Review:
By now, we should all know what to expect from each new album in Joey Negro's "Remixed With Love" series, namely fantastic new revisions of classic disco, boogie, soul, electro and jazz-funk classics created using the original multi-track tapes. This third volume naturally contains a few inspired revisions of well-known cuts - a riotous take on The Fatback Band's "Do The Bus Stop", an astonishing, dubbed-out version of the Temptations' "Law of the Land" and a soaring, life-affirming rearrangement of Patrice Rushen's "Never Give You Up" included - but also some suitably smart tweaks of lesser-known gems. These include a sublime revision of the APX's '80s gem "Loose Yourself To The Groove" and an insatiable take on Mass Production's "Shante" full of jammed-out electric piano solos and rubbery electric bass.
Review:
In which the prolific Russian disco dinner ladies known as V's Edits serve up four more helpings of re-edit goodness. KC & The Sunshine's sax-tastic 'Black Water Gold' gets a little added Afro flava on 'Black Waters Hold' (without detracting from the original's superb jazzual musicality), Bob Marley's 'Is This Love' is reinvented as the party-starting 'Love And Treat You Right', Marvin Gaye gets the treatment on 'Funky Space' while 'Little Enough' (credited to Keith, source unknown) is an ultra-laidback jazz-funk groove built for warm-up or summer afternoon play.
Review:
Within the UK Bass scene, there are few who can be held in higher acclaim that Brighton's own Taiki Nulight, who has been at the forefront of bass music for pretty much the entirety of the scene's modern existence. This album showcases everything that the man is about, from the UKG inspired flavours of the title track 'Murky Manor', to the more futuristic and experimental stylings of 'Iconic', alongside Dread MC. Other highlights include the circular percussive movements of the 'The Business', the tearout tones of 'Primal' and of course the three high profile collaborations alongside fellow bass heavyweights: AC Slater, Chris Lorenzo and Cause & Affect.
Review:
Just seeing the words 'Phenomenal Handclap Band' and 'Ray Mang' on the same release will be enough to get disco lovers' musical tastebuds tingling, and the results of this heavy-hitting hook-up - which rumour has it trails a new album - don't disappoint. Across four mixes (plus a Radio Edit) he variously pulls out the track's disco, gospel and house-y elements, with his Disco Mix the choice for straight-up disco floors, the Special Mix the pick for the Balearic crew and the Reprise the one for house clubs, with an Instrumental Mix also supplied to cater for anyone who finds the vox a little OTT.
Review:
Bristol's Addison Groove is back and getting well funky on this one! The Groove boss and 50Weapons staple gets some low slung party vibes into full effect on "F1nk" - a wicked tool that's looped to perfection. Next up, he goes deeper into the night on the hypnotic and very exotic polyrhythmicity of "Sudoeste" which features good mate Bim Sanga - it follows up their excellent Where Are The People EP on Bags Inc. last year. This one was our pick of the two and is perfect for those heads-down or 'get weird' moments on the dancefloor. Tip!
Review:
In the words of Paper Disco, episode six of their floor-friendly "Trash The Wax" series delivers "plenty of party pumping offerings". Predictably, proof of the set's club-ready status arrives via Hi-FI Sean's compilation opening remix of IPG v Hot Toddy's "Slow Motion Cowboy", which delivers a funk-fuelled riot of delay-laden guitars, funk rock attitude and sizzling dub disco grooves. Naturally, the rest of the collection is similarly strong. Highlights include a rare production outing from Bill Brewster (the throbbing, off-kilter Italo-disco him of "4 U Blue"), the Balearic Italo-disco bliss of Richard Norris's "Glow", the dreamy, arpeggio-driven nu-disco warmth of Kooky and Damoon's "Walk Back Into My Life" and Sheffield stalwart Solid State's deep, epic revision of "Remnants" by Speed For Lovers.
