Review: Casino Classix is one of several aliases for legendary minimal man Baby Ford. Here it is also the name of a four-track EP that finds the long time UK underground operative working alongside fellow British techno luminary Mark Broom on a quartet of devastating cuts. 'Ringer' opens up with some dark and nimble baselines darting about beneath a dense layer of percussion and FX. 'Hoppa' is then a more precise and minimalist cut with wonky bass snaking down low beneath the icy hi-hats and jumbled toms. There is a warm dub depth to 'Hot Pot' and 'Beach Club' shuts down with a restless mix of synth daubs and deft percussion over an ice cold groove.
Review: Hard on the heels of volumes 133 and 128, MBO returns with his third contribution to the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series, and two tasty little nuggets he's served up too! In the blue corner we have 'I Can't Stop', a funk-fuelled disco chugger (origins unknown) with a female vocal intoning the title, a slinky-assed bassline, brass fanfares and some seriously soaraway sax work. In the red corner, meanwhile, there's the slower-moving 'Once You Get It', which reworks the BT Express cut of the same name (from their classic 1974 long-player 'Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)').
Review: No prizes for guessing what's going on here, as Vehicle serve up five re-edits of classic African or at least African-inspired recordings from days gone by. First to get the treatment is Manu Dibango's 'Weya' from 1973, followed by Osibisa's 'Jumbo' from 1980, Michael Kiwanuka's 'Black Man In A White World' from 2016, Cumbia Moderna de Soledad's 'Shacalao' from 1975 and finally The Lijadu Sisters' 'Bayi L'ense' from 1977. If you're looking to freshen up your Afro-flavoured sets, this EP should do the job nicely.
Review: Valique's V's Edits reworks have long been some of the most popular re-edits on this platform, with DJs responding not only to their floor-friendly nature but also the wide range of sounds and styles he turns his hand to. So, what's on offer this time around? Well, for starters Yellow Blues is raising money for victims of the war in Ukraine, a country to which Valique has family ties. As usual, it's a mixed bag of goodness, with highlights including a squelchy, TB0-303 speckled take on a Johnny Cash classic, the chugging nu-disco/swamp blues fusion of 'Was It Worth It?', a fine revision of Rodrigues classic 'You Can't Get Away', a housed-up tweak of an old Doors gem ('Learn To Forget') and a toe-tapping, club-ready revision of Kenny Rogers' sing-along 'Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Conidtion is In)'.
Review: Anyone who decides to dedicate a fair chunk of his debut edits release to scalpel cuts of tracks from Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane and Stevie Wonder must have gonads the size of watermelons. Sitting down could be an uncomfortable proposition, then, for the mysterious V, whose seven-track debut EP also includes chunky, floor-friendly re-tweaks of The Kinks and Sly & The Family Stone (as well as a couple of stonking disco bangers). While some would argue that much of the material here didn't need messing with, he's done an excellent job. The Dub of "Whole Lotta Love", for example, is pitched just right, offering much more bang and exactly the right amount of disco dubbiness.
Review: Valique once more dons his popular V's Edits guise for another trip into Balearic rework territory. This 18th installment in the long-running series has a "neo-blues" theme, offering the former funk breaks man a chance to deliver suitably dancefloor-friendly interpretations of cuts by Muddy Waters, BB King, The Doors and Rodriguez (a tasty re-arrangement of the 'Sugar Man's "Can't Get Away"). Interestingly, he also turns Dire Straits' radio-friendly, solo-heavy "Sultans of Swing" into a loose, tech-influenced house jam. Elsewhere, look out for a house-goes-breaks-goes-Balearic take on "Horse With No Name" (here titled "Has The Name"), and the bluesy powder house flex of "Daymallah".
Review: The ever-prolific Beatconductor returns with another heaving fistful of re-edits, this time on an Italo-disco and Balearic tip (who would have guessed from the title, eh?). There are five tracks to pick from, ranging from slo-mo oddness (the rather fine "Elephant Walk") to well-known floorfillers (another, albeit solid, version of Italo classic "Spacer Woman"). Stuffed in between are a couple of rock-tinged funtime groovers - the pompous "Wild Living" and lazy Balearo-rock of "Hot Passion" - and the spiralling "Infectious Disease", a chugging Italo bomb that just bristles with synth frippery and vocoder silliness.
