Review: To celebrate 250 parties, Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter, the residents at and organisers of Mister Saturday Night, have put together this wonderful compilation. It starts with the offbeat folk of Menelik Wossenatchu's "Tezeta" and the glorious, soulful disco of Soul Bros Inc's "Pyramid". The compilation veers back towards electronic sounds on the stripped back deep house of ESB's "On Cue" and the bleepy "Aches" from Baba Stiltz. FaltyDL's "Hardcourage" bridges the gap between the abstract and dance-floor structures, Marcellus Pittman drops the acid-soaked Detroit house of "There's Somebody Out There" and Kerrier District delivers the lush electronic disco of "Let's Dance and Freak".Then & Now is a wide-eyed, freewheeling compilation that captures the long-running New York party's essence.
Review: Between 1990 and '92, Nottingham's Mark Gamble and Leroy Crawford released a series of Bleep-influenced cuts that have since become classics. This expansive EP gathers together some of their most potent cuts, throwing in a few lesser-known tracks for good measure. The key cut is 'Take Me Back', an excitable mixture of Unique 3 style raw bleeps, rumbling sub-bass, shuffling drums and rave-igniting synth stabs. Gamble's 2020 update is tastefully done and arguably even more potent than the original mix, while the 1990 'Bass-Head' mix and sub-heavy Rob Gordon Edit are both essential. Elsewhere, 'Frequency' joins the dots between bleep and dreamy Italian house; 'Wind Me Up' is simultaneously sleazy and rush-inducing; 'Night People' is deliciously low-slung; and 'Splat' a successful exercise in deep, melodious Bleep & Bass.
Review: We all know that Glasgow's Graeme Clark was there from the very beginning of this nu-disco trend, which is now more popular than ever. He is still pumping out some truly wicked jams and this new one entitled "Intimate Connection" on his own Roar Groove imprint is testament to this. For the most part these are pretty functional edits and tools for DJ use, some of them being live edits taken from his Love Will Not Die album tour. Standouts include the dust covered deep house dreaminess of "New Nation" or "Love Will Never Die", the feel-good boogie jam "Isle Of Lucy" and the rusty and vintage b-boy electro jam "Just One Touch".
