Review:
When Joey Negro dons his Akabu guise, you know he's about to lay down a timeless house groove. He did it with "Sax My Bitch Up", he did it with "Life Is So Strange", and, with the help of Alex Mills' dulcet tones, he's doing it with this, too. Rolling with a classic analogue bassline and deep dreamy chords, the "Strip Mix" is an instant hip-wiggler with serious 'zone-out' potential while the "Warehouse Mix" adds more texture and a hollow harmony to the bass a la Robin S. Everybody wants something...and your dancefloor wants to hear this!
Review:
It wouldn't be summer without every house label under the sun releasing an Ibiza-themed compilation. To be fair to Dave Lee's long-running Z Records imprint, they've been delivering White Isle-themed collections every summer for many years. Given that their sound - a blend of funk-fuelled grooves, soulful house, tech-tinged anthems, disco re-edits, boogie revivalism and classic US garage influences - is well suited to sun-drenched alfresco parties, it's little surprise to find that Z Records Presents Ibiza 2015 is rather good. While much of the standout material comes from Lee himself under a variety of guises (check, in particular, the Doug Willis jam "Crystal Lover"), there are also top-notch cuts from Sean McCabe, Opolopo and Fibre Foundation, whose cover of disco/boogie classic "Weekend" is simply superb.
Review:
You might not have heard of Al McKay, but you'll certainly have heard some of his music. The songwriter, producer and musician has been a member of some legendary funk, soul and disco outfits over the years, including Earth, Wind and Fire and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Here, UK disco/house titan Joey Negro sprinkles some magic on a previously unheard cut from the veteran's "Allstars" project. Predictably, the Z Records boss does a terrific job gently building up the instrumentation and vocals on his Extended Remix, turning in a superb retro-futurist disco-funk workout. As well as a great Instrumental version you also get a sparse, delay-laden, Dub style "Reprise" that's every bit as funky as its' predecessors despite its lack of heavy kicks and snares.
Review:
It's a bit of a surprise to see Italian nu-disco heavyweight Bottin pop up on Dave "Joey Negro" Lee's Z Records label. Then again, "Sage Comme Une Image" isn't your average Bottin production. Featuring tongue-in-cheek French vocals from Jupiter, it sounds like an authentic '70s disco production - all clipped guitars, walking bass and summery grooves. You can see why it appealed to Lee, a man who has spent years laying down revivalist disco, soul and funk with his Sunburst Band project. Remix wise, there's a couple of loopy disco-house thumpers from Spiller, but the best revision comes from Bottin himself. His dub - faithfully groove-obsessed and laden with tape echo - is the package's stand out moment.
Review:
During the British jazz-dance scene's late '70s and early '80s boom, there were few DJs that the dancers loved more than Colin Curtis. Still DJing today after 50 years behind the decks, Curtis was a natural choice to put together Z Records' first compilation dedicated to jazz-dance, jazz-funk and fusion sounds. The album is something of a stunner, all told, full of deep selections, floor-burning favourites and high-grade workouts. There's naturally plenty of Latin jazz flavours on show, high-octane thrillers (See Eric Kloss's "The Samba Express"), swinging jazz-funk (check the superb Charles Earland track) and the kind of extended wig-outs that just make you want to bust some serious shapes.
Review:
Back in the day, D.C LaRue was one of the undoubted stars of the underground disco scene, so it makes perfect sense that Z Records boss Dave Lee has bagged a swathe of new remixes. Lee dons the familiar Joey Negro alias to kick things off with a brilliant extended interpretation of all-time LaRue fave "Cathedrals", before Ron Basejam wraps spacey synth solos and fluttering flutes around a killer slow disco groove on his fantastic rub of "Do You Want The Real Thing". Elsewhere, Glitterbox regular Dr Packer provides a rolling, delay-laden take on "Indiscreet" rich in killer disco interpretation that could well be the EP's highlight, while the Idjut Boys serve up a typically trippy, dub disco powered "Beats" version of "Let Them Dance".
