Review: With a title like 'Cosmic Memories' your middle name doesn't need to be Sherlock to work out what's going on here, as Rare Wiri bring us a nine-track collection that pays homage to the trippy, synth-fuelled disco of early 80s Italy. Who better to kick things off, then, than cosmic disco originator Daniel Baldelli, with his and DJ Rocca's remix of Manolo's 'Amalfi Drive'? That sets the tone nicely for an album that's long on glacial synths, 80s-sounding electronic drum beats, Euro-style vox and dramatic magenta blusher... okay, you can only actually HEAR the first three of those, but you get the idea! Phoreski's 'Slow Down' stands out for yours truly, packing as it does a little more of Da Funk.
Review: If there's a divide, in the current disco scene, between the Italo/cosmic side of things and those of a more traditional/funky/soulful persuasion, no one's told Massimo Vanoni because on this four-tracker for Hot Digits he straddles that divide with aplomb - never more so than on lead cut 'Cosmic Game', which marries a gig, nagging synth hook to an altogether funkier, more organic-sounding bassline. Fingerman provides a sparser alternate pass, while elsewhere, 'Hidden Gem' really is with its big throbbing b-line, assorted vocal snips and familiar-sounding keys, while 'Hands Up' provides the EP's most full-on funk-ified moment.
Review: Italian disco DJ/producer and Atop Records boss Vanoni comes to Rayko's Rare Wire imprint with a very solid three-tracker here. 'Apache' is a midtempo chugger with a looped rising, wordless vocal wail serving as a main hook, underpinned by wukka-wukking funk guitar and an understated, shuffling backbeat, and will serve nicely for building up energy slowly. 'Funky Stuff', with its cheeky country/blues-style guitars and harmonica and female "funky stuff... push me" vocal, perhaps has the most immediate dancefloor appeal of the three, while completing the EP is 'Disco Azzurro', a more sparse, twitchy and experimental-sounding number with a simple, Casio-like synth hook.
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: Massimo Vanoni (aka The Smoker) hails from Mantova, Italy and has had releases on top labels like Spa In Disco, Hot Digits and Masterworks Music. Continuing on with his knack for disco-infused themes, his new offering in the form of half a dozen tracks for London's Midnight Riot sees him on form as always. There's a familiar hook on "Let Me Get Up" but a respectful enough edit nonetheless. Not to mention a bit of lo-slung funk for good measure on "This Feeling" and "Pushing" respectively, not to mention some sleek, feelgood slo-mo soul explosions like on "About Your Love".
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