Review: Irregular Disco Workers, AKA Italy's Andrea Frittella, comes to Spain's Rare Wiri with two fine disco cuts here. 'Neustart' could have beamed straight in from the early 80s, sitting as it does right on the cusp between funkier 70s grooves and the more electronic styles that would come to predominate as the new decade rolled on, and as such should quite comfortably make itself at home in a range of disco, funk or Italo sets. 'Sunset Boulevard', on the other hand, sits more identifiably in the 'faithully 70s-sounding' camp - pyow! pyow! stabs and all - with a little disco-house sheen on top for good measure.
Review: Introducing the cool, warm and breezy sounds of OR - a fresh faced artist delivering a slightly R&B infused, disco & Balearica tip once again to Rare Wire. This Down The Sideway single turns in a touch of effervescent '90s pop & house next to some slamming '70s rhodes and pumping '80s synth music. Music for tasty fruit cups and sunsets for sure. Dub and vocal versions! Enjoy.
El Colibri'S Voyage (Rayko remix) - (5:54) 100 BPM
Dreams Of Yelapa - (5:29) 92 BPM
Dreams Of Yelapa (Sauco remix) - (6:18) 92 BPM
Review: Introducing the sunset, balearic and western vibes of Fresh Ro, the latest addition to the Rare Wiri label outta Spain. Delivering a two track single charged with a deep '90s sound that invokes the best of memories from chill out and Ibiza CD compilations, Fresh Ro hones in on a sound that takes in California-esque disco and deep Krautock with a touch of electro-space western, slow chugging, disco exotica! With swathes of trances weaving their way through "Dreams Of Yelapa" alongside the heaving vamps of "El Colibri'S Voyage" - it's all about those licks of guitar. That extra Buddha Bar vibe comes through in Sauco's remix, with bossman Rayko working the strings in his remake alongside classic strains of cosmic pop. Yelepa! Dream on!
Review: Here's one that's gonna be a definite attention-getter out on the dancefloor! We can't actually tell you a lot about the two artists involved - neither of them seems to have any online presence whatsoever - but what they've come up with between 'em is a cover of Beatles classic 'A Hard Day's Night', delivered in such a way that you'd swear this record had come out of early 80s New York. Just to drive the point home, the New York Dangerous Mix ramps up the camp 80s-isms to the max while swapping out the bassline for a 303-rendered version, but it's the Monyaka-esque Original that takes the gold.
Review: There was a time when Balearic meant "play what you want, as long as it makes people dance"; then, somewhere along the way, we fell into a bit of a rut and it came to mean "lots of achingly lovely soundscapes replete with fey, wispy female vocals, wave sounds and fluttering flamenco guitar". This collection from Rare Wiri, then - ranging as it does from Jerome La Souris' disco-fied take on MAW classic 'To Be In Love' to the proggy throb of Cuz Electric's 'Polly', and from the nu-boogie strut of Sauco's 'Get Off' to Rayko's 'Drive', which comes on like coldwave meets yacht rock - is a good chance to remind ourselves of what 'Balearic' was originally meant to be about!
Review: Two figureheads of the contemporary disco scene join forces, a move that will already have plenty of disco buyers salivating. What they've come up with between them is a chuggy, midpaced disco groover with breathy, barely-there vox that sit back in the mix and let some very competent six-string histrionics take centre-stage instead. No obvious peaktime scream-along, this: instead it's the kind of track you drop to keep 'em moving in-between one big anthem and the next. But with Rayko and Costela involved, you can at least rest assured the production's gonna be faultless. Classy stuff, Spanish fellas!
Review: Rare Wiri's 'Retro Future Disco' series, launched in 2016, reaches its third installment - and with 10 tracks on offer, many of them coming from scene big-hitters like Alkalino, Ilya Santana, C Da Afro, Andy Buchan and of course label boss Rayko, nu-disco lovers will be salivating already! Generally speaking it's synth-tastic grooves inspired by Italo and cosmic disco that lead the charge here - though, given the talent roster, you'd expect a certain degree of stylistic variety, and you'll find such in Buchan's rawer, more funk-leaning 'Family Kings' and the soulful vibes of The Beatbroker's 'Belong 2 Me'.
