DJs: Most Charted - Disco - Most Charted October 2015

Review: Its feelgood, summertime disco house on the Feel This Way EP, by Belarusian DJ and producer from Grodno and reminiscent of DJ Sneak or Nick Holder's disco cut ups from the mid-nineties. There's some sure fire goodness for sunny day parties on the A side: From the hands in the air vibe of the title track, to the soulful funk groove of "Party Train". On the flip, things get a bit techier on "Acid Indie Club" which much like the name suggests has a warped synth lead that soon gives way to some wicked, big band disco style brass sounds. They leave the best 'til last on "Sundown" though, which you could imagine being played at exactly that time at one awesome beach party to remember.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Marcel Vogel has decided to celebrate the first five years of his edit-heavy Lumberjacks In Hell imprint in the only way he knows how: by putting together a sumptuous double-pack stuffed with fresh new material. In keeping with the way the label has developed in recent times, the eight tracks blend the boundaries between original productions, illicit remixes and straight re-edits. There's a celebratory, life-affirming feel throughout, from the rubbery bass, D-Train synths and rolling house grooves of Giovanni Damico's "The Break Down", to the bluesy deep house brilliance of Borrowed Identity's "Queens Bridge". Highlights are plentiful elsewhere, too, from the hustlin' electrofunk-meets-disco of Vogel's own "Come On", to the killer synth solos and fuzzy bits of Tim Jules' thrilling "Slap Beat".

Review: Since donning the Payfone guise, former Kitty Bronx and Leon Lace man Phil Passera has yet to put a foot wrong. Both 2013 debut "International Smark" and last year's "Paradise" - the latter for Phil South's Golf Channel imprint - were both superb exercises in re-imagining New York boogie for the house generation. He's at it again here, with "Quarantine" offering the perfect blend of jaunty electrofunk synths, early New York garage dubbiness, effortlessly soulful vocals, rubbery disco bass and a dash of Giorgio Moroder. Flipside "Padre Pray For Us" is an altogether deeper, woozier proposition, with blazed drums, hazy Rhodes keys and fluid synths being joined by a killer trumpet solo - the kind that makes you want to close your eyes and just drift away.

Review: Feel good deep house on offer here yet again from Hamburg imprint A Room With A View, adding to their illustrious discography which this far has included such greats as Andre Lodemann and Joel Alter. This cheeky Dutch duo present us with "Heavy On the Bacon" which is further testament to their sense of humour in all its sultry and funky late night sense of groove. On the flip "Coconuts" is on the deeper side with all its funky mono synth leads doing their magic over a funky bassline. This would be ideal for fans of other Hamburg imprint Dessous; there's something about the north of Germany, what more can we say!

Review: Chicago Nite Owl Chrissy returns with four more floor-focussed revisions that cater for all chapters of the night. Space jam "Discoglide" is the quintessential party starter, all whistles and crowd chants. "Fix It Man" takes tool-swinging Ragtyme into the future while "Every Person" explores the soulful nuances of Double Exposure with gossamer glee. Finally we climax with the bass-slapping super-strutter "Standing Passengers". A full instrumental rich in percussion and snake-like wah wahs and tightly sprung horns, there'll be standing room only when you drop this.

Review: Through releases on his own Good Timin' imprint - both solo, and as part of Conga Radio - Jex Opolis has proved adept at re-packaging a variety of NYC-friendly influences, from boogie and analogue funk, to proto-house and early garage-house. "Studio E", the opening cut from this first Jex EP for Running Back, doffs a cap to both the muscular throb of Twilo era Danny Tenaglia, and the Italo-influenced shuffle of dark-room nu-disco. Elsewhere, he expertly combines Konk style Latin-disco percussion with an undulating, analogue house bassline on "Laxmi Tool", fuses Scandolearic disco and vintage deep house influences ("Harpa"), and returns to his warm boogie influences on the Metro Area-ish "La Casa".

