Review: San Francisco-based collective 40 Thieves draft in a couple of very special guests here. Cinnamon Joyce, formerly known as Joyce Jones, was a member of Philly stalwarts First Choice and sang on classics like 'Armed And Extremely Dangerous' and 'Smarty Pants', while Gary Davis was an in-house musician for Patrick Adams and Peter Brown's equally legendary P&P Records. Which explains the sheer quality that drips from every pore of 'The Gift', a slo-mo groover sitting somewhere between soul, Balearica and nu-disco that's augmented by some gorgeous, garage-y organs and supplied with dub, beats and radio mixes for maximum playability.
Review: Some seriously sweet ass edits again courtesy of the discerning Discoalition authority, a label based in Bordeaux (France) and managed by head honcho SEEN ON TV. First up A Digital Needle takes the razor to Bruni Pagan's 1979 digger's delight "Fantasy", UK heroes Imagination get an ergonomic edit too, but for DJ use only with Rare Cuts' version of their 1981 classic "So Good". Finally "One And Only" by Coutel has those feel good, summertime, soul disco vibes with a loop taken from a particular classic but we don't kiss and tell on this one: keep diggin'!
Review: A truly international affair here, as Amsterdam's Bordello A Parigi label bring us an EP featuring cuts from UK producers Ali Renault and Senor Chugger and Hungary's CT Kidobo, as well as the mysterious Back From The Wave & Umatik. Electronic disco with a strong 80s influence is the border-defying, unifying factor, with 'Galactic' providing a lively, pulsating opener, 'Smell The Ashes' bringing the sci-fi flavour, 'Endless Crossing' having hints of prog and 'Racing Thoughts' diving into the Kraftwerk playbook for inspiration. Stylistically coherent but with enough variety not to get boring, this is well worth checking.
Review: Named after an 80s French cartoon, this single is the product of Turkish producer Alico and his shady cohort, Cagri. The tune is a straight-up salad of vintage Eurodisco with lashings of Italo dressing. Evoking the likes of 'Droid' by Mito, Vangelis and anything by Hipnosis, this laconic sprawling synth-fest is saved from total retroville by a crisp modern electro-house bounce. Best of the remixes here are the more percussive Ray Mang mix and the slo-mo italo/Balearic workout of A Copycat and Martin Brodin's version.
Review: French veteran Art of Tones AKA Llorca teams up with Parisian jazz-funk outfit Chatobaron, and 'Flight Of The Comet' is a very apt EP cos the results are out of this world! 'Ban The Disco' (and its accompanying Drum Tool remix) and 'La Chatte Au Baron' operate at the jazzier, classier end of the disco spectrum, while the title cut with its stop-start rhythm and the lounge-tinged 'Pendant Ce Temps-La A Vera Cruz' probably sit more comfortably under the jazz-funk umbrella, but what all five tracks share is a musicality and sophistication that puts most of the week's other releases to shame. Very fine fare indeed.
Atella - "In The Days Of The Green" (45P mix) - (7:55) 111 BPM
Review: Bergen-based twosome Atella has previously been praised for delivering music that draws inspiration from fellow Northern Norwegian artists of old, most notably Erot and Royksopp. We can certainly here some of the latter in the bubbly Scandolearic/synth-pop fusion of "Anyone Out There?", where Cal's breezy vocals wrap themselves around a throbbing, arpeggio bassline and glistening synthesizer melodies. There's a slightly more cosmic, but no less cheery, feel to the EP's other track, "In The Days of the Green (45P Mix)", which boasts extended synthesizer melodies rising above a dreamy nu-disco backing track. Quietly impressive stuff, all told.
Review: DJ Kaos seems to keep Jolly Jams' most "hush-hush" material for the label's occasional Promo Only series. There's plenty to get excited about on this latest digital installment. For example, you'll struggle to find a more on-point early Chicago house edit than Baffopizza's sterling, gospel-tinged effort - all sweaty, jackin' beats, chunky bass and swirling vocal samples - though Kaos's own effort, a deliciously druggy, basement-bothering affair - pushes it close. Pete Herbert's contribution bubbles away impressively via waves of acid and dubbed-out synth lines, while Leo Mas and Fabrice's remix of Conor's contribution effortlessly flits between cut-up electro drums and blasts of rubbery, punk-funk grooves.
Review: Hot on the heels of Tru Thoughts' recent Tasty Beats compilation, the firmly party orientated label has rustled up a tenth instalment of their Party Breaks series. Now it's time to shake it up at every house party you can find this summer! Highlights include Bang N Mash's funky old skool Eric B mash-up "I Got Soul", Chudy's "So What?" which intertwines the Tom Tom Club and Destiny's Child to sizzling effect and finally DJ Clairvo who fuses big beat, ragga and vintage organ stabs on "Here Me Now All Massive". Boom!
Review: After pit stops in Cuba and Kenya, Auntie Flo and Esa's Highlife World Series lands in Uganda for its closing edition. Recorded over various stints at the East Africa music conference DoaDoa in Jinja in the past year, these four tracks find our intrepid pair of travelling fusionists working with musicians from Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa. First up is "DoaDoa14" by Christopher and Swahili Alley, named in honour of its genesis at that year's conference and a fine journey through spiritual African house music. Next up Esa shows off his prowess at extended dancefloor burners with a superb twisting remix of Santuri's "Min Kula" whilst the B side features Bantu Clan Vs Sarabi's "Africa Ni Leo" in both extended and remixed by Behr form. A fine end to a consistently enlightening series.
Review: Shir Khan unleashes another thrill-a-minute selection of disco-inspired workouts to get the dancefloor swinging. Bas Roos and Guy Steve kick things off with the good-time breeze of "Piece of Soul", where jazzy electric piano solos and ricocheting vocal samples ride a lolloping disco-house groove, before Freiboitar makes a stomping, French Touch style disco-house monster out of samples from one of the best-loved disco records of all time. Over on the flipside, Claus Caspar and Steve Philips whip their shirts off, reach for the poppers and lay down a stupendous slice of muscular late night disco-house. Featuring heavy, Moroder style arpeggio bass, razor-sharp disco strings and meaty house loops, "Sex Sells" is something of a sweaty party-starter.
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