Review: Rare Wiri boss Rayko puts on his re-editor's hat and revisits three dancefloor nuggets from days gone by. Opener 'Superman' reworks the 1983 album track of the same name by Michael Sembello (who's best known for his worldwide hit 'Maniac', which featured on the 'Flashdance' soundtrack). The source for electro-disco throbber 'Street Ranger' remains sadly unidentified (though there are bites from 'Planet Rock' in there), but 'Romance' is a nice easy one, being based on Eddy Grant's 'Romancing The Stone' from the eponymous motion picture. If party-hearty 80s vibes are what you seek, this is well worth checking.
Review: Italian disco DJ/producer and Atop Records boss Vanoni comes to Rayko's Rare Wire imprint with a very solid three-tracker here. 'Apache' is a midtempo chugger with a looped rising, wordless vocal wail serving as a main hook, underpinned by wukka-wukking funk guitar and an understated, shuffling backbeat, and will serve nicely for building up energy slowly. 'Funky Stuff', with its cheeky country/blues-style guitars and harmonica and female "funky stuff... push me" vocal, perhaps has the most immediate dancefloor appeal of the three, while completing the EP is 'Disco Azzurro', a more sparse, twitchy and experimental-sounding number with a simple, Casio-like synth hook.
Review: AINZ is a new alias for Palma, Mallorca native Manolo Ca?averal, a veteran of the bands Local Time and Gomango who's now stepping out on his own. For his first outing on Rare Wiri he brings us two contemporary disco originals: the moody, midtempo chugger that is 'Genova Nights' itself (the pick, to these ears) and 'Sweet Bites', which has a more 80s, electronic feel. Remixes come from Dennis Kane, whose rub of 'Genova Nights' is a little lighter on its feet and adds some delicate guitar work, and label boss Rayko, who ramps up the drama on 'Sweet Bites'.
Review: Dab Hand boss Magnetic Soul - not to be confused with the Hong Kong D&B crew of the same name - comes to Rare Wiri with four fresh jams here. The languid 'Champ Time' starts us off in sumptuous, lounge-y late 70s disco mode, before the much rawer-sounding 'Get What Want' busts out the funk vibes. 'Party Lights' is another disco strutter, this time with an echoing, dubbed-out feel and a very 80s-sounding "money money money money/say boom, let's party tonight" chanted vocal, and the 80s mood carries over into electrofunk-inspired closer 'Reality' - check out that gloriously squelchy synth bassline.
Review: Rare Wiri bring us remixes of four tracks culled from two previous Manolo EPs, March's 'Amalfi Drive' and May's 'Paseo Maritimo'. Ilya Santana gets the ball rolling with a typically spangly, 80s-inspired take on 'Phobos', before another Mediterranean disco legend - label boss Rayko, of course - steps up with a dark, broody and chuggin' take on 'Paseo Maritimo'. Sauco's remix of 'Amalfi Drive' stands out for the decidedly Yellow Magic Orchestra-esque otherworldly synth that shimmers along at the top throughout, before finally Super Fu's remix of 'Away' drops the tempo considerably to play us out on a hazy, Balearic note.
Review: Rayko joins forces with vocalist Elena Hikari for a full-length on his own Rare Wiri label. Recently the prolific Spanish producer has been spending much of his time in cosmic/Italo territory, but while such sounds are indeed in evidence here, they're not the whole story: you can hear influences too from Balearica, trip-hop and straight-up disco, not to mention the kind of grown-up dance pop that the likes of Moloko and Goldfrapp used to specialise in. The presence of Ms Hikari's voice throughout ties it all together nicely, and while the 20s pop sheen may be a little too much for some, the best bits - see for instance 'Suddenly' - are truly sublime.
