Review: Arriving just in time for the summer season, Hot Digits delivers a compilation that is tailor made to soundtrack lazy, hazy days. Even Funkier's "Feel So Good Inside" is an irresistible, funk-fuelled disco groove, while Ben Jamin's "Handle" inhabits a similar space. Soaked in wailing guitar and soulful vocals, it's a wonderfully infectious track. Both Andy Buchan and P-Sol raise the tempo with string-filled disco workouts, while Fray Bentos' "Danced To Death" offers a more electronic take on this sound. The compilation does veer towards house on occasion - most impressively with the subtle drum builds and chord progressions on Down Under Disco's "On My Mind". In the main though, Year Nine impresses most when it draws on disco and funk influences, such as the raucous party jam that is label owner Fingerman's collaboration with Chewy Rubs, "Block Party Bad Boy".
Review: Act of Sedition's popular 'Perfect Pitch' compilation series returns for a third innings, this time offering up "loose grooves for lazy days". In practice, that means re-edits and light-touch reworks of laidback soul, disco and boogie gems, some with subtle new instrumental touches. There's plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the locked-in, delay-laden dub disco chug of 'Olhidos Coloridos' by Ben Jamin, and the breezy, morning-fresh AOR soul of Bully Boy's 'Baltimore (Refix)', to the languid but floor-friendly rework of a stone cold classic that is Mikeandtess's 'Preacher', and the carnival-ready summer samba shuffle of 'Bossa Soul (Timmy 7's Edit)' by Sucka Productions. Throw in slightly more up-tempo contributions from heavyweights DJ Steef, Lego Edit and Frank Argrario, and you have another must-check set of reworks.
Review: Slightly Transformed bring us the latest installment in their occasional compilation series, which follows on from 'Summer Numbers 2019' and 'Summer Numbers 2020'. Regular visitors to this page should need no introduction to the respected London-based label, and with the album packing a whopping 26 tracks, there's certainly no space to give you a full blow-by-blow rundown: suffice to say that whether you're a fan of sparkling boogie nouveau, sumptuous string-drenched disco, deep 'n' groovy house, headnoddin' Balearica or any combination thereof, this is a comp you're gonna want to check for. Standouts for yours truly include Kiosko 33's Chuck Roberts-biting 'Theory Of House' and Kristoff MX's 'Funk With Me', but you'll find your own I'm sure...
Review: With 23 tracks to choose from, there's no faulting the value for money offered by this summer compilation from London's Slightly Transformed label. Such an extensive tracklist also offers plenty of scope for stylistic variety, with tracks ranging from laidback, groovesome boogie/soul jams like opener 'What Are We Gonna Do' to the mellow Balearic haze of 'Summer In The City', via the strident 80s attitude of 'Edgy', the looping filter disco of 'Something About Love', the authentic-sounding Blaxploitation funk of 'Mac And Carly Go Uptown', the Zapp/Cameo-isms of 'Firebabe' and even a bossa nova cover of Bill Withers. Serve poolside, accompanied by several mojitos, for maximum impact!
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: Going by the volume of tracks on show, it would be fair to say that Masterworks Music's "Bag of Tricks" is not a little handbag, but more like a Mary Poppins style bottomless carpetbag. The label's latest rummage through its seemingly endless contents has been a successful one, with the 20 showcased cuts including a wealth of fine fusions of disco, house, boogie, electro and 80s soul. It's uniformly dancefloor-focused, with highlights including the Afro-house/disco-tech fusion of JB Dizzy, the driving, spaced-out disco-house grooves of Mike Woods, the loose-limbed, off-the-wall edits of Chewy Rubs, the sweet disco-soul bounce of RocknRolla Soundsystem, the delay-laden synth sing-along styles of Rayko and the hot-to-trot brilliance of Downunder Disco.
Review: Since debuting a few years back, Oldchap has delivered some quietly impressive re-edits and original productions. Here he makes his bow on Slightly Transformed following previous outings on such labels as Editorial, Boutade Musique and Puro Music. First up is "What's The Use", a hustling swamp funk revision where dubbed-out, filtered instrumental sections make way for chunkier slow house passages in which Oldchap showcases the killer guitar, bass and electric piano solos featured on the disco-funk track that inspired it. Similarly impressive is "Watching You", which sees the self-proclaimed wrinkly gently tool up and dub-out a rasping chunk of Blaxploitation-era funk.
Review: When the sun's out, you can depend on Editorial to get their musical guns out. Now the weather's improved and guess what? Here come the Editorial crew with this sizzling collection of five sunkissed edits - all geared to hanging out and having fun in the Great Outdoors. Highlights include the plucky, guitar echoes, Fender Rhodes shimmers and rolling bass of "Tricity" by Matt Hughes, the poolside cocktail house vibes of "Disco Shake" by C Da Afro and the touchy-feely Balearic headnodder "Damn Your Eyes" by Old Chap.
Review: Editorial love slo-mo disco grooves and their latest comp, Funk Ride, is packed full them. Matt Hughes kicks off the Balearic party with elasticated basslines, bongos and poolside sunset vibes on "Biodigital Jazz", Joseph Terruel, ups the tempo a fraction for the dreamy boogie of "Basics" and Woodhead whips out the brass section and tight guitar licks for "Hopeless Situation". Elsewhere Napoleon drops the fuzzy funk loops on the hazy boogie jam "Little Sailor" whilst we drift away on the blue-sky chords of Old Chap's "I've Got The Groovy Touch" and Feza closes with the compressed live funk anthem "Discotizier".
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