Review: Spanish disco don Raico Pena brings us what by our count is at least his sixth long-player - it's hard to keep up! Latterly the Rare Wiri boss has been tending to explore slightly more electronic pastures, and so it is here: after 'Barry's Intro', a Walrus Of Love monologue underpinned by shimmering synths, the rest of the album by and large falls under the Italo/cosmic umbrella, with hints of 80s pop/rock creeping in on 'Healer', 'Loved By You' providing the most obvious dancefloor moment and 'Silver' distinguishing itself through its use of a Middle Eastern-style male vocal.
Review: Rayko is one of the leading lights of the contemporary disco scene, he isn't afraid to do the cheeky booty thing now and then, and this EP's called 'Last Train To 80's' - do you really need me to tell you what it sounds like? Oh, you do? Okay then, it sounds a bit like Foreigner's 'Urgent', at first. Then it sounds a bit like Madonna's 'Get Into The Groove', before moving on to sound a bit like 'Mama' by Genesis, and then ending up sounding a bit like 'Lullaby' by The Cure. And if you haven't got the idea by now, I don't really know what else to tell you!
Review: There was a time when Balearic meant "play what you want, as long as it makes people dance"; then, somewhere along the way, we fell into a bit of a rut and it came to mean "lots of achingly lovely soundscapes replete with fey, wispy female vocals, wave sounds and fluttering flamenco guitar". This collection from Rare Wiri, then - ranging as it does from Jerome La Souris' disco-fied take on MAW classic 'To Be In Love' to the proggy throb of Cuz Electric's 'Polly', and from the nu-boogie strut of Sauco's 'Get Off' to Rayko's 'Drive', which comes on like coldwave meets yacht rock - is a good chance to remind ourselves of what 'Balearic' was originally meant to be about!
Review: Two figureheads of the contemporary disco scene join forces, a move that will already have plenty of disco buyers salivating. What they've come up with between them is a chuggy, midpaced disco groover with breathy, barely-there vox that sit back in the mix and let some very competent six-string histrionics take centre-stage instead. No obvious peaktime scream-along, this: instead it's the kind of track you drop to keep 'em moving in-between one big anthem and the next. But with Rayko and Costela involved, you can at least rest assured the production's gonna be faultless. Classy stuff, Spanish fellas!
Review: Rare Wiri's 'Retro Future Disco' series, launched in 2016, reaches its third installment - and with 10 tracks on offer, many of them coming from scene big-hitters like Alkalino, Ilya Santana, C Da Afro, Andy Buchan and of course label boss Rayko, nu-disco lovers will be salivating already! Generally speaking it's synth-tastic grooves inspired by Italo and cosmic disco that lead the charge here - though, given the talent roster, you'd expect a certain degree of stylistic variety, and you'll find such in Buchan's rawer, more funk-leaning 'Family Kings' and the soulful vibes of The Beatbroker's 'Belong 2 Me'.
Review: Rare Wiri boss Rayko puts on his re-editor's hat and revisits three dancefloor nuggets from days gone by. Opener 'Superman' reworks the 1983 album track of the same name by Michael Sembello (who's best known for his worldwide hit 'Maniac', which featured on the 'Flashdance' soundtrack). The source for electro-disco throbber 'Street Ranger' remains sadly unidentified (though there are bites from 'Planet Rock' in there), but 'Romance' is a nice easy one, being based on Eddy Grant's 'Romancing The Stone' from the eponymous motion picture. If party-hearty 80s vibes are what you seek, this is well worth checking.
Review: Rayko joins forces with vocalist Elena Hikari for a full-length on his own Rare Wiri label. Recently the prolific Spanish producer has been spending much of his time in cosmic/Italo territory, but while such sounds are indeed in evidence here, they're not the whole story: you can hear influences too from Balearica, trip-hop and straight-up disco, not to mention the kind of grown-up dance pop that the likes of Moloko and Goldfrapp used to specialise in. The presence of Ms Hikari's voice throughout ties it all together nicely, and while the 20s pop sheen may be a little too much for some, the best bits - see for instance 'Suddenly' - are truly sublime.