Review:
Alongside the likes of yourself, you can bet that Mark Knight & Co. will be also be a known presence at Amsterdam Dance Event in 2018 and indeed they'll be well prepared with the appropriate tools - as this killer compilation proves. Highlights on this annual edition come from Maceo Plex - whose remix of "Nervous Tics" (feat Holly Walker) by hot British duo Maribou State takes you to the dark side, label chief Knight's massive rework of Sterling Void's eternal anthem "It's Alright" (feat Paris Brightledge) will surely get the hands in the air, as will Adesse Versions' edit of legend Kerri Chandler's "The Boom Can" and many others over the collection's five dozen tracks. To take you through every part of your trip, the album comes complete with three perfectly crafted and perfectly primed mixes.
Review:
The clue's in the name here, as Masterworks Music serve up another set of 21st Century makeovers of dancefoor delights from days gone by. Diana Ross's 'My Old Piano' gets reinvented as a rather classy disco-houser on opener 'Tinkling The Ivories', while getting similar treatment elsewhere are Maze's 'Running Away', Invisible Man's Band's 'All Night Thing', Donna Summer's 'Spring Affair' and more. Long throughout on sweeping strings, handclaps, fat funk basslines and soulful vocals, the whole EP is a must for contemporary disco floors, especially as the source/track selection isn't over-obvious.
Review:
Detroit Swindle's Heist imprint now presents Kassian, the brainchild of Joe Danvers-McCabe (Danvers) and Warren Cummings (Warren Xclnce). Both are regulars in the underground and wider reaching London scenes, with Warren being a co-founder of Abouttoblow and a previous studio producer at Worldwide FM, while Joe came through DJing and running nights in the eclectic world of Bristol nightlife before moving to London. The Premise EP features the deep and sulty late night groove of the title track - a perfect match for the Amsterdam based imprint, while "Bad Habit" goes for an energetic disco- acid vibe. Finally "Love 4:2" was decent enough in its original form, but the man DJ Nature works his magic as always by taking the track down even deeper and more emotive territory...
Review:
Eleven years have passed since Wajeed released his most recent solo album, the instrumental hip-hop focused "The War LP". In that time, the Detroiter has expanded his musical repertoire somewhat, drawing greater influence from the Motor City's illustrious deep house scene. It's this side of his output that he explores on "For The Dirt", giddily flitting between acid-fired piano house ("From The Dirt"), Omar-S style tech-house/deep house fusion ("After You Left"), disco and funk-influenced vocal workouts (see "Things About You"), tasty tech-soul songs ("I Ain't Safe", the wonderful "Make It Happen") and jazz-flecked deep house dustiness (the percussive and swinging, "My Father's Rhythm").
Review:
For the seventh edition of Ostgut Ton?s acclaimed Panorama Bar mix, they have reeled in one of their finest and hard working sectors in the from of ND Baumecker - and it's about time! The Frankfurt native's compilation features a varied selection of moods and grooves, including exclusive tracks from FaltyDL, Gen Ludd and Jinje - as heard on volume one. The second one featured here is where you are treated to British deep house sensation Ross From Friends' trippy yet absolutely evocative "High Energy", Bay Area human beatbox Dave Aju getting into some deeply exotic microhouse on "Wayahed" and Rotterdam based electro heads Duplex delivering the ultra smooth "Isolator".
Review:
There's a fine line between the re-edit and the sample track, and it's a line that gets notably blurred on this latest Chewy Rubs EP from Re-Loved, though the latter tag probably fits slightly better. 'Everybody' is a stuttery nu-disco/disco-house jam topped with familiar diva vocal snippets, the rolling, bass-y Seamus Haji Remix of 'It's Not Over' impressively breathes new life into the well-worn First Choice vocal, 'Too Much, You Know' operates at the jazzier end of the contemporary funk spectrum and will likely prove the connoisseurs' choice, while 'Doing It' is straight-up Euro dancefloor exuberance, late 70s-style.
