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Katakana Edits
Katakana Edits Vol 150EXCLUSIVE
Review: Dig out the bunting and get that cake ordered - Katakana Edits has notched up its 150th release! Fittingly, it comes from the edit imprint's most prolific contributor, sometime Funk Blasters and Breakbeat Paradise regular Ben Morlack. He begins by indulging his side on 'Something Got Me Started', a wonderfully warm, colourful and piano-rich take on the 1991 Simply Red hit of the same name. Morlack returns to more familiar territory on 'Keep On', stretching out, dubbing out and lightly tooling up a classic, Prelude-era D-Train jam, before reaching for deep, weighty sub-bass and sparse, hot-stepping beats on 'Sugar', which appears to make use of elements from a number of early 90s reggae/dancehall jams.
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KE 9150
17 Jan 25
Disco/Nu-Disco
17 Jan 25
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 149EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Funk
Review: For the latest installment in the 'Katakana Edits' series, which is now nearly halfway through its second century, we're back in the hands of Goji Berry, who's helmed nine previous releases in the series including four of the last 12. 'You're Never Gonna Get It' is of course a rework of En Vogue's 1992 smash 'My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)', but the real surprise is 'Yo VIP' - it turns out some Hammond organ was all Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' ever needed to make it utterly irresistible. Now check out the hook while the DJ revolves it...
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KE 9149
11 Oct 24
Funk
11 Oct 24
Funk
Katakana Edits Vol 148EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, Craig Charles Funk And Soul, FINGERMAN, Juno Recommends Disco, Morlack, Kongisto
Review: Funk Blasters and Breakbeat Paradise regular Morlack is the latest long-serving producer to pop up on the popular Katakana Edits series. He begins his first outing for the imprint with the excitable excellence of 'Common With It', a sturdy and weighty, straightened out dancefloor take on a fuzzy, horn-heavy funk rock number, before upping the tempo to 114 BPM on joyous mambo makeover 'El Ray'. To round things off, he delivers a classic slab of cut-and-paste house funkiness crafted from a dizzying array of samples, booming bass, rushing house pianos and sing-along vocal snippets ('Keep Warm'). It sounds, to our ears at last, like a guaranteed party-starter.
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KE 9148
13 Sep 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
13 Sep 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 146EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, DJ LAUREL, FINGERMAN, ROMANTO (DISCO MACHINE/RARE WIRI), Jayl Funk, Juno Recommends Disco, Umbo, Discoholic Ken, Kongisto, Ben Jamin
Review: Remarkably, the Katakana Edits imprint will soon notch up its 150th single release. Equally impressively, DJ Laurel has been involved in 18 of those. It's perhaps fitting, then, that he's at the controls for the re-edit label's 146th EP. He's delivered the goods, too, shuffling between 106 BPM disco-funk/boogie fusion (the lolloping beats, elastic bass, sing-along vocals and jangling piano riffs of 'You Like It'), subtly straightened out AOR disco/AM radio dancefloor soul ('Say You Love Me'), and deliciously warm, loved-up 80s soul ('Love Box', with its gorgeously dreamy chords, colourful melodies and heady bass). In other words, it's another rock-solid EP from Katakana Edits most reliable contributor.
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KE 9146
10 May 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
10 May 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 144EXCLUSIVE
Review: Greek producer Goji Berry made his Katakana debut on the multi-artist 'Vol 50' EP back in 2017. Since then he's appeared on two further V/A EPs in the series as well as helming six of his own, most recently Vols 142 and 140. Now he's back with 'Vol 144', which finds him reworking a brace of classic soul/funk jams, namely Wilson Pickett's 'Funky Broadway' from 1967 and Lonnie Liston Smith's 'A Chance For Peace', taken from 1975's 'Visions Of A New World' album. Given the calibre of the source material, it's hard to go wrong, really - and Goji Berry certainly doesn't.
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KE 9144
15 Mar 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
15 Mar 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 143EXCLUSIVE
Review: This is, if we're counting correctly, French producer Morlack's 20th EP in the Katakana Edits series so far, so if you're a fan of the label generally the quality's pretty much assured! Coming under the scalpel this time out are a couple of underplayed jams from the 80s - El DeBarge's 'You Wear It Well' from 1985, and Imagination's 'Tell Me Do You Want My Love' from 1981 - before he takes what can safely be classed as something of a left-turn in the context of contemporary re-edit culture, giving us a remarkably effective, disco-fied makeover of new jack swing maestro Keith Sweat's 'Just A Touch' from 1996.
