Disco Recommendations March 2013

Review: File Under Disco... File under flipping amazing, too if you like. Following the success of their remix on the JKriv & The Disco Machine's original last year, the ever-consistent Idjut Boys have re-remixed it for darker, late night floors. Removing the lolloping bassline of their original mix and replacing it with a classic Joey Beltram / Black Strobe style acid hook, it's a real gurner of a disco track that leans heavily towards the latest of hours. Need more cowbell? Course you do... Head for the bonus mix.

Review: Is Baby D's "Let Me Be Your Fantasy" a guilty pleasure or just a good old fashioned rave classic? Either way, it's presented in beautiful form here by Satin Jackets who've pitched it down and weaved in various layers of deep house and cosmic disco. Smooth, sexy and respectful, we'd call that a classic any day of the week. Ejeca's "Natal", meanwhile, takes a Hooj golden oldie - Three Drives' "Greece 2000" - gives it a ruthless stripping and pushes into a deep pool of slo-mo beauty.

Review: Theo Parrish's masterful Sound Sculptures Vol 1 on triple LP format gets a timely repressing!! In total here there are 9 of the 27 tracks from the full double CD version but these still run the gamut of Theo's inimitable talents, from rough and tumble disco edits to saccharine soul, raw beatdown and leftfield esoterica. Be sure to check the Omar S- featuring "Synthetic Flemm" and long time Juno favourite "Flotation Device". If ever there was a selection of tracks that fully showcased the incredible breadth of production talent this man has, this is it. Not to be missed!

Review: The words Terje and Lindstrom have been appearing together so much recently you'd think the Norse duo would be sick of each other. Evidently not! Their recent Olsen gem "Lanzarote" preceded plans the pair have to tour festival with a special hardware set over the summer months. Before that, Toddney digs back into Lindstrom's food themed Smalhans LP from last year for three more of his trademark dancefloor edits. Infectious from the off, Terje's edit of "Vos-Sako-Rv" greedily hogs the A Side, offering a tweaked take on that hummed vocal lead which nestles snugly in your cerebral cortex by the time the run out groove arrives. A subtle adjustment to the already sublime "Faar-I-Kaal" sits on the flip, keeping a Terje dub of "Vos-Sako-Rv" company.

Review: Lumberjacks In Hell score a real coup here in releasing the "Chante vs James" edit from Chicago based DJ Hugo H; a long term weapon of Rahaan, it's been embraced ahead of release by the likes of Soul Clap and few could deny the instant appeal of it. Deftly cutting up some prime fonk from James Brown and the accapella from a late 90s Chante Moore's slow jam, it's the epitome of bumping Chi Town house. Hutchinson gets a further chance to flex his timeless Chicago style on 2 more tracks that apply the same equation of drum heavy rhythms with infectious vocal hooks and slick melodic turns. "Moments of Dance" is particularly beguiling in its execution.

Review: Given his duties as head of Claremont 56 as well as active in various other projects such as Bison and Paqua, it's no surprise that Paul Mudd Murphy's collaborations with Kevin Pollard are infrequent at best, with four previous Mudd & Pollard twelve inches spanning some three years distance. However they're always worthy of your attention, as this one sided 12" attests. "Mawsons Walk" brims with all the disco trimmings you could want from a Claremont 56 release: loose Rhodes, some brass, low slung beats and infectious melody. A satisfying and bighearted 12".

Review: Volume Six of the esteemed Sccucci Manucci operation sees the Tom Selleck of disco-flecked house rack up the air miles with an international cast of talent contributing. Contemporary disco connoisseurs should be fully aware of Gredits, the Swedish producer with previous on the Basic Fingers label; "Doing It Deep" does it right, seductively teasing out a killer looped up disco groove that gets more flirtatious with every listen. German dwelling Greek producer Elef takes us into classicist house terrain with the infectious bump and shuffle of "Lazy Liz", whilst a long promised Sccucci weapon from The Candy Dealers (aka Christian Malloni & Jay West finally sees release on the flip. Glaswegian Illyus returns for a second bite of the Manucci cherry with the late night dubby house goodness of "Movin House".

Review: We've been staunch fans of the superbly monikered Franz Underwear ever since the Berlin dwelling Italian appeared on the first World Unknown release a few years back. He returns with a full 12" release on the irrepressible Tusk Wax operation, having debuted with a one track contribution to the label's early output. "Fluxux" is vintage Underwear tackle, expertly bleeding the DNA of various elements of 80s movements into one fluid, liquefied electronic house chug and is graced by a subsequent dubbed out remix from fellow World Unknown alumni Kalidasa which will probably tickle Weatherall's pickle. Thick EBM rushes filter through "Futuro Perfecto" whilst "Aero" has a sick dark wave Hi NRG vibe to it - kind of like Patrick Cowley remixing New Order.

Review: Movin 2 Fast? Not when these sparkling disco house jams are spinning... You'll be shimmying and boogying at just the right speed as these Whiskey wunderkinds let loose. Each of the four cuts is a highlight in its own way; Eddie C conjures up the spirits of Cevin Fisher with just a dash of Krivit keys, Alkalino's low-swung bass jacker is as sexy as disco gets, Cole Medina pilfers a very well-known sample and injects it with undiluted disco dust while Osmose closes the show with an ace edit of the Alan Parsons Project.

Review: **REPRESS** Anyone worth their salt when it comes to contemporary disco should be able to work out the individual behind this stellar one sided edit, and for those Too Damn Blind to the obvious, we suggest a term enlisted in disco night school will get you up to speed. Apparently a secret weapon among a few of the finest disco selectors in New York and beyond for sometime now, "Edit Channel XXX" is a sublime example of disco editing at its finest. Various passages of the horn happy source are teased out and introduced, phased in and phased and complemented by some deft additional production touches from JV - it's meant for one purpose and achieves this with an aplomb that far too many edit labels never look close to matching these days.

Review: ** Repress from the ESP dons ** Being knee deep in the relentlessly productive operations at Rush Hour HQ is evidently having a positive creative effect on Marco Sterk, who continues to impress under his Young Marco alias. Video Days is the second EP Young Marco has delivered for Lovefingers' ever excellent ESP Institute this year and arrives soon after a wonderful remix of Michael Ozone. An esoteric and organic approach to the rhythmic elements of both the sublime title track and it's accompanying production "Later Than U Think" are apparently immediate, though it's Sterk's ear for knowing when to introduce new melodic and textural elements that really demonstrates what a talented producer he is turning into.

Review: 'