GOURMENT DE FUNK レコード& CD

Review: Gourment de Funk is one of the lesser-celebrated pseudonyms of long-serving Italian producer Michele Lamacchia, who is arguably best known for his work as Rhythm of Paradise and 34th Floor Experience. Here Lamacchia dons the alias for a third time in four years, in the process making his bow on Urban Underground Grooves. What's on offer is a quartet of sweat-soaked, bumpin' and energy-packed disco-house cuts that sit somewhere between the filter-heavy frolics of 'French Touch' and the muscular madness of vintage DJ Sneak. All four cuts are primed for peak-time plays, with our picks of a very strong bunch being stomping A2 workout 'Disco Freak', the infectious and memorable 'Keep On Groovin' and the Soundstream-esque excellence of 'Old School Flava'.

Review: Michele Lamacchia has released a hell of a lot of music over the last few years, much of it inspired by 1990s Italian house. His Gourment De Funk project includes occasional nods in that direction but is far more inspired by bumpin' disco house and chunky 1990s US deep house. It's fitting then that Roy Davis Jnr makes an appearance on Lamacchia's latest EP, first providing spoken word vocals on 'A Love Supreme' before reworking the even more lively, sax-laced peak-time wonder that is 'The Way You Move'. Davis Jnr's 'Chicago Boogie' tweak of that track is funkier, more bass-heavy and could well be the highlight of a genuinely excellent EP (though the early St Germain style jazz-house of 'Never Lost (GDF Early Morning Dub)' pushes it close).