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KE 9143
01 Mar 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
01 Mar 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 142EXCLUSIVE
Review: Shadowy scalpel field Goji Berry has been one of Katakana Edits' most reliable contributors of recent years. Since making his or her debut in 2018, the publicity-shy producer has returned on countless occasions. So, what's on offer this time round? Two bona-fide party-starting reworks, that's what. 'House Party' subtly beefs up, speeds up and loops up the Fred Wesley track of the same name (or at least a version of that classic cut), while 'It's All Right Now' sees Goji Berry charge, arms aloft, towards down-low disco-funk territory while straightening out and thickening out his source material's lose and sweat-soaked drums.
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KE 9142
26 Jan 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
26 Jan 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 141EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, DJ LAUREL, FINGERMAN, ROMANTO (DISCO MACHINE/RARE WIRI), Juno Recommends Disco, Discoholic Ken, Kongisto
Review: Has any re-edit imprint ever released more music than Katakana Edits? GAMM aside, we can't think of any. This EP of reworks from DJ Laurel is, astonishingly, the label's 141st in total. Predictably, the release gets off to a cheery and sun-splashed start via the lolloping, musically detailed 105 BPM disco excellence of 'Can't Fight Your Love', before DJ Laurel subtly ups the tempo on the swirling, string-laden, dewy-eyed disco-soul of 'Perfect Play'. Those seeking more up-tempo, peak-time-ready thrills should head straight for the gloriously grandiose disco-era Marvin Gaye style brilliance of 'One on One'.
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KE 9141
19 Jan 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
19 Jan 24
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 140EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Breakbeat
Review: Next up on the super impressive Katakana Edits series, a spicy set of weapons indeed as we take a look into a Goji Berry special. The track itself takes the title 'Sliced Berries' and takes an unmistakable vocal lead and reworks it into a fusion of futuristic breaks and rock and roll. It's quite a task to take such an immediately recognizable vocal and give it an entirely new feeling, but that is something that we see achieved here through numerous key changes and unique instrumentation. Alongside the original rework, we also see an extended mix addition, alongside a full instrumental offering to allow DJ's to play until their hearts are content.
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KE 9140
15 Dec 23
Breakbeat
15 Dec 23
Breakbeat
Katakana Edits Vol 139EXCLUSIVE
Review: Rapidly approaching the 150 mark, Katakana Edits saddles up funk-disco DJ-and-producer outta Brighton - Fray Bentos - for session 139. Holding down the ballroom beats in the disco burning "Stabbed In The Back", get a 11-minute Billie Jean turner in "Re-Clubbed". Bentos adds a classic Marvin Gaye vocal and sax to a '90s UK pop inspired anthem subtle nestled in the background (for a truly euphoric mix) - next to some sublime, sleeper dub techno only the deepest diggers could discover in "Georges Pudding". From disco to dub techno.
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KE 9139
01 Dec 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
01 Dec 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 138EXCLUSIVE
Review: Katakana regular DJ Laurel returns with his latest contribution to the long-running series. First onto the re-editor's table for surgical rearrangement this time around is the mighty James Brown himself, whose 'It's Too Funky In Here' from 1979 gets reinvented as 'Too Funky'. Next comes 'Melo Do Tagarelo', which bites the 1980 Miele cut of (nearly) the same name - widely regarded as the first hiphop record ever made in Brazil - that married the Sugarhill Gang to exuberant Latin brass, before the EP's completed by 'Maryline', Laurel's take on Christian Gaubert's 1979 French jazz-funk gem 'Sweet Maryline'.
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KE 9138
17 Nov 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
17 Nov 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 137EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, Fort Knox Five, DJ LAUREL, FINGERMAN, Jayl Funk, Juno Recommends Disco, Umbo, Kongisto
Review: Hard on the heels of volumes 133 and 128, MBO returns with his third contribution to the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series, and two tasty little nuggets he's served up too! In the blue corner we have 'I Can't Stop', a funk-fuelled disco chugger (origins unknown) with a female vocal intoning the title, a slinky-assed bassline, brass fanfares and some seriously soaraway sax work. In the red corner, meanwhile, there's the slower-moving 'Once You Get It', which reworks the BT Express cut of the same name (from their classic 1974 long-player 'Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)').
