Review: Thanks to the release of two stellar productions - the druggy disco single "Glamoflage" on Opilec and the tropically minded "The Caribbean House" on Bear Funk - 2018 has already been a great year for Niccolo Bruni AKA Billy Bogus. Here the Pizzico Records co-founder rounds off a successful 12 months with another tasty offering: an album-length collection of sample-rich original productions on In Flagranti's Codek label. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the dreamy, slowly building fizz of "Uniporn" and slo-mo, tropical-tinged psychedelic chug of "Enter The Ninja", to the enveloping choral creepiness and doom-laden dub disco bass of "Necula" and the Balearic instrumental synth-pop colour of "Spiaggi Cannibale".
Review: Last time we heard from Fa Ventilato and Frank Heer's Bingo Palace project was way back in 2003, when they dropped a rather fine debut album entitled Whistle Me Higher. This belated follow-up is made up of two long, meandering suites of tracks ("Before" and "After"), with an atmospheric, sound effects-based interlude, "The Wave" sandwiched in between. Musically, the cuts that make up "Before" are drowsy and gently groovy, touching on dub, krautrock, trip-hop and gentle Balearica. "After", meanwhile, is more obviously electronic in tone, offering up instalments that variously doff a cap to vintage electronica, dub techno, Giallo-style synthesizer soundtracks, ambient and starry late night soundscapes.
Review: In their typically minimal press release for this two-track salvo, In Flagranti simply describes the EP's content as "edit/rework/party tunes". It's an apt description. Lead cut "Beast" delivers a deliciously saucer-eyed trip into vintage Chicagoan deep house territory, cutting up what sounds like a classic Mr Fingers production and layering it with nagging vocal samples, additional electronics and hypnotic, locked-in beats (admittedly with some additional crashing cymbals as the track progresses). "Forty Deuce", on the other hand, is an altogether more celebratory affair, brilliantly looping and chopping a long forgotten AOR disco gem. Think Tiger & Woods builds and blue-eyed soul vocals, and you're close.
Review: Serial disco-punk troublemakers In Flagranti continue their obsession with single-track releases, delivering another eccentric but desirable one-track missive. "On The Spot" is a typically curious concoction, mashing together elements from familiar favourites (the break from "Dirty Cash", a dash of vocal from "Somebody Else's Guy", various bits of barely audible AOR vocals), with formidably heavy bass, twiddly synths and some very odd (but rather good) backing vocals. It should be a mess but, strangely, it works. There's little subtle about it, but it's a bona fide party banger. In these miserable times, we heartily improve.
Review: "Eocene" is arguably In Flagranti's most interesting release of recent times, delivering a sweaty, tropical brew of shuffling, low-end house rhythms, deft electronics, cute marimba melodies and a Sting vocal sample. It's loosely based on The Police's "Walking In Your Footsteps", utilising the original's melodies and the vocal hook that dominates the original track. Since the original is definitely Balearic, it's a clever move.
Review: Swiss duo In Flagranti are ridiculously prolific. When they're not releasing bombastic original material (see their recent outing on Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound label, "Headrush"), they're churning out party-friendly cuts that blur the boundaries between re-edits, remixes and original material. That's what they deliver here, in the shape of a pair of sample-heavy, floor-friendly bangers. Choose between the wonky electronics, punk-funk drums, rap samples and 808 handclaps of sweaty hip-houser (of sorts) "Interpolation", and the rolling, organ-heavy disco groovery of "Different From The Rest". It's the latter, with its curious vocal and house sassiness, which gets our vote.
Review: In Flagranti present "Sensory Cue", the latest in their current run of digital-only one track releases. Even if you've followed In Flagranti's career for some years it's unlikely you'll be prepared for just how insane this track is. Combining a stuttering, low-slung squelch with library music melodies and spoken vocal samples that seem to come from 80s television broadcasts, it's quite unlike anything else you're likely to have heard this year, and is simultaneously one of the most brilliant.
Review: Swiss duo In Flagranti, have been peddling their unique brand of leftfield, risque punk-funk-electro for about a decade on such esteemed labels as Kitsune, Kill The DJ and of course their own Codek imprint. They now return after a recent hiatus with "Cephalagia", a seven-minute odyssey into blissed-out Balearic waters, beginning with a hypnotic percussive loop before taking the slow train to pleasureville, like a cosmic-disco version of SueNo Latino. Highly recommended.
Review: Following last week's well-received "Restraint Bias", veteran disco-punks In Flagranti drop another Juno Download exclusive - the similarly worthy "Reminiscence Bump". Whereas its predecessor was jolly, jangly and shot through with a thick vein of disco, "Reminiscence Bump" is an altogether cuter and cuddlier affair. While still retaining some floor-friendly hefty bottom end, there's a delicate feel to the percussion and chiming, melancholic melodies utilised throughout. In Flagranti's usual trademarks remain - live drums and bass, dubby guitar riffs etc - but they're kept low in the mix. It's a wise choice; "Reminiscence Bump" is one of their deepest and most cultured cuts to date.
Review: For the third week in a row, veteran disco-punks In Flagranti drop a single-track Juno Download exclusive. This time round, they're off on a far-out, sample-laden journey that's two parts trippy old skool electro, three parts analogue deep house and two parts dub disco oddity. As you've no doubt gathered, it's fiendishly hard to describe and doesn't fall neatly into any particular category. Yet as with much inspired music, that's part of the charm. There are some strange spoken vocal samples ("Oh yes... oh no!") that add a quirky charm to proceedings.
Review: Fans of In Flagranti must be thrilled with the duo's current productivity. "Clustering Illusion" is the latest cut to drop in their ongoing series of single-track, digital-only releases, and it's really rather good. Typically psychedelic in its outlook, the track blends sparse, experimental electro rhythms (very cosmic disco) with dubbed-out vocal snippets, woozy chords and smacked-out fragments of delay-laden guitar. It sounds like the results of an imagined meeting between Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter, Codek and Felix Laband, with Todd Terje on production duties. Which, to be fair, would be a dream combination.