Review: Scalpel-wielding rework maestro V (the artist formerly known as funk-breaks sort Valique) has been more prolific than usual this year, with the numerous pandemic lockdowns and rules allowing him more time at home working on his popular cut-jobs. As a result, his latest annual 'best of' collection is packed to the rafters with tasty treats. There's plenty of variety too, with the long-serving editor leaping between guitar-heavy workouts ('B-Ware', Deep Purple tweak 'Hush'), weighty '80s synth-pop (Billy Idol re-rub 'White Wed'), beefed-up krautrock (the cowbell-laden heaviness of 'Vitamin D', a tweak of one of Can's most popular tunes), glassy-eyed disco (the Clavinet-heavy 'Little Love') and sleazy, pitched-down glam-rock ('Jewelry').
Review: While there's no doubt that Ture Sjoberg has released some good records under the Beatfanatic guise, his best work has often been done under the Beatconductor pseudonym. Here he resurrects the name for a five-track stroll through some of his most successful recent re-edits and reworks in a Scando-learic style. So, we get a shorter version of his legendary Vangelis re-jig ("Let It Happen"), a smooth Roxy Music tweak ("Turn U On Again"), a longer edit of White Isle fave "Willow Man" and a seriously dubbed-out extension of old skool electro/cosmic disco groover "Le Club". Oh, and a super-Balearic remake of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall".
Review: Four excellent new funk/soul/disco bombs from the Whiskey Disco label, with some surprising covers and peerless edits for your aural delectation. Anthony Mansfield sets about deconstructing a fresh cover of "Hercules" by Aaron Neville, while fans of Philly/Al Green-esque slow '70s funk will love Cosmic Boogie's soft-touch edit of "How Can You Say Goodbye". Rayko ups the tempo a little with his mix of the boogie wonder "S&M (Sexy Music), while WD label-head Sleazy McQueen has a lot of fun with Stevie Wonder's "Do I Do", looping up instrumental sections just right for a new perspective on this classic Stevie joint.
Review: The mysterious V has got some balls. You see, it's common practice in re-edit circles to steer clear of certain big tunes and artists. V clearly didn't get the memo, because this second volume of party-hearty, floor-filling reworks contains sneaky dubs of tracks by Steve Miller (a smile-inducing version of "Fly Like An Eagle"), the Sex Pistols (a filter-heavy tweak of "Anarchy In The UK"), The Lovin' Spoonful ("Summer In The City") and The Beach Boys ("Good Vibrations", which gets a weirdly breaksy Balearic rework). Better, though, are the versions of the more disco and funk-inclined material. His Betty Wright rework ("Slip & Do It") is particularly magical.
Review: The mysterious Crateditors is the man (it IS one man, we know that much!) at the controls for this latest in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series. 'Jump Up Shake Down' (source unknown) finds us in party-hearty reggae territory with its lyrical homage to "a Kingston party in New York City," while 'Spaceship Love Affair' reworks 'Spaceship Lover', a space disco cut that was recorded in 1977 by Canada-based British singer Laurice (AKA Laurie Marshall) but not actually released until 2015. 'Memories' closes out the EP - again, the source has us beat but think torchy, hi-camp disco from the Grace Jones/Eartha Kitt school of thought.
Review: The latest in the long-running 'Katakana Edits' series features five funk reworks, three of which we can identify the source for: Timmy Thomas's 1972 classic 'Why Can't We Live Together', Billy Paul's 'People Power' (1975) and The Four Tops' 'Are You Man Enough?' (1973). 'Stomp The Floor' has us beat, though, and as for 'Don't Stop The Music' - well, it isn't the Yarbrough & Peoples one, and nor is it any of the tracks of the same name by K.I.D, Cascade, Bugz In The Attic, Supermax, Bits & Pieces or Brecker Brothers! But it's a decent lil' funk/boogie groove all the same...
