Back catalogue: Disco/Nu-Disco

Review: Luca LTJ Trevisi is LTJ Xperience and he began his DJ and producer career in the 80s. He was a resident at two of Italy's most acclaimed clubs and sure knows how to craft a tune. As well as his own originals he is a master of the remix and someone who can rework any cut to be even more potent not he floor. He proves that here with four new versions that span deep and dreamy and cosmic disco. He tackles Vasquez, Black Mighty Wax, Soultrend Orchestra and Papik & Sarah Jane Morris and turns each into gold.

Review: For the label's latest release, the dusty-fingered diggers behind Archeo Recordings have decided to reissue a little-known but undeniably brilliant album from fellow Italians Fulvio Maras, Alfredo Posllipo and Luco Proietta. Recorded in 1992 and originally released in staggeringly low numbers (only 300 were pressed first time around), "Sfumature" drew on a disparate array of influences (think jazz, ambient, new age, fourth world, Afro-cosmic and electronica for starters) and loose-limbed drumming and melodious percussion instrumentation (marimba, glockenspiel etc) with ear-catching synthesizer sounds, sparse drum machine rhythms and occasional improvised vocals. It's a genuinely unique sounding anthem and well worth picking up, especially in this highly limited white vinyl pressing (apparently only 100 of these exist).

Review: Electronic duo Pale Blue releases their highly anticipated second album 'Maria' on Crosstown Rebels. With eight captivating tracks, the long-player takes listeners on an immersive electronic journey. Mike Simonetti (Italians Do It Better) and Elizabeth Wight (Silver Hands) formed the outfit in 2015, gaining acclaim with their debut album. It showcases Wight's personal experiences and thoughts through her lyrics, accompanied by techno-infused melodies that lean towards rock influences. From dreamlike melodies to haunting productions, the album seamlessly blends electronica with pop touches.

Review: God bless XL Recordings. The UK label has been at the forefront of boundary pushing music since its inception, and almost 35 years remains a seal of quality. A constant source of inspiring surprises and new sonic experiences. The kind of organisation that will take a punt on British polymath Jai Paul's demo album, which, by all accounts, is pretty hard to describe, let alone define. More so, the type of team that would, eight years earlier, support and release one of the artist's earliest songs, 'BTSTU'. Coming full circle, that tune closes this collection of stuff produced around the same time, all of which was going to form the debut album, Bait Ones. One low-quality CD-R of the work stolen and then leaked online later, and the artist stepped away from music until the end of the last decade, when this "perfectly imperfect" LP was finally allowed to see the light of day. A lo fi, glitchy, trippy, granular, sexy sound that owes as much to hip hop, pop and r&b as experimental noise, ambient dub, and electronic soul.

Review: Ilan Pdahtzur is as obsessive a record digger as any of his more visible peers. His particular niche is early to mid-eighties club music, and now he gets a platform to show off his skills thanks to the Spacetalk label. "Night City Life" is about music to match that exact setting - nocturnal urban metropolises with glowing neon lights shimmering in the darkness. There's a lot to love across four sides of vinyl here, from Italo disco to steamy boogie cuts and iridescent synth jams. It will make you nostalgic for a time and place you've never experienced (at least not as perfectly as this) and no doubt get plenty of dance floors on their feet.

Review: Eary Sounds boss Pellegrino S. Sinchelotto founded the Zodyaco project two years as an umbrella for his ongoing studio collaborations with an ever-changing cast of musicians, vocalists and producers. Morphe, the project's second full-length excursion, continues in a similar vein to its predecessor, offering a similarly attractive mix of tracks that effortlessly blur the boundaries between mid-80s Balearic synth-pop, jazz-funk, zouk, Afro-cosmic, AOR disco and intergalactic boogie. With quality musicianship, colourful melodic motifs and accurately depicted period details to the fore, it's the sort of set that would now be considered a Balearic classic had it been released in 1885 rather than 2020. In other words, Morphe is an album you need in your life right now.

Review: The Moving Music label continues to unearth some ridiculously odd and inspired Norwegian movie soundtracks. Their latest is taken from 1978's Operasjon Cobra, a "youth movie" with a plot that involves a group of Oslo teenagers foiling a terror plot. The soundtrack, which appears to be one of the first to be completed by obscure Norwegian composer (and former prog rocker) Pete Knutsen, flits between Blaxploitation-inspired jazz-funk, cheery, horn-and-Clavinet-heavy post-disco instrumentals, experimental jazz, creepy synthesizer soundscapes, jazz guitar-rich ambient and heavy funk-rock. Throughout, the production is admirably lo-fi, with Knutsen keeping the tracks largely free of effects or post-production trickery.