Review: Mysterious new imprint, possibly connected to Bradley Zero's Rhythm Section International, presents us with some seriously smooth moods and grooves, courtesy of Junior. On the A side "Junior Does The Drums" does it right with its funky bassline and guitar licks, Rhodes piano and bongos getting totally freaky but in a good way, on this soul funk jam. On the flip there's "Junior Gives Thanks" which is an epic afro Latin percussion workout that will blow your mind, while "Ooh, Junior" is a druggy trumpet solo wandering mysteriously over a scratched up and forgotten bongo record. Check this out!

Review: After establishing his reputation as one of the re-edit scene's deepest diggers a few years back with a series of 12" singles on Ambassador's Reception, Swedish producer Albion Venables recently returned with an excellent EP of unlikely edits on Macadam Mambo. Here he returns home to Ambassador's Reception with another collection of high-grade disco reworks. As usual, you'd be hard-pressed to guess the source material, but there's plenty to enjoy. "Burnin' Disco" re-cuts a wonky Balearic pop gem as a startling fusion of dub disco, exotica and tough electrofunk, while "Flamingo" twists a similarly eccentric cut into a winding, Flamenco-disco gem. Finally, "Mustang" provides some deep, soulful and stretched out instrumental disco complete with evocative guitar solos, rubbery bottom end and killer synth solos.

Review: The perennially-search-engine-unfriendly Bristol beatman Admin makes his Boogie Cafe debut with this trio of beautifully loose jazz-tinted grooves. Both "Flute Loops" and "Drifting Away" err more on the house side of the spectrum with relaxed, lo-fi drums and humming pads and harmonics that you'd expect to find on Kompakt or perhaps Drumpoet. For an even freer funk sensation jump on "No Problemo". A sprightly jazz breakbeat funk chunklet, if you're aware of Farina's Mushroom Jazz series then you'll be all over this. File in your 'to play' tray.

Review: Back In The Day marks the second appearance from Local Talk regulars Dirtytwo on J Kriv and Aaron Dae's Razor 'N' Tape imprint. Like their last outing, Back In The Day sees them offering up an impressive blend of bumpin' house and filter-heavy re-edits with a heavy emphasis on party starting. While the murky, basement-bothering title track, and Daniel Leeseman's baggier, disco-house rework, are impressive, it's the EP's other two tracks that are really floating our boat. Check, in particular, the string-laden, bass-heavy sleaze of "Last Night", which boasts a spine-tingling breakdown and some decidedly sweaty female vocals. That said, the slower "Estrelar" - a chopped-up, looped, filter-fiddling rework of the Marcos Valle track of the same name - is also rather fine.

Review: Time to chow down on another low-down funk and disco feast at Bristol's Boogie Cafe. Label co-founder JTT lights the fire with a subversive James Brown edit. All raw and loopy, it's a fine twist on a well known classic. Flip for two cuts from Horses-affiliate Laura Ingalls as she puts the EQ back into equine with two deeper dug edits. George Duke's "Party Down" gets a pumping, thumping, filtered disco twist while Roy Ayers gets an equally sweaty edit. Tasty.

Review: Given the connotations of their chosen moniker, we shouldn't be surprised by the mythical musical humidity at the heart men-of-mystery Mystic Jungle Tribe's debut album. A new project from Mystic Jungle and The Normalmen pair Milord and Whodammy, Mystic Jungle Tribe effortlessly join the dots between cheerful, cheap-sounding analogue funk, loose-limbed, sci-fi inspired jazz-funk, machine-heavy techno, woozy Balearica and sweet electronica. Interestingly, the beats on Solaria are often loose and live sounding, rather than throbbing and metronomic, giving the album a far looser feel than you'd perhaps expect. As debut sets go, though, it's rather impressive, and comes packed with cuts that sound as good in the club as on your home stereo.