Review: The 70s force is strong in this one... listen to this latest full-length collection from Montenegran producer Sasha Mitich, AKA Mitiko, and you may have to remind yourself, as this writer did, that you're actually listening to a brand new album and not a set of re-edits! There are no spangly Nang-esque synths here, no wonked-out Italo-cosmic excursions, just seven slabs of fat-assed funk ('Real Nasty'), lavish disco-soul ('Thank You For Tonight') and, perhaps most interestingly, a couple of tracks ('Lay Down On Me', 'Universal Love') that lean towards a mellower, more 'crossover' style ? la Bill Withers or The Bellamy Brothers.
Review: This latest two track drop from the Agogo team is a truly pleasing listen, as Hober Mallow and Jim Sharp link up for a groovy A & B side showcase. We kick off with the smooth horn riffs and grizzly vocal finesse of Hober Mallow's 'Here I Am', with this classic-sounding creation in fact being the '45 edit'. On the B-side, Jim Sharp delivers something super smooth with '10th Wonder', which again draws on groovy drum riffs and smooth basslines to create a tidy base, from which we hear a number of catchy rap verses which really elevate the EP to a new level. This is sunshine flavour down to a T.
Review: Following the success of the label's first digital-only compilation, Lock and Load, Act of Sedition boss Bully Boy has decided to repeat the exercise. Like its predecessor, Perfect Pitch largely sidesteps re-edits featured on physical releases, instead delivering a bumper selection of previously unheard reworks. Those who prefer their edits gently beefed up with the addition of club-ready beats will find plenty to enjoy, from DJ Steef's tweak of Van Morrison classic 'Into The Mystic' and DJ Laurel's chunky revision of disco-funk slammer 'Peace Pipe', to Sucka Tommy's bustling rework of Paul Simon's 'Me and Julio Down By The School Yard' and C Da Afro's disco bumper 'The Sunset Groove'. If tape-style rearrangements are more your thing, we'd heartily recommend the edits from Al Kent and SanFranDisko.
Review: Amsterdam dwelling editor par excellence Em Vee took the solo reigns on the inaugural Lumberjacks In Hell - and truly excelled with a great reimagination of "Miss You". The second release on the label sees the German share duties with Spanish edit demon Rayko. First up is an expert rearrangement of Candi Staton's cover of the Bee Gee's standard "Nights On Broadway" which strips the track of its orchestral leanings to focus on the groove! Following this is a meaty take on a classic, with Barbara Keith's cover of "All Along The Watchtower" reinforced with some bottom end bump. Em Vee spreads a special disco version of Alma Lee's late 70s Philly delight "Gimme Your Love" with an extended intro that fully displays his edit talents.
Review: The newly crowned Dutch emporium of all things disco tinged swiftly presents a second round of gems - commencing with the classic Philly disco boogie strains of "Just Can't Get Enough" which contains just the right amount of deviations into sonic filtration. Complementing this is the instrumental boogie heat of "Let's Go Swingin" which fully demonstrates the Majesty's Pleasure talent for slicing and dicing the groove. Next up, the insistent chugging sounds of "Tainted Binary" unfold brilliantly into a string heavy disco epic. The best is perhaps saved for last as "Didn't Mean To Dub U Off" reveals itself as a crystalline filled excursion into 80s proto house excellence.
Review: The latest in the 'Katakana Edits' series comes once more from label regular DJ Laurel, who delivers six soul/funk/disco cuts that, as a rule, seek simply to update the source material for contemporary floors rather than rework anything too radically. That source material this time out includes Herbie Mann's 'Hijack' from 1974, Millie Jackson's 'Never Change Lovers In The Middle Of The Night' from 1979 and Arthur Prysock's 'When Love Is New' from 1976 on a straight disco tip, as well as the lounge-y, Latin vibes of Carmen Costa's 'Bateu, Doeu' from 1973 - the other two have us beat, but all six cuts are very playable.
Review: Usually, Katakana Edits releases have us furiously Googling lyrics to try and identify the source material, but for this latest volume Fray Bentos saves us a job, opting to work his magic on two very well-known tracks, Linda Clifford's 'Runaway Love' (1978) and Rick James' 'Give It To Me Baby' (1981). 'Linda's Marathon' is aptly named, as Bentos stretches out the original to a full 12:39, making for a sultry groove that'll go down a treat at Horse Meat Disco, while on 'Give It To Me (Unity Edit)' he goes for a struttier approach with a tech-house style "some Rick James, some Rick James" vocal loop for an intro.