Review: Rare Wiri bring us the debut release from Aenian, a mysterious artist with seemingly no online presence whatsoever. His/her/their two originals operate in Balearic chill-out territory, with 'Somnia' sporting mournful electric guitar and a vocal chant from the Clannad school of thought, while 'Winter Recess' leans a little more to the melodic/progressive side and takes its name from its long, playground noise intro. Dark Punk Hippies and label boss Rayko then bring the dancefloor mixes: both are in a synth-y, cosmic-inspired vein but the Hippies add rolling tribal drums while Rayko's rub is more of a blissed-out, end-of-night kinda thing.
Review: Spanish nu-disco don Rayko seldom disappoints, and doesn't on this latest missive wherein, as the EP title suggests, the Rare Wiri boss explores disco's cosmic fringes. 'Find My Way' gets the ball rolling with its pulsating bassline and plangent guitars, before we drop down into the languid, sinuous groove of 'Crazy Dance', which gives way in the midsection to ominously shimmering synths and a female vocal chant. There's then time for a little tropically tinged quirkiness in the form of 'Jungle Out There' before the title track, a midtempo chugger with a suitably sci-fi feel and more wailing geetar, plays us out.
Review: There's no shortage of cosmically inspired disco/nu-disco around right now, and here Spanish stalwarts Rare Wiri bring us three more prime examples thereof. With the tempo never moving above walking (or perhaps more accurately "gently sashaying") pace, you won't find any sure-fire peaktime floor-fillers here - what you get instead are a trio of deep n' dreamy jams that'll suit warm-up sets, post-club sofa surfers and blissed-out herbalists in equal measure. Stylistically there's not a lot between them, but the squelchy-basslined 'Meteor Shower' is probably the most floor-friendly of the three while 'The Horizons' nudges it for the horizontally inclined.
Review: Rayko returns to his own Rare Wiri imprint with a four-track EP that finds him spreading his musical wings a little wider than usual. The title track here is a dark n' moody electronic chugger that marries space disco stabs to ominous guitar chords, and that'd work well for warm-up or very late play. The EP's other three cuts look to the 80s for inspiration, with echoes of Germanic coldwave and EBM ('Electro Impact'), US no-wave/disco-not-disco ('Beach Culture') and out-and-out Italo-disco ('Needing Love'). Roll up the sleeves of your linen sport coat, dab some wet-look gel on your feathercut mullet and dive on in...
Review: Perhaps best known for his contributions to the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series, DJ Laurel comes to Spain's Rare Wiri with three very classy disco/boogie re-edits here. First to get the treatment is 'Am I Gonna Be The One', a 1983 cut by Colors, the original of which was a Shep Pettibone production. That's followed by another 1983 gem, 'Sweepin' Off' by High Resolution, AKA Italian producer Stefano Gelante. The source material for closer 'Weak For You' remains unidentified, but you get the general idea! If you like your dancefloor grooves on the smooth 'n' sultry side, you'll dig this EP for sure.
Review: Four synth-y nu-disco jams make up Helsinki-based Roberto Rodriguez AKA Manolo's new EP for Rare Wiri. 'Amalfi Drive' sets the tone, a druggy, chuggy affair that blends Balearic and Italo influences with a hint of jazz-funk, then tops the lot with a soulful male vocal loop. 'Phobos' and 'Paseo Maritimo' are both in a similar vein but a little more obviously floor-friendly, and would have sounded right at home in Rimini or Ibiza Town circa 1989-90, before closer 'Away (For Too Long)' drops the tempo to a crawl - definitely one for those post-club chillin' sessions.
