Balearic/Downtempo charts

Review: Sound Metaphors offshoot Miss You has been particularly astute at licensing and reissuing long-forgotten European disco gems. They've found another unknown classic here in the shape of two gorgeously string-laden 1977 disco covers of Andalucian folk songs by singing sisters Las Dablas, both of which originally appeared on the same Spanish seven-inch. 'Zorongo' is authentic-sounding, faintly threatening disco rich in heady Clavinet motifs, soaring orchestration, low-slung 'walking bass' and sprightly piano stabs, while 'Solo Y Sin Problemas' is a slightly funkier and sweeter slab of mid-tempo disco. Best of all, though, is the new 'No End Extension' - a breathlessly brilliant, dub disco-flecked revision that teases out the instrumental sections before finally dropping the sibling duo's lead vocals.

Review: Hot'N'Spicy's self-titled series of flame hot disco and funk gems returns with a sizzling sixth instalment here and it has some big names on board. Delfonic opens up with the low slung and seductive loopy disco-house fun of 'Everything Is Love' while HOLDTight up the funk and energy with more loose and percussive grooves on 'Disco Power.' Franck Roger brings his classy French house styling to a deep and slinky number in 'Pinguino Blumo' and DJ Steef shuts down with some big camp disco flourishes and dubbed-out vocal echoes on 'Warp Odyssey.'

Review: The latest one on Faze Action's label comes from Robin Lee in his Rudy's Midnight Machine guise. This is where Lee's disco funk fantasies run amok, with 'Dyane' in particular coming on strong with the sound of the early 80s. This is blissfully melodic, good time stuff throughout, steeped in classic motifs but delivered with a fresh, modern panache. There are downtempo Balearic moments like 'Crystal Dragonfly' to get lost it as much as there are plenty of invigorated calls to the dancefloor, making this a five track EP to really get your teeth into.

Review: On their debut album, 2016's the Tony Allen Experiments, Naples twosome Nu Guinea re-invented tracks by the legendary Afro-beat drummer as synth-heavy chunks of deep jazz-funk and nu-Balearica. For this follow-up - their first full length entirely made up of their own compositions - the duo serves up a set of jazz-funk, disco and boogie cuts rich in both their trademark colourful analogue synthesizer sounds and live instrumentation. It's a formula that guarantees a string of memorable highlights, from the sun-kissed peak-time brilliance of "Disco Sole" and rubbery, funk-fuelled "Je Vulesse" (a killer vocal number), to the wobbly downtempo trip of "A Voce E Napule" and Mizell Brothers fizz of closer "Parev Ajare", the album's most synthesizer-heavy cut.

Review: Brit-boogie obscurity alert! You might not be familiar with La Famille - a short-lived group established by jazz guitarist Alan Weekes, whose members also included then future Soul 2 Soul singer Caron Wheeler and a pre-fame Cleveland Watkiss - but in 'Dancer', they made one of the loveliest jazz-funk/boogie crossover records of the early 1980s. Originally a white label-only release and near impossible to find since, the record has long been crying out for a reissue. It has all the ingredients you'd expect - squelchy synth-bass, soulful vocals, leisurely jazz guitars, drum machine beats and an overriding sense of musical sweetness - and is presented in equally essential vocal and instrumental mix variations.

Review: Italian disco don and funk flexer Belabouche has landed on the likes of DiscoDat, Spare Change Disco and Gimme! Gimme. His edits and remixes are always in hot demand but here he offers up four original jams that show off his studio skills on the JDP Disco label. Flautist George alla Dispari features on 'Brooklyn', the full flavour funk fuelled opener that bustles with joy and good time vibes. 'I Gonna Miss You' is a more spaced out disco cut from the deep and 'Ikeja' then pumps the floor with squelchy bass and astral chords. 'Country Headquarters' lows to a seductive crawl to close things out.

Review: Emotional Rescue is at it again with another fully licensed and remastered offering, this time bringing to wax Mataya's Golddigger with a previously digital-only 'tape Mix.' Zimbabwe-born and later London-based Mataya "Clifford" Chewaluza was a core part of the vibrant West London music scene, using his songwriting, production and multi-instrumentalist skills on albums for RCA and Virgin. He also dropped a few 12"s and this one was released in 1988. It's a cult curio with crashing 80s production, disco-tinged grooves and plenty of subtle African rhythm which includes a standout dub mix from Jura Soundsystem.

