Review: There's a fair chance you'll already have heard "Cola", experienced production duo Camelphat's collaboration with vocalist Elderbrook. The original version, with its rumbling bass, atmospheric builds, subtle bassline house influence and "she sips the Coca-Cola" refrain, has become something of an anthem since first appearing on digital download earlier in the year. For this first vinyl release, Defected has packaged the now-familiar original mix with a trio of reworks. The most impressive of these comes from German veteran Mousse T. He brilliantly re-casts the track as a bumpin' chunk of celebratory disco-house complete with thrilling piano riffs and an elastic bassline.
Review: Moiss Music released a hot pair of EPs in February and repeat the same trick in May with another quality double drop. It is a various artists offering as always with DJ Delivery's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' a sure-fire floor-filling anthem to start things off. It's got loopy drums and string samples as well as sumptuous vocal harmony then Borka & The Gang keep the feel-good vibes alive with 'Kidding Feelings and Even Funkier's' Dance With Your Feet' is another smile-inducing bit of disco warmth with withering sic-fi synths and hip swinging claps. Jordan Reece's 'Prayer' has hints of gospel in the vocal while noodling keys and tight kicks all get looped to perfection.
Dr Packer & Elektrik Disko - "My Lovin'" (extended mix) (6:04)
Dr Packer & Elektrik Disko - "My Lovin'" (Elektrik Disko extended mix) (5:14)
Mattei & Omich & Re Tide - "Give Me Your Love" (feat Katy Alex - extended mix) (5:27)
Re Tide & Lukas Setto - "Me & You" (Dr Packer remix) (7:07)
Review: Next up on the Fool's Paradise vinyl sampler is a four-tracker of glitzy and emphatic proportions. Vol. 3 opens with Dr. Packer and Elektrik Disko's 'My Lovin', which vexes us of our infidelities in the promise of being lent "all our love tonight", a vocal motif that swirls endlessly around its discoic mix. Mattei and Omich follow up with exactly the same theme, though it would seem that the former promise has been foreclosed upon, since the central vox is now asking the listener to "just give me your love", with an added dash of urgency to boot, and not the other way round. The B-side, not purely coincidentally, we think, dominated by the producer known as Re-tide, moves much more profligately, abandoning much of the A-side's glamour for the more immediate appetites that drive, but do not temper, disco's soul.
Review: Eagles & Butterflies has had plenty of notable tunes over the years. No doubt that is why he gets the nod from Gerd Jansen's legendary Running back label to offer up Retropolis Vol 01. It is a four-track EP that shows off the producer's well-realised sounds. The title track is the real standout - 'Retropolis' brings electro-styled synth work with brilliantly future retro euro-disco energy. It's packed with hints of Italo and is sure to light up any club scene. Says the producer of the EP, "Retropolis is the past meets the future. I love influences and technology from the past and making music that sounds like it could be from a time yet to arrive." Mission accomplished.
Review: REPRESS ALERT: What hasn't been said about this timeless classic that hasn't been already? We'd be preaching to the choir but for what it's worth: Pal Joey's 1990 released, Chic sampling classic "Dance" is one of those tracks that never gets old and always sets the dancefloor alight. In all these years it has been thrown down by NYC house legends and Detroit techno's finest alike. Likewise, your record collection isn't complete without it! Features the energetic original version on the A side, as well as the dub with that nice bass solo section that comes in. Finally, on the flip is the wicked bonus beats version that was favoured by techno DJs and sampled by everyone from Jeff Mills to Jerome Sydenham. Reissued on Joey's own Cabaret Records.
Review: Athens Of The North can usually be found honing their expert craft of unearthing nigh impossible to find disco, and reissuing it in the utmost quality. However, the work of East Coast Love Affair (Euan Fryer and Nick Moore) is deceiving, as it adopts the image of one of said reissues while actually being fully contemporary music. 'Get Down' tops up a slew of master-quality releases for the label, expropriating a vocal line from obscure Minneapolis 'lo-fi' band Quiet Storm and putting it back into an entirely new, drunk-and-high instrumental context (think lasers, whistles, funk basses, an overall hazy sound). 'Can You Deal', on the flip, lends Quiet Storm a similar treatment, albeit for a cleverly hi-lo-fi disco house treatment.
Review: Love Chug by East Coast Love Affair and BDK delivers two distinct approaches to peak-time dancefloor energy, perfect for any house club setting. Side-1 features 'Love Chug' by East Coast Love Affair, a track that expertly builds with a driving disco vibe. A powerful guitar riff takes the lead, while a filtered hook pushes the sound deep into house territory, creating an immersive experience that evolves throughout. On Side-2, BDK's 'Pure Sass' offers a strong, uplifting house track that borders on gospel house. Its vibrant energy and soulful vibe are reminiscent of classic Jasper Street tracks, making it an irresistible choice for the dancefloor. Together, these tracks provide a dynamic balanceione that builds and one that never lets upiensuring that the energy stays high all night.
