Review: Dave Lee's annual round-up of 'essential' cuts from the catalogue of his Z Records imprint is always worth picking up, and this year's edition is no different. Packed with high-grade disco, deep house and what would once have been called 'US garage' (that's soulful house, kids), it's a near faultless selection that will keep you in peak-time anthems for months to come. Our picks of an extremely strong bunch include the electric piano-heavy, downlow disco-funk bounce of 'In Your Blood' (a rare collaboration between Lee, Darcus and Roland Wrightangle), Sean McCabe's lusciously warm and groovy take on Matty, Monique and Monique Bingham's 'Now What', Andres' loopy, boogie-tinged deep house version of Joey Negro and Sacha Williamson's 'I Recognise', and Backroom Productions' recently reissued rework of their own 'The Rhythm' (as The Power).
Review: Based in Italy, Micky More and Andy Tee's Groove Culture label have been flying the flag for soulful house, contemporary disco and disco-house since 2017. Now here comes a second compilation of Instrumental mixes from their illustrious back catalogue, which follows on the heels of Vol 1, released back in 2022. The label bosses themselves contribute three of the album's 20 tracks, with the likes of Ron Carroll, Kathy Brown, Mr A.L.I, Da Lukas and Dutchican Soul also featuring alongside a wealth of more underground names. Expect rolling beats, fat funk basslines, sweeping, surging strings and handclaps galore, with highlights for this reviewer including Martina Budde & Husky's organ-rollicking 'Open Up Your Mind', Dutchican Soul's 'You Bring Joy' and More & Tee's own 'So Wide Open'.
Review: Dave Lee's Z Records bring us the third instalment in what is a very occasional series, with Vols 1 and 2 having dropped in 2009 and 2020 respectively. In fairly self-explanatory fashion, the 'Dubstramentals' compilations round up some of the best Instrumental and Dub mixes from the label's recent(ish) back catalogue, and as you'd expect from a label of Z's stature that makes for an impressive roster of talent, with remixes coming from the likes of Grant Nelson, Dam Swindle, Dimitri From Paris, Michael Grey and Sean McCabe. Spanning right across the spectrum from soul, funk, disco and boogie to peaktime house bizniss, this is a fine collection that will make a worthwhile addition to wide range of DJs' virtual record boxes.
Review: Dave Lee's Z Records bring us a 15-track, Ibiza-themed collection that, just like last year's offering, features a mixture of recent releases (such as recent Akabu single 'Highways', presented here in Cody Currie Remix form) and favourites from days gone by. In the latter camp, Raven Maize's 'The Real Life' gets a 2023 reworking courtesy of David Penn and The Sunburst Band's classic 'Until The End Of Time' is also treated to a 2023 Remaster, while Micky More & Andy Tee's Piano Mix of Doug Willis's 'Music Than Speaks Louder Than Words' from 2011 dropped late last year and Z Factor's 'Gotta Keep Pushing' returns in the less-played Salt City Orchestra Remix, which featured on the 1998 FFRR 12-inch but not the original 1996 Z release.
Review: By now, we should all know what to expect from each new album in Joey Negro's "Remixed With Love" series, namely fantastic new revisions of classic disco, boogie, soul, electro and jazz-funk classics created using the original multi-track tapes. This third volume naturally contains a few inspired revisions of well-known cuts - a riotous take on The Fatback Band's "Do The Bus Stop", an astonishing, dubbed-out version of the Temptations' "Law of the Land" and a soaring, life-affirming rearrangement of Patrice Rushen's "Never Give You Up" included - but also some suitably smart tweaks of lesser-known gems. These include a sublime revision of the APX's '80s gem "Loose Yourself To The Groove" and an insatiable take on Mass Production's "Shante" full of jammed-out electric piano solos and rubbery electric bass.
Review: When it comes to blending classic disco and bumpin' peak-time house, few can match Joey Negro - a man who has been offering up disco-fied house jams since the early '90s. There are naturally plenty of his own tracks and remixes on "Put Some Disco In The House", an expansive collection of quality disco-house moments, with highlights including the rolling disco-boogie heat of "Put The Music On It (Original Disco Mix)", the chunky, walking bass-propelled "Dancing Into The Stars" (with Horse Meat Disco and Angela Johnson) and a slamming rework of Sessomato's jazz-funk flavoured "Moody". There's plenty of heat to be found elsewhere, too, with standouts including JKriv and Adeline's "Vertigo", Opolopo's boogie-tinged revision of Sylvester classic "I Need You" and the spiraling disco pump of Yam Who and Jaegerossa's "Grateful".