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KE 9137
06 Oct 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
06 Oct 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 136EXCLUSIVE
Review: For his outings on Breakbeat Paradise Recordings, Pecoe has served up party-starting, sample-heavy cuts that join the dots between funk, soul, disco and breaks, often mixing in raw and weighty basslines. For this Katakana Edits EP, he's switched to re-edits and hush-hush remixes, with predictably fun and funky results. He begins with 'Handle It', a smooth and gently loopy house style tweak of a killer disco gem with added hip-hop vocals, before expertly blending disco and R&B flavours on the loved-up lusciousness of 'Little Love Case'. 'I'll Be There' sees him tweak what sounds like a house-tempo, street soul-era cover of The Spinners' 'I'll Be Around', while 'Funky Situation' is a gritty and heavy pumper marked out by funk-rock guitar riffs and vintage rap vocals.
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KE 9136
08 Sep 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
08 Sep 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 135EXCLUSIVE
Review: Morlack has been a Katakana regular since Vol 10, and now he returns with four more re-edits for your dancing pleasure. First to get the treatment are Earth Wind & Fire, as Morlack revisits 'Spread Your Love' from 1983's 'Powerlight' album. He's dug a little deeper for the other three, whose sources have our disco detectives beat, but 'Dr Jekyll' features a spoken French male vocal, female backing vox and some fine organ work, 'Can't Fight The Feeling' has a west coast electrofunk feel and analogue synths a-gogo, while 'Mighty Fine' is a smoother groove from the soul/boogie school of thought.
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KE 9135
16 Jun 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
16 Jun 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 134EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, DJ LAUREL, Roast Beatz, ROMANTO (DISCO MACHINE/RARE WIRI), Juno Recommends Disco, Umbo, Morlack, Discoholic Ken, FRAN DEEPER, Ben Jamin
Review: Vol 134 finds DJ Laurel back at the controls as he serves up three more reversionings of classic tracks. First to get the treatment is Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers' 'Berro E Sombaro', an irresistibly danceable, Latin-flavoured cut from 1979's 'Bustin' Loose' album that recently saw a Record Store Day reissue and that was also revamped by Chewy Rubs a year or two back. Then it's the turn of Tomorrow's Edition's 'U Turn Me On' from 1981, before Laurel turns his attention to Chanson's 'Don't Hold Back' from 1978. All three will get 'em moving for sure but 'Funky Sambaro' stands out.
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KE 9134
02 Jun 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
02 Jun 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 133EXCLUSIVE
Played by: From P60, Juno Recommends Disco, Umbo, Kenneth Bager // Musicfordreams, BRENDON P, Kongisto, Ben Jamin
Review: MBO's first contribution to the 'Katakana Edits' came on Vol 128 and now, just five instalments later, he's back with another brace of fresh reworks of vintage nuggets. What exactly those nuggets are will have to go sadly unidentified this time out, but 'Twilight' is an unhurried lounge-y, tropical kinda jam with some sprightly-fingered jazz keys and minor chords that recall Flash & The Pan's 'Waiting For A Train', while 'Boca' is even more laidback, with Balearic-style dusty, sampled drums, wistful flute, schmaltzy strings and, most importantly, some very cool, blues-y Hammond work. Perfect for groovin' on a sunny afternoon.
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KE 9133
19 May 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
19 May 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 132EXCLUSIVE
Review: El Paso has become quite the Katakana regular of late, having helmed vols 115, 116, 122 and 129, and now he returns for a fifth instalment with four funk reworks in tow. 'Ms Fine Brown' revisits Syl Johnson's 'Ms Fine Brown Fame' from 1976, while James Brown's much-sampled 1973 classic 'The Payback' becomes 'Revenge'. The sources for 'Baila' and 'Tutu' - both featuring Spanish-language vocals - will sadly have to go unidentified, but the former has a Nu Yorican, boogaloo/barrio funk kinda vibe about it while the lower-tempo 'Tutu' is much more tropical and lounge-y in feel.
