Review: As Phra continues to fly the Crookers flag solo, Southern Fried have compiled some of the best remixes they ever commissioned. As you'd expect from Southern Fried, it's a great spread that stretches across the board: Riva Starr's stupendously funky disco bassline on "Royal T"; loopy, wonky underground house (Jess Rose's rub of "Put Your Hands On Me"); seismic acid techmongery (Magik Johnson's take on "Remedy") and sexy filtered deep house (AlexKid's remix of "Remedy") No corner of the dancefloor is left uncovered.
Review: Hamburg's Stefan Kozalla aka DJ Koze returns in 2018 with his new opus entitled Knock Knock on his Pampa imprint - which exists outside of trend and influence. An unholy mixture of techno with disco, soul, hip hop and psychedelia - there are even wafts of easy listening and indie rock. Special guests include Bon Iver, Speech from Arrested Development, Kurt Wagner of Lambchop, Pampa's very own Sophia Kennedy and the fine vocal talents of Jose Gonzalez. The first single taken from the album is "Illumination" which features the inimitable Roisin Murphy from Moloko. A lo-slung, deep and soulful journey featuring subtle filtered disco house elements and it's very stylish indeed.
Review: Thirteen years on and this partnership between Boris and Roisin keeps on giving. Delivered as five startling reversions, each rub surges and struts with contemporary disco delight: Bini & Martini lay down two twists (one jacking, one pumping) Chocolate Puma's original 2001 remix still slams with turn-of-the-century cheekiness, Fusion Groove Orchestra opt for a slinkier soulful affair while Sir Piers & Ed Funk slap up a chugging mix complete with wah wah guitars and lavish strings. Quintessential house music: You can never get enough of this!
Never Enough (Ian Pooley Main Change) - (8:03) 123 BPM
Never Enough (Ian Pooley vocal dub) - (6:55) 123 BPM
Never Enough (Mousse T & Boris Dlugosch Odd Couple mix) - (7:42) 121 BPM
Never Enough (Manuel Tur remix) - (6:58) 125 BPM
Never Enough (Manuel Tur dub) - (7:15) 125 BPM
Never Enough (Paskal & Urban Absolutes mix) - (6:27)
Never Enough (Drop Out Orchestra remix) - (6:50) 122 BPM
Review: 12 years down the line and Dlugosch and Murphy's "Never Enough" keeps on giving. To celebrate its current relevance in house music Dlugosch and his cronies at Peppermint have commissioned a wealth of sparkling remixes... Jesse Rose applies his trademark robust strut, Pooley goes deeper for a warped, techy groove that makes great use of the strings on the breakdown, Dlugosch and Mousse T get all 80s electro boogie on our asses, Tur strips the situation right back to a sexy techno roller, Paskal & Urban Absolutes get seriously cosmic while Drop Out Orchestra rewind to the 70s with an authentic, organic, un-quantised disco stomp. A great collection of remixes for all situations.
Review: Having already been united on record before - after Dlugosch's remix of the Murphy-vocalled "Sing It Back" by Moloko went astronomical - the pair have reconvened for this similarly disco-influenced collaboration. Led by Murphy's swooping, Beth Gibbons-recalling vocals, Dlugosch supplies Chic-like string in abundance on this glitterball-friendly funky house mainstay.
Review: Got your rose-tinted glasses ready? No? Well go and get a pair. Here Morales takes us back (way back) to a time when house was golden. Yeah, we know it's still golden, but this does do a great job of looking back to the classic, formative era when bullet proof coatings of disco could still be found on every house record. Flourishing piano flares, spine-shuddering vocals (courtesy of Roisin Murphy no less) and a "Where Love Lives" style hook, this is one homage all DJs could do with. Plus there are heaps of remixes from David himself (including an album version and Directors Cut version for the rather raunchy video), Dripmasters (serious Samba action alert!), Franco De Mulero & Hector Romero (deep disco vibes), DJ Meme (calling all percussion heads!) and Federico Scavo, who offers the strongest remake of the bunch, calling up references of both early warehouses and modern day Ibiza. Go for golden!
Review: Roisin Murphy's Mi Senti EP, released earlier this year on Vinyl Factory, was something of a surprise. It saw the former Moloko chanteuse cover a range of classic Italian songs. It's already been remixed once by Psychemagik, The All Seeing I and Severino, and here gets a second rework treatment coyrtesy of JD Twitch and Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi. The latter duo do a particularly good job in turning "Ancora Tu" into a crunchy, guitar-laden chunk of out-there space disco brimming with Cosmic Club attitude. Twitch tries a different approach, recasting "In Sintesi" as an atmospheric, string-laden torch song, albeit one blessed with analogue-sounding electronics and soft focus acid house beats.
Review: Last year's Pink Collection, the first in Eskimo's Colour Series of compilations, delivered a sumptuous blend of baggy Balearica, synth-heavy nu-disco, electronic deep house and wide-eyed indie-dance. Here, the long-running Belgian label repeats the formula, serving up 12 new and recent cuts from a wide-range of artists. Highlights come thick and fast, from the touchy-feely goodness of Freeform Five's Roisin Murphy hook-up "Levinthian" and the atmospheric nu-disco-goes-acid of Volta Cab's subdued "Smoke Some Kill", to the guitar-laden Balearic house of Peak Oak and company's "Nova", and Elke Kleijn's sensual, string-laden deep house epic "A Tale of Two Lovers".