Review: A stylistically varied disco four-tracker here from Spanish scene stalwart Rayko, coming once again on his own Rare Wiri label. The title track is the standout, capturing that early 80s Paradise Garage vibe perfectly - think Glenn Guthrie's 'Padlock' or Whitney's 'Love Will Save The Day' - and is served up in sultry, soulful Cosmic Love Boat Re-Edit and more dubbed-out Magic Boogie Warrior Edit forms. Elsewhere, 'In Love With Love' is a more Euro-sounding affair with an Italo-ish bassline, almost folky fem vox and ear-piercing synths, while 'Need Luv' channels mid-80s boogie, but 'Your Door' is the one.
Review: Disco's always been a broad church, but in the modern era it's getting even broader. Here, Eddie Bunker - a Mexican producer who's based in the UK - helps push the envelope even further, teaming up with the brilliantly named Muddycotton Escobedo on an EP that's one-part chugging cosmic disco to one-part psychedelia/space rock. For straight-up disco fans, 'Red Light District (Part 1)' is the place to head: 'Guitar Trip', 'Trippin Two' and 'Red Light District (Part 2)' are as much about plangent, wailing six-strings as 4/4 kicks and cowbells. The end results of this unlikely fusion, though, are really quite spectacular.
Review: With releases on Paper, Midnight Riot and Disco Fruit under his belt, Pretoria, South Africa-based Brian Snr comes to Rayko's Rare Wiri with two funk-fuelled nu-disco workouts. 'Ocean Drive' itself rides chugging 4/4s and a simple two-note bass throb with parping, echoed sax and jaunty disco six-string chops, and should go down well wherever nu-disco is played, but 'Flashback 2' is equally strong with its two competing vocals, opening with a "check it out now" loop that then recedes into the background as a second, sleazy, Euro-style vocal takes the lead while assorted synth squiggles maintain the musical interest.
Review: Mushrooms Project has a long track record of delivering heady, gently psychedelic fare, with a trademark sound that hazily blurs the boundaries between slo-mo house, Balearic disco chuggers and bespoke dub disco that comes smothered in mind-altering guitar textures. 'Old Skool Dreamer', their first outing for Rare Wiri, is another slow-motion affair, with haunting flutes, evocative field recordings, sustained chords, bubby synth bass, exotic vocal snippets and subtle acid lines wrapping around a chugging groove. Paper Street Soul re-imagine it as a breezy, sunset-ready shuffler that's as positive as it is loved-up, while the 'Bonus Beat' version a spacey, stripped-back dub that wisely emphasizes the original version's bubbly acid motifs. Bonus cut 'A Wicked Draw', meanwhile, is another drowsy and percussion-laden downtempo house number.
Review: NuMood are a collective of Italian DJs, producers and musicians, and here they come to fellow countryman Rayko's Rare Wiri label with a track that's served up in Original and Manuel Costela mixes. In its Original form, 'A Blessed Day' sits somewhere between soulful house, nu-disco and the kind of chilled, street soul-inspired vibes you'd hear at a million early 90s post-club sessions (think Jhelisa Anderson, Des'ree and acid jazz), but for dancefloor purposes it's over to Senor Costela, who beefs up the bottom end while bringing the mournful sax line to the fore. If only Club Dog was still going...
Review: Make no mistake, the Italo/cosmic Force is strong in this one! In its Original form, 'Amalfi Drive' is a fairly straightforward nu-disco cut, albeit with the aforesaid 80s influences clearly in evidence. But it's when it's handed over to cosmic pioneer Daniele Baldelli and partner-in-crime DJ Rocca for remixing that the magic happens: hardcore Italo/cosmic lovers will fiend for their Iosso Remix, but it's their Arda Remix, which has hints of both progressive/melodic house and (if you listen closely) Ozric Tentacles-ish rock guitar wails, that's probably got the broadest dancefloor appeal.