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KE 9132
24 Mar 23
Funk
24 Mar 23
Funk
Katakana Edits Vol 131EXCLUSIVE
Played by: DJ LAUREL, FINGERMAN, ROMANTO (DISCO MACHINE/RARE WIRI), Juno Recommends Disco, J&M BROTHERS, D-Funk, Discoholic Ken, BRENDON P, Ben Jamin
Review: Has any re-edit imprint ever released more reworks than Katakana Edits? Certainly, we can't think of any. In the wrong hands such productivity would impact on the quality of the label's output, but Katakana keep delivering gems even as they nudge past 130 EP releases - as Those Guys From Athens' new EP proves. They start in fine fashion by turning a dusty disco-funk number into a lolloping chunk of locked-in, head-nodding mid-tempo goodness on 'Hello There' - think bouncy beats, weighty bass, addictive guitar licks, lazy horns and luscious vocals - before subtly tooling up an urgent, peak-time-ready disco workout on 'Off The Ground'. To round things off, they add their own trademark beats and filter effects to an early-to-mid-80s disco number (complete with attractive synth sounds) from what sounds like Thelma Houston.
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KE 9131
10 Feb 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
10 Feb 23
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 130EXCLUSIVE
Review: At the controls for Vol 130 in the 'Katakana Edits' series is Goji Berry, who returns to the stable after previously helming Vols 69 and 93 and appearing on several earlier editions. First to come under his scalpel is 'Going Back To My Roots': the track's perhaps best known to most via covers from Richie Havens, Odyssey or FPI Project, but it's Motown legend Lamont Dozier's 1977 original that gets the treatment here. That's followed by the raw, blistering funk of Rufus Thomas's 'Itch And Scratch' from 1972; put together, the two tracks add up to one small but perfectly formed package.
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KE 9130
02 Dec 22
Funk
02 Dec 22
Funk
Katakana Edits Vol 129EXCLUSIVE
Review: El Paso steps up to the plate for Vol 129 in the 'Katakana Edits' series. The original versions will sadly have to go unidentified this time around, but suffice to say Da Funk is in full effect across all four tracks, kicking off with 'Kitty Kitty', a rolling trop-funk groove with breathy female vocal snips. 'Grande' follows and operates in similar territory but in slightly more lazy n' laidback - and 100% more instrumental - fashion while 'Revolution Solution' brings the militant Black Power soul vibes with its conscious male vocal, before finally 'I Got To Be Kissed' plays us with out with its full-lunged 60s-style female soul vox.
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KE 9129
18 Nov 22
Funk
18 Nov 22
Funk
Katakana Edits Vol 128EXCLUSIVE
Review: These ears have seldom encountered a Katakana release they didn't like but Vol 128 really does pack some sterling re-edits, kicking off with MBO's reversioning of Jackie MacLean's 'Dr Jackyll & Mister Funk' from 1979. Next to get the treatment is The Jackson 5's 'Get It Together' from 1973, followed by The O'Jays' 'Give The People What They Want' from 1975. There's a similar 70s soul feel to 'Mine' - source sadly unknown - before we come to the jewel in the EP's crown, a stunning take on Don Covay & The Goodtimers' 'See Saw' from 1965. Mod R&B was, of course, the original rave music - check this and you'll understand why!
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KE 9128
21 Oct 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
21 Oct 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 127EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Clairvo (MustBeat), The Allergies, DJ LAUREL, Jayl Funk, Juno Recommends Disco, Kongisto, Bully Boy
Review: Volume 127 in the 'Katakana Edits' series finds regular contributor DJ Laurel back in the producer's chair once more. He opens his latest missive with a reworking of Dyke & The Blazers' 1969 funk/soul jam 'Let A Woman Be A Woman', and signs off with his take on 'Red Hot', a track culled from the disco-vibed 1979 debut solo album by former Supreme Mary Wilson. In-between you'll find 'Shout It Out', a rousing little number whose origins are unknown, but that's got a distinctly 'Schoolhouse Rock' kinda vibe about it. Good stuff all round, but 'Red Hot' takes the gold for this reviewer.
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KE 9127
09 Sep 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
09 Sep 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 126EXCLUSIVE
Review: Something of a departure for the 'Katakana Edits' series here, as Pecoe, taking the helm for Vol 126, shifts the needle away from straight-up re-edits and moves it into the zone more properly labelled 'mash-ups', with most of the five taking an 'old meets new' approach. So contained herein you'll find The Whispers going head-to-head with Kelly Clarkson, Will Smith doing battle with Sister Sledge, Montell Jordan showing us how he does it alongside T-Connection, Hamilton Bohannon rubbing shoulders with US rapper Cupid and Busta Rhymes gettin' down with Unlimited Touch. File under 'surefire party starters'.
