Review: Bristol-based Italian Kiu D comes to Rayko's Rare Wiri with a four-track EP that blends a wide range of influences. 'Lovers Job' itself kicks things off, building on a simple sparse percussion riff with squelchy bass, analogue-sounding synths and a female disco vocal chant. Elsewhere on the EP, nu-disco, 'funky house' and a hint of reggae collide on 'Guns & Beans', 'I Don't Know' is a more sumptuous affair that'd play well on soulful house as well as disco/nu-disco floors, while finally things take a turn for the darker on the Italo-inspired '4AM' which has echoes, too, of early progressive house (of the '92-'94 variety)
Review: Fran Deeper's Spanish nu-disco label come up with the goods once again! This four-tracker opens with 'Acidi Cocktail', a Moroder-esque throbber but with hints, too, of early prog, as well as the 303 flecks you're already expecting. 'Brain Chords' comes on like classic early 90s NJ garage given a 21st Century makeover (and nods to the Peech Boys to boot), while 'Do It Today', with its squelchy 303 bassline and rinky-tink pianos, pays homage to the early house sound of Chicago. The gloriously authentic-sounding 70s disco of 'With You' then closes out what is a very fine EP indeed.
Review: After establishing his career via a series of rock solid EPs on Hotbox Boogie, Kiu D has spent much of the last few years serving up similarly impressive outings on Masterworks Music. Predictably, his latest is a bit of a doozy, too. Our pick of the bunch is probably title track "Walking On The Moog", a spacey and rolling affair where elongated held-note chords and intergalactic synthesizer lines rise above a chunky, bassline-driven groove. That said, we also have a lot of love for the acid-flecked, synth-laden disco bump of opener "Addiction" and the piano-heavy breeze of rolling soulful house workout "Deep In My House" and the sun-kissed disco-house pump of heavy closing cut "Sun City".
Review: Kiu D's debut long-player The Journey was something of a hit for Masterworks Music in the summer of 2017. Here, tracks from that well-received set receive the remix treatment from various label affiliates. Rising star and Glitterbox regular Dr Packer steps up first to turn "Dynamite" into a hybrid chunk of orchestral disco/funk-fuelled house bliss, before Bachgenaur recasts "You Don't Have To" as a Red Rack'em-esque wonky disco-house anthem. Elsewhere, Fingerman steals the show with a mid-tempo boogie take on "Good Luck", while Hotmood's version of "Sweet Is Better" is a bouncy, life-enhancing deep house bumper.
Review: Originally started in Mexico, Fran Deeper now runs the Spa In Disco imprint out of Mallorca in Spain. Over the last few years has brought us some killer jams by the likes of Rayko, Super Agente 86, Jose Hdez and David Manso to name but a few. It is now over to Italian guy in Bristol Kiu D with the Small Steps EP. Beginning with the deeply percussive nu-disco joint that is the title track, "Smoke" gets all sexy and housey on us in a very late night fashion. "Wiper & True" gets some Kaidi Tatham style nu-jazz soul vibes into the mix: that Herbie Hancock style synth bass really doing the business. Finally, there's a remix by the formerly Dubai based Brit Andy Buchan with an irresistible nu-disco makeover of "Small Steps".
Review: An impeccable producer, Kiu D has delivered sizzling works for the likes of Hot Digits and Special Edition. However, with The Journey marking his 4th release for Masterworks, this LP now makes him a bona fide label family member. A journey it may well be, but this is also a collection of ten straight to the point disco jams. There's no flab to found here, just heavy hitters highlights of which include the lighter than air floaty vapour trail vibes of "Secret Thing", the deep and trippy arpeggios of "Sweet Is Better" and the pulsating Italo-disco of "Out Of Service".
Review: We've come accustomed to Kiu D delivering warm, groovy, floor-friendly music that blurs the boundaries between re-editing, remixing, and original production. He's at it again on this first outing for Fingerman's Hot Digits imprint. The EP's four original tracks utilize big chunks of killer old soul, funk, disco and jazz-funk jams, but combine these elements with chunky house beats and woozy deep house flourishes. This is arguably best exemplified on the tactile, sun-kissed swing of "I'm In Your Life" and surging, solo heavy "Jazz or Funk". The package is completed by two tasty reworks: a bass-heavy disco-house revision of "I'm In Your Life" by Voodoo Whiskey, and Twisted Soul Collective's righteous, party disco remix of "Jazz or Funk".
Review: Italy's Kiu D has embraced many different styles and genres over the years but he's always returned to disco. Masterworks Music too is also somewhere at home, so it's no surprise to see this new four track single, Into The Deep, released by them. "A Different Attitude" kicks things off with warm and woozy disco loops and soft soul vocals set to a light garage beat. Elsewhere "Moonlight" accelerates with cascading arpeggios and disco chants, "Jazzy Taste" is dreamy cocktail house complete with poolside trumpets and lastly, "Brothers & Sisters" is all about retro loops, chirpy keys, and shuffley beats.
Review: Following recent excursions on Masterworks Music and Rebel Hearts, Kiu D returns to Hotbox Boogie, a label he's graced multiple times over the years. As usual, the four tracks on offer - three of which were co-produced by pal MKV - blend extensive samples from original disco and boogie records, with original musical elements. He begins with the clipped guitars, familiar vocal samples, and throbbing nu-disco synth bass of "Funky People", before delivering a breezier chunk of cheery disco-house in the shape of "Love Player". "Spank" puts a heavyweight disco rocket under the backside of Jimmy 'Bo' Horne classic "Spank", before the package is completed by the Bohannon-in-dub throb of "Funky People (Labour of Love Dub)".
