Review: Spanish label Play Pal Music continues to deliver rock-solid, compilation style outings via the excellent 'Pals' series, which here reaches its eighth instalment via an eight-track blend of "robotic, exotic, hypnotic and sinister grooves". Rising star Thomass Jackson kicks things off via the guttural, eccentric house throb of 'Sexual Camel', before AckerMan delivers the acid-smothered peak-time dark disco exotica of 'Natura', and Martin Martin & Cali Burton join forces on Arabic-influenced new wave workout 'Weyno'. Elsewhere, we get more pulsating, arpeggio-driven dancefloor moodiness courtesy of Mmylo ('The Curve'), Hardway Brothers style psychedelic chug (Gunce Aci), Balearic niceness (Manner of Speaking), EBM-inspired melancholic muscularity (Sid Le Rock) and lo-fi, synth-laden melodiousness (Beartrax).
Review: If alien, otherworldly club workouts with an exotic and intoxicating twist set your pulse racing, you need Thomas Jacksson's latest EP in your life. For proof, check opener 'Belgian UFO Wave', where progressively more psychedelic and intense 'acid' motifs and trippy, post-bleep electronic melodies dance atop a raw, stabbing bassline and hypnotic, locked-in beats. Or, for that matter, the hallucinatory electronic riffs, restless beats and mind-mangling TB-303 lines of 'Young Woman in Kashmir'. The intoxicating, enveloping early morning darkness continues on the weirder and more bass heavy 'Aphex Twinkie', while 'Back In Guadalajara' is a moody and stomping workout that subtly builds in waves.
Review: For the second volume in the label's occasional Calypso Cult series, Multi Culti has snapped up two tracks apiece from "warriors of chug" (as they put it) Inigo Vontier and Thomass Jackson. Jackson steps up first, peppering a stretched out groove with trippy effects and hallucinatory electronics on the deliciously wonky 'Big Plastic Room', before opting for a bass-heavy, new beat-goes-to-the-moon vibe on the pleasingly out-there 'Slow Train'. Vontier instinctively pitches up the tempo and reaches for some ritualistic percussion sounds (think marimba melodies, oddball hand percussion and more) on the sparse psychedelic disco throb of 'Jungle Tungle', before reverting to 98 BPM on the psyobilin-doused weirdo dub of 'Hipocampos'. A brilliantly wayward EP all told.
Review: To celebrate their eighth birthday, Play Pal Music has delved deep into its archives and put together two retrospectives of back catalogue tracks, "that sound as fresh now as when they were released". There's plenty to savour on this second volume, from the dubby, dark Italo-disco throb of Alda's 'Night Wolf', and the atmospheric, slow-motion chug of 'Cosmic' by Did Virgo, to the breaks-goes-new wave sleaziness of Fabio Me Llaman Soltero's strangely exotic 'Morena, Moreno (TYU REemix)' and the psych-rock-goes-kraut-disco hedonism of Mushrooms Project's 'Sake'. Throw in similarly impressive outings from Monoblock & PSLKTR (as remixed by Curses), Teniente Castillo and Vox Low, and you have a genuinely essential collection of inspired, off-kilter cuts.
Review: Some 13 months after the label's last round-up of cuts from associated "Rotten Citizens", Rotten City Files serves up a third edition of its popular annual compilation series. There's loads of music to set the pulse racing throughout, from the opening slo-mo chug of Roe Deers' suitably psychedelic "Hunting" and the throbbing, strobe-friendly pulse of Thomass Jackson's exotic "Copcacabana's Magic", to the New Wave era, post-punk hum of D.Y.O.R's "Devil's Way" and the Weatherall-friendly dark room mysticism of 'Do You Know" by Skelesys. We're also rather enamoured by the reverberating, 4/4 electro/dub disco fusion of Marco Dionigi's "Listen To My Beat".
Review: It's not often we get an insight into the electronic music of South America, so all hail the arrival of Calypso from Mexico's Inigo Vontier and Argentina's Thomass Jackson. The tracks featured certainly strike a unique chord, with Mendrix weaving a seductive, noirish tale full of brooding guitar and slow ticking drums, while "Colossio" takes on a darkwave tone on the wonderfully creepy "Esta En Mi". The label bosses carries on with Jackson's "Fantomas" sporting a sharper dancefloor sensibility without ever resorting to obvious tropes. Vontier rounds the EP out with the weirdo boogie throwdown of "Namaste", sure to pique the interest of anyone locked into the sound coming out of the speakers.
Review: For the uninitiated, Thomass Jackson is a particularly hirsute producer from Argentina, who has previously released eccentric fusions of disco, boogie, new wave, nu-disco and house on Electrique Music, Legendary Sound Research and Gomma. Here he pops up on Marseille-based La Dame Noir, delivering three more stylish, eccentric, and hugely atmospheric compositions. Choose between the dark Italo-goes-nu-disco wobble of "One Of Them People", the A Love From Outer Space style cosmic chug of "Simon", and the slightly more house-centric weird disco of "Think About C". A&N remix the latter, doing their best impression of Scandolearic-era Todd Terje, while The Golden Bug delivers an even creepier, pitched-down revision of "One Of Them People".