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KE 9126
29 Jul 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
29 Jul 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 125EXCLUSIVE
Review: The Katakana crew tick off the first milestone on the road to their second century, with Goji Berry doing the honours for Vol 125. It's a simple two-track affair this time out, with 'Sometimes I Feel' biting an unidentified male-sung take on the classic 'Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child' (a traditional Southern spiritual made famous by Odetta and Paul Robeson, and rendered here in a style that recalls the likes of Bill Withers, William De Vaughn or even Al Green), while the far more rumbustious 'Get Off My Back' reworks 1969's 'Get Off My Back Woman' by blues legend BB King.
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KE 9125
22 Jul 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
22 Jul 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 124EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Drum & Bass
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KE 9124
24 Jun 22
Drum & Bass / Jungle
24 Jun 22
Drum & Bass / Jungle
Katakana Edits Vol 123EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Review: At the controls for this latest installment in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' is DJ Turmix, who hails originally from Barcelona but has been based in New York since 2008. Trussel's 'Love Injection' from 1979 is the first dancefloor classic to get the re-edit treatment - which in this case means keeping the song structure intact but beefing things up considerably. The source material for 'Body & Soul', meanwhile, will have to remain sadly unidentified - but if you happen to be in the market for a dense trop-disco shuffler with a vaguely Europop-ish sing-song vocal, then step right on in...
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KE 9123
17 Jun 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
17 Jun 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 122EXCLUSIVE
Review: This latest installment in the 'Katakana Edits' series draws pretty much entirely from global music, which makes trying to identify the source material nigh-on impossible! Still, there's a kind of 60s/70s lounge-y vibe to opener 'Besoka', augmented by wave sounds, while 'Hong Kong' is a more Mexican/Latin-sounding affair that'd be best served in the summer sunshine. The fluttering 'Kikiribu' again has a Latin feel, with a chanted vocal this time, while 'Tropical Sant' maintains a similar MO but has more of a hazy, psychedelic vibe about it. One for the more eclectic DJs that like to mix up different world rhythms.
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KE 9122
10 Jun 22
Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
10 Jun 22
Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
Katakana Edits Vol 121EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Review: Another week, another installment in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series. The man at the controls this time around is Fontrodona, AKA Max Galloway, who's resident at Dundee house, funk and disco night Jute City Jam. He introduces himself by looping up a section of the chorus/BVs from Idris Muhammad's 'Turn This Mutha Out' (1977), then performing a similar trick vis ? vis Donald Byrd's 'Thank You For Funking Up My Life' from the following year. With source material like that it's hard to go wrong, and suffice to say the lad doesn't - this is the real deal funky shit.
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KE 9121
03 Jun 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
03 Jun 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 120EXCLUSIVE
Review: Katakana Edits regular Morlack steps up to the plate for the latest in the series, bringing with him four reworkings of (at least semi-) forgotten gems from the boogie era. First to get the treatment is T-Connection's 'Groove City' from 1981, swiftly followed by Leon Haywood's 'If You're Lookin' For A Night Of Fun' from 1980. The source material for the other two cuts remains sadly unidentified but 'Musica Americana' has a Mexican or Latin American flava while 'Ready Ur Your Love' is another early 80s-sounding jam with a growling, almost Tom Jones-esque male vocal.
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KE 9120
06 May 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
06 May 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 119EXCLUSIVE
Review: Another week, another episode in the re-edit series that just keeps on giving. Getting the razor-and-tape treatment this time around, courtesy of Brighton's Adam Billingham AKA Fray Bentos, are Evelyn 'Champagne' King's 'Shame' (1977), Class Action's 'Weekend' (1983), George Benson's 'Love X Love' (1980) and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson's 'Superman Lover' (1976). There are tracks on that list where you might think, "It's a brave producer who thinks they could add anything to THAT" - and you'd be correct. All credit to Mr Billingham, then, because he pulls it off with plenty of aplomb and absolutely no sacrilege in sight! Some useful little bullets here.
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KE 9119
25 Mar 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
25 Mar 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 118EXCLUSIVE
Review: Hope you've got your soul shoes on because it's time to do some dancefloor struttin' in the company of DJ Laurel, as for this latest installment in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series he turns to the 60s and 70s for inspiration. Tracks getting the treatment this time out come from Lou Rawls, Gladys Night & The Pips and most notably The Four Tops, who crop up twice - with 1965's 'I Can't Help Myself' and 1972's 'Jubilee With Soul'. Start with 'I Can't Help Myself' if you're of the Northern persuasion, or 'Let Me...' if you're looking for something a lil' funkier.