Review: There's no shortage of Italo- and cosmic-inspired disco around at the mo' and, with 'Italians Do It Better' opening this EP, it's fair to say you know what you're getting here! 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' is probably the pick for the hardcore Italo-philes with its Carpenter-esque synths, 'Blue Monday'-nodding b-line and sci-fi sonic stylings, while the smoother-flowing 'Italians...' probably has slightly broader dancefloor appeal. Competing the package is 'End Titles', a midpaced affair that's essentially a homage to the synth-pop and coldwave of early/mid-80s Europe - one for those whose DJ sets include obscure Falco album cuts n' such.
Review: What is there left to say about Rayko and his well-known ability to blur the boundaries between re-edits, remixes and original productions? The Rare Wiri founder is at it again here, delivering a retro-futurist three-tracker featuring some sizzling, mid 1980s style workouts. He begins in mind-bending drug-chug mode via 'Towers', where cosmic synth sounds, sprightly electronic melodies and glassy-eyed female vocals ride a seriously filthy bassline and delay-laden machine drums. 'Foto' is a slightly more up-tempo workout rich in tactile chords and undulating, arpeggiated bass that sounds like a cooler, club-ready instrumental riff on the Pet Shop Boys circa 1986's Please album, while 'Only Music Survives' is a sneaky re-edit of a Bobby Orlando style number smothered in rushing piano solos and cheery synthesizer lead lines.
Review: Three cuts here from Boise, Idaho native Bodie Lee whose precise genesis is a little mysterious. With its disco/boogie-style vocal and naggingly familiar-sounding bassline, 'Jiggl'o' is almost certainly a cover or re-edit of some kind - we're just not entirely sure what of, though Roy Ayers' 'Running Away' may or may not have made a contribution! Elsewhere, A Taste Of Honey's classic 'Boogie Oogie Oogie' bassline underpins the pleasingly understated 'Music Feeling Good', while Kool & The Gang's white-socked 1982 boogie jam 'Hi Di Hi, Hi De Ho' gets reworked as 'This Is The Way The Song Goes'.
Review: Ever-prolific Spanish nu-disco fave Rayko recruits vocalist Elena Hikari, who also featured on last year's Tito collab 'You Are Not Alone', for a four-track EP on his own Rare Wiri imprint. 'Suddenly' itself comes in two fairly similar-sounding mixes - Cosmic Diamond's Guitar Mix is a little hazier and druggier, while Sauco's is a bit more straight-ahead. Elsewhere, 'Flying Where You Are' is all squelch, throb and Hikari's plainitive tonsils, while the midtempo 'Death From Above' is a hypnotic, pulsating groove that leans towards the Balearic, with Hikari's vox applied here in chopped 'n' looped form.
Review: Russian producer Ootkeen first appeared on Rayko's Rare Wiri label in August 2020, impressing our reviewer with a quietly impressive and subtly varied three-tracker of instrumental nu-disco treats. There's much to enjoy on this welcome follow-up, starting with the dreamy electronic melodies, warming bass guitar and shuffling beats of immersive and cheerful opener 'Comete Dance'. He successfully dips the tempo on the similarly atmospheric 'Sputnik', a calming, Balearic nu-disco treat, before breaking up the beats, reaching for the jazz-funk bass and opting for spacey synth sounds on EP highlight 'Visible Aurora'. If you're hunting for a selection of tracks to improve your mood, look no further.
Review: After 12 years in the game, Spanish nu-disco stable have reached the 100-release milestone, and they're celebrating with an imaginatively titled compilation packing eight brand new tracks that have been handpicked by label boss Rayko. Obviously, with eight tracks from as many artists there's a fair degree of stylistic variety on offer, but the emphasis generally is on heavily electronic grooves - sometimes veering into Balearic/coffee table pastures, sometimes served with a darker, more leftfield twist. It's really more of a home listening album than a collection of club cuts, but for dancefloor purposes start with the contributions from Ilya Santana and Sauco...
