Toy Tonics レコード& CD

Review: Athlete Whippet's first outing on Toy Tonics, 2021's Vesta EP, offered a hugely attractive fusion of Berlin deep house nous and colourful jazz-funk/jazz-fusion instrumentation. This follow-up continues in a similarly vibrant vein, with the duo adding all manner of vocal and instrumental samples and a distinctive '80s boogie influence to their already rainbow-coloured trademark sound. Across the four tracks, the pair confidently skip between rubbery, summery house ('Noguiera'), thrilling P-funk/nu-disco fusion (the throbbing electronic bass, jumpy synth sounds, dreamy chords and tidy machine drums of 'Mesmerise'), cut-up boogie-house squelch ('I Think I See') and shuffling, breakbeat-driven deep house/synth-funk fusion ('Slow Down').

Review: Toy Tonic always deliver interesting, functional, emotional house music and here comes another such serving from the so-far so-excellent Cody Currie. The opener is as deep and jazzy as they come, with rich chords and twinkling pads all floating way above a nice warm bassline. 'LS Anthem' plays with broken beats and warped chords that are woozy and rich as a spoken word sample brings a sense of cool. 'When The Time Is Right' then keeps up the magical Rhodes work and a soulful, shuffling groove before 'M9' picks up the pace a little without loosing any of the heart and version of 'Moves' closes in steamy fashion.

Review: Second time around for Toy Tronics' co-founder Kapote's debut album, which originally appeared in stores back in 2019. This time round, he's tweaked and rejigged things a little, offering a re-edited and lightly reworked '2nd Version' that arguably improves an already excellent album. For proof, checked the hushed, TB-303 sporting jazz-funk-goes-loop-house flavours of 'Jaas Func Haus', the carnival-ready, electric-piano sporting dancefloor sunshine of 'Brasiliko', the bouncy and loose-limbed excellence of 'Salvation' (whose rubbery bassline is an addictive delight), the organic 21st century jazz-funk-goes-electrofunk headiness of 'Fusion 79' and the wonderfully warming organic house delight that is 'LOVE'.

Review: New York psychedelic soul/stoner disco fusionists Phenomenal Handclap Band have been rather quiet of late, with this surprise single on Toy Tonics marking the New York combo's first outing for 18 months. Curiously, there's no original version of "Judge Not" for us to assess, just three reworks from disco stalwart Ray Mang. They are, though, extremely good. The A-side "Special Remix" is particularly potent, with Mang lacing the band's breezy, gospel-influenced vocals and killer pianos solos over a lolloping West Coast disco groove. Those pianos take pride of place on the dub disco style flipside "Reprise Mix", which may well be our pick of a very strong bunch, and on the sweaty, dancefloor-ready "Instrumental" version.

Review: Bologna-based Sam Ruffillo is undoubtedly a rising star. What's most impressive about his work is his seemingly innate ability to blend elements of deep house (both Italian and American) and US garage with nods to jazz-funk, broken beat, soul and boogie. His latest EP for Toy Tonics is another exceptional collection of cuts. There are three Ruffillo originals on show: the slick soul vocals, boogie bass and kaleidoscopic house colour of 'Just Fine' and the electrofunk-meets-Italo-disco excellence of 'Mind & Soul (Italo Version)'. Elsewhere, Ash Lauryn turns unreleased cut 'Don't Think Twice' into a subtly disco-tinged deep house body-warmer, while Art of Tones delivers two passes on 'Mind & Soul' - a glistening, sun-bright vocal version that sounds like a classic Dave Lee production, and an equally as impressive, vocal-free Dub Mix.