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: 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: 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: 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: 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.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.