Review: Having focused exclusively on digital releases for its first six years, leading Mexican disco/house/Italo fusionist label Electrique has decided to press this 80th EP to vinyl. Happily, it's also available as a digital EP. An all-star concoction featuring various label regulars, it variously touches on bleep-heavy deep house (La Royale and Pato Watson's bleep-heavy "Gravy"), dirty analogue electronics (a trippy and fuzzy offering from Max Jones), rubbery machine funk (Gameboyz), throbbing heads-down fare (Bufi, Eddie Mercury) and Latin-tinged analogue disco (Juan Soto & Rocco Desentis). Best of all, though, is Thomas Jackson's Lee Scratch Perry-sampling "For The Junkies", a prize slice of fuzzy, Prins Thomas-ish organic disco.
Review: Social Assassin first appeared nearly a year ago as a B-side on a single by this Argentine producer, and now it's back in remixed form (actually in six remixed forms to be precise). There's a variety of approaches taken here, our faves being Mijo aka La Royal's pulsating Italo disco version, Fernando's depressed Moroder take and Did Virgo's super slow body music grinder. Great tune, great to have it back!
Review: Argentine producer Thomass Jackson has previously impressed with his warm, rubbery, tactile blends of disco, electrofunk, deep house and nu-disco. Following acclaimed outings on Electrique Music and Legendary Sound Research, he pops up on Play Pal with a varied quartet of likeable cuts. Opener "You Better Hold Me" is starry and evocative, lacing tasteful electric pianos and sweet jazz guitars over a particularly rubbery synth bassline. "The Affair" delivers a dose of chugging, cut-up '80s soul with a P-funk twist, while "Percolator" sounds like Spirictcatcher after a night with Roger Troutman. Finally, "Social Assassin" delves deeper into alternative territory, coming on like some long lost Factory Records B-side circa 1986.
Review: The last installment of Editorial's 'Waxed' series seems like quite a while ago, but now part six is here and it's worth the wait. The mo-mo grooves of the previous edition have been replaced by a more euphoric boogie vibe. "Power Of Funk" features catchy brass work, seriously elastic bass and a super anthemic chorus. Elsewhere we also get restrained electro-boogie "Lose Control" and a meandering '70s boudoir grind called "Soft Landing". However it's the sublime glistening loops of "Lucy Called" that's got us truly spellbound.
Review: Teniente Castillo's Madrid-based disco/nu-disco imprint Play Pal Music got off to the perfect start last year, delivering a sweet compilation of re-edits, reworks and original tracks that found its way into the playlists of many top selectors. This follow-up repeats the formula, delivering a wide range of goodness, from the string-drenched nu-Balearic goodness of Trip Guitar's "El Vuelto", to the baggy, horn-heavy, filter-sporting disco-funk revivalism of Disco Tech's "Let Me". Highlights are plentiful, from the superb re-edits of Get Down Edits (whose touchy-feely "Holdin' Me Back" is excellent) and Beaten Space Probe (check "Gotta Play Funk", with its woozy synth doodles), to the heavy electrofunk of Juan Laya and Thomass Jackson.
Review: Usually found lurking in the halls of the Heartbeat Revolutions HQ, nu-disco troubadour Thomass Jackson has, this time, teamed up with relatively new imprint Legendary Sound Research for "The Sound". The title track is a chic excursion into a world of tight funk guitar licks, fluid basslines, and Studio 54 strings. Our favourite mix sees Disko Selectors add a killer electro-disco bassline a la Metro Area and a dark mix is also provided for deeper early hours soirees. Extra tracks "Sat It Good" and "One Atmosphere Shot" supply slick disco-house and space-bounce kick respectively.
Review: The Editorial re-edit label have a deep sense of purpose and that is to hunt down as many top notch spliced and diced classics and release them quick smart. With over 20 releases in just a few years, they must be pretty good at their job. DJ Steef begins proceedings with the slow and loungey "Rising South Coast", before the temperature rises with the guitar-driven and string-laden funk of DJ Moar's 'Funky French' really starts the party. Things get slow and saucy again though, on Hotbox's "Can't Get Enough" before we get in a sublime disco-house spin with Thomass Jackson's "Luv Doctor". Things end in an upbeat fashion with "Music Is Love" an early 70s slow funk anthem re-tweaked by Ed Wizard and Disco Double Dee.
Review: It seems that we're not the only ones to have noticed the recent rise of Mexican disco-not-disco, and more specifically the anything-goes fusion antics of the Electrique Musique label. ISM head honcho Yam Who has been paying close attention, and here compiles a showcase featuring tracks the label and related Mexican artists. There's much to admire, from the wide-eyed Balearic disco shuffle of Zombies in Miami and the head-nodding, toe-tapping house shuffle of Mr Jones, to the post-punk electrofunk of Avanti and dayglo Prince grooves of Thomass Jackson. Listing all the highlights is near impossible, so just dive in - you won't be disappointed.
Review: Sydney-based scalpel fiend Superbreak - AKA DJ/producer Kosta Ellis - has achieved something of a rare feat: running a digital-only re-edit imprint that's turning heads. Here, he offers up a flavour of things to come with an extended EP of tracks from many of the label's regular contributors. Heion and 78 Edits provide some groovy, house-friendly groovery, Edinburgh-based B-Jam provides the obligatory soulful slow dance number ("Down Baby"), and Thomass Jackson [sic] delivers a jaunty, darting, delay-laden take on a forgotten disco gem. There's also a heavyweight, filter-laden percussion jam from Brother J and a cheeky rework of "Whole Lotta Love" from Ellis and pal Brevil.
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