Review: Spanish nu-disco don Rayko seldom disappoints, and doesn't on this latest missive wherein, as the EP title suggests, the Rare Wiri boss explores disco's cosmic fringes. 'Find My Way' gets the ball rolling with its pulsating bassline and plangent guitars, before we drop down into the languid, sinuous groove of 'Crazy Dance', which gives way in the midsection to ominously shimmering synths and a female vocal chant. There's then time for a little tropically tinged quirkiness in the form of 'Jungle Out There' before the title track, a midtempo chugger with a suitably sci-fi feel and more wailing geetar, plays us out.
Review: Rayko returns to his own Rare Wiri imprint with a four-track EP that finds him spreading his musical wings a little wider than usual. The title track here is a dark n' moody electronic chugger that marries space disco stabs to ominous guitar chords, and that'd work well for warm-up or very late play. The EP's other three cuts look to the 80s for inspiration, with echoes of Germanic coldwave and EBM ('Electro Impact'), US no-wave/disco-not-disco ('Beach Culture') and out-and-out Italo-disco ('Needing Love'). Roll up the sleeves of your linen sport coat, dab some wet-look gel on your feathercut mullet and dive on in...
Review: A stylistically varied disco four-tracker here from Spanish scene stalwart Rayko, coming once again on his own Rare Wiri label. The title track is the standout, capturing that early 80s Paradise Garage vibe perfectly - think Glenn Guthrie's 'Padlock' or Whitney's 'Love Will Save The Day' - and is served up in sultry, soulful Cosmic Love Boat Re-Edit and more dubbed-out Magic Boogie Warrior Edit forms. Elsewhere, 'In Love With Love' is a more Euro-sounding affair with an Italo-ish bassline, almost folky fem vox and ear-piercing synths, while 'Need Luv' channels mid-80s boogie, but 'Your Door' is the one.
Review: What is there left to say about Rayko and his well-known ability to blur the boundaries between re-edits, remixes and original productions? The Rare Wiri founder is at it again here, delivering a retro-futurist three-tracker featuring some sizzling, mid 1980s style workouts. He begins in mind-bending drug-chug mode via 'Towers', where cosmic synth sounds, sprightly electronic melodies and glassy-eyed female vocals ride a seriously filthy bassline and delay-laden machine drums. 'Foto' is a slightly more up-tempo workout rich in tactile chords and undulating, arpeggiated bass that sounds like a cooler, club-ready instrumental riff on the Pet Shop Boys circa 1986's Please album, while 'Only Music Survives' is a sneaky re-edit of a Bobby Orlando style number smothered in rushing piano solos and cheery synthesizer lead lines.
Review: Boite Music up once again with a new selection of tracks featuring some cosmic funk and heavy beat down percussion disco from Molinar - next to Rayko's psychedelic, electro, P-funk and industrial banger, "Mezcal Punch". Spain's Ivan Fabra - known for records on Internasjonal and Codek - adds a touch of instrumental house to this EP via "Evolving Pads" with MI.RO getting a little post-punk, funk and dubby in "The Hero Is You". All board.
Review: Ever-prolific Spanish nu-disco fave Rayko recruits vocalist Elena Hikari, who also featured on last year's Tito collab 'You Are Not Alone', for a four-track EP on his own Rare Wiri imprint. 'Suddenly' itself comes in two fairly similar-sounding mixes - Cosmic Diamond's Guitar Mix is a little hazier and druggier, while Sauco's is a bit more straight-ahead. Elsewhere, 'Flying Where You Are' is all squelch, throb and Hikari's plainitive tonsils, while the midtempo 'Death From Above' is a hypnotic, pulsating groove that leans towards the Balearic, with Hikari's vox applied here in chopped 'n' looped form.