Review: Rare Wiri founder Rayko serves up what is, if we're counting correctly, his fourth studio album. As such, you should have a pretty good idea what to expect by now; if not, perhaps the fact that two of those previous albums came out on Nang might give you a clue! Glossy, shimmering, synth-led nu-disco with a distinctly 80s feel is the order of the day, generally, with 'Fais Pas Amour' bringing the soulful vibes and 'Telegraph' having perhaps the most instant pop appeal, while closer 'Nightloving' stands out from the pack thanks to its slightly more down n' dirty funk edge.
Review: Bristol-based Italian Kiu D comes to Rayko's Rare Wiri with a four-track EP that blends a wide range of influences. 'Lovers Job' itself kicks things off, building on a simple sparse percussion riff with squelchy bass, analogue-sounding synths and a female disco vocal chant. Elsewhere on the EP, nu-disco, 'funky house' and a hint of reggae collide on 'Guns & Beans', 'I Don't Know' is a more sumptuous affair that'd play well on soulful house as well as disco/nu-disco floors, while finally things take a turn for the darker on the Italo-inspired '4AM' which has echoes, too, of early progressive house (of the '92-'94 variety)
Review: Italy's Iva Vagli, better known as Ivo del Prado, comes to Spain's Rare Wiri label with four tracks that sit right on the cusp of contemporary disco and deep/melodic house. 'Fat Track' is a laidback little groove, 'The Blues Grows On' is a hypnotic chugger topped with the vocal from Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson's 'Bicentennial Blues', 'Summer Piano' sounds a little like Underworld trying their hand at piano house and 'Pm 04/04' finds us back in deeper house/disco pastures and sports some killer M1 action towards the end; all four come topped with big trance-y, euphoric synth leads that should help ensure maximum peaktime impact.
Review: Ever-prolific Spanish nu-disco don Rayko serves up a five-tracker on his own Rare Wiri imprint which looks largely to the early 80s for inspiration. There are echoes of New York punk-funk on 'Need A Freak', for instance, while elsewhere 'Lifetime Groove' has a boogie-ish feel, 'For Your Love' has hints of both Talking Heads and Roxy Music, and the clue as to what 'Electro Material' sounds like is in the title! Perhaps the EP's most interesting cut, though, is 'Legs' - an altogether moodier, more angular affair, it could prove a surprise crossover hit on industrial/goth/EBM floors.
Review: Two very serviceable disco cuts make up this latest EP from Mexican producer Disco Feelings, AKA Franco Alvarez, which comes on Rayko's Rare Wiri imprint. Whether these are original productions or re-edits isn't entirely clear - Alvarez has been known to do both - but 'Dance With Me' places a sultry, spoken female "I can't escape you... this is fire" vocal atop a chugging disco backdrop with a late 70s/early 80s feel, while the sunny, rolling near-instrumental groove that is 'Good As Gold' has a more mid-70s vibe. Both will keep disco floors moving without a doubt, with the fromage factor thankfully kept to a minimum.
Review: Such is the boundary-blurring nature of many of Rayko's releases, it can sometimes be trickt to ascertain whether what you're listening to is a re-edit, remix or original production. We're pretty sure that the four tracks on Super Natural are all re-edits, though they sound like Rayko's added a few new musical ingredients and reworked the drums. He begins via the early Heaven 17-with-added-electrofunk-flavour flex of 'Dinner' (very 'This Ain't No Fascist Groove Thang'), before strutting his way through a blue-eyed soul take on the early '80s Prince sound on 'Freaks Bearing Gifts'. 'Automan' adds sprightly, spacey synths sound to a formidably heavy acid bassline and relaxed electro drums, while 'Waste Your Time' is a gently tooled up take on a glassy-eyed electrofunk/80s soul workout.
