Review: "Reach Out", a swinging, shuffling, bruk-influenced soulful house gem featuring the sumptuous vocals of Hannah Khemoh, is the latest single to be taken from Bristol-based Welshman Sean McCabe's excellent debut album, It's Time. Alongside McCabe's extended version, there's a headline rework from Atjazz and an all-new edit from the original producer. The Atjazz version will get most of the attention, featuring as it does the perfect blend of European style tech-house chords, insatiable vocal loops and percussion that's suitably sturdy whilst retaining an element of swing. McCabe's Paradise Edit is excellent, too, with key vocal phrases being paired with melodious keys, dreamy chords and beats that shuffle majestically.
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: Six years on from launching the It's A Summer Groove series, Joey Negro returns with a fifth selection of sunshine-friendly tracks from the Z Records vaults. While much of the label's output - soulful, accessible, funky and heavily influenced by disco, funk and boogie - could be described as "summery", there's something particularly bright and breezy about the 21 tracks gathered together here. Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the smooth disco-soul goodness of the Reflex's recent remix of the Sunburst Band's "The Secret Life of Us", and the terrace-friendly piano house of Shur-I-Kan's rework of Zo & Erro & Phonte, to the vibraphone-laden boogie-house goodness of Rainbow Connection and Taka Boom's "Surrender".
Review: A UK disco master with almost 30 years experience, when Dave Lee aka Joey Negro presents his selections we all sit up and listen. Here's his take on the year that was and it's brimming with 19 rich and rewarding gems to see us through the holidays. Highlights include the deep gospel shuffle of "Reach Out (Atjaz remix)" by Sean McCabe, the sizzling crackle of camp disco accelerator "Unique (New York Underground mix)" by Danube Dance & Kim Cooper and Pezzner's warm synth funk rework of "Candy Coated Perfection" by Opolopo and Diane Charlemagne.
Review: With the 2016 Ibiza summer season in full swing, Dave 'Joey Negro' Lee has gathered together a bumper collection of label tracks that are currently doing the business on the White Isle. There are few surprises amongst the 28 selections - think swinging piano-house, soulful grooves, sun-kissed broken beat, contemporary disco reworks and synth-heavy boogie-house - but the quality threshold remains remarkably high throughout. Highlights include Lee's glistening 2016 re-rub of his vintage Doug Willis anthem "Spread Love", a deliciously loose and synth-laden Fouk rework of The Sunburst Band, the bad-ass boogie business of Spirit Catcher's "Rendez-Vous", and a killer 1995 rework of Fonda Rae's "Over Like A Fat Rat" from U.S house legend Victor Simonelli.