Discocholics Anonymous Recordings is an off shoot of the Discoholics Anonymous music blog.
With a firm focus on Disco, Re-edits, Nu-Disco and Balearic/Downtempo Discoholics Anonymous Recordings will aim at high quality releases with artists as Drop Out Orchestra, Monsieur Van Pratt, Dexter Jones, Sauco and many more.
Celebrating its first successes in the summer of 2020, Discoholics Anonymous Recordings shot straight into the Disco top 20 with Drop Out Orchestra's 'Tunga Stenar', DISCOANON003.
Review: Auckland, New Zealand's own re-edit don Dave Ti, better known to most as DiCE_NZ, returns with two more reworks of vintage tracks. First to go under the scalpel is Carole King's 'I Feel The Earth Move', here reimagined as a sprightly little piano-led dancefloor roller that works surprisingly well! The original source for 'Bang The Club' sadly has this reviewer beat, but whatever its origins, as presented here it's a midtempo groover with treated, drawn-out "ooooh-aah" vox, a cheeky funk bassline and all manner of FX and synth squiggles going on at the top end.
Review: UK deep house veteran turned nu-disco don Adam Billingham - better known to the music-buying public as Fray Bentos - serves up a fine pair of re-edits as he revisits a couple of gems from the Prelude Records back catalogue. 'Dance 4 Love' is a rework of Bill Brandon's 'We Fell In Love While Dancing', while 'Lay It Down' is his homage to Gerald Mallory's 'Lay It Down On Me' from 1982. Both edits come from the "respectful, light-touch update" school of thought and either will be a cert on the more soulful floors, with 'Lay It Down' just nudging it for yours truly.
Review: The funk vibes are strong in this one! Dee-Bunk is Hamburg-based Stefan Schoenewerk, who's been DJing since 1985 and making his own tracks for over 30 years. While 'Settin' It Out' isn't billed as a re-edit, it's fair to say that the sampler has come extensively into play here - what the source material was we couldn't tell you but think early 80s electro-funk and you'll get the general idea, with near-falsetto male vox, squelchy analogue stabs, synth-brass parps and the occasional electric guitar squall. The accompanying Dub ditches most of the vocal but otherwise doesn't stray too far from the original's blueprint.
Review: Secret Soul Society return with a three-tracker that'll suit those who like their disco and Balearica on the slightly more abstract side. A looping, chimes-like riff forms the backbone of 'Bring Me Love', with cascading drums below and a treated one-line vocal (the title) on top - one for the warm-up or lazy afternoons on a Mediterranean beach. For 'Talking About Love', think early 80s boogie dosed with CBD and passed through a nu-disco filter, and you're roughly in the right ballpark. But the best bet for floor play is probably the more strutty and urgent-sounding 'Needy', which drips with repressed energy before busting out soul horns and vox.
Review: Fresh from showcasing a clutch of killer reworks on the 'Too Slow To Disco Edits' series, Ben Jammin' brings his brand of slow-motion goodness to DIscoholics Anonymous Recordings. Strictly speaking, the two tracks on show aren't edits since they include additional instrumentation and production, but they are heavily based on samples from lesser-known disco cuts. 'Some People' is a pleasingly smacked-out groover, with the rising star combining pitched-down lifts from a string-laden disco gem with his own beats and a particularly wiggly acid line. 'Injection', meanwhile, is closer to a "straight" edit - albeit one boosted by fresh drums - with Ben Jamin cannily rearranging a mid-tempo disco-funk number.
Review: Kiwi re-edit maestro DiCE_NZ is one of Discoholics Anonymous Recordings' most consistent artists. His continuing 'Highrollers' series, which debuted in the summer of 2021, has provided plenty of killer reworks and this fifth instalment is no different. While there are only two tracks on show, both are genuinely excellent. Up first is 'U Can't Hide', a deliciously shuffling, loose-limbed, hip-hop tempo rework of a gorgeously wide-eyed, loved-up disco gem from the late 1970s. He pushes up the tempo and beefs up the bass on 'Fall In Love', a semi-loopy, effects-laden tweak of a dusty, lesser-known disco-funk delight smothered in twinkling electric piano sounds, eyes-closed female vocal snippets and flanged jazz guitar solos.
Review: The Kiwi king of the re-edit returns with two more reworkings of classic cuts from days of yore. First to get the treatment is Ann Peebles' 'I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down' from 1973, as covered by Paul Young in the 80s - but don't let that put you off, because the original was a bona fide soul anthem and Dice's chopped n' looped take is very playable too. 'Cali Dreamin' meanwhile isn't the Mamas & Papas classic, but instead reworks an unidentified, male-voiced cover thereof. We can tell you it's not the Wes Montgomery, Colorado, Denial or Winston Francis recordings... our disco detectives gave up after that!
Review: A definite case of wearing your heart on your sleeve here, as Discoholics Anonymous serve up an eight-track collection of tracks built for when you and that special someone are (ahem) getting better acquainted. Some of the tracks here are straight-up re-edits - Gwen McCrae's "Let's Straighten It Out" becomes Lup Ino's "Tossing And Turning", while Billy Paul's "Let's Make A Baby" is reworked by The Found Sound Orchestra and FF Edits revisit a much-loved Bobby Caldwell classic. Others are seemingly original productions, while stylistically the album ranges from scratchy leftfield hip-hop to mellow Balearica to smooth soul... but as a set, it should serve its purpose perfectly.
Review: A couple of fine re-edits here courtesy of Dice_NZ, AKA Auckland-based Brit DJ Dave Ti and friends. Opener 'Balti More' (source unknown) is a laidback affair with a reggae-like lilt and hints of west coast jazz-funk in the guitars, while 'Let's Think Twice' revisits Donald Byrd's 1975 Blue Note classic 'Think Twice', as sampled or covered by artists as diverse as Armand Van Helden, The Orb, Peanut Butter Wolf and Erykah Badu. Dice_NZ's take was first released as a free download a year or two back, but if you missed out then here's your chance - don't sleep second time around.
Review: DiCE_NZ are a loose collective centred around DJ Dave Ti, a UK native who relocated to Auckland in 2005. He/they made his/their name on the re-edits scene, but has/have latterly made the move into production, working alongside the likes of Fat Freddy's Drop and The Black Seeds and picking up regular spins from Craig Charles. Here, though - in surely the week's most laudable act of recidivism - Dave's up to his old tricks again, reworking Carole King classic 'It's Too Late' and an unidentifed but infuriatingly familiar jazz-funker into mellow, looping jams built for back rooms and post-club chilling.
Review: Two sexy 'n' sophisticated soul/boogie re-edits here from DiCE_NZ, a loose collective of producers and musicians helmed by Auckland-based Fat Freddy's Drop collaborator DJ Dave Ti. 'Paradise' revisits Barbra Streisand & Robin Gibb's 'Promises' from the 1980 'Guilty' album, while Odyssey's 'Don't Tell Me, Tell Her' (also from 1980, and the AA-side to 'Use It Up And Wear It Out') provides the basis for 'Don't Tell Me'. Drawing on such heavy-hitting sources you already KNOW the quality's going to be there, but vibes-wise, think 'Too Slow To Disco' for the first one and '3am at Horse Meat Disco' for the latter.