DJs: Most Charted - Disco - Most Charted June 2015

Review: South Africa's Letta Mbulu has put out a vast amount of quality material in her lifetime, and although the singer was based far away from Europe, her music was picked up by the London massive during the mid '80s at clubs like Dingwalls and featured heavily in the rare groove digs. The opener "Sweet Julu" is now a London two-step classic, while other tracks like "Nomalizo" or "The Village" are more on the disco side, all of them filtered with a distinctly tropical edge! A top reissue!

Review: Disco Patrick delivers once again... Four previously unreleased gems from the source, only ever pressed to limited acetate during the early to mid-70s. Expect a bombardment of grooves; Eric & The Vikings 'Get Off The Streets" is a honkytonk funk strutter where there pianos galvanise a premium groove the refuses to quit. Robert Drake's mix of "Hustle & Bustle" is a really cool example of how tape edits would daringly switch the dynamic without warning while Al Johnson has the honour of closing the ceremony with a deliciously languishing, never-before-release 12" adventure. Keep on hustling!

Review: Sam from Floating Points begins a sub label of the Eglo imprint and kicks off with the sought after disco/funk/soul gem from Taxie which originally came out on the Archwoods label back in 1979...

Review: More Beatdown business from vinyl-only warriors Smokecloud. Osmose steps forward with the first half; "Help Me DISCOver" is a sample-savvy filtered enlightener while his edit of the Silver Rider goes for a much heavier, floor-pounding sense of insistency. Flip for twists from JP Source and Hristo. The former gets busy on a densely textured and tightly plucked guitar line while the latter takes us right down into sleazy town with an Isaac Hayes level of gravelly vocals and a sweaty guitar and organ pumped groove.

Review: New music from Morgan Geist will always be celebrated thanks to his role in Metro Area, and more recently Storm Queen, and the New York producer is certainly on effervescent form with this debut 12" under his new project The Galleria. The four track Calling Card 12" finds Geist calling on the spirit of freestyle, club dubs, razor-edits and bubblegum-pop R&B there is something immediately satisfying to each one of them. Hyperdub artist Jessy Lanza provides some thrilling vocals to both original versions of "Calling Card" and "Mezzanine", the latter is a particularly sweet proposition, and Geist also contributes some superb '80s style dubs.

Review: Brothers Simon and Robin Lee have long excelled at the album format, delivering occasional sets that ripple with impressive musicality, sinewy strings, cozy downtempo moods and upbeat dancefloor moments. Body of One, their fourth full length (their first dropped on Nuphonic back in 1997), continues this trend, offering a compelling trip through the pair's myriad influences. After opening with a sweaty post-punk thumper ("Prisoner of Your Love"), we're variously treated to Italo-influenced vintage house ("Magic Touch"), rubbery disco-funk ("Freak For Your Love"), Arthur Russell-influenced tropical downtempo pop ("Caruso's Monkey House"), dreamy Balearica ("Floating World") and string-laden gorgeousness. As for the title track, it sounds like So-era Peter Gabriel.

Review: Everyone's favourite edits label named after a US bathroom company, American Standard, return with one of their infrequent forays through the disco, funk and assorted musical curios that time forget with San Francisco's The Dream Chimney behind the buttons. The two tracks on Dream Chimney Dubs feel perfectly tailored for the early moments of a night, when the curious souls are starting to ponder a move onto the dancefloor. The quite delightful "Feather Bed For Hatch Back" should coax them into doing just that, a gently uplifting cosmic number with a subtle chug and a hint of Sakamoto to it. On the flip "Charlie Dub" is a wide eyed Balearic cut that sounds even better with the tempo nudged down to around -6.

Review: Two more delicious roadtrips from the Red Motorbike founder and spiritual leader Eddie C: "The Day Will Come" is a lilting, sample-heavy head-nodder that develops its own stop/start momentum as the deftly sliced strings and vocals are recontextualised to great effect. "Moonrings" is a more floor-focused dub disco affair as the chugging groove lets the guitars ripple, the keys skitter and scatter and the flutes waft trippily into the ether. Get the motor running... this one's a keeper.

