Disco Recommendations September 2012

Review: The Dublin based imprint Fatty Fatty Phonographics return with a second volume of Re-Jigs, with Pablo & Shoey once again at the helm. It's hard to ignore the humongous A Side "Love Power" that amps up the electro boogie levels on a Jocelyn Brown classic and should have every last foot moving long before they drop in that instantly recognisable "I've Got The Power" vocal hook. From here, they pay homage to the 90s mixtapes of Detroit's Terrence Parker on "TP With The Ill Behaviour" which successfully merges the string heavy "Fly Robin Fly" from Silver Convention with the instantly recognisable accapella from Wildchild's "Renegade Master" - one for the crazy point in a house party son. Pablo & Shoey switch it up again to end on "Let Me Love Ya" a powerful eighties boogie monster that hooks you long before the vocal arrives.

Review: The first of two 100% Silk platters to arrive this week sees the label reach down under to hand a debut to Melbourne based producer Roland Tings with Milky Way, a four track 12" that maintains the Los Angeles operation's relentless assault on retro-futurist underground sounds. As you might expect from his name, Roland Tings relies heavily on squeezing out vintage synth heavy house, and the playful oscillating textures and bouncy rhythms on the opening title track make comparisons with Mr Fingers easy to form. Even better is "Loose Jaw" whose arid but loose beginnings fold in on themselves as a delightful piano hook appears and the track explodes with colourful texture. Flipside opener "Polo Sport" sounds like aliens landed in Chicago sometime in the late 80s, liked what they heard, bought a shed load of analogue gear and made their own Martian brand, while "Roland's Beat" is all about that slippery percussion and subaqueous synth flourishes.

Review: The Mind Fair trio of Chicken Lipper Dean Meredith, Ben Shenton and Alex Bradbury continue their Balearic adventures apace on the Rogue Cat Sounds label with the superb "Sundown Drive". Close your eyes and think of DJ Alfredo manning the decks at Amnesia just before Fung, Oakey and Rampling stumbled upon him and coined the genre and you'd have the sort of flamenco led groove that gently propels the opening moments "Sundown Drive" permeating from the speakers. Given the current state of the White Isle, this is probably more suited for the calmer Summer moments on the Punta Del Este. There are calmer moments right? Meredith goes solo and dons his Rhythm Odyssey alias for a superb remix that ratchets up the dirty factor exponentially without losing that sublime piano motif.

Review: The variety and ingenuity that a relatively small operation like Don't Be Afraid has shown in their releases this year to date put the somewhat linear approach of many larger labels to shame. Here they launch another new label in DBA Dubs, a ten inch series with a simple yet all too compelling concept - gather up an original house dub from a UK producer and enlist a transatlantic counterpart to deliver a more techno flavoured remix. Modern Soul boss Tom Giles opens proceedings under his Claws For? alias with a typically boogie indebted slice of analogue house in "Profumo" that is up their with Mr Beatnick's "Sun Goddess" in the shamelessly summery vibe stakes. In the US corner DBA have West Coast heat shaper Gosub who delivers a typically fully stacked Miami electro remix with the greasiest of funked out synth lines daubed lazily across the snapping 808s. The standard is set and we can't wait to see who follows!

Review: You're spoilt for choice on this twelve inch from the evergreen Bear Funk hub which tasks disco luminaries Mock & Toof, In Flagranti, The Emperor Machine and Daniel Maloso with the opportunity to go at tracks from Golden Hands, last year's debut album from Clap Rules. That finely judged album from the Italian trio probably didn't get the exposure it deserved and it's a gem of contemporary analogue disco worth searching out - hopefully these remixes will further whet your intrigue. In Flagranti do what they do best, turning "Oh Uibe" into a heavily edited, grubby gem that still retains some of the original's glistening charm, whilst Mock N Toof get really quite freaky on their almost malfunctioning sounding revision of "Fantasmi". On the flip side, Comeme's Mexican correspondent Daniel Maloso transforms "Pericoloso" into one ever bending arpeggiated joy and The Emperor Machine slows things down on a typically tripped out and low slung mutation of "Silver Mountains".

Review: Having already been the subject of a remix 12" courtesy of DFA Records (which coaxed Zongamin out of hiding) the Canadian song writer Sandro Perri sees tracks from his two most recent albums reworked on the second release from the Phonica Special Editions label. Tom Croose and his Worst Friends counterpart Slow Hands are involved here, with the former offering up two remixes. The first is a rather expansive take on "Love & Light" from Perri's 2011 album Impossible Spaces, which fills the space around his haunting voice with a restrained yet still psychedelic arrangement that is truly complementary - touching on both folkish and electronic elements. Slow Hands gently leads "The Drums" into cooing, summery vibes territory, pairing subtly smudged piano stabs with crunchy hand clapped embellished rhythms, while treating Perri's lackadaisical delivery to some sweetly delayed effects. Croose also remixes this track, teasing out an entirely different musical sensation with his own heavily dubbed arrangement thick with stodgy synth riffs.

Review: Having awoken from their four year slumber in requisite fashion with that killer four track EP from Monsieur I:Cube, the Edits Du Golem label make themselves comfortable with this equally good, if slim line addition from the mysterious duo Bernadott. Dig deep and clues as to their identity hide in the darker corners of the internet, a Franco-Swedish endeavour between two diggers of the highest order who are allegedly on the cusp of high profile label exploits. No wonder they wish the Golem keep their identity secret for The Roof Of Love EP. "Big Ed" boils down the ingredients of a forgotten white funk gem, adds a dash of deep fried dancefloor acid and the results are a perfect dish for the more concerting dancefloor. Complementing this is "Showed It" which adorns a post-punk oddity that has a murky bass line to die for with some subtle Baggy vibes.

Review: Legendary New York disco producer Patrick Adams takes a trawl through the 1970s catalogue of his widely celebrated P&P Records imprint, picking out some of his favourite cuts - many of which are his own inspired compositions. There are plenty of tracks from his own Cloud One alias, including stone cold classics like "Atmosphere Strut", "Disco Juice" and the superb electro-boogie jam "Flying High" (one of the greatest synth-heavy cuts of the period), as well as such revered tracks as Mart Acuna's much-sampled "Dance Dance Dance" and the Musicmakers' thrillingly heady "Jump, Jump, Jump". Many disco diggers will be familiar with all of these already, but for newcomers The Best of P&P Records offers a great introduction to Adams' intoxicating world.

Review: Ah bon, a round of applause to Smalltown Supersound for thinking outside the box and getting some interesting producers from other stylistic realms to remix tracks from the Lindstrom LP Six Cups Of Rebels as opposed to identikit disco refixes. This twelve inch holding remixes from OPN, Mark McGuire and Ariel Pink is a nice accompaniment to the also-released-this-week drop featuring Owen Pallett and Rub N Tug revisions, and the Pitchfork friendly rabble do themselves proud here. Ahead of his new LP Mature Themes, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti comes through with a typically out there take on "Call Me Any Time" which veers from moments of chamber like avant gardism to twisted lo fi jack with little prior warning. The same track is given the OPN drone treatment, while Mark McGuire provides some floor led respite with a brutish, delay ridden psyche rock rendition of "Dave Ja Vu".