KIKO NAVARRO Vinilo y CD

Review: Kiko Navarro kicks off 2024 with his Afroterraneo label's first release, presenting a fresh rendition of 'Mama Calling', his enduring collaboration with Buika. Originally released in 2004, the track was revitalised during preparations for a November 2023 live show, becoming a standout performance. Retaining its signature horn stabs, this updated version injects new energy into the vibrant, life-affirming anthem. With a remix by Tedd Patterson included, the release promises to ignite dancefloors well into the New Year, offering a perfect blend of nostalgia and contemporary flair.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Funkyjaws Music is back to make your body move with the latest instalment in its ongoing edit series, Let's Dance, this time with a sixth sizzling volume. Monsieur Van Pratt's loose and languid 'Besame' opens up with some gorgeous strings and funky guitar licks then Kiko Navarro brings a rich Afro flavour with the shuffling and percussive rhythms of 'Bosinga'. Bogdan Ra's 'Get On The Floor' is a fresh take on a disco classic with irresistible vocal charm and swooning pads. Last of all, Zaffa demands you 'Shake It' and you surely will as he layers up wet claps, sliding hi-hats and lively drums into a big-hearted party starter.

Review: Kiko Navarro is back on the Canopy label to head up its tenth vinyl outing and once again brings global influences to his brand of disco. The rousing vocals come from Kaleta while Kiko lays down Afro-tinged and hefty kick drum patterns and runs them through with cosmic synth lines that are taught and nebulous. The electro-afro-beat rhythms come even more to the fore on the flipside when weighty bass oscillations bring the instrumental to life. Both cuts are potent, powerful jams with muscular rhythms but no lack of soul - and both of these are primed and ready for full on late-night dancefloor action.

Review: Apparently it has been six months in the making but finally Kiko Navarro makes a big arrival into the Rocksteady Disco family with the impossibly upbeat and joyous 'E-MA GIN'. It's a tropical and steamy cut with chanting vocals and pounding drums. The whole is on an upward trajectory that sweeps you right off your feet. On the reverse is 'ex & Love Affair', a string-laced disco stomper with a smile as wide as the Atlantic and gurgling cosmic synths that take you on a real adventure. These are two full flavour, brilliantly characterful cuts for any party.

Review: Spanish producer Kiko Navarro has joined up with veteran Beninois vocalists and musical powerhouse Kaleta and the next level skills of The Ibibio Horns for this vibrant new 12". It's an inspired and Afro-infused groove exploration with funk, disco and acrobat all bottle dup in the beats that traverse Afria from East to West. The Ibibio Horns are on fire of course as they blaze up the sounds with their expressive horns and red hot keys while the vocals from Kaleta add further fuel to the fire. Instrumentals are also provided for more direct to dancefloor business.

Review: Last year, Kiko Navarro unveiled a regularly updated Spotify playlist, entitled TwentyFour, which he uses to showcase his favourote productions, reworks of other artists, an d remixes if his work. That playlist has now spawned the first of what we believe will be an ongoing series of EPs. The long-serving Spanish artist (and Afroterraneo Music founder) begins by showcasing his fine, pleasingly rolling re-edit of Blaze's hybrid soulful house/Earth Wind & Fire style disco classic, 'Breathe', before treating us to a superb, sample-heavy and piano-rich Tucillo remix of his own 'The First Time'. Over on side B, he serves up some bouncy disco-house action ('Jammin' All Night Long', with its female spoken word vocals, jazzy pianos and killer groove) and an authentic-sounding Afrobeat re-make of 'Isao' by DJ Fudge.

Review: Afroterraneo Music founder Kiko Navarro steps up for his label next release, but not before enlisting the help of friends and fellow Balearic and house dons DJ Pippi and Willie Graff. Their classy Tempistica Mistica EP offers up a pair of richly percussive and Afro-Latin tinged house cuts that are primed and ready for deployment on the most cultured dance floors. 'N'Fumbei' is a warming shuffler that echoes the work of Fred P, 'Esanah' is more heavy and percussive with its weighty kicks making a lasting mark. 'N'Fumbeats' closes down with a fat, bouncy rhythm brought to life with loose and organic perc.

Review: Two Balearic musicians with no relation beyond chemistry, Kiko Navarro and Pere Navarro debut as a duo with three tracks that stitch together house and jazz with an intuitive ease. Kiko's Mallorca-honed sense of deep, groove-led house is given new colour by Pere's nimble trumpet work, rooted in his training and practice across Ibiza's jazz and club scenes. 'Byrd's Groove' opens with dusty swing, its crisp drum programming softened by Pere's sunny phrasing and melodic asides. 'Keepn On Loving Me' is the standout, built on a chunky low-end and looped vocal that moves like classic New Jersey house, with trumpet lines that smoulder and lift. 'Blown Flow' closes on a dubbier, more headsy tip i less peak-time, more sunrise session i giving a stylish finish to an impressively coherent first outing.