Review: Almost two years on from the release of his fine - if arguably under-appreciated - debut album Waving, Athens veteran Lex returns to Leng Records with an EP that combines killer revisions of album tracks with two previously unreleased originals. The remixes are particularly impressive, with Faze Action's wonderfully colourful, pitched-down Balearic nu-disco revision of 'Punta Allen' - where the Lee brothers successfully add to the original version's cheery musicality - being followed by Ruf Dug's gloriously eccentric, acid-flecked house-not-house version of 'Prezend'. Elsewhere, 'Super Awake' is an immersive, TB-303-sporting chunk of sunrise dancefloor psychedelia, and Locke hook-up 'Libre D'Amor' is a glassy-eyed chunk of piano-powered '80s house nostalgia.
Review: Dave Sumner's debut album as Function was one of this year's most anticipated and finest LPs. Atypically, this remix package sees the commissioned producers deliver versions that measure up to the original material. On the dance floor end, there's Rrose's punishing take on "Against The Wall", which starts with a hypnotic, linear rhythm that descends into distorted mayhem, while Recondite's version of "Incubation" marries dramatic filters and insistent bleeps to reach a climax. But when the remixers go as deep as the author, the results are truly fascinating. NSI's take on "Inter" is a sprawling, jazzed out interpretation of the original ambient track, while Vatican Shadow delivers an uncharacteristically melodic, acid-tinged version of "Psychic Warfare".
Review: It has been about 15 years since the arrival of Trevor Jackson's ambitious disco funk project Playgroup. Shortly after a series of terrific remixes surfaced, featuring alumni of his seminal Output imprint, in addition to some other emerging nu-disco talents of the time - presented here. These digital reissues still hold up and are are a zeitgeist of an exciting time in the early noughties: which laid the foundations for some exciting developments in underground music that followed shortly after. From Blackstrobe's exhilarating remix of "Number One" (one Ivan Smagghe and Arnaud Rebotini's finest moments), Chicken Lips' wicked disco dub re-rub of the same track was a worthy addition also. Whatever happened to the terrific Japanese producer Zongamin or Flesh Records' Midnight Mike is anyone's guess - but their lo-slung electro-pop perspectives of "Make It Happen" still sound as good today as they did back then.
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