Review: After 12 years in the game, Spanish nu-disco stable have reached the 100-release milestone, and they're celebrating with an imaginatively titled compilation packing eight brand new tracks that have been handpicked by label boss Rayko. Obviously, with eight tracks from as many artists there's a fair degree of stylistic variety on offer, but the emphasis generally is on heavily electronic grooves - sometimes veering into Balearic/coffee table pastures, sometimes served with a darker, more leftfield twist. It's really more of a home listening album than a collection of club cuts, but for dancefloor purposes start with the contributions from Ilya Santana and Sauco...
Review: Rare Wiri founder Rayko serves up what is, if we're counting correctly, his fourth studio album. As such, you should have a pretty good idea what to expect by now; if not, perhaps the fact that two of those previous albums came out on Nang might give you a clue! Glossy, shimmering, synth-led nu-disco with a distinctly 80s feel is the order of the day, generally, with 'Fais Pas Amour' bringing the soulful vibes and 'Telegraph' having perhaps the most instant pop appeal, while closer 'Nightloving' stands out from the pack thanks to its slightly more down n' dirty funk edge.
Review: A few years ago, Tito Velcro, Elena Hikari and Rare Wiri founder Rayko joined forces in the studio and produced a handful of decidedly Balearic tracks. Now, having sat on Rayko's hard drive for "a few years", they're finally getting a deserved release courtesy of Citizens of Vice. "You're Not Alone" is suitably special, with swirling and evocative vocals from Hikari rising above lazy, laidback guitar riffs, dreamy chords, bubbly beats and soft-touch synth sounds, while 'Unforgettable' is a chugging, slow-motion treat that wraps sparkling synth lines and echoing guitars around echoing beats and low-slung bass. Rayko provides a slightly more club-friendly nu-disco take on 'You're Not Alone', while Ilya Santana re-imagines the same track as a sparse, sunrise-ready chunk of Balearic electrofunk.
Review: Ever-prolific Spanish nu-disco don Rayko serves up a five-tracker on his own Rare Wiri imprint which looks largely to the early 80s for inspiration. There are echoes of New York punk-funk on 'Need A Freak', for instance, while elsewhere 'Lifetime Groove' has a boogie-ish feel, 'For Your Love' has hints of both Talking Heads and Roxy Music, and the clue as to what 'Electro Material' sounds like is in the title! Perhaps the EP's most interesting cut, though, is 'Legs' - an altogether moodier, more angular affair, it could prove a surprise crossover hit on industrial/goth/EBM floors.
Review: Just in time for the seasonal change we're reminded by Super Spicy that it's still warm with Spicy Stew Vol1! Namely DaFunkah's "Olhos Coloridos" and Igor Gonya's "Bazaar", The Move adds some sweltering stringed disco to "Is This Rain" spun back out of control by The Velvet Stripes' "I Can't Hold You". Rayko surfs in with some Miami heat in the summery cool "Winners" alongside the Miami night drives synths of Monsieur Van Pratt's "The Hero". Find some old school vocal club tracks from Disco86 and something hi-NRG from Robert Ouimet & Dave Godin's "Fry My Love".
Review: Such is the boundary-blurring nature of many of Rayko's releases, it can sometimes be trickt to ascertain whether what you're listening to is a re-edit, remix or original production. We're pretty sure that the four tracks on Super Natural are all re-edits, though they sound like Rayko's added a few new musical ingredients and reworked the drums. He begins via the early Heaven 17-with-added-electrofunk-flavour flex of 'Dinner' (very 'This Ain't No Fascist Groove Thang'), before strutting his way through a blue-eyed soul take on the early '80s Prince sound on 'Freaks Bearing Gifts'. 'Automan' adds sprightly, spacey synths sound to a formidably heavy acid bassline and relaxed electro drums, while 'Waste Your Time' is a gently tooled up take on a glassy-eyed electrofunk/80s soul workout.