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KE 9118
18 Mar 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
18 Mar 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 117EXCLUSIVE
Review: After a couple of excursions into Latin and world music pastures on recent Kakakana releases, we're back in more straight-up funk/soul territory for Vol 117, which is helmed by Brussels-based Lee Zamah. The source material for these re-edits will have to go sadly unidentified, but 'Body II Body' is a low-slung, sensual groove that's vaguely reminiscent of Salsoul Orchestra classic 'You're Just The Right Size' (despite not actually sounding much like it), while 'Doo Dah' is a livelier, more uptempo funker with layered percussion and some fine keyboard trills. If your floor likes it funky, these two should keep 'em grooving, no question.
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KE 9117
11 Mar 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
11 Mar 22
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 116EXCLUSIVE
Review: Chalk up two 'Katakaka Edits' outings on the bounce for El Paso, as hot on the heels of the soul-flavoured '115', released just a fortnight ago, he brings us four re-edits that look to vintage Latin music, and particularly 60s boogaloo, for inspiration. Leading the charge for this reviewer is 'Spanish Butterfly', which pairs the lead male vocal with melodic female BVs to die for. Elsewhere, pianos and trumpets take centre stage on 'Nuevo Boogaloo' and sparkling vibes/marimba (?) augment the sunny 'Brother & Sisters', before 'Supimos Callarnos' plays us out in far more laidback, lounge-y, almost melancholic style.
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KE 9116
04 Mar 22
Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
04 Mar 22
Broken Beat/Nu Jazz
Katakana Edits Vol 115EXCLUSIVE
Review: Remember that tape/DJ mix/playlist you made - the one where you cobbled together all your most sensual and seductive tracks, to put on when you finally got That Special Someone back to yours? I bet you even called it 'Lights Down Low' or 'The Passion Parlour' or something, didn't you? Yes you did. Well, that's basically what this latest 'Katakana Edits' EP sounds like, as El Paso reworks two soul grooves from days gone by. 'Sociedad' (origin unknown) is a bit Latin-y, while the Joe Bataan-biting 'Cali Woman' is (oddly, given the source) less Latin-y, but with a bit of luck no one's REALLY listening anyway...
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KE 9115
25 Feb 22
Funk
25 Feb 22
Funk
Katakana Edits Vol 114EXCLUSIVE
Review: DJ Turmix helms the good ship Katakana Edits on this, its 114th voyage. Proceedings open with the raw, percussive 'Together', a reworking of Ray Barretto's 1969 barrio funk cut, before we move on to revisit first Timmy Thomas classic 'Why Can't We Live Together?' from 1972 and then, more bravely, Modern Romance's 'Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey' from 1981. Next to come under the re-edit scalpel is 'Spooky' - not the Dusty Springfield recording, but an unidentified, male-sung take that's neither Classic IV's original nor Chris Montez's 1968 cover. The EP's then completed by the laidback, tropical-leaning 'Take Trip & Groove With Me'.
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KE 9114
17 Dec 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
17 Dec 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 113EXCLUSIVE
Review: There's a distinctly Latin/tropical feel to this latest instalment in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series. Opener 'Chant Of The Isles' is a languid affair with mournful, Mexican-sounding trumpets and an almost 1940s crooner-style vocal, which a little tactical Googling reveals to be a rework of a 1968 recording for Fania Records by New York-based boogaloo congo player George Guzman. The livelier, spanglier 'Ritzy Mambo', meanwhile, revisits the Salsoul Orchestra cut of the same name from 1976, before closer 'Rumour' (source unknown) plays us out on a similarly shuffling, sunshine-y tip. Ai carumba!
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KE 9113
10 Dec 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
10 Dec 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 112EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Breakbeat
Review: For the 112th edition of the fantastic 'Katakana Edits' series, DJ Turmix is back inside for another fabulous display of international music fusion and intricate sampling displays. We begin our dive with 'Cocinando', a bubbling combination of lively drum arrangements, percussive pulses and groovy brass riffs, followed by the more jungle-like drum designs and smile-inducing melodies of 'Latin Soul'. The whole project lets off a smooth feeling, with each track being processed to absolute perfection, including the old school bass moogs and more hectic breaksy sampling of the next track 'Pow Pow'. The pace then increases to it's most rapid as 'Yeah Baby' delivers a super-sonic display of jungle-drum work and distant LFO warbles to round the EP out with a hectic landing and putting the finishing touches on a masterful display.
