Review: Anyone who's ever thought that disco's had it's day, well they clearly need to check out Le Spank, the latest bumper packed compilation from Yam Who?'s mighty Midnight Riot label for irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Yes the YM? duo have rustled up a whopping 20 summer jams to soundtrack out summer and boy are we grateful! Highlights include the hot-to-the-touch neon boogie of Qwestlife's "Streetlife" rework, HIfi Sean's campy hiNRG remake of "Shari Vari" and the deep, late 80s Brit house vibes of "Cant Get Enough" by Alan Dixon. Party all summer long!
Review: It was all the way back in 2011 when New York disco outfit Odyssey were resurrected to re-record their infamous The Journey, a piece of music which has a lifeline longer than most of you readers, and one that will probably stretch out to infinity. As they do, the ISM imprint has now decided to revive the damn thing again with a pack of worthy remixes to celebrate its 40th anniversary! Jay Sutherland's revision of "Native New Yorker" takes all the original disco charm of the tune and represents it with a heftier groove for contemporary dance floor thrills, whereas legend Al Kent shapes "Inside Out" into a mighty fine, sexified disco-soul nugget that's bound to destroy any respectable club apart. There's the original mix, featuring Romina Johnson on the vocals, of course, and a tasty instrumental.
Review: As you might extrapolate from the title, Riot In Lagos is Midnight Riot's tribute to the endearing influence of African dance music. In typical style, this is achieved through a blend of contemporary productions, sample-heavy cuts and edits of original African material. The standard is impressively high throughout, with little in the way of fluff or filler. Highlights include, but are not limited to, the inspired deep house/Afro-disco fusion of Mena & Melgado's "African Food", the rich deep house bump of Yam Who's "How We Do", the dense percussion and glistening guitars of Drop Out Orcherstra's Candido tribute, "Jin Go La", and the pitched-down, Fela-in-dub chug of Hober Mallow's "Egbe Mi O". Oh, and Jonny Walters' hypnotic Afro-boogie shuffler "Jam Bo Ree".
Review: Hit makers Rodgers and Edwards' mammothly influential Chic songs enjoy one of the finest curatorial salutes from UK disco's most discerning torch-bearer/creator Dave Lee. Digging deep into his vaults and unearthing some of the best homages, references and blatant covers, Negro join the dots and delivers some rarities you may have never heard before. Get lost in the music of She's shiny guitar strumming "Easy Money", freak out to Charanga 76's "Good Times" and get lucky with Van Jones's "Not About That"... Everyone knows about the hits and influence, most of us know how important a role Chic played in sample culture but Negro has gone the extra mile to celebrate some of the lesser known references Chic have had over the years. Freaking great.
Review: If you weren't aware already, Yam Who? is one ambitious, tirelessly active chap. First emerging at the turn of the century with some superb edits of poppy R n'b (anyone remember his boogie take on "Frontin" by Pharrell?) the Yam master has gone on to build quite the empire with his Midnight Riot label. The latest MR release reflects his nature, a new mix featuring 20 killer rollerskate jams from friends as well as some outright classics. Highlights include the glistening, chrome-plated funk of George Kelly's "Turn It Up", the sleek and synthy 80s jam "Living A Lie" by Freekwency and the slammin Linn drum freestyle action of "On The Upside (High Drummer edit)" by Wonkar.
Review: Yam Who is a man who is on a mission to uncover the coolest cult re-edit guys around and make sure the public hear them. This is usually through his own ISM imprint and it's also usually via the medium of the EP. Here, though he's gone all out to present this huge compilation album, bursting with party goodness, and boasting 24 tracks. Highlights include the '80s Child's rework of power-snare soul anthem "Let Me Be The One", the neon glow of arpeggiated synth boogie gem "Jeckermich" and Ron Basejam's deep and sensuous take on the sultry electro-soul of "Changes".
Review: Following the success of their recent cross-generational collaboration, disco edit hero Yam Who? is back producing these seminal 70s/80s disco pop giants. Odyssey now feature the soulful golden tones of Steven Collazo, son of the original singer, and here they tackle the Cheryl Lynn-esque "Together" (written with Nile Rodgers!), the smooth vintage funk of "He's Coming Back", the deep electro soul of "Sooner Or Later" (featuring Artful Dodger's Romina Johnson) and the mighty disco staple "Back To My Roots".
Review: ISM Records' two Futurism EPs have proved so popular that label boss Yam Who has decided to use them as the inspiration for an expansive compilation of previously unreleased gems. Unlike the label's other popular strand, Midnight Riot, there's always been a bit more of an open-minded, eclectic feel about the Futurism releases. This is no different. Whilst rooted in nu-disco and deep house, Futurism: Shades of Space also touches on 21st century jazz-funk (Manmademusic), bongo-laden spiritual house (Nu Ak's "Fly Away"), fluid garage (Nega Tiv's excellent "Liquid Call"), woozy Balearica (Ben La Desh and Plan DAqua), block party boogie (Questlife feat Wildstyle, Freekwency) and nu-jazz (Hamish Balfour). More importantly, the quality threshold remains high throughout.
Review: Since recording all new versions of their classic hits with producer Yam Who, Odyssey seem to have enjoyed a new lease of life. Here, they cover disco classic "Weekend" with a little help from original New York mix-master John Morales (who, as part of M+M, remixed the Class Action version). Morales provides four versions; a full vocal mix that sounds like a cross between the Phreek and Class Action versions, a delightfully cowbell-heavy Vocal Dub, and two instrumentals. Good as these mixes are, they're put in the shade by Ashley Beedle's version, which opts for a more swinging groove and some brilliant piano solo action. There's also an excellent bonus in the shape of Crispin J Glover's tough but groovy Boogie Dub of "Inside Out".
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