Review: First released back in November, Rayko's 'Rush' now returns with new mixes from Manchester's Ruff Diamond and fellow Spanish producer Parissior. Ruff Diamond's rub retains the early 80s feel of the original but smooths things out somewhat, toning down the Italo vibes and bringing the disco guitar riff further to the fore, while Parissior's take is dubbed-out and more dramatic. With the spiky, European-sounding female vocal applied more sparingly, the latter's probably the pick for less specialist floors, while Ruff Diamond's mix is the one to go for if you really wanna party like it's 1983.
Review: All aboard! Rayko takes us to the end of the line with Last Train To 80's, a three-track package destined for rainbow road. With Rayko's exotic French touch applied to "Affair" we see a slo-mo disco vibe regimented by a snapping snare drum reach the astral plane through some Van Halen-styled guitars in "Space Funk". Going deeper still is "Above", a sweet and dubby number skittled by some classic drum machine percussion, Italo disco grooves and a slight post punk, Uk synth pop edge. Tip!
Review: On his latest re-edit missive, Rayko invites us to hop aboard the "Last Train To 80's", an express service calling at three memorable stops on route. The first of those is the title track, a synth-heavy slab of wide-eyed '80s soul/synth-pop fusion rich in squelchy bass, delay-laden machine drums, clipped guitar riffs and the dreamiest of chords and melodies. The express hits top speed before the second scheduled stop, which is marked by the surging Bobby Orlando-meets-colourful-Italo-disco strut of "Machinery". A memorable journey draws to a close via "Change Your Mind", a tidy, dub mix style re-edit of an especially percussive '80s synth-pop jam that looks set to cause serious damages to dancefloors when clubs finally re-open.
Review: Spain's Rare Wiri serve up four disco/nu-disco cuts that aren't actually as Latin-leaning as the title may lead you to believe. Label boss Rayko and Fran Deeper join forces on a cover of The Steve Miller Band's classic 'Abracadabra' that has a few flamenco guitar flourishes at the start, sure, and the panpipes that grace Hotmood's 'Rapture' (NB: not the Blondie track) hint at South/Central American influences, but elsewhere Cuz Electric's 'Got The Feeling' is a sleazy electric disco-funker with an early 80s feel while Monsieur Von Pratt's 'Tonight' is sheer late 70s NYC exuberance. So check for this whether you're a Latin lover or not!
Juan Soto - "Oh Ziggy, Wil You Ever Win?" - (6:44) 113 BPM
Ilya Santana - "Obscure" - (5:08) 109 BPM
Alex Arcocha - "Take Me Out" - (6:57) 126 BPM
Aimes - "Cafe Disco" - (6:55) 118 BPM
Review: As the title suggests, Spa In Disco's latest multi-artist extravaganza is aimed aquarely at dancefloors, though in these times is more likely to inspire bedroom DJs to dance around their kitchens or living rooms. There's plenty to get the juices flowing amongst the eight tracks on show. Check first the rubbery bass, sparkling pianos and summery nu-disco vibes of Future Feelings' rushing "Bold Drink", before turning your attention to the revivalist Italo-disco chug of Sauco's "Orion" and the hard-wired, acid-flecked analogue chug of Ilya Santana's superb "Obscure". Highlights elsewhere on the EP include the revivalist electrofunk chunkiness of Juan Soto's "Oh Ziggy, Will You Ever Win", the dreamy Balearic breakdowns of Rayko's "Jungle" and the up-beat nu-disco cheeriness of Aimes' "Caf? Disco".
