Review: Armada Music 20 Years Classics pays homage to dance music's rich history and aims to educate a new generation of fans about the artists who shaped the genre. There's classics galore on this one as you'd expect, with several bangers by label chief Armin Van Burren, in addition to seminal anthems such as Joe Smooth's "Promised Land", Inner City's "Good Life" (remastered), Chez Damier's "Can You Feel It" (New York extended dub) and Olav Basoski's "Waterman" (extended mix), as well as appearances by newer artists like ANOTR, Patrick Topping and Jan Blomquist.
This Endless Repetition Is Like A Chain Around The Spirit. And Is A Reflection Of The Denial Of A Future To The Negro In The American Way Of Life - (1:13) 104 BPM
Review: Last month saw two East European disco favourites, Serbia's Tonbe AKA Loshmi and Montenegro's Mitiko, joining forces for a split EP on the former's Disco Fruit label. Now the same imprint brings us this joint collection that gathers together the best of the two producers' 2021 output, in all three of their guises. The tracks involved are a mixture of re-edits, covers and original material; more importantly, both producers are ludicrously prolific, which means they had a huge catalogue to draw from. And that in turn means there's nary a track that puts a foot wrong here - making this an essential purchase for anyone who hasn't picked these cuts up on various EPs along the way.
Review: A diamond within the expansive catalogue of labels like Timewarp and in particular, Kraak, the downtempo and exotic sounds of Medras return! Delivering an 11-track LP that delves into a classic '90s and early 2000s sound of chill electronica, deep Baelerica, trip hop and left-field house inspirations. A particular call out is the deep and melodic dancefloor jam that is "Lost" that appears next to more effervescent house numbers made for Ibiza like "Play With Me". With super-charged hip hop and IDM colliding in "This Is My Life", more disco-powered new wave sessions come through "Religion". Real name Christos Christogiorgos, aka Medras, also dives into a world of ethic timbres, rock, funk, folk and psychedelia influences that come through in album tracks like "I Wanna See You", "Mellow" and "Life Goes On".
Review: With 30 tracks to choose, there's no faulting the value for money on offer with this latest Salsoul collection, but a note of caution should perhaps be sounded: if you've only just discovered Salsoul and are doing some exploring, then this isn't the best collection to start with, because most of the label's best-loved tunes already featured on Volume 1, back in 2017. That potential commercial weakness is also, however, the album's greatest strength, because it's the more obscure cuts that will be of most interest to long-term fans... and there are plenty of both! With a mixture of ACTUAL original mixes plus a few contemporary rerubs from the likes of Dave Lee and Danny Krivit, this is a worthwhile and rewarding addition to the ever-growing roster of Salsoul comps.
Review: This is not the first compilation to drop whose sole aim is to raise funds for NHS Chartities Together - R&S Records and Bass Agenda both delivered similarly epic sets - but "Care4Life" may well be the strongest and most diverse. As you'd expect, each one of the 45 tracks is previously unreleased, and the cast list reads like a who's who of dance music culture. Notable highlights include an ultra-deep, saucer-eyed number from Daniel Avery, an unheard rework of the Chemical Brothers' "Catch Me I'm Falling", a superb revision of Harvey's Locussolus project by Kiwi, Matthew Herbert in jazzy broken beat mode, a rare solo outing from Optimo's JD Twitch, a rip-roaring rave workout from Jas Shaw, and thumping peak-time bangers from Dusky, Eats Everything and Patrick Topping.
Review: Spanish nu-disco DJ Nelue has developed quite a reputation for himself both with his residency at his Moroder Sound Club and with his label, Groove Democracy. Now he's upped his game again by delivering a seriously impressive 24-track label compilation featuring his own work and a selection of offerings from a host of key names on the re-edit scene. Highlights include Nelue's gentle retweak of Terri Well's 1984 anthem "All My Love", the chuggy arpeggiation of "Canebiere Man" and The Metaphysical's Bloop Crack glorious extension of Wham!'s kitchen synth drama, "Everything She Wants".
Review: Here's a tantalizing prospect: an expansive collection of edits and reworks old and new from some of the greatest exponents in the disco scene. With such quality fare on offer, picking highlights is tough, but keep an eye out for the contributions from Frico (a straightened-out and chopped-up version of Orlando Johnson & Trance's boogie classic "Chocolate City"), DJ Prime (a soaring version of disco-soul classic "Nothing's Gonna Hold Us Back"), Manix (the filter-heavy disco-funk workout "Hangin Through") and Alkalino (the heavy P-funk jam "This is a Party"). There's also another chance to enjoy scene classics from Revivra (their brilliant 2010 rework of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?") and The Apple Scruffs (the vocoder-laden Pink Floyd disco cover "Another Brick In The Wall").
Review: The series is the result of house legend Joey Negro's admiration for all the semi anonymous vinyl junkies that he has encountered on his own vinyl quests. Following the success of the Red Greg-compiled first instalment, we now have veteran radio broadcaster and soul aficionado Paul Phillips delivering his selection of long-lost classics. It's a veritable feast of rare disco releases (25 in all!), highlights of which include the glossy Philly sounds of State Department's "Slow Love", the Chic-isms of Pike's "Good Feelings", the digital electro-funk of Midnight Energy's "Saving Of My Love" and the sublime synth-soul of Ron Richardson's "Ooh Wee Babe".
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