Review: George Kelly's Athens-based Chopshop celebrate 15 years in the game with this best-of compilation that takes in cuts from the likes of Groove Armada (via Greg Wilson), Situation, Andy Bach, Bodie Lee, HP Vince and more, many of which - as is entirely in keeping with the label's name, of course - draw heavily on source material from the past. Dave Leatherman & Bruce Nolan kick us off with 'Sunny Side Up', which reworks Osibisa's 'Sunshine Day', and from there on out it's basically a non-stop disco/disco-house riot, with Bodie Lee paying tribute to Inner City on 'Let Me Take You Dancer', Wild Cherry chopped and looped to glorious effect by Delly on 'Movin' To The Groovin' and Alejandro Maria stealing the day with 'A Lot To Live For', which should really be called 'Stabs To Die For'.
Review: There's a pretty obvious clue in the name as to what kind of music you're going to find here! What makes this compilation from Greek label Chopshop stand out, though, is that the usual suspects are, for once, notable by their absence: there are contributions from Tonbe and HP Vince, as well as label boss George Kelly, but many if not most of the artists involved here will be new names to many if not most listeners. As such, it's a collection that's well worth investigating, packing 15 uptempo tracks - largely original, if heavily sample-based productions, rather than re-edits - that are long on funk basslines, handclaps and cowbells. What's not to like?
Review: On his latest one-track missive, Chopshop big beast George Kelly has stated his intention to pack a suitcase, grab his "sunnies" and head "Off To An Island". He's joined on this summery mission by vacation-loving collaborators Idra Kayne and BNC. As you'd expect, it's a wholeheartedly fun and funky affair, with Kelly adding Kayne and BNC's cheery, let's-have-a-good-time vocals to a driving, thickset disco-house groove rich in warm bass, Nile Rodgers style guitar riffs and filtered, presumably sampled orchestration. IT rises and falls in all the right places and sounds like it will light up open air dancefloors if and when we get to enthusiastically dance on them again. In a word: big!
Review: A decade has now passed since George Kelly established the Chopshop imprint as an outlet for goodtime grooves, sneaky reworks and club-ready re-edits that blur the boundaries between disco and house. To celebrate the fact, he's gathered together some of his label highlights on an expansive compilation. It's arguably best enjoyed via his action-packed DJ mix, which is tucked away at the end of the collection, though DJs will delight at the sheer volume and quality of the unmixed cuts on offer. Our favourites include the rubbery bounce of HP Vince's appropriately titled "Funky Disco Party", Kelly's killer Marlena Shaw revision ("Raised In The Ghetto"), the bustling funky house pleasures of HP Vince and Dave Leatherman's "Back 2 The Old Skool (House Mix)") and the disco-rap goodness of Captain Futuro's "Club Warzone".
Review: ChopShop Digital barely deviates from its' well-worn formula, which involves serving up multi-artist EPs full of tried-and-tested reworks. Happily, they're at it again here. BnC kicks things off with the break-driven funk shuffle of "Good Times Roll", before Woodhead & Hebegebe raise the temperature with the heavy funk-goes-Italo-disco surge of "Pony Up". West Country scalpel fiends Situation serve up the dusty soul sweetness of "Change For A Coke", while Senior Citizens attempt to outdo them with the similarly luscious and soulful "The Perfect Plan". Finally, label boss George Kelly steals the show with a killer re-cut of Willie Bobo/Ronnie Laws favourite "Always There".
Review: On his last outing, Grecian producer George Kelly successfully joined forces with vocalist Andre Esput to showcase the soulful side of his output. Here, he's back in solo mode, returning to the Chopshop imprint he founded some years back. The Big McGhee doesn't take long to get into its' stride, starting as it does with a slamming, decidedly heavyweight house rework of Marlena Shaw's "Woman Of The Ghetto". Jimmy 'Bo' Horne rework "Spankbank" is similarly stomping, with Kelly expertly cutting up and rearranging the original's famous electric piano riffs over a bounding house groove. Finally, the title track delivers a tightened up, straightened out version of Francine McGee's infamously wild disco smasher "Feelin' Good".
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