Burning Up (feat Oliver Night - extended edit) (4:34)
Review: MotorCity Wine out of Detroit looks to the other side of the planet for its next release as Sydney, Australia-based artist Edseven steps up with his Burnin Up EP. It's that title track featuring Oliver Night that opens up with a smooth and seductive sound, leggy drums and warming chords. 'Soul Takes Flight' is another cuddly, deep and late-night lounge sound full of emotive vibes and another amazing vocal from Oliver Night. Things get even more chill on the flip with the mid-tempo sounds of 'If I Let You' featuring vocals from Cinta, all pressed up in a limited picture sleeve 12".
Review: Mushroom Pillow is on a proud and so far successful mission to bring back Latin American music from the 60s-80s via its Relatin project. it's all about mixing up the traditional and the modern and putting fresh spins on what went before. Many of the originals they look to have gone unnoticed the first time round and that's the case here as Franc Moody adds his own twist to Elia & Elizabeth's 'Alegria.' His remix is a sympathetic one that gets the hips swinging over fat and funky disco bass and beneath the sunny Latin vocals. He strips them away on the instrumental version on the flip.
Review: Encee serves up a superb debut here on the nascent but already impressive Only Cuts Records. It's lush, funky vibes all the way here with 'Carlito' tapping into a classic soulful sound and drenched in loved-up vocals. 'Zhanet' has fizzy, sugary synths darting through the mix as warm drums bounce in neat patterns and 'Hov' then brings some blissful summer synth work and cut up stabs that energise the party without ever starting from deep and rich musicality. 'Meshell' is a perfect vocal cut for summer deployment with wispy chords, r&b vocal chops and colourful bass.
Kim English - "It Makes A Difference" (Danny Krivit & Kyle Smith remix - Danny Krivit 7" edit) (5:39)
Loni Clark - "Rushing" (Mood II Swing dub - Danny Krivit 7" edit) (5:31)
Review: Danny Krivit is currently known as one of the music community's greatest purveyors of top quality disco & house as he continues to perform regularly before sold-out audiences around the world. With his unique ear for what works on the dancefloor he has also become known as "King of the Re-edit." Danny has a deep connection to Kim English's "It Makes A Difference" release on Nervous Records from 2006. Krivit worked with writer Kyle Smith on the remixes that originally made this tune an anthem at his 718 Sessions parties as well as one of the highlights of club nights from Tokyo to New York to London that appreciate quality soulful house. The B-side is Danny's re-edit of one of the most famed dubs from the Nervous catalogue as well as for the producers Mood II Swing. Upon its release in 1993 this dub emerged as one of the defining sounds of summer 1993 at Ministry Of Sound which had just recently opened the year before. The "rushing rushing rushing" hook is well knownby golden era of house afficianados around the world and he does an amazing job bringing this essential hook.
Review: Leading big room house label Toolroom, which hassling been under the charge of boss man MArkKNight, is back with more firing and high energy sounds. ESSEL & Alex Mills are on this one and unleash 'Rave Is The Weapon' which has got it all - wonky hooks, white noise blasts, chunky drums and a firing vocal that is sure to electrify the floor. On the reverse, it is ESSEL who goes solo for 'The Edge' which is a pumping house cut with some swaying tech beats and a nice hooky vocal up top. Great fun.
Review: Groovin' Records has a good relationship with Peven Everett. Over the years, the Italian label has released and reissued plenty of material from the legendary Chicagoan vocalist and producer. 'Bluelight Love' is brand spanking new - a superb, subtly Latin-tinged chunk of deep, soulful vocal house rich in jazzy guitar flourishes, organic-sounding percussion hits and dreamy chords. On the flip, Everett remixes it himself, opting for chunkier, bouncier drums, far weightier bass and a much more club-centric feel. The spacey synth solos that are a little buried in the A-side original version are far more prominent, too, while his superb lead vocal naturally takes pride of place in the mix.
Review: Over the last three years, DJ/producer Mimmo "MoBlack" Falcone has turned MoBlack Records into arguably the World's leading label for African house music. Defected clearly thinks so, because the label has decided to put out this EP featuring tracks from remixes from Falcone and some of his regular collaborators. On side A Falcone joins forces with Armonica to deliver two sparkling, rubbery, positive and heavily electronic reworks of Fela Kuti classic 'International Thief Thief'. Both hit the spot, though it's the Dub, with its extended vocal breakdown and trippy effects, that floats our boat. Over on the flip we're treated to two versions of MoBlack, Emmanuel Jal and Henrick Schwarz hook-up 'Chagu': a bouncy Afro-tech take from Schwarz and a warmer, deep Afro-house interpretation by Falcone.
Review: Trent Voyage and Elena Moroder started working together in 2022 and here make their debut on Quirk. It speaks to a duo who have a love of classic US house but have enough skill to bring their own style to it. Elena's dynamic, sensual vocals weave through lyrics about paradise, love and fantasy, with the opener 'Jamiro' a perfect deep house hymn with timeless vibes. 'Show Them' is a more minimal and late-night sound with a twitchy synth and moody vocals bringing more edginess. 'So Good' has a jacked up groove and another magnificent original vocal that harks back to the golden era. 'Cosmic Connection' repeats the trick with a rugged drum sound, then 'Cravings' is built on an electro rhythm with future synth sparks.
