Review: Swiss world music fusionists Alma Negra are favourites with the likes of Gilles Peterson, Nightmares On Wax and Four Tet, which should give you a rough idea of what to expect here. 'Fire' is a midpaced, organ-led groove that'd work in longer deep house or nu-disco sets, and has rolling Afro-style percussion to match the chanted vocal that appears towards the end. The EP's other two tracks, 'Wedding Song' and 'Yo', operate in more straight-up African music territory and so are less well suited to house/disco sets, but could still find favour on those floors that like their beats a little more on the eclectic side.
Review: Andrew Edward Brown has been around for a while, though his discography is a little thin. Given the quality of this single on Codek, that's something of a surprise. His version is available in both vocal and instrumental flavours, and it's the former that really stands out. Brown is a great songwriter and vocalist, and his lead vocal works perfectly with the warm and woozy backing track - a heady blend of deep house grooves, rich chords, squelchy nu-disco synth bass and a few nods towards '80s boogie. Label bosses In Flagranti handle remix duties, turning in vocal and instrumental takes that brilliantly re-imagine the track as a flash-fried chunk of guitar-laden dub disco goodness tailor made for peak-time dancefloors.
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: Having impressed with their debut single, a cover of Marshall Hain's 1978 track "Dancing In The City" that grew out of a "spontaneous recording session", Dornbrin 78 (ALA Hackney-based Lithuanian Adelina Sasmauskraite and Whatever Whatever's Bryan Mette) are back on Codek. In its original form, "Love Bomb" is a trippy and tipsy chunk of heavily electronic, off-kilter nu-disco topped off with a wavy lead vocal from Sasmauskraite. Outtake's "Metal League" remix cannily re-invents it as a chunk of wall-of-sound electro disco complete with ear-catching synth bass and starburst electronics, while the arguably superior Boy's Shorts mixes (vocal and instrumental variations are available) brilliantly join the dots between acid house, beatbox electro and stirring, string-laden NYC disco.
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: Sleaze disco dons In Flagranti slip out another killer single on Codek, and this time it's some moog-heavy soundtrack business in the shape of "Alemande". Clearly enjoying the freedom that releasing music on your own label affords artists, Sasha and Alex open the track with a slow-mo beat which emerges amid a smoky haze of fuzzy guitar licks. Before long the moog bassline enters the fray to lend "Alemande" a deliciously dense and exotic feel. Big tip as always!
Review: In Flagranti seem incapable of putting out releases that feature more than one track. Of course, when that track is pretty tasty, it's still an enticing proposition. That's certainly the case with "Whenever", which continues their method of blurring the boundaries between re-edits, remixes, and sample-heavy original production. Heavily electronic, a little trippy and seemingly designed for locked-in dancefloor moments, it sits somewhere between groovy proto-house, proto-trance, and the more Balearic end of later Italo-disco. There's also a rather odd spoken word vocal that plays throughout, though it's buried in the mix making it tricky to comprehend. It all adds to the track's inebriated effect.
Review: Something of a treat here, as disco-punk mavericks In Flagranti drop an exclusive, one-track single for Juno Download. The oddly titled "Restraint Bias" is one of their best cuts for a while, all punk funk bottom end, cutesy organs, dubbed-out disco guitars and addictive melodies. As it builds, cut-up sax lines and string blasts are introduced to frantically push the action along. By their standards it's quite restrained (see what we did?), but it's great fun - and more overtly disco than many of their recent releases. 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.
Review: In Flagranti seem to have a thing for releasing one-track digital singles. Unbelievably, As Fast As I Can is their 36th such release since the turn of the millennium. The Swiss duo has described this one "as a little vintage slow sleaze", suggesting it was recently rediscovered in their no doubt bulging vaults. Interestingly, it's a little baggier, looser and groovier than their usual, often forthright fare, with woozy, Moodymann/Seven Davis Jnr style vocals riding a head-nodding, live-sounding groove. There are some neat touches, of course - sparkling synthesizer melodies, sweet strings, additional percussion hits - but it's the blazed feel of the track that makes it so addictive.
Review: Yep, this is another one of those killer single-track salvos that In Flagranti seem so obsessed with these days. To be honest, it's one of their best for a while; a woozy, midtempo cut that sits somewhere between lazy disco-funk, stoner prog and moody nu-disco. This groove itself is authentically disco - with a touch of stoned rock in the guitars and bass - but the stuff layered on top - bittersweet strings, fuzzy electronic noises, all manner of effects -is anything but. The combination works well, though, giving the impression that it'll sound good over a sizeable system.
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: 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.