Review: We like to imagine Rayko rocking down the street in his sun-drenched Spanish town, blasting out tactile '80s boogie, soul and disco from an over-sized ghetto blaster slung over his shoulder. If this scene were real, then he may well be playing "Disco Thunder", the tidy re-edit that opens his latest three-track salvo. It's a fine slice of 80s disco-boogie goodness rich unclipped guitars, P-funk bass, sparkling synths, electro beats and bold female vocal snippets. If he were feeling particularly bold, he may also press play on "Touch Down", a driving disco-funk revision full of weighty punk-funk bass, crunchy Clavinet lines, spacey synths and dewy-eyed vocal snippets. Should be want to stop and do a bit of break-dancing, dreamy and delay-laden closing cut "Hypnotic" would do the trick.
Review: It had to happen eventually! Two leading lights of the Spanish nu-disco scene, Rare Wiri main man Rayko and Spa In Disco boss Fran Deeper, come together on one EP with predictably high-quality results. In its Original form, 'Desestabilidad' is a hypnotic, pulsating cut in which a big fat squelchy bassline throbs away at the bottom end while arpeggiated synths shimmer and sparkle on top. Alex Arcocha provides a dreamy, Balearic-leaning house remix, while if you need a more stripped-back n' dubby pass for small-hours play, then see the second remix, which comes from the currently on-fire Manuel Costela.
Review: Spain's Raico Pe?a drops his fourth long-player, but only the second on his own Rare Wiri imprint (albums two and three having come out on Nang Records). Opening with a near-instrumental re-edit of The Passions' classic 'I'm In Love With A German Film Star' sets the tone nicely for a long-player that wears its 80s influences proudly on its sleeve, with Syndrum beats and analogue synths much in evidence throughout. And just to drive the point home, there's an 'Axel F' reversion called 'Super Suelto En Hollywood' thrown in for good measure! If you dig that spangly, 80s-influenced nu-disco sound, you'll dig this set for sure.
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: This is a strong start to 2020 from Rayko, a Spanish producer who can usually be relied upon to deliver the goods regardless of whether he's in re-edit or original production mode. Here he's exploring the latter element of his work with two sparkling slabs of fresh nu-disco made in cahoots with vocalist Tania Haroshka. Title track "Rush" is particularly potent, with Rayko wrapping Haroshka's vocal around delay-laden, proto-house style drums, liquid synths and alien melodies. Virtual B-side "Undermotion" is almost as impressive, with Rayko expertly indulging his love of skewed, disco-fied 1980s cosmic rock/synth-pop fusion.
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: Fresh from collaborating with pal James Rod on the latest edition of their joint "Classics of Arrikitaun" series, Rare Wiri boss Rayko offers up another trio of eccentric but essential tracks that blur the boundary between re-edits and original productions. First up is "Moda", a throbbing fusion of pulsating TB-303 acid bass, hazy Spanish vocals, twinkling pianos and languid Balearic electric guitars. It comes accompanied by "Tear Down", a bombastic revision of a poodle perm-sporting 80s rock slammer rich in wild guitar solos, and the glassy-eyed soft rock/Italo disco fusion of "Independence", a fine revision of a Donner Summer end-of-night classic laden with gospel style backing vocals.
Review: Rayko returns on his own Rare Wiri label with two new rubs of the lead track from last month's EP of the same name. The Paper Street Soul Remix is quite similar in feel and structure to the original but a little less bombastic, and hence better suited to those mellower sets. Ilya Santana's reworking of the track is a little more radical, as he adds lashings of the analogue 80s synth sounds that he's known for, resulting in a mix that's built for peaktime play. This is far from new ground for Rayko, admittedly, but fans will lap it up.
Review: Nu-disco comes in many forms these days, and here scene stalwart Rayko brings us three tracks that are built more for home listening than dancefloor fun and frolics. Opener 'Hell O' gets the ball rolling with its glacial, Italo-esque chug, vocodered "if you were mine" vox and plangent electric guitar wails. 'Force Majeure' is a dreamy, laidback affair with a nagging bass riff augmented by atmospheric synth sweeps and insistent hi-hats, while closer 'CS-80' operates in not dissimilar territory but has a happier, more blissed-out air, dystopic sci-fi synth chords notwithstanding! An ideal soundtrack for lazy days and late-night herbal excursions.