Review:
Like fictional super-spy James Bond, Chewy Rubs prefers his re-edits "Shaken Not Stirred". "Took My Love Away (Chewy Rubs Deep Disco Vox"), the opening cut from the Star Wars-loving producer's latest EP, is every bit as potent and tipsy as a pint of Vodka Martini, with deliciously glassy-eyed female vocal snippets rising above a loopy disco-house groove. Similarly impressive is chugging, mind-altering throb-job "Love A Groove (Chewy Rubs Extend-it)", where spacey synthesizer arpeggio lines and quirky vocal samples rise above a pulsating, mid-'80s dancefloor groove. Elsewhere, "Garage Disco III" is a electric piano-heavy revision of a mid-80s NYC house jam rearranged in cahoots with pal Moke, while "Rake The Moon (Chewy Rubs Space Dust Rub)" is a creepy, ever-growing, house-friendly tweak of a weirdo space disco workout.
Review:
Since making tehur debut in 2013, Black Loops has been one of the most consistent deep house duos around. It's no doubt due to this fine track record, which includes a string of killer singles on Toy Tonics and Neovinyl, that the Italian twosome has been snapped up by Jimpster's Freerange label. They predictably hit the ground running with "7Hills", a tribute to Rome (or, at a push, Sheffield) that peppers a sturdy but swinging rhythm track with elongated organ chords, alien electronics and some suitably jazzy electric piano riffs. It comes accompanied by a slamming May Rey remix, which sounded to us like a deeper and dreamier take on Terrence Parker's bouncy techno sound, and suitably chunky, deep and picturesque bonus cut "King Paul".
Review:
Having only released occasional EPs over the last few years, Home Taping is Killing Music appears to behave got its mojo back. This EP from recent G.A.M.M contributor Love Drop appears a few months after a fine single from Klic ("Disco Music", which was backed by killer re-rubs by Dicky Trisco and Tuff City Kids). The original version of "Don't Look Back" is a dubby and hypnotic affair, with delay-laden synths, Clavinet lines and disco snippets riding a metronomic mid-tempo house groove. Dicky Trisco does his best Revenge impression via a smooth, groovy and deep revision, before Dan Shake throws everything but the kitchen sink at the track on a killer "Dancefloor Dub "laden with layered percussion hits and mazy Moog solos.
Review:
Although famed for delivering killer cuts of vintage disco and boogie jams, Razor 'N' Tape has released plenty of life-affirming house jams, too. As if to prove the point, J Kriv and Aaron Dae's Brooklyn-based imprint has decided to release a second selection of back catalogue house highlights. Highlights come thick and fast throughout, from the bluesy bounce of J Kriv and Eugene's "Eunice" and the classic deep house warmth of Jimpster's killer remix of Mr V's "Something Wit Jazz", to the fizzing synth riffs and life-affirming percussive shuffle of "Stretchin" by Luvless and the groovy, jammed-out musical headiness of Lay-Far's tidy remix of "Just One" by Body Music. Also worth plenty of peak-time plays is Chrissy's chunky revision of Ragtyme's rap-laced 1987 Chicago jam "Fix It Man".
Review:
This is a killer cross-generational collaboration. It sees Altern8 and Nexus 21 veteran Mark Archer join forces with Food Music and Unknown to the Unknown regular Shadow Child (AKA noughties survivor Simon Neale). They predictably hit the ground running via the razor-sharp TB-303 acid riffs and sweaty machine percussion of "It's Good", before enveloping a jacking TR-909 drum track in restless handclap fills and alien electronics on title track "Non-Stop". Super Rhythm Trax label boss Jerome Hill delivers a booming, bass-heavy acid house rub of the same track, while "Eye Feel" captures some of the restless energy and stab-heavy madness of Archer's legendary, rave-era history.