Review:
Part two of a picture sleeve, special release for Record Store Day 2018, featuring new and exclusive remixes of American legend D.C. LaRue. "Overture" (Folamour Orchestra mix) sees the French rising star deliver a glimmering boogie-down perspective for the late night, while Crazy P main man James Baron dons the Ron Basejam alias again - for a sunny dub of "Do You Want The Real Thing?" from the 1978 motion picture Thank God It's Friday. The always reliable Idjut Boys lend their deft hands to a remix of "Let Them Dance" from 1978's classic Confessions LP and closing out this fine remix package on the flip is the Razor-N-Tape affiliated J-Kriv: serving up another 'respectful edit', this time of "Cathedrals".
Review:
For the uninitiated, Detroit Rising is a fluid collective of leading jazz and funk musicians from the Motor City, including former members of P-funk legends Parliament/Funkadelic. Here, "Little Bit", one of the highlights from the band's latest album, A Cosmic Jazz-Funk Adventure, is given a club makeover by Z Records regular Sean McCabe. As you'd expect, the Bristol-based Welshman's main "Remix" is a simmering soulful house delight, with superb new instrumentation complimenting Detroit Rising's on-point original parts. The "Dub" is slightly breezier and sunnier interpretation, while the "Moody Mix" doffs a cap to the soulful deep house electronics of long serving British deep house producer Atjazz.
Review:
Released on Joey Negro's Z Records, Rio spinner DJ Meme whips through thirty of the best from Z on this new mix - available either as individual unmixed tracks or as one continuous mix. Always a haven for the best soulful and funky house, Z Records highlights such as JN's mix of Doug Willis' "Power To The People", Sean McCabe's mix of JD73's "Think Twice" and Akabu's "The Phuture Ain't What It Used To Be" make for an effortlessly bumping and uplifting voyage.
Review:
While Dave Lee (best-known as Joey Negro) has always dealt in disco-fied dancefloor grooves, few of his projects are quite as mirrorball-focused as his Doug Willis material. Here he dons the tongue-in-cheek, Neighbours-inspired alias for the first time in four years. There are two fresh cuts to set the pulse racing: the jaunty, piano-heavy, slightly housed-up gospel disco swirl of happy-go-lucker opener "Risky Biznizz" and the heady, heavily orchestrated peak-time disco brilliance of "Doug's Disco Theme", whose stabbing string motifs are particularly memorable. Also included in the EP are two fresh remixes of Willis classics, with Dr Packer's smooth, delay-laden, roller disco-goes-deep house version of "Skate Dancer" just edging out the tougher Re-Tide & Moon Rocket disco-house rework of "Crystal Lover".
Review:
Aussie retro soul and funk heroes Electric Empire see their soulful ballad, "Always", remixed for dancefloors everywhere by Dave "Joey Negro" Lee. The original is a total homage to mid-70s Stevie Wonder, but here Negro adds a slick shuffling house rhythm and fluid bass which manages to retain the original's vintage feel whilst recalling the sound of more modern disco-house acts like Jamiroquai. Also included is a gospel-heavy bonus 'reprise' and an acappella version too!
Review:
For those with a passion for soul, funk and disco, Dave Lee's recent Backstreet Brit Funk compilation was something of an essential purchase. You see, rather than revisiting well-known cuts from across the pond, it showcased a super-hot selection of long-forgotten British black music bangers. Here, some of those Brit funk obscurities get the re-edit treatment, with Ashley Beedle, Faze Action, Boy Norty and Onur Engin supplying the touch-ups. All treat the original material with reverence, preferring to subtly tweak and tease rather than rework. It's all good, with Faze Action's snappy beats and rubbery bass take on Elixia just nudging out Beedle's luscious jazz-funk extension of Nigel Martinez in the stand out stakes.