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KE 9112
03 Dec 21
Breakbeat
03 Dec 21
Breakbeat
Katakana Edits Vol 111EXCLUSIVE
Played by: DJ LAUREL, Juno Recommends Disco, Discolypso, J&M BROTHERS, Rayko, Kongisto, FRAN DEEPER, Petko Turner, Ben Jamin
Review: The ever-dependable 'Katakana Edits' series rolls on, and while this latest installment might not win PECOE any deep diggin' brownie points, it does pack some very serviceable dancefloor-friendly reworks of classic cuts from days gone by. Leading the charge for this reviewer is 'Ice & Snow', which does unspeakable but very satisfactory things to Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song', but elsewhere you get a fresh take on 'Jingo', 'Grandmaster Mash' fuses 'White Lines' with chunks of the rap from 'The Message', while 'Bold Sister' revisits James Brown's 'Bold Soul Sister' - leaving only the 60s deep funk source for 'You Can't Hide' unidentified.
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KE 9111
26 Nov 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
26 Nov 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 110EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Dj XS (FVUK), Black Hawks of Panama, Craig Charles Funk And Soul, DJ LAUREL, Juno Recommends Disco, Rayko, LEGO EDIT
Review: The unstoppable behemoth that is the 'Katakana Edits' series reaches Vol 110, with regular contributor DJ Laurel back at the controls. The EP opens with 'What About You' and 'Asking For Trouble', both of which draw on sadly unidentified sources - but think 60s soul/deep funk (Georgie Fame, maybe?) for the former, and blues/country-infused 70s soul for the latter. We then fast-forward to the disco and boogie era, with Melba Moore's 'You Stepped Into My Life' (1978) and the Michael Zager Band's 'Don't Sneak On Me' (1980) both getting the Laurel treatment. All four are very playable, making for a strong addition to the Katakana catalogue.
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KE 9110
10 Sep 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
10 Sep 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 109EXCLUSIVE
Review: French producer Morlack is at the controls for this latest installment in the 'Katakana Edits' series. On 'Way Out' he reworks a 1982 Steve Arrington track of the same name, while 'Anticipation' mines Mtume's 'Anticipatin'' from 1980, so that's your boogie lovers covered, while those in search of rawer funk pleasures can head for 'Some Dues To Pay', which revisits a 1971 cut from Little Beaver AKA Willie Hale. Elsewhere, 'Zouk La Se' draws on the 1984 track by Guadeloupean band Kassav' which spawned the 'zouk' dance craze in Latin America and the Caribbean, while 'Zoulous' was originally a 1988 French pop hit for female duo Les 36'15.
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KE 9109
23 Jul 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
23 Jul 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 108EXCLUSIVE
Review: Usually, Katakana Edits releases have us furiously Googling lyrics to try and identify the source material, but for this latest volume Fray Bentos saves us a job, opting to work his magic on two very well-known tracks, Linda Clifford's 'Runaway Love' (1978) and Rick James' 'Give It To Me Baby' (1981). 'Linda's Marathon' is aptly named, as Bentos stretches out the original to a full 12:39, making for a sultry groove that'll go down a treat at Horse Meat Disco, while on 'Give It To Me (Unity Edit)' he goes for a struttier approach with a tech-house style "some Rick James, some Rick James" vocal loop for an intro.
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KE 9108
30 Apr 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
30 Apr 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 107EXCLUSIVE
Review: The latest in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series features five funk reworks, three of which we can identify the source for: Timmy Thomas's 1972 classic 'Why Can't We Live Together', Billy Paul's 'People Power' (1975) and The Four Tops' 'Are You Man Enough?' (1973). 'Stomp The Floor' has us beat, though, and as for 'Don't Stop The Music' - well, it isn't the Yarbrough & Peoples one, and nor is it any of the tracks of the same name by K.I.D, Cascade, Bugz In The Attic, Supermax, Bits & Pieces or Brecker Brothers! But it's a decent lil' funk/boogie groove all the same...
