Review: Ten months after unveiling their first batch of 'Disco Biscuits', Luv Shack has served up another piping hot selection of Viennese Whirls. Ken Hayawaka and Lee Stevens are first to showcase their crunchy and crumbly wares on 'If You', a riff-sporting, warehouse ready chunk of nu-disco-tinged house nostalgia, before LeSale reaches for the chocolate chips on the bubbly, vibrant and crystal-clear nu-disco sparkle of 'What Lies Beyond'. Fast-rising Polish producer Das Komplex is at his cosmic, dubbed-out best on the cheery disco-not-disco excellence of 'Odmewianie', while Jakobin and Domino's EP-closing 'Square One' sandwiches squelchy synth-bass and dreamy chords between piping hot nu-disco beats and spacey electronics.
Review: Many happy returns to Luv Shack Records, which has now been in the game for 10 long years. To celebrate, they've asked a bunch of hugely talented producers to deliver fresh interpretations of classic cuts from the catalogue. Predictably, it's Norwegian heavyweight Prins Thomas who steals the show, turning Space Echo's 'Come Back Home' into a subtly Afro-tinged slab of Scandolearic dub disco that stretches out for 11 alluring minutes. There's plenty to set the pulse racing elsewhere across the EP, too, including a chugging, dark Italo-influenced rub of Rising Seed's 'Train To Kishmarton' by ROCTIV, a loose and languid, sun-kissed vocal disco rework of Space Echo's 'Soul Power' by Golden Boogie Connection, and an atmospheric, slow motion and decidedly horizontal Rising Seed dub of Lee Stevens' 'Ridin' High'.
Review: Four original productions plus a remix of the title track make up this EP from RotCiv, a Brazilian producer who's been based in Berlin since 2010. 'Elev8tion' comes from the Moroder/Baldelli/Robotnick school of thought but has a clear acid house influence as well, while Massimiliano Pagliara's remix smooths out the sharper edges and could work on progressive/melodic house floors. The other three tracks are similarly Italo-inspired, with 'The Morning After' the pick for this reviewer thanks to its slightly less frantic tempo and ominous, broody feel. There's plenty of similar tackle around right now, but this EP's a worthy example of the style for sure.
Review: You've all seen the meme where Batman's punching Robin. Now just imagine Robin's saying "You need lots of elements for a killer dancefloor tra-" and Batman's cutting him off with "No, you just need a rolling funk loop, some sax parps and a few James Brown-style vocal shouts", and you know pretty much all you need to know about 'Cha Ha' - file under "absolute bloody dancefloor devastation ahoy!", whether you opt for the 4:13 Radio Edit or 6:43 Original. The accompanying 'Another Dream' is a pleasant-enough meandering, midtempo instrumental that comes with a spacier, more stripped-back Das Kompex Remix, but it's the title track that's the must-have.
Review: More from Luv Shack stalwart Lesale, who delivers a quick follow-up to June's rather fine "Mister Easy EP". The headine attraction is undoubtedly the producer's "Baguette Magique" (snigger), a deliciously loved-up, bouncy and positive chunk of disco/deep house fusion smothered in clanking percussion hits, spine-tingling strings and wonky, Syclops-esque electronics. Roman Rauch remixes, seemingly drawing influence from classic, turn-of-the-90s New York deep house and quirky acid tracks. Elsewhere, "House Rules" is a fine chunk of sun-kissed disco-house classiness that seemingly unfurls itself as the track progresses, while "Jungle Breeze" brilliantly joins the dots between early Italian dream house and contemporary tropical house.
Review: Andrew "Moodtrax" Johnston has enjoyed a quiet but successful start to his career, releasing a smattering of solid singles over the last two years. Predictably, there's also plenty to enjoy on this new four-tracker for Luv Shack. He begins with the sparkling, far-sighted dreaminess of "Never Can Get Away", where an extended, spine-tingling ambient intro ushers in a bouncy-but-spacey intergalactic deep house groove, before wrapping alien synthesizer lines and drowsy chords around another huggable rhythm track on "Perfect Illusion". "Running Number", meanwhile, sees Johnston successfully join the dots between Metro Area style nu-disco and sun-kissed Balearic house. The Longhairs Luv Remix of the same track retains some of the sparkling top end sweetness while successfully beefing up the bottom end.