Review: Rayko's ever-dependable Rare Wiri imprint bring us a solid nu-disco V/A three-tracker. Musa Nova is up first with 'Flying With You', a summery, R&B-leaning disco/pop affair that's probably best appreciated in the sunshine. Then it's over to Jerome La Souris, who brings us an impressively subtle, boogie-style reworking of the Masters At Work ft India classic 'To Be In Love', before Antonio Iadeva, Lucia Marenna and Manlio Moscarino join forces on EP standout 'Don't Say Goodbye', a more dreamy, contemplative female-vocalled cut that recalls early 90s Italian ambient house/dream house. Yes, it's been done before, but check out those chords...
Review: Rare Wiri's latest collection of club-focused cut-jobs comes courtesy of Uptown Funk, a recently formed, Huddersfield-based DJ/producer collective focused on disco, funk, soul and house music. It's a quietly impressive debut from the Yorkshire-based crew, offering a quartet of filter-sporting, gently tooled-up re-edits. They begin with the bouncy and spacey disco-funk grooves of 'Hit', before opting for a more percussive vibe on housed-up disco workout 'Goes On'. Heavyweight disco-funk vibes are supplied via sax-sporting number 'Believe It', while closing cut 'Extra Sensory Perception' does a good job in turning disco classic 'My Baby's Got ESP' into a swirling peak-time stomper.
Review: First released back in November, Rayko's 'Rush' now returns with new mixes from Manchester's Ruff Diamond and fellow Spanish producer Parissior. Ruff Diamond's rub retains the early 80s feel of the original but smooths things out somewhat, toning down the Italo vibes and bringing the disco guitar riff further to the fore, while Parissior's take is dubbed-out and more dramatic. With the spiky, European-sounding female vocal applied more sparingly, the latter's probably the pick for less specialist floors, while Ruff Diamond's mix is the one to go for if you really wanna party like it's 1983.
Review: Ootkeen, a native of Ekaterinburg in Russia, comes to Spain's Rare Wiri imprint with three instrumental nu-disco cuts that are well in keeping with current 'melodic' trends in the wider world of electronic music. 'Supernova' is a laidback affair that'd be perfect on those lazy Balearic afternoons, 'Moonlight' ploughs a similar furrow but has a slightly more house-y feel (despite actually having a lower BPM count), while finally 'Cosmic Rays' leans even more heavily to the prog/melodic side of things and wouldn't sound out of place early-doors in a Cattaneo or Digweed set.
Review: Known mostly for releases on Spa In Disco, here Spanish producer Alex Arcocha comes to Rayko's Rare Wiri imprint with a track that you can file under 'nu-disco' or 'disco-house' as you see fit. In its Original form, 'Higher' has something of the surging, pulsing feel of Balearic prog, a throbbing Italo-esque bassline underpinning euphoric synths as the uncredited female vocalist informs us that "your love keeps lifting me higher". The remix from Croatia's Ilya Santana doesn't flip the script too much, but has a druggier, more spangly feel that puts this rub more firmly in the nu-disco camp
Review: Jet Boot Jack is probably best known for the excellent disco, funk and boogie re-edits that he regularly posts on Soundcloud, but as this two-tracker for Spain's Rare Wiri shows, he's just as adept when it comes to original productions. 'Don't Take It Away' is a piano-led disco-houser topped with a female (or possibly near-falsetto male?) vocal, while the aptly-titled 'Get On Down' is chunkier, funkier and altogether more down n' dirty, until bursting out into an anthemic, euphoric chorus - a track that could have been made specifically to be played by Norman Jay on a hot summer's day.
Review: All aboard! Rayko takes us to the end of the line with Last Train To 80's, a three-track package destined for rainbow road. With Rayko's exotic French touch applied to "Affair" we see a slo-mo disco vibe regimented by a snapping snare drum reach the astral plane through some Van Halen-styled guitars in "Space Funk". Going deeper still is "Above", a sweet and dubby number skittled by some classic drum machine percussion, Italo disco grooves and a slight post punk, Uk synth pop edge. Tip!