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KE 9107
09 Apr 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
09 Apr 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 106EXCLUSIVE
Review: The latest in the 'Katakana Edits' series sees GreySkoolEdits reaching back to two different eras in the long and storied evolution of Da Funk. In the red corner there's 'Trouble In My Mind', a reworking of Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul's '(I've Got) So Much Trouble In My Mind' from way back in 1973, while there's more "trouble" to be found in the blue corner, where we find the Greys revisiting Troublefunk's 1982 go-go fave 'Pump Me Up' - this time, somewhat unusually, augmenting the source material with some brand-new scratch shenanigans courtesy of UK turntablist The Incredible DeeJay Random.
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KE 9106
05 Feb 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
05 Feb 21
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 105EXCLUSIVE
Review: The mysterious Crateditors is the man (it IS one man, we know that much!) at the controls for this latest in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series. 'Jump Up Shake Down' (source unknown) finds us in party-hearty reggae territory with its lyrical homage to "a Kingston party in New York City," while 'Spaceship Love Affair' reworks 'Spaceship Lover', a space disco cut that was recorded in 1977 by Canada-based British singer Laurice (AKA Laurie Marshall) but not actually released until 2015. 'Memories' closes out the EP - again, the source has us beat but think torchy, hi-camp disco from the Grace Jones/Eartha Kitt school of thought.
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KE 9105
18 Dec 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
18 Dec 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 104EXCLUSIVE
Review: The long-running 'Katakana Edits' series rumbles on, with regular contributor DJ Laurel back in the driving seat for #104. He's got us beat when it comes to source material for a couple of the tracks, but 'Ha Chica' is a tropical-style funk/disco cut sporting lively brass flourishes and an infectious sing-song vocal, while 'Strugglin' Together' has a mid-70s funk-soul vibe (think Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers or even Gil Scott-Heron). Elsewhere on the EP, Laurel revisits William Wilson's raw, Ohio Players-esque 1978 funker 'Up The Downstairs' and Leon Ware's superb 1979 Minnie Riperton cover 'Inside Your Love'.
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KE 9104
27 Nov 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
27 Nov 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 103EXCLUSIVE
Review: The unstoppable juggernaut that is the 'Katakana Edits' series rumbles ever onwards, with Parisian label regular Morlack (AKA Funk Blaster) back at the controls for Vol 103. 'Going With Sadness' is a lively, late 70s-style disco number - original source unknown - with a Spanish-sounding female vocal and sunny sax, while 'Love Is Really My Game' revisits Brainstorm's Sylvester-esque 1980 Tabu cut of the same name. 'Our Time' plunders Roy Ayers' 1982 barrio funk fave 'Our Time Is Coming' (as previously reworked by MAW and Joey Negro), while finally 'Right Back' is a low-slung, lower-tempo groover with more of an 80s boogie feel.
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KE 9103
23 Oct 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
23 Oct 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 101EXCLUSIVE
Review: The 'Katakana Edits' series dives headlong into its second century with a five-tracker from label stalwart DJ Laurel, and the Belarussian re-edit don has dug nice and deep this time out. 'You Are My Everything' is based on The Real Thing's 'You To Me Are Everything' (1976) and 'Everybody Needs Somebody' and Ann Margret's 'Everybody Needs Somebody Sometimes' (1983) gets reworked as 'Everybody Needs Somebody'; the source material for the rest has our disco detectives beat (despite the nagging familiarity of that main riff on 'Take Me'), but that surely just makes these tracks even more effective as DJ weapons!
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KE 9101
14 Aug 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
14 Aug 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
Katakana Edits Vol 102EXCLUSIVE
Played by: Juno Recommends Disco
Review: Over the last few years Fray Bentos has proved to be one of Katakana Edits most reliable contributors. Here he hits the mark once more with another double dose of pie-eyed reworks. The pastry-loving producer begins with "Lose Your Love", a gloriously meaty and celebratory re-edit that successfully tools-up and stretches out an Emotions classic for guaranteed extended dancefloor pleasure. It's really rather good, all told, though the accompanying "Soul Casserole Edit" of "Grapevine" (yep, you know the original) is arguably even better, in part because it builds tension via an extended instrumental section before unleashing the song's oh-so-familiar verses and chorus. Whether either track needed tampering with is debatable, but these are undeniably excellent alternative edits.
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KE 9102
14 Aug 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
14 Aug 20
Disco/Nu-Disco