Review: Austrian imprint Luv Shack kicks off 2018 with something rather special: a five-track collection of reworks of tracks by wild Italian twosome Hard Ton (the original versions of which can mostly be found on last year's excellent Party Hard Ton full-length). We're particularly enjoying Ali Renault's dark, woozy, stomping and warehouse-friendly take on "Yeah Yeah" (think Carl Craig's more hypnotic techno moments pitched-down and infused with low-slung acid house), though you'll struggle to find a more celebratory house cut than Jakobin and Domino's breezy re-make of "Happy House". Also worth checking are the two remixes of "Can You Feel The Love", with Nico Lah's ridiculously bass-heavy tweak standing out.
Review: Italian group Hard Ton's second remix EP on Luv Shack Records comes packed with five more exclusive reworks. It features Parisian producer/rapper Kiddy Smile, fellow Luv Shackers Lee Stevens and Audio Red and Kelton Prima. Our highlights were "Never Give Up" getting the ROTCIV treatment: the Brazilian producer gives the track a classic mid '80s Chicago styled makeover. The other highlight was the Tomasz Guiddo Remix of "The Way You Rock" which similarly goes stateside, but with more of an early '90s sound: reminiscent of the legendary MK's style of dubs. Released earlier in 2017, Party Hard Ton was about the uniting aspects of electronic music and celebrating the concept of partying. The styles featured on the album were as diverse as the artists involved such as Moralez & Sames, Johnny Woo, Snuff Crew and Spiller. For those that missed it, we'd highly recommend it!
Review: Luv Shack Records' newest EP marks the 26th release on the label and it's a classic split affair by stalwart artists Space Echo and Jakobin & Domino. Space Echo's "My Heart My Soul" is feelgood, uplifting disco looped to perfection if we do say so ourselves. His next joint "Party Together" is more on the lo-slung and definitely slo-mo tip: to get groovy earlier on or later in the evening. It is then over to Jakobin & Domino with "You Want My Love" which features a familiar loop and it's so funky, soulful and irresistible. Finally "Filter Queen" is another earworm and you just know you've heard that loop somewhere before, right? Ah, it makes you love it.. what more can we say!
Review: Italian electro house pair Hard Ton are what we would refer to as 'reliable'. We don't want that to sound boring, because that is exactly what this duo are not, but they've been pumping out consistently high levels of dance music euphoria since the late noughties. Here they return with a remix pack for the Luv Shack imprint, a five-track juggernaut with the right kind of vibes, kicked-off by 2 versions of "Style Ga-Galore", the first by the Gemini Brothers and the second from Andrew Soul. Sebastian Voigt's remix of "Queer Nation" is a bubbling house banger with a chunky percussion flex, wheres the two remixes of "Stumbling" & of "Shine By Night Ft. Snuff Crew" come respectively from Alinka and Perseus Traxx, the second of whom lays down an ultra-slick Chicago throwback.
Review: Hard Ton are a decadent Italian duo who were 'fused...from the musical loins of DJ Wawashi and heavy metal singer Max' nearly a decade ago. They make electronic dance music that is both sleazy and camp and have had releases on labels like Gigolo, Permanent Vacation and Bordello A Paragi. Here they release a 13-track album, Party Hard Ton, on Austria's Luv Shack label and it's a belter. Highlights include their floaty Ibiza-disco Spiller collaboration "Right Now", the otherwordly synth ballad "Be My Spell" (featuring Adriano Canzian) and the nasty jackin' narrative of "Stumblin'" (which features London's own Johnny Woo). Essential party material.
Review: Following successful flirtations with Bordello a Parigi and Smile For A While, Hard Ton returns to Luv Shack. This time, the Italian duo has got original disco-house hero Spiller (he of "Groovejet" fame) in tow. "Right Now" offers a perfect fusion of loopy, disco-house riffs, swinging deep house beats, and the kind of vocal that should get them going out on the dancefloor. While it's good, the accompanying remixes from Dimitri From Paris and DJ Rocca are even better. Choose between the Italo-house/electrofunk fusion of the Erodisctotique Mix, and the piano-heavy thrills of the duo's Dubstrumental, which sounds like something that would have been popular at the Paradise Garage circa 1989.