Review: Veteran Italian DJ/producer Kiu D has enjoyed an eclectic career, producing D&B, nu-jazz, house and dubstep before turning to funk and disco re-edits. Here, he delivers more of the latter for Hotbox Boogie, building on the success of previous releases for Masterworks Music and Special Edition. He kicks things off with "Looking Good", a sparkling chunk of straightened out '70s funk madness, before the World of boogie-era proto house on "Don't Mind" and "Splendid Idea" (the latter boasting delicious jazz guitar and vibraphone solos). Elsewhere, check the rolling disco-funk warmth of "Bad Idea" and the bass-heavy romp of Groovemarket hook-up "House Party".
Review: It's Italian club maverick and disco twister Kiu D back in business for the prolific Hotbox label, and you know that means only one thing: party-time. The dude serves up a whopping six new cuts on this devilish little EP, all of them well-suited to a Saturday evening spin on the ol' decks, at prime time. The title track "Surrender" is a lovely, slo-mo boogie attack with a house sensitivity, while "Touch" is our favourite due to its grizzly bottom end, jazzy piano keys and organic percussion swing. Make sure that you also check "New Air", a funky-as-hell house bombshell for the summer months. All in all, a fine blend of house and disco groovers.
Review: Italian upstart Kiu D serves up a three course banquet of high cholesterol edits. For starters we're presented with a heart-attack inducing deep fried platter of greasy synths as Rocker's Revenge's "Walking On Sunshine" gets the full fat treatment. For mains we're served "Disco Brains"; the audio equivalent of a 20oz steak, it has the juiciest, rarest boogie bassline this side of Manhattan. For dessert we're treated to the sweetest of treats as the smooth-yet-unrelenting "Calm Before The Storm" ebbs and flows softly thanks to lavish piano strokes and a peppering of syrupy jazz elements. What a feast. What a debut release.
Review: Italian producer Kiu D has previously delivered party blends of disco, electrofunk and house on Hotbox Boogie and Other Sound. Here, he pops up on Masterworks Music with his most forthright and funky EP yet. His cut-and-paste style is arguably best showcased by title track "Discotheque", which peppers a familiar (if tooled up) disco groove with chugging, Italo-style arpeggios, nu-disco synths and further smile-inducing samples. The same approach is successfully applied on "Don't Stop" - a rubbery nu-disco bumper built around snippets from the K.I.D track of the same name - while "Loose" delivers a killer chunk of baggy disco-funk positivity, helped in no small part by some seriously cheeky synth solos.
Review: The French Touch revival is alive and well in this here EP, boasting four examples of brilliantly relentless thumping house. From the filtered funk loops of opener "Movin On" to the low-slung afterhours slinker "Summer" via the electro-disco-meets-funky-house anthem "Love In" it's almost like Paris circa '98 again!
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: The first "Masterworks Legends" compilation saw label boss Danny Worrall giving digital debuts to a whole host of previously vinyl-only cuts. We're not sure whether he's taken the same approach this time round, but the quality of the material remains pleasingly high. Beginning with Dr Packer's hot-to-trot revision of Kiu D's Blaxploitation disco workout "Dynamite", Worrall offers up a swathe of hypnotic, disco-tinged house head-nodders (Ooft's "I Am Love" being a glassy-eyed standout), tasty '80s electrofunk revisions (Woodhead, The Silver Rider, Coutel, his own '80s Child project), thumping disco club cuts (Natasha Kitty Kat, Kiu D, James Rod, Ponchartrain) and sparkling nu-disco box jams (Gradient Logic). If you're looking for more tried-and-tested treats to pep up your sets, you should add this to your cart right now.
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: 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: 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.
Review: Fingerman's Hot Digits imprint has packed in a lot of releases over the past 12 months, as this expansive roundup of the label's second year in business proves. Featuring 27 tracks and a bonus mix by the South Coast dwelling label boss, there's naturally plenty to admire. Highlights include, but are not limited to, the rolling, head-nodding grooves of Eyeco M's "Keeping It To Myself", the killer proto-house throb of "Tonight" by Bad Barbie vs Evil Smarty, the sexy, string-drenched disco loveliness of P-Sol's "Can't You See", LTJ's trumpet-boasting funk bumper "Fat Thing", and the hard-wired, bass-heavy rework of Julia & Company's "Breakin' Down (Sugar Samba)" by Melon Bomb. It is, though, all pretty darn hot.
Review: Think two-step garage is a UK thing? Start thinking bigger: As proved last year with Elastica's inaugural We Play Garage volume, two-step garage is very much global right now. Currently enjoying its 54th renaissance since the late 90s, it seems Italy is a proper hotbed for it. And they're fusing it with the solid sonic steez their homeland is known for; big filters, lavish chords and warm grooves. From Bodwan's jacking Chicago homage "Ivory" to the lean sub/step and detuned keys of Mother Inc & Kiu D's "Drop The Bass" by way of Captcha Bless's minimal wriggler "Loyalty" and Bist's MAW-style chugger "Crumble", this whole collection showcases Italy's penchant for the sexier side of garage - both the London two-step vibe and the original Paradise sounds. Play it.
Review: Having already carved a decent name for himself in the nu-disco universe, 80s Child (aka Danny Worrall), now turns his hand to running labels. Masterworks is his new imprint, and this eponymous compilation is its debut release. It's a total all-you-can-eat buffet of contemporary disco, featuring a whole host of familiar names. There are a whopping 23 tracks on here, some of the best include Tomas Malo's sultry grinder, "After The Rain", Yam Who?'s bouncy sunkissed disco joint "Find Out" and the digi-freestyle breaks of TV's "Love Situation".