Review: The disco loving yet secretive Sciuridaens return with an eighth volume of finely teased productions primed for deployment on the discotheque. We are still none the wiser on who is behind the Secret Squirrel project despite some scurrilous rumours but it's clear by now they have quite the knowledge of funk, boogie, Italo, acid, disco and vintage house. Up top it's a funk-flecked disco number that feels like the tempo has been nudged down slightly, adding a subtle druggy feel to those Philly strings. It's good but Secret Squirrel really hit the spot with the think break-infused '90s era filtered house burner that sits on the flip. Some vocal hook on this one.

Review: Amsterdam based music duo, Ana Prentice, releases their debut 12" on Street Edits. The EP delivers two electronicly inspired disco edits, keeping the true soul of disco alive.

Review: If you wanted someone to affectionately mangle "Inspector Norse", Todd Terje's now ubiquitous summer anthem, you would probably pick Pepe Bradock. The Frenchman predictably turns in a fine version that re-casts the Norwegian's cheery original as swinging, eccentric chunk of oddball house. It's a fine effort, and while it does contain those famous synthesizer lines, they're pleasingly twisted and work wonderfully with Bradock's typically shuffling drums. He remixes "Swing Star", too, turning the album track into a weird and wild deep house bumper. Elsewhere, there are contrasting versions of "Strandbar"; a cheery, suitably bouncy re-make from Joakim, and a rather colossal, soaring interpretation from Eric 'Dunks' Duncan.

Review: France's Favorite label dabbles in all things funky and disco-flavoured, and this time they've decided to go with a Brazilian edge on their latest 12". Painel De Controle begins with a Waxist mix of "Relax", a chilled-out boogie monster with sultry vocals, while "Ripa Na Xulipa" by Rabo De Saia is more uplifting and heavy on the disco strings. Finally, Nick The Record rewires "Labirinto" by Famks into a subtly electro-fied boogie nugget. Nice!

Review: Editor's Kutz on an RSD tip limited to 500 presses.... You just know this is going to be special. Apparently this has been work in progress since last October, but the hard work has paid off as an array of long lost cuts get treatments from the very best in the game. Case in point: Riccio's epic cosmic star gazer "Space Traveller" Em Vee's deep, dubby and hypnotic "Dance The Blues Away". More well-known classics to go under the knife include Jean Clause Gavri's stomping, emotion-soaked twist on a cover of Al Green with "Stay 2gether", Luvless's warm and loopy take on Stephanie Mills with "My Luvin" and JKriv's absolute dream-weaver shake up of Earth Wind & Fire's "Horizonte". Beautiful.

Review: The guys behind the legendary Brazilian festival follow up last winter's debut release from Pete Herbert, Dicky Trisco and Eric Dunks with another all-star nu-disco cast. The Revenge gets playful with a string sample (and the title) on "Strings Of Fife", Eddie C ups the cosmic factor with an array of dubby textures and an insistent guitar loop on "Take Me Or Leave Me", Pete Herbert get evangelistic with big disco vocal harmonies and a groove so slippery you could wash your hands in it. Finally Max Essa flips the switch heads south for an Amazonian synth adventure that's so immersive it might swallow you whole.

Review: Heavyweight sunnyside nostalgia from Whiskey Disco faces old and new. Icelandic BG does what he does best and work a sample until it's looped so well you could listen to it for days on end. The highlight of his couplet being the sweet subtly filtered take on Passion's "Don't Stop My Love" on "Astarjatning". Closed Paradise takes us much deeper into the night with the sexier, groove-focused "Breakin' Down" while "Wolf Sisters" closes the show on a reflective, slo-mo minor key note. All sides of disco - old and new - covered right here. Beautiful.

Review: There's been a fair bit of hype surrounding this latest release from Fouk man Johannes Peeman's Junktion project. Listen to the clips, and you'll soon realize why. Ostensibly a re-edit with some additional beef to the groove, "Running From Whatever" offers the perfect balance between the warm, jazzy looseness of laidback disco-funk, and the woozy lusciousness of contemporary deep house. In other words, it will fit into either house or disco sets. Similar accolades could be bestowed upon B-side "Pale Blue Dot", which moves further towards traditional deep house territory, while including some seriously cosmic synthesizer builds and all manner of neat musical touches.