Review: The latest in the 'Katakana Edits' series sees GreySkoolEdits reaching back to two different eras in the long and storied evolution of Da Funk. In the red corner there's 'Trouble In My Mind', a reworking of Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul's '(I've Got) So Much Trouble In My Mind' from way back in 1973, while there's more "trouble" to be found in the blue corner, where we find the Greys revisiting Troublefunk's 1982 go-go fave 'Pump Me Up' - this time, somewhat unusually, augmenting the source material with some brand-new scratch shenanigans courtesy of UK turntablist The Incredible DeeJay Random.
Review: TMW warms up his edit mangler and sharpens his scalpels to go to work on a fabulously exotic set of rarities that swing through Balkan beat, Latin and indeed Swing on this invaluable five track Katakana Edits EP. The Eastern '60s pop of "Koulouri", the Northern Soul stomp of "Dr. Ray" and the electro-swing of "Ain't Swing It" especially all make for very canny DJ food for spinners of a far-out persuasion.
Review: A worldly trawl through some excellent global retro gems marks out this latest set of "Katanka Edits" by Jorge Bits. From the wild and crazy Latin funk of "La Bomba" to an excellent edit job on The Spinners' classic soul jam "It's A Shame", Volume 5 comes loaded with five perfect and surprising floor-filling funk workouts.
Review: Another ten more vintage nuggets get reworked by Audaz's ever-prolific Lolita. Source material this time out includes Mystic Merlin's 'Just Can't Give You Up' from 1980 ('252'), North End ft Michelle Wallace's 'Happy Days' from 1981 ('253'), Hypnotic Samba's 'Hypnotic Samba' from 1984 ('254'), Fat Larry's Band's 'Act Like You Know' from 1982 ('257') and Gazebo's 'Midnight Cocktail' from 1983 ('258', a particular standout thanks to its Rah Band-like vocal). The rest have us beat but are generally in keeping with the same early 80s Italo/disco/synth-pop theme, with a solitary excursion into Indian/psychedelic sounds on the tabla-heavy, raga-like '259'.
Review: If you've been following Audaz's "Lolita" edit series - thought, but not confirmed, to be the work of main man Alkalino - then you'll already know that you get a lot of bang for your buck, as well as some inspired reworks of unlikely, overlooked and lesser-celebrated tracks from across the musical spectrum. Volume 25 continues in a similar vein, with highlights including the rushing 130 BPM disco hedonism of "241", the colossal percussive builds and heavy dub-disco bass of "243" (a stripped-back, all-action revision of a leftfield NYC disco classic), the tactile wonder that is the loved-up disco niceness of "246" and the wild electric piano solos of "248", a largely instrumental revision of a breathy, sought-after disco classic that's been stripped of its' wide-eyed female lead vocal.
Review: Re-edit hero Rayko teams up with the little-known Dynamicron for this four-track scalpel trip into the murky world of 80s power-pop, Eurobeat and skewed Balearica. Rayko himself offers up two tracks - the soft focus Balearic pop indulgence of "Voyager" and the handbag-friendly chugging cut-up 80s pop sweetness of "Foreign Affair". Dynamicron, meanwhile, goes for a heavier sound on his two cuts, the booming bottom end throb of "JukeBox Hero" (80s powerpop goes disco-house, anyone?) and guitar solo-laden "WorkingClass Hero" (yep, an edit of a cover of Lennon's "Working Class Hero"). There's a distinct whiff of hairspray about the whole EP!
Review: Spanish re-edit hero Rayko had a productive 2011, releasing some of the best cut-ups and disco reworks of the year. Here he begins 2011 in similar fashion, delivering four more tried and tested slabs of dancefloor funk. Opener "My Lady" does a terrific job at re-modelling a Prince-era, slap-bass heavy 80s jam, removing all but snatches of the vocal in favour of more instrumental groovery. "After The After" continues on a similar theme, going deeper into slow dance territory, while "Turn Me On Again" builds brilliantly over six delightfully sensual minutes. "This Is It", meanwhile, adds some head-nodding house flavours to a simmering 80s soul jam. Solid.
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