Review: Bristol's Admin is a man on the rise. Having previously released material on Boogie Cafe, Futureboogie and Glasgow Underground, he's been snapped up by Sleazy Beats. Here, he delivers the latest instalment in their Black Ops series, laying down three chunks of bass-heavy disco/house fusion. "Have A Nice Day" is sweet, rolling and tasty, with dense, bongo-laden percussion, swirling vocal loops and tasty disco samples riding a low-slung house groove. He goes deeper and smoother on "Sugar Loaf", whose sparkling breakdown is almost Balearic in its' wide-eyed, spine-tingling execution. Finally, he steps back towards the disco with "Super Lover", a house rearrangement of a horn-heavy disco jam smothered in filter tweaks.

Review: Not a lot is known on the mystery baker behind these two scrumptious funk cakes besides the fact that Despacio have been spinning both sides... And the fact they're both delicious. "Uganda" is a percussion heavy slam-jamboree that switches into a juicy bass-driven disco groove midway. "Uriah", meanwhile, is a chugging, star-gazing Moroder homage that adds more layers and textures with every bar. Tasty.

Review: It's been a while since we last heard from genre-straddling DJ/producer Sadhar Bahar, who first rose to prominence via two volumes of the Chicken Wing Edits series back in the late 2000s. Here he dishes up two more sneaky reworks, this time for Bochum-based Kala Kuta Soul. You're unlikely to find a more gorgeously sunny, summery rework than the bouncy jazz-funk-meets-disco soul flex of A-side "Tik-Tok". It's loose and groovy, of course, but just loopy and bouncy enough to interest house heads as well as disco-soul diggers. Flip for "At The Concert", a deliciously stretched-out chunk of instrumental soul-jazz business that comes complete with some seriously heavy trumpet solos.

Review: Canada's foremost re-edit imprint continues to churn out the hits, largely by delivering dub disco and Balearic-tinged interpretations of long forgotten or little-known cuts. Common Edit regulars Dane and Khotin join forces on the A-side, delivering a sweet chunk of boogie-era synthesizer reggae ("Imho"), before heading futher towards peaktime territory with the low-slung, late night AOR disco of "System". Eddie C digs delves into his seemingly bottomless crates of obscurities for inspiration on "I Want More", a gorgeous chunk of piano-laden Balearic disco sweetness. Finally, Dane lights up something medicinal, closes his eyes and delivers the smacked-out, guitar-laden ambient chug of "One For Dane". It's an absolute beauty, if truth be told.

Review: Four juicy vinyl-only disco edits of the Smokecloud variety. The Silver Rider takes care of the A with two slow, smouldering numbers while Osmose gets lively on the flip with a more energetic twist on Candi Staton ("Free LUV Candy") and a sticky sweet string-zapped downbeat stamper entitled "Dave's Honey"). There's not an hour of the night they haven't catered for right here. Clothed in beautiful art and chipboard packaging, this ticks pretty much every box. Show some love!

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Mahogani Music's Dan Shake launches his label 'Shake' with two infectious edits.

Review: London based "Bad Passion Project", aka Chris Stoker (Ess O Ess) and Andy Bainbridge (Machete Savane), finally unveil their new record label, "Not An Animal Records".??For their first release, they present an EP from friend and frequent collaborator "Man Power" (Correspondant, Hivern Discs), featuring 2 original productions, as well as stellar remixes from "The Backwoods" aka DJ Kent (Force of Nature) & Ess O Ess.?

The first track on display is "Power Theme", a stomping and bouncing hybrid of Left-field Techno and Synth-Pop, which builds to a dramatic Italo tinged melodic climax.

Following this, the Ess O Ess remix, from Chris and Jamie Blanco, further stamps their distinctive sound, taking the track on a trip into organic techno territory.

With his second track, Le Clerc, Man Power presents yet another musical mongrel, this time with a blend of robotic, arpeggiated disco, meeting fuzzed-up and over-blown heavy rock pomp.

The Backwoods swaps the original's brashness of Le Clerc for lightness, depth and beauty, stripping the track back to its melodic components, adding percussive counter-melodies and underpinning everything with a hypnotic and pulsing house baseline.

