London-based Midnight Riot was founded in 2012 by DJ and producer Yam Who?. With sparkling releases from the likes of Soul Clap, Rayko, Alan Dixon, Dr Packer, Chewy Rubs, AMP Fiddler, 80s Child and Joutro Mundo, Midnight Riot have an extensive collection of album compilations and EPs centred around starlight nu-boogie, disco and house. ISM Records is Midnight Riot’s parent label, together with sub-labels Black Riot and Riot Records.
Review: Midnight Riot do their bit to address the much-discussed gender imbalance in dance music with a 25-track collection featuring an almost entirely female line-up (though a few possessors of Y-chromosomes do sneak in as collaborators). With big names like Kathy Brown, DJ Paulette, Rowetta, Caron Wheeler, Sulene Fleming and Natasha Kitty Katt nestling up alongside a host of more up-and-coming artists, the quality standard is high throughout, with the musical emphasis largely on good-time, Saturday night house and disco vibes, though there a few more gently paced moments - notably in the form of covers of Bobby Caldwell's 'What You Won't Do For Love' and Sade's 'Sweetest Taboo' - while Paulette & Massey serve up a pleasing dose of acid on 'Sheroes'.
Review: It's that time of year when label compilations arrive by the truckload, but this Midnight Riot collection is definitely one that stands out from the herd, because it packs more bullets than a Gatling gun! Leading the charge for yours truly is Yam Who? & Rikky Disco's 'Set Me Free' with its romping house pianos, fat-ass b-line and absolute killer of a jazz-like female vocal, but not far behind come Da Lukas's 'Drop The Funk' (which bites Diana Brown & Barrie K Sharpe's early 90s classic 'The Masterplan'), Domino DB's gospel-infused soulful house anthem 'You Got The Love', The Love Doves' strutty 'Sistahood', Brian Lukas & Suki Soul's Inner City-nodding 'Back Together' and, well, you get the idea! A disco, nu-disco, disco-house and boogie delight.
Review: Midnight Riot's ongoing 'Disco Made Me Do It' compilation series reaches volume seven. Like its' predecessors, the 20-track set prioritises fun and frolics, blurring the boundaries between disco, electrofunk, nu-disco and house via a mixture of unreleased cuts, high-grade remixes, exclusives and familiar favourites. There's naturally tons to get the blood pumping throughout, with the many highlights including Opolopo's deliciously squelchy, sun-soaked and soulful take on Danny Kane and Princess Freesia's 'I Love The Way You Do', Yam Who's fantastic, early '80s disco style rework of Bazza Ranks and Venessa Jackson's 'Talk Is Cheap', the synth-heavy nu-disco perfection of Sammy Deuce's 'Give Me Love', and the low-slung, party-starting brilliance of Brothers In Arts' 'We Got The Funk', featuring the distinctive vocals of Freakpower's Ashley Slater.
Review: A slightly unusual release here. It's neither a straight-up cover version, nor a re-edit: instead it's best described as a cover in the style of a re-edit, in that the track's been replayed/resung but in chopped and looped, edit-like form. The song in question is, if you hadn't already guessed, the theme tune from the second best film of all time (that's 'Grease', to you) and despite the undeniable and unavoidable whiff of cheese, it actually works surprisingly well. Two versions to choose from, the Invisible Yam's Band Rework focusing on the female chorus and adding house pianos while the Original concentrates on the male-sung verses.
Review: A heavyweight transatlantic vocal team-up here, as the in-demand tonsils of San Francisco's Brian Lucas share the spotlight with those of the north of England's equally in-demand Suki Soul. Together, they take on Inner City's 'Back Together Again' from 1993 - a track yours truly used to absolutely rinse back in the day, so hopefully it'll mean something when I say they've made a pretty decent fist of it, too. Yam Who? & Jaegerossa's disco-flavoured Extended Mix is accompanied by a matching instrumental but my money's on the Eric Faria House Mix, albeit possibly just because it's the closest to the original...
Review: An in-house three-way here as Midnight Riot boss Yam Who? teams up with his partner-in-crime Phil Rose AKA Jaegerossa (who runs the Black Riot sub-label) and regular collaborator Rebecca Scales, whose tonsils have graced several previous Midnight Riot releases. The resulting track is exactly the kind of uplifting Saturday night disco-houser you'd expect and is served in three mixes: DJ Mark Brickman's will pack the most punch on commercial floors but these ears are drawn to the slightly smoother, sultrier Original Mix, which comes with a matching instrumental and which will be the better bet in the more soulful spots.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.