Disco Recommendations July 2014

Review: Kon and Reflex combine for a cheeky 12" dedication to Michael Jackson for the fourth release on the Boston selector's increasingly on point Star Time label. Edit heaven or what? Reflex calls shotgun and reworks "PYT", amping up the vibe with much crisper drums and a whole lot more space present on that classic chorus drop. Meanwhile on the flip King Of Nothing takes "Get On The Floor" and gives it a modern day party refix complete with full-bodied dynamics, juicy slap bass and very cheeky disco bubbles in the background. Two more essential Michael Jackson edits to add to your collection.

Review: Grimy keeps the heat on with a limited seven-inch from Windy City legend Boogie Nite. "Words" sounds like a forgotten classic from the legendary early 80s NYC downtown scene. The smooth disco arrangement and punk-funk vocals could have emanated from a dream session between Walter Gibbons and Lizzy Mercier Descloux. Feel-good Rhodes piano lays the melodic foundation as a gang of female voices ruminate on the rhythmic meaning of words. All the while, a shit-hot disco rhythm section keeps things in the pocket. This is a track that will light dancefloors up and have fellow djs flooding the booth for an ID. Expert Funk dub version on the B-Side. white/black swirl vinyl with custom Grimy graffiti logo.

Review: Anyone that's seen Boston selector Kon spin in the past few years should pull up to the bumper and spend some time with this third transmission on his Star Time label. Centre stage is his much requested treatment of the George Benson standard "Give Me The Night" re-titled here as "Spirit Of The Party (Gimme The Night)" which rearranges proceedings to pull the original's closing harmony-based breakdown to the midpoint. Excellent stuff! Kon is a generous man however and there are two further edits on the flip to make this a triple trouble 12". "Love x Kon" is a stripped down to the bone rework with an almighty acapella-based finale, whilst "Star Of The Story" is all about that boogie filled electric bassline.

Review: It was evidently getting crowded in Hell, as the ever dependable Lumberjacks have now decamped to the land of boogie with the launch of the Lumberjacks Boogie label. Much like the long running LumberJacks in Hell series, there is an all star cast of dusty fingered funkateers involved in this inaugural Lumberjacks Boogie drop with Rayko, Mannmademusic, Mr Mendel and Em Vee all contributing. Rayko sets the tone with the low-slung "Magic Voodoo", which blends nicely with the smoother '90s RnB vibes of "Lady" from Mannmademusic. On the flip Mr Mendel opts for a '80s soul vibe with "Far Away" whilst label boss Em Vee clearly knows "What A Woman Needs" on the basis of the closing track - hip hugging boogie.

Review: Paramida's Love On The Rocks imprint got off to a flying start earlier this year with Flying Away From You, a sublime slab of south side Italian house from Massimiliano Pagliaria and it's now two for two from the fledgling label. Ess O Ess is the new production handle of London pair Jamie Blanco (of London Housing Trust repute) and Chris Stoker and their sole production here bodes well for any future manoeuvres. "Baboon" is tropical disco mixed with pagan house and feels like a certified summer jam. Flip the Baboon over and you get two supplementary remixes that add something different to the track, with Tiago pulling the cut back towards exotic disco and the Bad Passion crew turning in a delay heavy house dub with a bass line that will grip you from the very off.

Review: Having launched with the Waldorf 12" from rising Rimini duo Margot, Ivan Smagghe's fledgling vinyl only operation Les Disques De La Mort returns with a second release that introduces a much lesser known quantity in the shape of Manfredas. According to press release folk lore, the genesis for this record dates back to Smagghe playing Smala, the Vilnius-based clubnight run by Manfredas whereupon the budding Lithuanian producer slipped the well-heeled Frenchman a USB of productions. Fast forward several months and Manfredas gets his 12" debut with two tracks filled with punk funk swagger. Further reason to investigate is offered in the shape of two takes from the lesser spotted disco genius known as Zongamin!