Review: An 11-track compilation of modern day funk and disco here from Norway's Walking Disco stable. While Rayko and C Da Afro are both represented, the emphasis generally is on lesser-known names, but there's still plenty of quality on offer. Fingerman conjures the classier, jazzier end of 80s boogie nicely on 'Mind Fonk', while equally convincing are the mid-70s velvet-suited disco vibes of Disco Funk Spinner's 'Fascinating Strike'. Funk Hunk apes classic Moroder on 'After Dark', while label owner Saskin S bookends the collection with two slow-moving funk jams, 'Yes, You Know I'm Right' and 'My Pnoop'. Classy stuff.
Review: For their latest tidy trip into re-edit territory, Rare Wiri has turned to the undisputed talents of synthesizer-loving nu-disco don Ilya Santana and label founder Rayko. The latter offers up some chunky, delay-laden P-funk thrills in the shape of "Revenge of the Rare Wiri", before returning later in the EP with the eyes-closed rock style guitar solos, thickset synth bass and swirling female backing vocals of poodle perm-sporting mid-80s MTV wig-out "Demons". Santana charges off on an Italo-disco flex on the arpeggio-driven, synth-sporting sleaziness of "Angie", while closing cut "Dreams" is a pitched-down shuffler laden with robotic vocoder vocals, bold synthesizer riffs and more pulsating, arpeggio style bass.
Review: In normal circumstances, we'd be a little worried if someone served us "Golden Cream". We know we're safe in the hands of DJ/producer James Rodriguez though, with the compilation representing the cream of the crop from the Spanish producer's Golden Soul Records imprint. There's naturally much to enjoy across the 17-track collection, with Rodriguez opting for cuts that flit between kaliedoscopic nu-disco headiness (Italo Brutalo's remix of his and Disco Doubles' "White Sands"), Clavinet-happy acid disco chunkiness ("Crazy Bass" by The Players and DJ Steevo), elastic electrofunk with a Middle Eastern flavour (Dim Zach's remix of JB Dizzy's "Transistor"), driving late night intensity (Los Fugazi's "Afterglow (Flxxx Remix)", peak-time piano fun (Get Down Edits glistening remix of Slync's loved-up "Neon") and rushing disco goodness ("Tradlord" by Call Me Classic).
Review: Rayko and James Rod's "Classics of Arrikitaun" re-edit series consistently hits the mark, something we attribute to their often left-of-centre choice of source material. This seventh volume in the series is naturally both on-point and action packed. Rayko kicks things off with the brilliantly pitched-down P-funk chug of "Dude" - all baggy electric piano riffs, squelchy electronics and hazy talkbox vocals - before returning to action later in the EP via the ricocheting drum machine hits, eyes-closed guitars and swirling chords of 1980s alternative synth-pop cut "Night of Dragons". James Rod explores similar sonic territory on chugging Balearic synth-pop revision "Hi Ho Te", while "Love It" is a bounding, sun-kissed version of a mid-80s, post-boogie pop hit.
Review: Every 12 months, Fingerman's prolific Hot Digits imprint serves up an epic compilation entirely made up of exclusive, previously unheard re-edits, reworks and original productions. They're invariably excellent and this year's edition - the fifth in total - is even more epic than usual. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing amongst the dancefloor focused 32-track selection, from the throbbing Italo-disco style electronic sleaziness of Peza's "I Gotta Little Love" and the bouncy, acid-flecked cheeriness of Limpdisco's "Rush Hour", to the angular nu-disco heaviness of Andy Kidd's "The Dope Cube", the sparkling 80s boogie goodness of LUP INO's "Don't Stop Fooling" and and disco-funk-goes-house pump of Fingerman's "Family Ties". Keep an eye out too for rock solid rubs by Dr Packer, Chuggin Edits, Rayko and Andy Buchan.
