Review:
More gung-ho re-edit and rework business from the long-running Chopshop imprint, this time with a distinctly summery feel. As usual, there's plenty of variety, and tried-and-tested reworks that lock classic cuts into contemporary trends. Groove Motion gets things going with a distinctly dubbed-out take on Carly Simon's Balearic classic "Why" - think filters and delay aplenty - before Dave Gerrard delivers a sparkling, loopy dub of "Glow at Night" - all lazy jazz guitar solos, flexible disco bass, twinkling pianos and clipped guitars. Ilya Santana provides some decidedly dubby, quirky early '80s post-punk chunkiness in the shape of the excellent "Boomerang" (probably our pick), before Touchsoul instils some percussive swing and disco-funk sassiness to his late night delight "Mazed Projections".
Review:
It's time to welcome back Spanish nu-disco veteran Ilya Santana, who has been missing in action, presumed DJing, for the best part of two years. As comebacks go, "Electric Mind" is pretty darn good. Underpinned by druggy, Italo-disco style arpeggio lines and squeezable synth-bass, the slo-mo shuffler's best asset is undoubtedly the wild variety of vintage synthesizer lines that Santana smartly layers on top. The remixes are rather tasty, too. There's a decidedly Baldelli-esque, guitar-laden "Cosmic Western" remix from Rare Wiri boss man Rayko, while label regular James Rod pushes up the tempo and emphasizes Santana's Italo-disco influences on his dancefloor-friendly revision.
Review:
When it comes to crafting high quality, synthesizer-heavy nu-disco, few producers are quite as accomplished as Ilya Santana. Typically, the Canary Islander is in fine form on the "Freak Fiction EP", whose throbbing title track wraps slowly shifting chords and jumpy synth riffs around a pulsating, Italo-disco style arpeggio and unfussy, mid-tempo machine drums. Nu-disco scene veteran the Beat Broker provides the obligatory remix, serving up a deeper and dreamier version that adds oodles of dub delay to Santana's tasty synth lines while introducing a tasty new electrofunk bassline. To round off a fine EP, Santana doffs his hat to Giallo-disco and John Carpenter's killer horror soundtracks on the spiraling late night trip that is "Howling".
Review:
All of a sudden, Rayko is getting a little nostalgic. Here, he goes Back To The Roots of his Rare Wiri imprint, offering up brand new remixes of the cuts that appeared on the label's first release way back in 2008. First up, Phunktastike and Julian Sanza remix Ilya Santana's "Instrumental Odyssey". Sanza steals the show with a sparkling Balearic disco re-rub built around his own rubbery electric bass, chugging beats and flowery synth solos. There's a similarly terrace-friendly feel about Sportito's breezy and atmospheric take on Rayko's "White Russian", while Lone Soldier turns the same track into a low-slung, Italo-influenced chugger.
Review:
Ilya Santana, a man whom we can say with some degree of certainty is the Cayman Islands' finest disco export, releases this lovely new EP via Eskimo Recordings. Santana's pedigree is well established - his first ever release came on Daniel Wang's Balihu imprint no less, with subsequent productions seeing the light of day on Tirk, Permanent Vacation and Gomma. He also released two fine 12?s on Eskimo in 2010, namely Burning Jupiter and Erin. "Transborder" is classic Santana tackle - 80s synth work, emotive strings and an immensely pleasing disco thud. Remixes come from two esteemed sources; Minilogue (Mule Electronic, Cocoon, Wagon Repair) and Letherette (Planet Mu, Warp, Ho Tep). For our money it's Letherette's off kilter, twinkling re-rub that resonates the most.
Review:
Ilya Santana uses complex structures and enchanted melodies in his music in an attempt to uncover hidden emotions. Having previously remixed The Human League, The Phenomenal Handclap Band and Lindstrom, Santana's first release for Eskimo is "Burning Jupiter," a spaced out, disco tinged piece of electronic. The singles precedes his debut artist album, out later this year.
Review:
Spanish re-edit hero Ilya Santana is back with more early '80s sounds. This time "Big Foot" has that moody cosmic yacht rock vibe that evokes images of an Alan Parsons-soundtracked drug deal gone wrong in Central America circa 1982. There's a whole host of back-up remixes, all of which brandish Uzis under their rolled up jacket sleeves. Highlights include Rayko's Jan Hammer-meets-Lindstrom jam, the punchy melodicisms of Future Feelings rework and Nelue's spaced out chillwave version.
Review:
Two Spanish stalwarts of the nu-disco and edits scene join forces on this two-track EP. As you'd expect from Rayko's Rare Wiri label, the emphasis is on re-edits, though there's enough additional production and contemporary trickery on display than you're average scalpel cut. Ilya Santana steps up first with "Logic", a decidedly cosmic, and trippy re-build of Japanese producer Logic System's 1981 electronic classic "Clash (Chinjyu of Sun)". Rayko, meanwhile, drops "Baby", a similarly dubbed-out and floor-friendly remake of what sounds like a forgotten Italo classic. Knowing Rayko, it could just as easily be something well known put through the mangler; either way, it's one of his strongest cuts for some time.