Review: As we continue to recover from the sheer awesomeness of Paqua's debut album Alkaliko, Claremont 56 commission two very special versions of the modern day Balearic hymn "The Visitor". Ray Mang reminds us of the true meaning of dub as we're immersed in a truly enveloping dynamic where flickers of the original's vocals fly and in and out of the mix. Idjut Boys follow a similar sentiment but instead of teasing us with the vocal shades, they extend, break down and rebuild the instrumentation in a way only they know how. Super-limited, this is the perfect complement to a perfect album.

Review: The Groove Line label is doing a superb job reissuing old disco gems. Having previously offered up deluxe, heavyweight vinyl pressings of classics from Donna McGhee and Bumblebee Unlimited, here they turn their attention to a couple of gems from short-lived British soul act Delegation. "Heartache Number 9" is classic disco - a British take on the Philadelphia International sound, if you will, complete with sumptuous strings and dancing horns. It's something of an underrated disco classic, as is flipside "You & I". Released the same year as its' predecessor (1979), "You & I" is an enveloping blast of feelgood soulful disco with a little more baggy sweetness to the guitar-heavy grooves and immersive chords.

Review: The wonderfully named Albion Venables makes his debut on Macadam Mambo after serving notice of his edit-based skills with releases for Ambassador's Reception, Forest Jams and Frisbee Records, the label the Swede founded along with Dea and Spacelex. The three tracks on Disco Mambo suggest this is a union that should be explored several more times over, with our man Albion on riotous form from the off! As the title may suggest "Disco Mambo" is a track tweaked and buffed in honour of the label, with mambo the flavour of disco, and its complemented well by the slab of obscure sultry Italo disco that is "Hear The Night". Special mention however goes to B Side cut "The Mirror Forest" which runs through six minutes of beautifully arranged library music that's been chugged up which will have you hooked after one listen.

Review: Having recently released a slew of white-hot, party-starting re-edits from the mighty Dimitri From Paris, Razor-N-Tape continue their ascent with an EP of summery scalpel jobs from Ron Basejam, AKA Crazy P man Jim Baron. The Nottingham-based producer is no stranger to the art of the re-edit - a selection of his reworks have already been released on other labels - and here delivers three tried-and-tested slammers. There's naturally much to get excited about, from the mid-90s gospel-boogie throb of "Someday" and the P-funk strut of the Tiger & Woods-ish "We Supply" (which comes blessed with a brilliantly rubbery bassline), to the baggy, soulful fun of "Love Don't Wait".

Review: For Crimes of the future number 3 we present the ubiquitous Black Merlin, Trevor Horn heads to Berghain at 3am Friday and stays til Monday..... Completing the release Timothy J. Fiarplay and Scott Fraser remix together for the first time in the Adrian Tripod mode, taking amazing exotics back deep into Early 1990's New York and kicking it out bonesbreaks style.

Review: Since it was founded back in 2012, Macadam Mambo and its various offshoots have developed nicely under the tutelage of Sacha Mambo and Guillaume Des Bois with input from some high profile diggers and producers. Edition 909 of the edit focused sub label invites Nation main man Traxx and close ally NPNX to open up their personal armoury of dancefloor weapons for a series of recuts that will appeal to fans of primitive electronics, industrial, EBM and early wave. Having consulted the elder synth experts at Juno, we are still none the wiser as to what the source material is for this quartet of edits, though we highly recommend "Helden" and "Win 2 Play". If you like the recent Rat Life Records releases you should definitely check this 12".

Review: Having made their Disco Capablancas debut back in 2012 with the excellent 12" Shoal, sprawling Minneapolis collective Food Pyramid return to Hugo Capablancas' label for an equally fine second release in the shape of Knosssos. Whilst this standard edition may not have quite the same level of collectability as the edition of 50 that feature hand painted artwork from Disco Capablancas compadre Andreas Golder, you can't fault the music. Food Pyramid are on top form with "Knossos" as layer upon layer of hypnotic synthesis spill out of the grooves and it's easy to see why label and artist plumped for Gavin Russom for remix duties. The DFA's White Wizard turns in a trademark remix that turns an already psychedelically potent track into a motorik techno beast of spell binding proportions.

Review: Craig Bratley's Magic Feet label celebrates reaching double figures, yes, the big 10, by releasing a double header from two new artists to the label.

Rich Lane updates the New Beat classic 'Flesh', bringing it up to date with modern production values, and will introduce the track to a whole new generation.