Review: How's this for a belated follow-up? Amazingly, Viewlexx's first Test Pilot 12" dropped way back in 1996, a time when label boss I.F had yet to make his mark. Happily, it was worth the wait, with this second volume featuring four killer tracks. Panama Brown's "Theme From Panama Racing Club" kicks things off, delivering a sharp, melodious, synth-heavy jam that sounds like a cross between classic I-F material and vintage Human League. Tandy Ogmo's "Everybody" - long a staple in I.F's sets - is a tongue-in-cheek Italo-disco delight, while Roberto Auser's "The Force" is a woozy, throbbing, synth-heavy new wave chugger. Finally, Gesolten Cirkel lulls us into a false sense of security with some becalmed intergalactic chords, before going in hard with ragging acid lines and metronomic rhythms.

Review: Following his stunning "Southern Breeze" EP on Aficionado, the shadowy Vision Of Panorama lets loose with a sandy-toed Balearic opus on Music For Dreams. Stately shiny vibes throughout as we range from the slow-motion fretless bass bliss of "Reef" to the unabashed 80s synth boogie of "Patches Of Light" by way of the horizon-set yacht jam "Port De Soller". With a sprightly piano-laced twist on the title track by Jex Opolis thrown in for extra measure, Music For Dreams has delivered something particularly special right here.

Review: Following the runaway success of their re-release of James Mason's cult classic "I Want Your Love" a few years back, Rush Hour asked the legendary disco-soul producer whether he had any unreleased material in the archives. After rooting around, he unearthed enough material to fill an album, Recollection Echo, which hits stores later in the year. Before that, Rush Hour present two previously unheard gems; the breezy, soulful disco brilliance of "The Rhythm of Life" (which, brilliantly, features Bernard Purdie on drums, and Fonda Rae on backing vocals), and "Up Jump", a brilliantly strange - and thrilling - combination of pitched-down electro beats, vocoders and spiraling soul vocals. That album should be pretty sensational; until it's released, these two tracks will more than suffice.

Review: The Audika label picks up its stellar efforts to dig through the vast archives of unreleased music left behind by Arthur Russell after his passing in 1992, presenting the nine track Corn. Russell's canon falls roughly between producing seminal disco ("All Over My Face") and solo works where his skill for the cello features prominently. Corn will be received with rapture by fans of the latter, gathering together compositions Russell made in the early '80s with the assistance of Peter Zummo and Rik Albani. Alternate versions of Russell classics like "Lucky Cloud" and "See My Brother, He's Jumping Out (Let's Go Swimming)" are included in this most wonderful archival release.

Review: Marvin Dan III and Lee "The Black Belt" Guy debut on the excellent Hivern Discs with the Egoista 12" and bring with them a wealth of knowledge and understanding of what makes a dancefloor tick. Most recently spotted on US label Young Adults, Marvin & Guy are known best for the series of cosmic disco mind benders issued for Let's Get Lost, On The Prowl, and their own eponymous label. That sense of cosmic sprawl is very much in evidence on this three track 12" with the seven minute title cut setting the tone, sounding akin to one of Joakim's more epic productions. The star gazing "Cancion (Para Ti)" has Lena Willikens set-opener written all over it whilst "The Man Who Lost The Hat" adopts a somewhat darker tone, despite the silly title. Another great 12" from the Hivern crew.

Review: Whisky Disco invite a trio of fresh faces to their ever-growing talent troupe for the Disco Darling EP. Andy Ash takes the lead with a loopy, strutting slice of sample-laced house that wouldn't go amiss in a Mark Farina set while Vincenzo De Bull & Halve Soul lower the tempo, invite us on a Balearic picnic and insist we gobble up huge chunks of Sade's "Cherry Pie". Deeper into the EP we find firm label friends Rabo & Snob laying down a velvet bed of Rhodes and vocal harmonies before the final label newcomer JP Source plays a slo-mo game of sample patty-cake with loopy disco mischief.