Review: While Toys Of Joy might sound like the name of a bumper box of "adult pleasure accessories", it's in fact Midnight Riot's chosen name for the label's occasional series of split artist EPs. This second volume does, though, contain rather a lot of crotch-moistening material. Stroud scalpel fiends Situation Sounds impress with a stretched-out version of a dreamy Balearic rock classic, while Black Magic Disco and Disco Funk Spinner both steal the show with essential disco-rock reworks ("Strike It Back" and "Blind Beat" respectively). For those whose erogenous zones respond better to synthesizers, Ursula 1000's sweet, rubbery and sensual boogie re-rub "Be The One" should get the juices flowing.
Review: Scouring, as per usual, through the deepest and darkest depths of the underground, the always on-point Scour imprint comes through with the goods in the form of Beat Le Juice, a new boogie sensation to add to our radars. The man's opener "I Promise" takes us back to the early 80s, and to legendary labels lime SAM, with the same going for the more funk-tastic bass of "Funk Magic" - what a nugget! "So Much Style" is the deepest and baddest of the four, in our opinion, leveraging a little dub flex for the heads, while "The Beat Don't Stop" launches an all-out pop attack...backed by a lovely house sensibility.
Review: Making his second appearance on Throne Of Blood after last year's Inside Job, veteran producer Brendan Moeller returns as Beat Pharmacy for Tricks of the Trade. "Sometimes I'm Happy" is a laid back trip through trilling sounds, dubby piano chords and thick bass, while "Jive At Five" takes things up a notch with its twitchy synths and skipping beats. Analogues Anonymous takes things on more of a late night classic NYC deep house tip albeit with a considerable dose of dark atmospherics, while the largely beatless "Holy Stain" lightens the mood with its drifting chords and analogue chirps. Digital bonus "Magic & Luck" is probably the most floor-focused thing here, a stripped back tool filled with abstract tones and percolating textures.
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