Review:
Long-serving DJ Justin Cudmore has put out releases on labels that have been affiliated with his DJing such as Interdimensional Transmissions and the Bunker. However, he now widens his gaze with this debut on Phonica's White offshoot. Like those previous Eps and his own DJing, the sound of Chicago and in particular acid, looms large here. "Twisted Love" resounds to a rolling , drum-heavy backing, breathy vocal samples and some of the most tweaked, tripped out 303 lines known to humanity. On "About to Burst", the mood is not as intense, but Cudmore still manages to imbue the spiky, percussive arrangement with the type of wired acid action that will get spines tingling and pulses racing.
Review:
Given that each of their previous releases has been on-point, it's little surprise to find that Fouk's latest EP is packed full of warm, sample-heavy, disco-flecked deep house treats. We'd argue that the headline attraction is bouncy opener "Organ Freeman", a tasty workout that layers fresh organ solos over a house groove built around rubbery bass and obscure disco-funk samples, though the wilder and more driving "Wrong Way" pushes it close. Elsewhere, "Butterfunk" is a lolloping trip into mid-tempo deep house/disco/jazz-funk fusion, while closer "Winter" is a loved-up chunk of deep space instrumental hip-hop with added boogie synths.
Review:
Earlier this year, Irish producer Marcus Lambkin delivered his first new material for two years as part of Me Me Me's second all-star "We We We" EP. Here the former DFA man returns to Man Power's label with a typically solid single. There are three original cuts to choose from: the gently spacey, funked-up deep house throb of "Cubed", the deep Chicago jack-meets-Balearic acid rush of "Rotation" and the sleepy warmth of "The Life To Come", where elongated chords and rich electric piano motifs ride a chunky, bass-heavy house groove. Edmundson re-imagines "Cubed" as a blissful chunk of deep house/two-step fusion, while Vin Sol wraps "Rotation" in raw analogue bass, mind-altering stabs and undulating acid lines.
Review:
Here, a quartet of producers step up to offer their interpretations of "Neutron Dance", the throbbing, Italo-disco-fired lead cut from Krystal Klear's "Division EP". Paul Woolford pays tribute to early Eddie Richards project Jolly Roger on his jaunty, early UK house style rework - all squidgy TB-303 bass, drum machine cowbells and fluid house pianos - before Fango re-imagines the track as a sprightly chunk of New York freestyle/breakbeat house fusion. Fellow Irishman Mano Le Tough takes to the mic on his hybrid Italo-disco/throbbing house take, before Running Back chief Gerd Jansen straps on his "Birkies" and re-imagines the Dublin producer's original as a breezy blast of dub-wise, retro-futurist house.
Review:
A bold statement against insular club culture, closed minds and lack of innovation, "The Choice" continues Catz 'N Dogz positive broadcasts with the help of Miss Bunty and three great friends on remix duties. On the Miss Bunty vocal, the track's bouncy acid groove powers along boldly to support her empowering lyrics, while the BETON Tribute To The Classics mix gets deep down and dirty. Madrid's Bawrut lets the drummer get wicked and man of the moment Adriyano gets his dusty classic house stomp on with the Super Relaks remix.
Review:
Despite having a steady revival movement over the past couple of years, UK Funky has exploded onto the UK Bass scene over the past few months, influencing a large amount of underground music. Here we see one of the genre's leading lights in Murder He Wrote put forward a flavoursome four tracker, courtesy of Rhythm Athletic. We begin our journey on this one on a vibrant collaboration with Maddie Ellerby by the name of 'Expectations', which lays the blueprints for the rest of the EP with its classic funky flavours. Next up, 'Circles', a bluesy stripped back roller, packed with organic drum energy, before landing on the futuristic synth play of 'All I Ever Needed'. Finally we finish up the EP on the playful dub mix of 'Expectations'.