On the flip Peza, whose previous releases include the fantastic Buddah's Watching edit, provides 6 minutes of low slung electronic funk, all synth and 303's.

Perfect for the warm up or those after hours sets and a future classic in its own right.

Review: The Highlife Edits series from the Huntleys & Palmers crew has proved a rip-roaring success so far with Auntie Flo, ESA, Alma Negra and Mehmet Aslan all dipping into their personal collections for some dancefloor weapons for the more adventurous selectors out there. The Berlin based Aslan returns for this fourth volume, sharing sides with I'm A Cliche's Tel Aviv correspondents Red Axes and the results are sublime. "Adimiz Miskinder" sees Aslan look to his Turkish roots, treating a a psychedelic folk cut to some hefty delay effects and beefing up the bottom end, but as good as it is the track is fairly overshadowed by the B Side beast from Red Axes. If you've been digging their efforts for I'm A Cliche's Edit Service you will love the midtempo industrial madness that is "Chew The Gun".

Review: Cyber Dance Records are back on the attack with a fresh release from the legendary Perseus Traxx aka Nigel Rogers, a 4-track EP entitled after recent scientific developments 'An Apparent Horizon'. It's a firmly machine-based and totally jam-packed affair reflecting diverse sounds from the UK's own rich history of electronic dance music, with elements from the classic Warp "deep space sound" prominent as much as the more usual 303-jacking acid house grooves in the vein of Baby Ford or Bam Bam. 'Lost Dreams' opens the record with a floaty dream-like hypnosis from the depths of space and sets the tone in magnificent style, followed up on Side A with the irresistible roll of 'Reverse The Trend' that takes the groove harder, further and deeperstraight off to the beyond. Dark strings reminiscent of old LFO, B-12 or Autechre vinyls from the early 90s propel us into Side B on 'Darkness Stalks', and then we're transported onto the concluding track on the EP, 'Distances'; an epic closer that opens with beautiful reverbed claps and acid squelches before diving into an inky black void of timeless space-travelling and slow-building tension that could surely echo hauntingly around any M25 rave in the depths of a late 1980s night.

Review: An exclusively northern creation... Iain Mann makes his Shadeleaf debut with a trio of deep, loopy house cuts. "If You Don't Do It" smoulders with Moodymann style subtlety. Rich chords, crowd whoops and a kick drum that teases and pleases as it weaves itself around the dynamic, it's an instant attention grabber. "Flexing" bumps with more of a disco sentimentality as the off-beat guitar and synth squiggles play Q&A off a rock-solid bass lick. "Rough Times", meanwhile, has an air of Amp Fiddler to it as the organs develop with all-out jazz majesty while Kali's honey-coated vocals are buried deep under the instrumentation. For added measure Thatmanmonks gives "Rough Times" a dubby jack that's primed for the finest of dancefloors. Rough, ready and waiting for your selection attention.

Review: 40 Thieves long awaited debut album, The Sky Is Yours, was something of an epic; 10 years in the making, it stretched out across two CDs and four slabs of vinyl. Here, two tracks from the album get the remix treatment, with crate diggers-turned-party animals Psychemagik and Phil Mison's Cantoma outfit at the controls. Psychemagik's version of "The Sandpiper" is particularly good, delivering a heady, Arabic-influenced slice of chugging, eyes-wide-shut Balearica that benefits greatly from a rubbery groove and woozy chords. Mison takes a different approach on his rework of "The Sky Is Yours", laying down a version that sounds like T-Coy making late '80s Italian house. It is, all told, the epitome of Balearic house.

Review: NY disco from Japan via England... Max Essa continues to rule the disco roots in the far east, and he does so with a highly distinctive yet super authentic sound that digs deep into the roots while looking into the future. At once dreamy, Balearic and glamorous, "Runnin' Out Of Night" is coated with crystalline pianos and wafty pads before we drop into a slick, thick guitar and bass groove. For added measure File Under Disco have commissioned two remixes; JKriv gets spacy and dubby on "Love Beyond" while Ray Mang adds a little jazz-flecked perk to "Runnin' Out Of Night". The only thing you'll be running out of is time to play all three in one set.