Review: A 12-track compilation here from French label Plaizir Muzic, who describe their musical remit simply as "funk and soul". Rather than mining original 70s grooves for inspiration, though, most of the tracks featured here lean most strongly to the 80s boogie/electrofunk side of things - check out the Syndrum sounds on Jason Core's 'Like A Jerk' for starters! It has to be said that, for yours truly, some of the vocals veer a little too close to pop/R&B for comfort, but there's still much to enjoy here - not least Toby O'Connor's 'Smokey Joe's', which pays homage to the Googie Rene Combo's 1966 mod/jazz classic 'Smokey Joe's La La'.
280 West - "Lift Him Up" (feat Diamond Temple - Mark's Ol' Skoo mix Re-edit) - (7:30) 125 BPM
Review: If, like us, you missed the weeklong poolside party that was the Miami Winter Music Conference 2019, this killer compilation from Street King should be essential listening. There's not enough room to highlight all of the headline-grabbing cuts, but we'd suggest turning your attention to the sensual late night deepness of Art of Tones remix of P'Taah's "Dance Until We Die", the sun-kissed sax lines and retro-futurist U.S deep house grooves of Angelo Ferrari's "Decide To Study (Angelo Ferreri Remix)", the sun burst brilliance of Stacy Kidd's Latin house epic "Groove Odyssey", the hypnotic early morning stomp of Cevin Fisher's "The Message" and the angular analogue electronics and drifting vocal samples of DJ Behrouz's brilliant remix of Mood II Swing's "Closer".
Review: Clocking in at 50 tracks, Tour shows that the German label isn't just about naive trance melodies and rickety, minimal beats. It starts with the deep ambience of Tominic's "Shine", which over the course of nine minutes moves into bleepy, minimal pulses. In contrast, there's the dubby house of Paul Bart's "Call It Anything You Want" and David Heckhausen's "Hang Zur Sonne Paul", a clicky, mid-tempo groove covered in organic textures. Despite this, trance fans won't be left disappointed; there's the buzzsaw bass and organic textures of Theo Meier's "Eichhorn", the gentle, spiralling melodies of Peet's seductive "Timers" and best of all, the brittle rhythm and day-glo hooks on Reinier Zonneveld's "Gevorderd Spelers".
