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FKR maison du groove
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Review: The title here translates roughly as "just a little bit of groove", and seldom have the words on a tin more accurately described what its contents do - if you want reference points, think what a 'Too Slow To Disco' compilation put together by Dave Lee might sound like, and you're in roughly the right ballpark! See 'Give Me Your Love' for some fine George Benson-esque geetar work, 'How Sweet You Are' for gloriously cheesy 70s pop/AOR vibes, 'Crazy' for a slightly rawer, Loleatta-esque funk feel or the title track for when you're floating on a lilo and sipping a daquiri...
Played by: Stephen Richards (DiscoDaze)
Played by: Kongisto
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Review: The fact that two of the tracks are called 'The Piano Loop' and 'Outro: Jazz Loops' should in itself give you some idea of what to expect here, as FRK maison du groove boss main man KS French (AKA Mr Given Raw) serves up six dusty, loop-based jams for your disco, funk and Balearic sets. Not even gonna try and identify the original tracks that all of these were based on - suffice to say the sources range from jazz to boogie, and that M. French's ability tease a five-minute dancefloor groove out of the sparsest ingredients is admirable.
Played by: Kongisto
Played by: LEGO EDIT
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Played by: KS French
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Played by: KS French
Review: KS French, also known as MR Given Raw is a Parisian DJ and producer who heads up the FKR Maison De Groove and Disco Addict labels - known for good groovy music. On his new offering The Soul Trip EP, it's largely a low slung affair: from the sexy crooning on the late night boogie-down action of the title track, the roaring female vocals atop of some sultry mood music on "Next To You" and an oldie but a goodie to be experienced on the final track "If I Can Fly" - which you can most certainly file under 'respectful edit'.
Various
Review: Ultimate house, disco and funk edits from Maison Du Groove outta France that's seen the legendary KS French deliver all manner of classic disco and house manipulations to the world this past decade. Celebrating seven years in the game, this anniversary compilation sends in a collection of sleeping and revamped classics given a new skin for the modern day. There's a slo-mo groove and chunk to most the tracks here with more uptempo rhythms coming in the form on "Soulmate", "Take Me Back" and "Geto Disko", with overtly house numbers to be found in "Funk Overdose" and KS French's "Do It Bae". 7th heaven!
Various
Review: The 'French Touch' sound was a short-lived phenomenon in the late 90s/early 00s - or so musical history would have you believe. Mais si le French Touch est mort, vive le French Touch! For seven years now, French label FKR Maison Du Groove have been proving that you can't keep a good sub-genre down, and here the best of their output over that time is collected together in one place for your listening and dancing pleasure. So: if you dig deep, dusty, looping disco grooves you'll love this album, whereas if you're not a fan of same, then you definitely won't. Not much more to say, really.
Played by: Kongisto
Review: There are re-edits and there are re-edits, aren't there? There's the type where Producer X lifts an old disco track or pop hit almost in its entirety and shoves a 4/4 kick underneath, and then there's the type where one tiny microsnip of some unidentified dusty gem gets looped up within an inch of its life. Here, KNT Edits brings us an EP packing six of the latter kind: these simple looping, string-drenched disco grooves might leave mass market crowds cold, but they'll keep dedicated disco floors moving in a way that yet another remake of 'Love Sensation' or 'Let's Dance' never would!
Review: While he may be one of the most prolific re-editors around, Belabouche rarely fails to deliver the goods - a point emphatically proved by the Italian artist's latest outing on regular home FKR Maison du Groove. He begins by inviting us to "A Party", a gleefully celebratory romp through bouncy peak-time disco-funk pastures rich in sing-along chorus vocals, clipped guitars, crunchy Clavinet lines, rolling drums and a fresh analogue bassline that's weightier than Homer Simpson after several foot-long sandwiches and gallons of Duff beer. "Happy Not Happy" is a slightly looser and groovier (but no less cheery) workout featuring house style drums, filter effects and ear-catching trumpet lines, while "One Night In Napoli" is a languid shuffle through spacey Italian disco complete with jazz-funk horns and intergalactic Moog lines.
Review: FKR maison du groove boss KS French, AKA Mr Given Raw, comes with another set of re-edits following in the footsteps of his previous 'Raw Soul Edits', 'Supa Funky Edits' and 'That Disco Sound' EPs. The EP opens with 'In Love', a dusty, looping, heavily filtered take on Lamont Dozier's 'Why Can't We Be Lovers' from 1972, while 'Closer' moves a little forward in the same decade, being a percussion-led disco jam whose source material we sadly couldn't tell you. Closer 'Thankful', meanwhile, is similar in feel and approach to 'In Love', but this time drawing on Bill Withers' 'Don't It Make It Better' from 1978.