Review:
German DJ Marcel Vogel began resplicing soul and disco at the turn of the millenium, convinced that he had to something unique to contribute to the scene. After moving to Amsterdam in 2010, he founded Lumberjacks In Hell: initially as a conduit for his own edits and productions. Soon after, he found himself releasing original tracks from his musical heroes and bringing the 'Lumberjacks' sound to clubs and festivals all over the globe. British institution BBE helps Vogel celebrate eight years in the business here, with a bunch of fresh cuts that will truly shine under that disco ball. Highlights include the lo-slung funk groove of Beam Me Up's "Rabbit's Foot", some well dusted deepness for listening to in the dark courtesy of Funk Butcher (feat. Trim) on "Check The Flow", the inimitable Seven Davis Jr with the sleazy mood lighting of "Get To Know Me" and Amsterdam's finest Nachtbraker - who helps us enjoy life in the slo-lane on the smooth exclusive "Jared Fogle".
Review:
For those of you lucky enough to witness it, seeing Andreas Baumecker own the room at one of his acclaimed sets at Berlin's Panorama Bar is an absolute privelege. A resident since 2004, he's what Ostgut Ton best described as 'a foundational part of the club's identity.' For those of you that can't get past the notorious bouncers, be assured that Panorama Bar 07 will no doubt distill the experience into one riveting continuous mix - that brings the experience to you. Featuring exclusives by the likes of Falty DL - the New Yorker going for a proper old school vibe on the sensual "Paradox Garage 01", Jinje (of Vessels fame) nailing some slinky and hypnotic nu-disco antics on "Big Skies" and Glasweigian duo Gen Ludd serving up some deep techno perfect for those heads down moments on the dancefloor with "Bloods Avalanche".
Review:
Dressed head to toe in a jump suit, Ejeca serves up an EP of chunky, tried-and-tested dancefloor treats seemingly inspired by everyone's favourite 1980s adventure game show. He first opts for a physical task on opener "Unloving", a boisterous, retro-futurist big room house workout. Crystal safely tucked in his pocket, he charges through the all-new Jacking Zone (see "Standard Acid House Track") before pausing to catch his breath in the Industrial Zone, where the psychedelic atmosphere and raw analogue grooves of "Crystal Maze" await. Paul Woolford dons his Special Request guise to claim another crystal via a typically hardcore-influenced, bass-heavy re-make of "Unloving", before Ejeca heads towards the Crystal Dome to the accompaniment of late night techno shuffler "ISWHATIS". Start the fans please!
Review:
The Sound Of Benny EP Running Back Germany
It can be tricky keeping up with the many aliases of Benny Rodrigues Alves Fortes Monteiro, a Rotterdam-based producer whose output tends towards the prolific. Happily, Gerd Janson is here to help, bringing four of his pseudonyms together on one must-have EP. Rodrigues first dons the Younger Rebinds alias to deliver arpeggio-driven Italo-acid chugger "Tim's Symphony", before changing into his ROD clothes for "MOOG", a mind-altering chunk of late night techno psychedelia. Under his given name you'll find "Sad Piano", a fluid and stripped back piano house workout, while Obob Akim cut "Hausbreak" sees him brilliantly wrap old school U.S garage synth stabs and rising Italo-disco electronics around a punchy, electro style breakbeat.
Review:
Crazy P main man James Baron returns under his Ron Basejam alias, with more liquid nu-disco jams. Started as a casual side project 12 years ago, Baron wanted to 'capture the more diverse and quirky sides of his musical tastes', creating underground music that he incorporates with character, personality and humour. The After The Rain EP sees him return to Bristol institution Futureboogie, for the first time since 2016's "The Carrington Spirituals". Featuring the very soulful and near spiritual title track, the lo-slung funk attack of "The French Exit " and the late night acid express of "Raise" (featuring some vocals reminiscent of the legendary Daryl Pandy) among others - each one is a a sure shot and will light up the dancefloor.
Review:
Israeli tech house hero Guy Gerber returns on his esteemed Rumors imprint with remixes of his latest hit "What To Do" that caused a hot fuss earlier this year. The Los Angeles based live performer here receives remixes from Berliner &ME giving the track the deep and seductive Keinemusik style of treatment, while the Chicago underground hero DJ Jes also steps in to deliver a tough and swing fuelled deep house rendition.