Review: Aussie imprint People Must Jam have pulled off something of a coup here, enticing Polish twosome Ptaki away from Transatlantyk for a one-off, four-track outing. It is, of course, superb, with the duo delivering some typically picturesque, "Baltic beat" business in the shape of the glistening "Termy" - all eyes-closed acoustic guitar solos, starburst electronics, late night vocals and fluid synthesizers - and chugging "Radio Roman". Elsewhere, though, the duo goes surprisingly uptempo, via the jazzy deep house bump of "Lotnik" and, even more impressively, "Milosc". The latter - a chopped-up, Thomas Bangalter style disco-house rework of a long forgotten Polish disco-funk gem - is easily Ptaki's most obviously floor-friendly release to date.

Review: Africaine 808's first EP for Phil South's Golf Channel label, the double A-side Lagos, New York/Zombie Jamboree, was arguably one of the releases of 2014 - a sublime 12" that joined the dots between Konk, early Latin house, techno and Afro-disco. Hopes are naturally high, then, for this follow-up. "Rhythm Is All You Can Dance" is not as instantly effective as either of those tracks, but it's still rather special - think darting, woozy synthesizers, spitting drum machines and dense African percussion. Jan Schulte provides the obligatory remix under his Wolf Muller alias, dropping a bouncier groove whilst emphasizing Africaine 808's woozy synthesizer lines. Bonus cut "Revanche" is rather special, too, and recaptures some of the celebratory feel of last year's terrific 12".

Review: Fresh from editing the Dickens out of "O Superman" and "Pump Up The Jam", Bremen beat-carver Jascha gets busy on Fela Kuti and Bobbi Humphrey. "Soldiers" sees Hagen retaining all of Kuti's vocal command over a dubby Lindstromm-esque groove that pays off with delicious keys on the breakdown. 'Harlem', meanwhile, adds a lush brushed drum backing to Bobbi with extensive psychedelic textures and a lolloping groove that's not dissimilar to Andrew Ashong. Stunning.

Review: Ant Plate of Rhythm Plate infamy has been putting out records under the deftly punned YSE Saint Laur'Ant name for the past four years, racking up 12"s for Whiskey Disco, Editorial, and Pickpocket that showcase his crate-digging, beat-chopping, soul-dripping expertise. Given that several of these records now command a pretty penny on the second hand market you'd be best advised to not dally when considering the merits of the latest YSE Saint Laur'Ant transmission for the newly minted Vinyl Only label. The Stonewall EP features four expertly teased exercises in low BPM bumps with closer "It Beats The Music" our pick of the bunch!

Review: Following a couple of impressive outings on Cosmo Vitelli's I'm A Cliche imprint, well-regarded Israeli producer Moscoman makes his ESP Institute debut. The Tel Aviv native is in fine form, too, delivering a pair of tracks that blend trippy, psychedelic electronics with clear cosmic disco and no wave influences. Opener "Akachi" is arguably the bigger of the two, with swirling effects, tribal chants and bongo-laden percussion peppering a long-slung disco-not-disco groove. "Nobody Else" has a more trippy and trancey feel, with looped, slowly building guitar and synthesizer parts - all drenched in special effects - rising above a hypnotic, drum machine-led groove.

Review: London's Midland, known to his friends as Harry Agius, is a producer of many layers and talents; the most recent of which is the cultivation of a moustache that would make a WWWII bombardier proud! He's pretty much released an electronic track from every genre, and now he's decided to dabble in a bit of disco through his new Regraded imprint, an offshoot of Graded. "Double Feature" is a lovely, heads-down disco monster with a heavy percussive swing and gorgeous strings running through its core. Over on the flip, "Stop, Don't Let The Beat" still leans towards the disco ball, but the groove is now nastier, more driving and deeper into the electronics. Class.

Review: Two diamonds mined from Studio One's ever-potent coalface, Ximeno have unearthed two sides for all occasions; Norma White's cover of Chic bubbles with early '80s light synths and subtle elements of boogie without losing its rocksteady roots while The Skatalite's rare rolling funk-up "Ceiling Bud" comes with breaks so hefty you could channel the spirit of James Brown and flutes and keys so psychedelic this highly limited 45 should come with a free Jethro Tull fan club membership. Delightful.