncan Gray largely peddles his unique, slow chuggin tunes via his own Tici Taci label. Recently though he hooked up with the mighty Nein Records and now he's ventured even further afield to join Play Pal Music. "Proper Bogan" is long and groovy Balearic plod-funk and "The Twelfth Day" is deep cosmic synth. The former is remixed into abstract trip-house by Kezokichi & Teniente & Castillo and into muscled-up hiNRG by Peza. The latter also gets mixed into poppy funk-house by Amevicious and chiming arpeggiation by Id!r.
Review: There seems be a move away from re-edits in the disco scene of late, with producers opting for original recordings instead of just sticking a bigger kick under someone else's classic. Here, highlights include the Terminator-style disco noir of "Meccanica Futurista", the immense sleaze of Castillo and Thomass Jackson's doom-disco joint "No Wifi At The Attic" and the Daniel Molosso-style warped electro-disco of "Round One". The sound of all the good stuff that's happening in disco today.
Review: Japanese DJ/producer Kezokichi made quite an impression during his time in London. Now he's returned to Tokyo and launched his own record label, Blindetonation, dedicated to "the disco of randomness - Balearic, drug chug, slow motion and weird vibe". Here, he kicks it off with an expansive compilation featuring a range of well regarded and little-known artists. Naturally, there's much to enjoy, from the sweet, analogue bounce of Jamie Paton's "Keys For Your Keeper (Dub)" and the near psychedelic chug of Tronik Youth's "The Past", to the bubbling electronics and eyeliner-clad melodies of Kieran Holden's "Stubbies", and the twisted, slow motion acid of Duncan Gray's "Kickintrusion".
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