Review: Following fine outings on Atop, Spa In Disco, Midnight Riot and Editorial, long-serving producer and re-editor Massimo Vanoni makes his bow on Rayko's "Rare Wiri". He begins with fine title track "The Beat", a chunky and warming slab of gently Balearic nu-disco rich in bubbly bass guitar, snaking saxophone motifs, dreamy synthesizer chords and short hip-hop vocal samples. He then delivers more afternoon sunshine via the janling piano riffs, soulful vocal snippets, hearty organ notes and unfussy beats of "Free", before dipping the tempo and doffting a cap to the greats of swamp funk on "Positive Soul". This loopy, chugging affair sees Vanoni make excellent use of looped blues vocal snippets, eyes-closed snatches of jazzy guitar and a suitably chugging, arpeggio style bassline.
Review: Introducing Uabos & Hard Ton! A new continental Italo duo conceived deep within the stables of Bordello A Parigi, the pair's music has naturally found its way out through Rayko's Rare Wiri! Delivering an electro, industrial pop and synth wave number that references all matter of '80s movie soundtracks, "Ghost" comes fixed with an authentic rerub by New Yorkian legend Man Parrish! Furthermore there's Aman 'Aimes" Ellis' dubbed-out acid makeover and adding a Euro-dance vibe to the collection is Australian producer Hysteric with his ghoulish night driving version.
Review: Taking a brief break from promoting the work of like-minded Spanish disco freaks. Rare Wiri boss Rayko has decided to offer up a thrill-a-minute EP from London-based pals Takao and Theon Bower. They open with the filter-smothered heaviness that is "Thunderbird", a riotous romp in which slamming new house drums, layered percussion and mazy new synthesizer solos mingle with righteous, horn-fired sections of a vintage disco-funk heater. They change tack slightly on "Acenda O Farol", a similarly filter-heavy, disco-house style bounce-along that makes extensive use of elements from what sounds like a deliciously camp and over the top South American disco record.
Review: Flight Status - AKA Esteban Ochoa, a native of Guadalajara in Mexico - has been recording as Flight Status since 2016, and here he serves up a three-tracker for Spain's Rare Wiri label. 'Dice' is an electronic disco-not-disco chugger that borrows heavily from Kim Carnes' early 80s gem 'Bette Davis Eyes', while '1987' finds us in full-on Italo/cosmic territory (think Moroder, Baldelli, Robotnick). Closer 'Marvin's Gum' then takes its name from a 1983 TV interview with Marvin Gaye that he chewed gum throughout, large chunks of which provide the spoken vocal, accompanied by snatches of that distinctive near-falsetto.
Review: They're not yet confirmed stars of the global re-edit and rework scene, but NFC & Key Sokur are clearly producers on the rise. Here the duo makes their debut for Rare Wiri following rock-solid appearances on About Disco, Editorial, Onrika and Moiss Music Black. They begin a varied selection of subtly beefed-up, floor-friendly edits with "Japanese Funk", a bustling, bass-heavy take on a Hammond-sporting heavy funk number that will get even the most reticent of punters up and dancing. "Meu Tio" is a wonderfully summery, sun-kissed shuffle that adds new jazz-house style dancefloor chops to a Flameno-style Mediterranean number, while "The Bossa Nova Rain" is a lilting and lazy shuffle through samba-house pastures featuring new vocals from pal Azul Fourcade.
Review: Irish DJ/producer Stephen Richards, who hosts OpenTempo FM's DiscoDaze radio show, serves up two nu-disco/disco-house originals here. 'Jiggery Pokery' feels like a simple chugging, looping groove on first hearing, but listen more closely and you'll realise there are all manner of musical elements - wordless vocal snips, a sunny sax line, string stabs and more - drifting in and out, helping to maintain dancefloor interest for the full seven-and-three-quarter minutes. 'Bright Nightlight' has a more straight-up 80s Euro feel, while finally Ziggy Phunk's remix takes the title track into similar territory - shut your eyes and you're in a nightclub scene from 'Miami Vice'!