Review: The release of Dave Lee's annual Essentials collection on Z Records - a kind of "best of the year" from his now 30-year-old imprint - is fast becoming as much of a Christmas tradition as family arguments, disappointing presents and undercooked turkey. Predictably the 2020 edition is once again up to scratch, with the much-loved Essex producer showcasing some seriously good disco, deep house, soulful house and revivalist dancefloor jazz-funk. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the rushing, sunshine soulfulness of Crackazat's 'Waterfalls', the Vision's 2020 re-rub of Jakatta and Seal classic 'My Vision', Michael Gray's extra-percussive disco-house take on Hi Voltage's 'Let's Get Horny', the celebratory brilliance of Art of Tones and Anduze's 'Flower Child', and the Shur-I-Kan's previously unreleased instrumental rework of Mistura's 'Smikle For Me'.
Review: The artist formally known as Joey Negro aka Dave Lee brings together a fresh and unique compilation with partner in sound Will Fox that dives deep into the west end sound of London's broken beat, soul and two-step scene. Featuring tracks from the likes of Bugz In The Attic, Jazzanova and Atjazz to 4 Hero and Sunburst Band, we've pulled up numbers like NSM's deep, woozy and downtempo "DJ Power (Use It)" to Jazztronik's piano-laden and garaged influenced "Samurai". Sweet, warm and deeply vocal still is Afronaut & Melissa Browne's "Transcend M.E." with a stripped back, breathy and stepping number from Mark de Clive-Lowe, with Likwid Biskit's closing track "The All New Ummm" surfing into some balmy, LA beat-scene territory.
Review: Half the fun of each new Ibiza season is the accompanying DJ mix albums that ensue. Here it's the turn of Z Records' legend, Joey Negro, who compiles and selects Z Records Presents Ibiza 2017. With Joey Negro you know you will always get an expert blend of house and disco, new and old. Here we see exclusives rub shoulders with first time digital virgins. Highlights include Dr Packer's thumping edit of "Change Position (88)" by Brooklyn Express, the hazy bass twangs of "Phantom" by A Band Called Flash and the warm electro of "It's More Fun To Compute" by Negro himself.
Review: Glitterbox resident Dr Packer is a leading light of the contemporary disco scene, while Dave Lee was arguably THE key architect of the whole post-house disco phenomenon in the first place. So when the former helms a compilation on the latter's label, you'd expect great things, and suffice to say you're very unlikely to be disappointed. Hell, for this writer the deep n' sultry JN Revival Mix of early 90s classic 'Do What You Feel' is worth the price of admission on its own, but with Packer's own remixes of label favourites making up over a third of the tracklist, the collection as a whole is pretty much unmissable.
Review: If you missed any of Z Records most potent releases this year, do not fear: boss man Joey Negro has brought together all of the label's best bits on one handy, plus-sized compilation. There's another chance to savour the Escort style Brooklyn disco revivalism of J Kriv and Adeline's "Vertigo", Sean McCabe's smooth and soulful rework of Detroit Rising and Ron Trent's impeccably musically rich remix of Joey Negro's "Distorting Space Time". Synth-fired boogie goodness is also provided via a superb "Unreleased Dub" of Janet Kay's 1980s gem "Eternally Grateful" and a brilliant Joey Negro rework of the APX, while soaring, string-laden disco hits are dotted throughout the compilation. If you dig disco, house and boogie, you need this in your life.
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".
Review: Dave Lee's first Produced With Love album was not only a celebration of his production credentials, but also a celebration of the music that has inspired and shaped his career over the years, namely soul, disco, boogie, jazz-funk and house. This follow-up, which lands 5 years after its predecessor, continues in a similar vein, with Lee offering up 12 new songs and a wealth of remixes of tracks by other artists. As you'd expect, it's an on-point collection, with the many highlights including the soulful disco-boogie bounce of Raw Essence hook-up 'Do It Again', the Omar-sporting dancefloor sunshine of 'Starlight', the boogie/soulful house fusion of 'Love Walked In The Roo his hot-stepping two-step disco tweak of Roland Whitingale's 'In Your Blood' and a string-laden disco rework of 'Mountains' by The Vision.