Review:
With a surname like 'Ferrari', it's no surprise that this producer hails from Turin, Italy. It's also no surprise that he's totally disco through and through. For this, his Z Records debut, he's teamed up with leather-lunged belter Jennifer Wallace and it's a super-celebratory slice of prime cut disco-house. Label boss Dave Lee provides an unashamedly musical extended mix that indulges all his early '80s New York disco-boogie influences in fine style indeed.
Review:
The blistering disco-house original of "Make Room For Me" by Turin producer Antonello Ferrari dropped way back in July. Such was its good vibes that label boss Dave Lee has commissioned a new pair of mixes. Both are Italian with Micky Moore's 'Super Jazz Funk" mix being the kind of funk-fuelled banger that the likes of Jay Kay only dream of making - all shuffly beats, elastic bass, tight guitar, celestial vocals and yes, pan pipes! Ferrari's own "Make Room For The Dub" mix takes things in a more brooding direction, bringing in hypnotic electro-boogie riffs for some serious damage.
Review:
With Glasgow's Geoff M laying down the ground work (along with his ridiculously good looking guys), it's left to Spanish producer David Penn to tip the ball into the back of the net with this excellent remix on Joey Negro's Z Records. Already heaped with praise from ATFC, Roger Sanchez, Groove Armada, and Robert Owens, Penn's main mix is a gone-midnight vocal house delight, with a simmering synth and bass pattern locked into a groove by mainroom drums, while his dub eschews most of Dawn Tallman's lead vocals for a more extended treatment.
Review:
Dave Lee and Andrew Livingstone's 20-year-old funky house classic gets a well-deserved revamp from Hed Kandi faves Crazibiza. From one Hed to another, they've paid complete respect to the genre-setting original throughout; swashbuckling drums, a juicy groove of obese proportions and full focus on the infectiously catchy vocal, it's a kindly reminder of how timeless house music can be when it's in the right hands. File under: 'quintessential remix'.
Review:
Joey Negro's Z Records have a remarkable knack for knocking out vintage compilation after vintage compilation. Here though, they've really discovered a rare niche of unmined gold courtesy of Nuphonic's David Hill who acts as selector. As Hill explains "gospel music has often followed trends in secular music" and this album captures 24 attempts of gospel getting on the disco and boogie trains. Highlights include the hiNRG longing of "I Need You", the electro-soul of "Love Is The Message" and the piano & strings frenzy of "Awake O Zion".
Review:
Boston-based sample-don J Paul Getto returns with his third EP on the UK's Z Records, an imprint reserved solely for the finest in boogie house delights. It's a hefty six tracks of joyful summer vibes and beats, containing plenty of edits and re-cuts by Mr Getto himself, and a stunning Joey Negro edit of "Love Today" - that track which makes you want to literally throw yourself in the dance-floor after hearing its warm and seductive bassline.
Review:
David Russell Lee has an impressive number of pseudonyms at his disposal, from Joey Negro to Sessomatto and Agora, but he appears this time under his Jakatta alias for a humungous remix compilation of his Visions work. There a plenty of names and bangers on here, from the almighty Photek who gives "So Lonely" a balearic spin, to Layo & Bushwacka's tripped-out remix of "My Vision" and even Blu Mar Ten's sultry and minimalistic D&B re-spin. There's too much quality for us to give everything away and spoil it for your hearing pleasure - dig in!
Review:
A classic of late-'90s progressive house, and boasting not one but two samples from the American Beauty soundtrack, Jakatta (aka Joey Negro) retools "American Dream" on this new release from Z Records. More tightly focused modern house remixes are the order of the day - with Supernova working those familiar chimes over a jacking house beat, while Different Gear cranks up the bpm's for a heavy main room groove-fest.
Review:
Joey Negro's Thomas Newman-sampling classic from 2000 just keeps on giving. Here we find Berlin duo Andre Crom and Chi Thanh dissecting it down to its very element and rebuilding it over a bulbous bass groove. Teasing us with a spliced, diced version of the hook, it's not until the breakdown that the shivering soul of the original sample is allowed to breathe. A fine lesson in groove dynamics and a cool house music history lesson, this remix is nigh-on perfect.