Review: Calvin "Popcorn" Ward is one of those legendary musical figures form time gone by. He put out just one album and a couple of Eps, but they were good enough to secure him an enduring elegy with funk and soul fans. His Prime Choice album came on Shanell in 1983 and the one copy currently for sale on second-hand sites is over 630 quid. Thankfully Mad About has assembled this heavyweight reissue. Sentimental soul, analogue disco and lo-fi funk all characterise each tune, as does Calvin's own vocals which range from upbeat and positive to heartbroken and raw. A real gem.

Review: Depending on how you spend your leisure time, you may or may know not that Moana Pozzi was primarily a pornographic actor. Despite this, she was also something of a crossover pop star in 1980s and early 90s who secured some commercial hits in her native Italy. Mondo Groove has recently served up some of them and now Cinedelic serves up her full-length Loveland including three previously unreleased tracks. This one is taken from the original masters and marked her official singing debut. Many of these tunes made it into her films and steamy live shows.

Review: Pregoblin II marks another thrilling chapter in Pregoblin's sonic odyssey and again serves to highlight their genre-defying prowess. With this release, the duo continues to push on and blend elements of indie rock, psychedelia, and electronica into something wholly new that ranges from infectious hooks to experimental textures. Each track is a mini adventure that allows you to lose yourself in its hypnotic worlds. Pregoblin's distinctive blend of introspective lyricism and eclectic instrumentation shines through as always to cement their status as one of the most innovative acts in contemporary music.

Review: Psychemagik teased their debut album earlier this year with the smooth crossover single "We Can Be One", which opens up this hotly anticipated long player from the widely adored duo. There's plenty of pop leanings to this record, but of course shot through with the dreamy lilt of psychedelia and deep-digging Balearic charm that has defined Psychemagik from the beginning. At times it gets more bombastic, as on "Ghost Particle" with Liam Magill, and there's a cheeky party track or two (just check "Above The Clouds"), but the main focus here is on rich songwriting with a heavy emphasis on warm synth tones. Existing Psychemagik fans will be happy, but this record should equally land them a new legion of admirers as they take another step forward in their evolution.

Review: Purple Disco Machine is the alias of Tino Piontek, a German DJ and producer who has become quite the staple of Aussie label Sweat It Out! in recent years. Exotica is his third album to date, and features a bunch of scorching disco numbers all delivered in his renowned style; from the infectious vocoder funk of 'At The Disko' with Lorenz Rhode, the neon-lit Italo euphoria of 'Dopamine' (feat Eyelar) as well as a collaboration with Italian deep house heroine in the form of 'Loneliness' and bonus track 'Twisted Mind' featuring Agnes.

Review: Glossy disco beat maker and silky synth-smith Purple Disco Machine really leans on the OG pure one, Prince, for the opening track on his Soulmatic album. It's filled with electronic funk, twisted vocoder vocals and big licks that will work on a wide range of dance floors. Elsewhere his collab with Boris Dlugosch, 'Love For Days' is a dazzling vocal house anthem thanks to the seductive sounds of singer Karen Harding and 'Devil In Me' feat Joe Killington & Duane Harden is a cover like you have never heard before. This special Record Store Day reissue is limited in numbers and sure to fly off the shelves.

Review: Mr Bongo reissues a classic record here from an iconic musical maverick. From her roots in India, to becoming a world famous artist with a celebrated career in music and acting, Asha Puthli forged a career path through '60s psych, free jazz, pop, rock, disco, and more. Her 1976 album The Devil Is Loose is maybe the most well known record, featuring the classic 'Space Talk' which was championed by many DJs, most famously the late David Mancuso at The Loft, in addition to being sampled The Notorious B.I.G., P Diddy and The Pharcyde. In later years, Puhtli went on to collaborate with the likes of Bill Laswell, DJ Spooky and Talvin Singh.

Review: House music exploded in the UK in 1987 and continued to blow up in the ensuing summers. But with all the high energy parties and ever more visceral rave sounds, people needed a break, and so it was that in February of 1990 the KLF invented new slowed down after-sounds on their Chill Out mix. This collection gathers best sub 100bpm cuts form that time, as assembled by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley. Fun fact - the artwork for the LP is a picture from the new book on acid house by photographer Dave Swindells which is well worth copping if you can.