Review: Top-level disco/house fusionists and Groove Culture Records chiefs Micky More and Andy Tee have been let loose in the Z Records archive. The result is a fine compilation that combines some of their favourites from the long-serving label's catalogue with a sextet of remixes the duo has prepared specially for the collection. If you've been following their work, you'll know exactly what to expect, namely peak-time ready, soul-fired cuts that combine authentic disco instrumentation (horns, strings, guitars, bass etc) with rolling house beats and plenty of life-affirming vocals. Highlights are naturally plentiful, with their trio of Sunburst Band remixes, Masters At Work's classic, Nuyorican Soul style remix of The Blackbyrds' 'Mysterious Vibes' and Frankie Knuckles (RIP) and Eric Kupper's 'Directors Cut' mix of Sunburst Band's 'The Secret Life of Us' all standing out.
Review: Joe Mount of lovable scuzz pop outfit Metronomy mans the latest volume in the long running Late Night Tales, a series who always seem to get the best results out of an unexpected cast of participants (Belle & Sebastien, MGMT, Trentemoeller and Midlake being recent inductees) It's hard not to get sucked in from the sugar sweet opening of Outkast's "Prototype", which is the first of several tracks that demonstrates Mount has a penchant for slow bumping R n B and outsider hiphop with Tweet, Sa Ra and a Dr Octagon classic also appearing. A typically far reaching approach to genres applies here with the cosmic jazz of Chic Corea happily mingling with Autechre and Two Lone Swordsmen and American synth oddities Geneva Jacuzzi and Appaloosa mingling for attention with The Alan Parsons Project and Herman Dune. The de-rigueur cover version arrives with a Metronomy rendition of Jean-Michel Jarre's"Hypnose" whilst Paul Morley ends the selection with a spoken word piece.
Review: This third anniversary package from the good people at Vehicle is a bumper packed compilation with a whopping 24 tracks! All are retweaked big pop hits, highlights of which being reworkings of boozy party anthems such as Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting", Duran Duran's "Notorious", Tom Jones' "Its Not Unusual" and (a particularly good electro-house reworking of) ELO's "Last Train To London".
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: As the title suggests, this fantastic - and let's face it, pleasingly epic - compilation showcases some of the many disco-centric cuts in the Z Records vaults, throwing in a few exclusives (see Dave Lee's fantastic, hybrid disco-boogie rework of Firefly's 'Love is Gonna Be on Your Side') for good measure. Such is the high-quality threshold that picking stand outs is tough, but our picks of a very strong bunch include the slick, boogie-funk brilliance of Crackazat's 'Sensationalized', Larry Levan's vintage, delay-heavy synth dub of Johnny Dynell's 'Rhythm of Love', the stomping disco-house release of 'Gotta Thing (2021 Remaster)' by Foreal People, Taana Gardner and Dave Lee, and John Morales' epic rework of Sean McCabe's 'Love For Life'. As the old saying goes, this is all killer and no filler.
Review: Undoubtedly the strongest selling point of Z Records' second set of "Dubstrumentals" (largely instrumental remixes to you and me) is the sheer number of previously unreleased mixes on offer. Sure, the quality of the disco and house cuts on show is uniformly excellent but it's unusual to get so many previously unheard treats in one place. There are some genuine gems, too, including a sparkling Hot Toddy nu-disco instrumental mix of Joey Negro's "Stomp Your Feet", an inspired Saison instrumental of Akabu & Linda Clifford's "Ride The Storm" that features two exquisite extended breakdowns, a must-have "Disco Blend Instrumental" of Joey Negro and Horse Meat Disco's "Candidate For Love", and a stellar, proto-house style dub of The APX's "Sweet Surrender".
Review: Following a host of releases with his Sunburst Band, Z Records boss Joey Negro is back to perhaps what's he's best known for: spinning light and soulful disco house. This second in the series kicks off with the handbaggy "Smile" by Mistura and take in thumping diva business "Every Day Of The Week", sublime techy house "Life Is So Strange", unsullied authentic disco "Power To The People", acid-jazz on "Better Things To Come" and the phaser-heavy, electro-boogie of "Begun To Love".
Review: Here we have two vintage funk giants, Joey Negro and Sean P, join forces to present a collection of 'badass funk classics from the disco boogie era'. Individually these guys are authorities on the genre, but combined they're positively the definitive voice. We've a whopping 24 choice cuts to wade through, highlights including the breaks-packed percussive gem "Clap Song", the saucy cosmic funk of "Come On And Rock" and the suggestive aerobic bass workout "Gigolette". An essential vintage compilation if ever we saw one!
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