Played by: LEGO EDIT
Played by: KS French
Played by: KS French
Played by: KS French
Review: FKR's in-house re-edit crew return with four more reworks of vintage funk and soul nuggets. 'God Soul' is up first, a laidback groove that loops up a couple of lines of vocal from Supreme Jubilee's 1979 soul/gospel cut 'It'll All Be Over'. The original sources of the other three cuts remain a mystery, but the more upbeat and sunny 'Love With You (Part 1)' has a looping scat vocal, and 'Into The Groove' ain't nothin' but a funky shuffle, while completing the EP is 'P.E In Effect' that loops up a jaunty piano riff. Last two tracks in particular are all-instrumental affairs and would work well as warm-up material on funk/soul floors
Review: Some fine re-edit action here from KS French, AKA Mr Given Raw. 'Funkymama' lifts almost the entire vocal from Ann Peebles' 'Come To Mama' and places it over a heavy funk backdrop, with house-y overtones and much use of the filters. 'Funky Overdose' is a near-instrumental based around a funk bass loop and brass stabs, while 'Magic Your Eyes' is classic-style filter disco topped with the vox from Circle City Band's 1983 boogie gem 'Magic'. 'Glad Bae' has a similar MO to the latter but with an unidentified male soul vocal, while 'World Geto' closes out the EP on a more laidback, jazzy/lounge-y tip.
Played by: KS French
Review: While it can be hard keeping up with KS French's packed release schedule, you have to admire the Parisian re-editor's dedication to his craft. Given the sheer volume of material he puts out, we imagine he probably spends much of his time chained to his computer knocking out new filter-heavy reworks to delight his dancefloors and ours. So what's on offer this time round? Opener "Amore Piaccio" is a delightly low-slung, bass-heavy affair: a tidy house style rework of a Latin disco chugger which naturally comes complete with the Frenchman's trademark special effects and energy-building trickery. "Light My Fire" meanwhile sees him add a little subtle house bump to a glassy-eyed late '60s soul cut inspired by the Doors record of the same name.
Review: Hats off to Kng Edits: it's unusual for us to get through a whole EP's worth of re-edits without being able to name at least one or two of the sources, but they've dug deep enough to leave us baffled here! What you end up once they've finished, though, are a couple of hypnotic soul/disco chugathons ('Give Me What You Got', 'Jackhotel'), one piano-tastic workout for the jazz dancers ('HigJaz') and one fat-assed funker from the Fatback/Ohio Players school of thought. Any and all of which, served to a proper disco/funk floor, should do the most efficiently.
Played by: KS French
Played by: KS French
Review: Given his insane productivity, we wouldn't ne surprised if KS French was chained to his computer day and night, whizzing through another batch of re-edits on Ableton Live while planning world domination. While the reality is probably a little less glamorous, he's produced another strong collection of reworks here. Opener "Love Vibration" delivers a lightly beefed-up, filter-sporting revision of a mid-tempo, string-laden disco classic, while "My World About You Bae" applies similar sonic trickery to a glassy-eyed chunk of disco-soul bliss. Elsewhere, "Back For" is a lolloping, head-nodding and toe-tapping take on another familiar favourite, while "Baggi" is a heavily filtered take on what sounds like a sun-kissed Italian disco gem. If you're after mind-altering loops and head-nodding dancefloor pressure, closing cut "Soul Cry" should be essential listening.
Played by: KS French
Played by: KS French
Played by: Kraak & Smaak, Craig Charles Funk And Soul, Don Dayglow, Juno Recommends Disco, KS French, The Funk District, LEGO EDIT, Funky Boogie Brothers, Stephen Richards (DiscoDaze), Vito lalinga
Review: Sometime Katakana Edits artist Belabouche has previously released some of the highest quality material FKR Maison Du Groove has to offer. Predictably, his latest five-track assault is another must-check for those who like their edits rolling and funk-fuelled. Highlights include the razor-sharp guitar riifs, fizzing P-funk grooves and insatiable slap bass of "Get Funky", the throbbing Italo-disco goes disco-house stomp of "Funk A Freak" and the heavy horn lines and lolloping grooves of high-grade Afrobeat rework "Afro Dialects". Elsewhere, closing cut "Mirage" is a head-nodding mid-tempo revision of a Santana style workout, while "Bullshits" is a muscular re-edit of what sounds like an old Grace Jones workout from the iconic artist's "Warm Leatherette" period.
Played by: KS French
Played by: KS French
Played by: KS French
Review: You might think we've all heard enough of Marlene Shaw's 'Woman Of The Ghetto' vocal enough by now. "Pas du tout!" cries M. Raw, as he brings us 'Geto Borns', a midpaced slice of retro funk/soul that loops up the "I was born and raised in the ghetto" line (and various other snippets) in surprisingly effective fashion - perhaps because there's no geng-gegga-genging here. The accompanying 'Comme Ci Comme Ca', meanwhile, bites The Pointer Sisters' low-slung 1975 groover 'How Long (Betcha Got A Chick On The Side)' and that bass-and-keys riff sounds as gloriously raunchy as it ever did!
Review: This is the third release in as many weeks from Mr Given Raw, a house-loving Parisian re-editor who clearly loves transforming old tracks into contemporary dancefloor cuts. He eases us in gently with the dusty soul-plus-house beats sweetness of mid-tempo revision "Full Hearts", before dipping the tempo further via his take on a Philly Soul style staple (the winding guitar solos, punchy horns, killer groove and full-throated vocals of "Be With You"). The long-serving scalpel next heads for peaktime floors on "Oh Yeah Bae", where dub-wise effects swirl around soaring disco orchestration and yelping vocal snippets. Finally, "We Got Funk" drags Trouble Funk into the Ableton era with rock solid results.