Review: If Electribal Soul sounds deliciously vintage, there's a good reason for that. An exemplary exploration of glassy-eyed synth-pop and electro, deep house and street soul marked out by tactile electronic motifs, warm basslines and Billie Ray Martin's superb vocals, the album was mostly recorded in 1991 and '92 at a time when relationships in the group were beginning to fray. Now tidied up and released by Martin three decades after it was shelved, Electribal Soul has the feel of a genuine lost classic - a set that would have received rave reviews at the time had it appeared in late 1992 as originally intended. A genuine triumph that's as loved-up and saucer-eyed as a sweaty hug at sunrise on an Ibizan beach.
Review: First released back in 2006, Electronic's on-point 'best of' collection returns in expanded, double-disc form. So, alongside the original collection (CD1), with its mix of singles and cuts plucked from Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr's three collaborative albums, we're treated to a second disc packed with rarities, lesser-known remixes and largely forgotten B-sides. There are some genuine treats to be found, including a swathe of club-focused mixes that showcase the project's dance music roots. Highlights include 808 State's majestic, breakbeat-driven 12" mix of Neil Tennant collaboration 'Disappointed', the piano-rich "peak-time at the Hacienda" 'DNA Groove Mix' of 'Get The Message', Graeme Park and Mike Pickering's similarly superb 'Vocal Remix' of 'Getting Away With It', and 'Idiot Country 2', a rushing club workout remixed by Stereo MCs under their forgotten Ultimatum alias.
Review: British synth-pop supergroup Electronic consisted of Bernard Sumner of New Order, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys and Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk. The combined clout of these names surely amounted to enough credit to patent the name "Electronic", which always to us felt partially like an attempt to become synonymous with the music genre itself (as if these guys weren't synonymous with it already). On Get The Message, a 2006 compilation named after the second single from their debut album, we hear a thorough checking of their contribution to the golden decade that is the 1990s, cycling chronologically through the group's greatest hits, as well as some extra rarities and tidbits for curious fans.
Review: Elkka (Emma Kirby) is London Producer and DJ who has quickly rose to a strong international presence on the scene. After making her way as a local DJ in Cardiff to making a handful of EPs, she has made it across the Atlantic ocean and is now be releasing her first full length album on the mega Ninja Tune imprint. Here, you'll hear big room house tracks like 'Make Me' which samples 'All Night Long'. Cathy Dennis. The cross over potential is high here also with tracks like 'I Just Want To Love You'. Expect to hear the name Elkka a lot in the next few years if this release is any sign of what's to come.
Baby Wants To Ride (feat Jamie Principle - Re-directed)
Let Yourself Go (feat Sybil - A Director's cut Master)
Let's Stay Home (A Director's cut Classic club mix)
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (feat B Slade - DJ Meme's mix Of Epic Proportions)
You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (Kenny Summit, Frankie Knuckles & Eric Kupper unreleased anthem)
Hostile Takeover (Director's cut remix)
Back Together (feat Ron Carrol - Director's cut Classic club mix)
The Look (Director's cut Signature mix)
Review: Just a week after the first volume of this bumper collection of house gold lands, we're treated to the second volume via Sosure Music. The Director's Cut Collection is an assemblage of remixes by the one and only Frankie Knuckles aka The Godfather of House alongside his frequent musical sparring partner Eric Kupper. They turned out many vital tunes in their time as this eight track selection shows with everything from their take on 'The Look' to a 'Director's Cut' Classic club mix of 'Let's Stay Home' via a 'Re-Directed' mix of the stone cold classic 'Baby Wants To Ride' featuring Jamie Principle.
Martina Topley Bird - "Crystalised" (feat Mark Lanegan & Warpaint - Director cut Signature mix) (7:04)
Review: Frankie Knuckles and Eric Kupper's Director's Cut project continues with its third rendition, bringing together yet another eight house remixes of established neo-soul and trip-hop songs by the pair and their friends. Standouts on this one include Tony Humphries' Work & Play Mix of Inaya Day's 'Let's Stay Home', which follows the singer's orders to "take advantage of this little bit of rainfall" to produce a slice of humble, heated house pie; and Director's Cut's 'Signature mixes' of sultry lullabies by Martina Topley-Bird and Vintage Dbow.
Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band - "The Secret Life Of Us" (feat Donna Gardier & Diane Charlemagne - Director cut Signature mix) (7:52)
Artful & Ridney - "Missing You" (feat Terri Walker - Eric Kupper Director cut Tribute To FK' mix) (6:56)
Marshall Jefferson - "The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body)" (feat Curtis McClain - Director cut Retro Signature mix) (8:50)
Review: The legacy of Frankie Knuckles will never diminish even if releases like this one day eventually dry up. Forever regarded as 'The Godfather of House' it is now almost a decade since his passing. In his prolific career he hooked up with Eric Kupper many times as Director's Cut and this is a collection of their best works. It's full of house classics that have all been remixed by their fair hand, from 'Your Love" (feat Jamie Principle) to 'The Whistle Song' via 'I'll Take You There', all of which are spine tingling emotional deep house anthems that never lose their shine.
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