Review: Gee Labe won plenty of plaudits for his Toy Tonics label debut, 'Metamorphosis', when the EP dropped back in October 2023. Hopes are naturally high then for the Barcelona-based Venezuelan's speedy sequel. She hits the ground running with Mabreezee hook-up 'Monkeys', where squelchy synth-bass, dreamy chords and even more soulful vocals wrap around an extra-percussive mid-tempo house groove. New York combo Musclecars join forces with Kamaal to deliver vocal and instrumental takes that successfully re-cast the track as a slab of broken beat/Italian dream house fusion. Completing a fine package is bonus cut 'The Fourth', where Lane rushes off on a 1989 style piano-sporting, breakbeat-driven house tip.
Review: Last time we heard from Toy Tonics boss Kapote (real name Matthias Modica), he was offering up a updated and reworked version of his 2019 debut album, What It Is. 'Electric Slide', his latest EP, showcases his first all-new original solo music for almost five years. Our pick of the bunch is energetic opener 'The Party', a percussion rich romp rich in heady party atmos, densely layered drums, addictive electric piano hooks and a propulsive bassline. Naturally, there's plenty to set the pulse racing elsewhere across the EP, from the subtly proto house-influenced, hands-in-the-air joy of 'The See Me' and the thickset deep disco house flex of 'The Come On', to the kaleidoscopic nu-disco elasticity of 'The Slide'.
Review: After a run of rather impressive releases late last decade - including a fine album on Dekmantel - Stump Valley ceased releasing music around the time of the Pandemic. Here the Italian-Ukrainian duo return to action via a Toy Tonics label debut. They begin in confident fashion via Ready In LED hook-up 'Everytime', a suitably sunny, piano-and-organ rich slab of early '90s Italo-house revivalism topped up with lusciously loved-up vocals, before joining forces with vocalist L Renee on the mid-90s MIK-influenced garage-house excellence of 'A Bun Dance'. To complete the package, we're treated to some kaleidoscopic and melodious deep house joy ('Lunatica') and instrumental mixes of 'Everytime' and 'A Bun Dance'.
Review: It's easy to forget, nearly 30 years on, just how big an impact DJ Sneak's raw, jacking, cut-up style had on the house scene when he first emerged back in the mid-90s. But it did - and to his credit he's stuck to his guns ever since, building a multi-decade career based almost entirely on what is known to house connoisseurs as "that tracky shit". It's fair to say there are no great surprises here, then: you either dig Sneak's style or you don't, and I seriously doubt he gives a damn either way. In this writer's book, the man's a stone-cold don, and this six-tracker is going straight in the (virtual) box.
Review: Hot on the heels of their self-titled debut LP, a riot of punk-funk, mutant synth-pop and post-punk dancefloor workouts, Amsterdam outfit Baby's Beserk have been given the remix treatment. It's an interesting and highly entertaining collection all told, with Nikolas Wandt's inspired 80s Italo-goes-acid house revision of 'Eat Your Dollar' being followed by an excitable 80s electrofunk style interpretation of 'Rum 'N' Kola' courtesy of label regular Sam Ruffillo and a throbbing dark synth-pop re-wire of 'Rum 'N' Kola' by Each Other. To round off the EP, Kris Baha goes all angular, analogue and new wave on a stylish version of 'Glassy Towers', while Nicolini provides a delightfully low-slung, dub disco-meets-punk funk tweak of 'Eat Your Dollar'.
Review: South Londoners Athlete Whippet find their way back to Toy Tonics following a collaborative drop with Amy Dabbs on Aus Music earlier this year. Turning in something polished and produced with soaring synth lines, massive walking basslines and 909 kick drums with weight, "Release Me" features beautiful, multilayered vocals by Allysha Joy, known for her solo work on labels like Gondwana and First Word but also for being the voice of Australian cult outfit 30/70. Cut from a similar cloth is "U Look At Me" with its vocal hook, live synthstrumentation and starry arpeggios. Known for exploring the more playful side of house music and those genres around it - Athlete Whippet's serve the tonic.
Review: Toy Tonics' latest release is a captivating collection of tracks originally introduced to the world via the German Gomma Records label during the years 2001 to 2010. Back then, Gomma stood as a pivotal figure in the Y2K indie dance movement, alongside luminaries such as James Murphy's DFA and Trevor Jackson's OUTPUT Records. Toy Tonics has taken it upon themselves to revive these early 2000s gems, with tracks encapsulating the raw, indie disco and punk-funk vibes that were the lifeblood of the party scene during those vibrant days. Gomma's influence was profoundly felt in off-location clubs like SCALA and RIO in Berlin, London's TRASH and 333 parties, to iconic Parisian clubs like Kill The DJ and Paris Social Club.
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