Review: Prime Time Band's 'Fall In Love In Outer Space' is one of the undoubted highlights of the latest Too Slow To Disco compilation - a quirky, 1985 curiosity that blends AOR, soft rock and spacey, synth-laden disco. Here the track is dragged into the 21st century by a sextet of remixers, most of whom treat the original with due reverence. Turbitto kicks things off by adding layers of tactile electronics and echoing effects to the obscure outfit's sumptuous, soft-touch vocals and instrumentation, before Blank & Jones re-imagine it as a dreamy Balearic disco chugger. The Chuggin' Edits tweak is tactile, groovy and super-slow, while Those Guys From Athens beef up the beats and add a touch of low-slung dub disco haziness. Meanwhile, 'Vibes4YourSoul' drop a warming, Rhodes-heavy interpretation and HOLDTight deliver slo-mo disco-funk vibes aplenty.

Review: A decade has now passed since the birth of Harry 'Munir' Septiandry's Midnight Runners project, a studio outfit turned live band whose sound mines South-East Asian funk, soul and disco for inspiration. The Indonesian outfit's latest release, 'Nusantra Tropic Disco Volume 1', is arguably one of its' strongest yet. Rich in vintage 1970s synth sounds, tropical colour and live grooves that variously draw on disco, jazz-funk and library music, it feels fresh and exciting despite its nostalgic inspirations and authentic period instrumentation. Highlights include, but are no way limited to, vibrant and percussive disco opener 'Kaliuga', the spacey and warming 'Ratna and Galih' and soaring, future peak-time Indonesian disco anthem 'Kasih Bersemi'.

Review: After a potential demo deal with Island Records went south, Belgian electro-samba outfit Antena parted ways in the mid-'80s. Singer Isabelle Antena quickly moved onto new projects, forgoing her cold wave aesthetic for an excitingly new sophisticated pop sound. On 1986's En Cavale, there's the undeniable influence of Madonna and city pop sounds with the inevitable bleeding through of late-'80s Euro dance and even a bit of bossa nova would you believe - and it works well!. The elegant second chapter of a French pop treasure. In the '90s, Antena led another group, the Powaga Sisters, and was with them for three albums between 1993-2004.

Review: 'Electro-samba' didn't used to be a genre name one came across every day, but that all changed with French pop icon Isabelle Antena, whose daring solo ventures in the 1980s saw to many a creative explosion. First coming to prominence as part of the self-styled French-Belgian trio Antena, who were more coldwave than city pop, Isabella's solo defection proved a thorough change in tack, as her debut En Cavale dealt in all the sexiest styles from bossa nova, to electro, to synth-pop, to cafe-ready easy listening. From 'Magic Words' to 'Sea Side Week End', this is dreamy, electrified musical sophistry for the Sylvester era.

Review: The fifth installment in Manchester's Drum Chums series sees the arrival of the enigmatic Captain Attractive with a lesson in 'San Fran sleaze, hippie disco and MPC bump.' On the first side, get down to the slo-mo dancefloor heater 'It's More Fun 2 Make Love', followed by the lo-slung soul feelings of 'Memories'. Over on the flip, there's the piano-led R&B of 'Dreamer' then things get sensual on the late night mood music of 'Ghana Do It'.

Review: After relocating from Colombia to Spain in the early 1970s, sibling duo Elkin & Nelson recorded a string of albums that became hits across the Latin world. 'Angeles Y Demines', a 1974 double-album that has here been given the remastered reissue treatment, is arguably the strongest of the lot. It's certainly the one that Balearic heads return yo regularly, featuring as it does the scene classic 'Jibaro (Enrolle)' alongside many more slices of Latin/Flamenco/Funk/Jazz-Funk fusion. Their sound was unique but undeniably weighty and dancefloor-ready, with the album's many highlights including 'Abran Passo-Ahoa (Enrolle)', 'Anacaona', and their dense, sunrise-ready cover of 'Ain't No Sunshine'.

Review: What does it mean to be timeless in an age of shallow immediacy? In a world where instant virality is hailed as the supreme goal, the most radical act of subversion might be creating something built to bang in a soundsystem eternity. The latest from Sweatson Klank (FKA Take) aims to achieve that rare posterity, inviting an all-night party of boogie funk, 80s modern soul, Japanese city pop, Balearic disco, AOR, and 90s house. A 13-track alchemical yield of "beatstrumental" productions and highbrow electronica fruits, this album largely centres on Klank's exploration of what truly makes a timeless album timeless; that glimmer, or hook, that causes a song or album to repeat, again and again, in the listener's mind. Not one for a shallow listener, A Free Mind is a sprawling stylistical-miracle.

Review: If you have had your ear to the Balearic underground over the summer you might well have heard some high-profile selectors dropping cuts off this latest missive from US label Just What The World Needs. It is another sublime three-tracker that kicks off with the string-laced and upbeat disco delights of the A1. Second up is a much more slow and sensuous sound that sinks you in deep to a beach lounger as the sun fades into the sea and the sky turns flame red and orange. Things pick up again with the third and final cut - a percussive jumble of organic hits and drums overlaid with a heart-melting vocal sample and deft melodic details that drift by like wispy clouds.