Review: Guiddo was born in Warsaw, dallied about in Berlin and now runs a record store in Shenzen, China. He can also be found releasing cool jams on labels like Beats In Space and Luv Shack, often featuring people like Snax and Jamie Lidell. Here his collaboration with crooner Louie Austen, Dream Your Dream gets the remix treatment, with Kez YM delivering a deep and smooth jazzy house number (also available in an even smoother dub version). Lee Stevens and Lukas Poellauer also contribute a sublime seven-minute dream-like odyssey of a remix that features soft and warm synthetic textures.
Review: He may be currently residing in Shenzen, China, but Guiddo having a great week in the west, with two of his recent jams getting re-released remixed treatment. Aside from his Louie Austen collaboration, Dream Your Dreams, (which can be found elsewhere here on Juno), we also now see Walked Out getting reworked too. A joint production with Jamie Lidell and featuring the strong vocals of Snax, the record now gets turned into slow and brooding Italo disco by Neon Amish, slammin', 90s-style handbag house by Tom Findlay and fuzzed-out analogue funk by Harry Jen.
Review: Hard Ton are the fun loving Venetian duo comprised of DJ Wawashi and heavy metal singer Max. Soaring falsettos "conjure up memories of smoky dancefloors during the heady days of HI-NRG" and are behind such fabulous titles titles like "I'm Your Machine" and "We Came Here (To Jack)". Their new track "Queer Nation" is a buzzing and grinding all analogue techno jam featuring a massive roll call, name dropping everyone that matters! There's a hot remix by Classic Recordings man man Luke Solomon too, which gives it that early noughties west coast tribal house vibe. Brazilian via Berlin Rotciv steps in to lend a helping hand on the deep acid groover "Style Ga Galore" plus they offer up something a bit more lo-slung and dusty on the deep disco of "The Way You Rock".
Review: After working relentlessly for three years to establish the label, the crew behind Luv Shack has been enjoying some much-needed time off. Suitably refreshed, they return with a first EP of 2016: a fine three-tracker from Space Echo (AKA label co-founder Lee Stevens and fellow Austrian Christoph 'caTekk' Abele). Happily, there's plenty to admire, from the loopy, smoky, blues-house shuffle of opener "Go Down" - where infectious, impassioned vocal samples ride a loopy, string-drenched groove - to the fantastically righteous '70s-funk-goes-acid stomp of closer "Rainbow Power". "Rare Function", another trip into chunky disco-house territory that boasts some notable electric piano samples, is also quietly impressive.
Review: Viennese label Luv Shack are on course to scoop first prize in breakthrough house label of 2012 with label regulars Jakobin and Domino at the helm on this four track EP package of groove laden goodness. The title track "Squeeze Me" and its respective remix from LeSale both bump and bounce with the kind of jack reminiscent of early Freerange or Inland Knights output, while facedown production "Lately" is more analogue, acid and tech inspired. There's a definite hallmark of Brett Johnson / early Classic Records to this production, and if that's just a tad too retro and stripped back, jump on the deeply cosmic Burning Tears remix. Feel the Luv.
Review: Given the success of their other releases, it's hard to believe that the 2 Hearts EP is only the fifth release from Austria's Luv Shack label. It features four collaborations between Lee Stevens and various other Luv Shack luminaries, all of which fit into the label's sweet, touchy-feely deep house template. Proceedings commence with "Luv Sick", a hook-up between Stevens and LeSale that is positively Balearic in its feel good outlook, while "Find A Girl" (co-produced by Jakobin) takes a woozier, fuller approach, all drowsy chords and filter-heavy grooves. Then "Deep Inside"- done in cahoots with the brilliantly named Simonlebon - recalls classic US deep house of old - all analogue percussion and booming 909 boss - while "Be Yourself" casually drifts between the speakers on a warming wave of nu-disco synths and Balearic chords.
