Review: If online chatter is to be believed, this tasty 2 tracks EP from Floating Points' Melodies International label is one of the most keenly anticipated disco releases of the year. For starters, you will find an obscure (but in demand) solo production from Manhattan Transfer keyboardist Yaron Gershovsky. "Disco Baby" is a prime chunk of jaunty, jazz-funk influenced disco-funk, the keyboardist's own jammed-out riffs and solos taking pride of place in the mix alongside punchy horns and a lolloping groove. Arguably even better, though, is Floating Points and Red Greg's re-edit, which plays around with the original version's all-too-short drum break before letting the synths, keys and horns really sparkle.
Review: You'll be unsurprised to learn that the latest reissue on Floating Points' Melodies imprint is of a record that is fiendishly hard to find. Collectors have long regarded "Everything That Shines Ain't Gold", a sumptuous funk-soul workout full of bold Hammond organ lines and jazzy guitar licks, as something of a "Holy Grail", so it's fantastic see the track getting a worthy reissue. For this digital edition, you'll find the full version (originally cut into two parts ) and a fresh Floating Points re-edit. His revision is naturally tastefully done, rolling with the sweetest instrumental passages before breaking into Moore's superb vocal.
Review: Given his renowned crate-digging credentials, it's little surprise that Floating Points is a big fan of Open Soul, the 1976 debut album from Chicagoan soul/jazz-funk fusionists Tomorrow's People. The album is notoriously hard to find, with original copies occasionally changing hands online for eye-watering sums of money. The thing is, though, it's a terrific album, as this welcome reissue on the producer's Melodies International imprint proves. Spanning a wide range of soul and jazz-funk styles - from the rubbery, sax-laden disco-funk bump of "Let's Get Down With The Beat" and doo-wop influenced "Hurry Up Tomorrow", via the blistering "Hurt Perversion" - it's an inspired collection that stands up to repeat listens. Epic flipside cut "Open Soul" - a 20-mimute trip into space-soul territory - is especially good.
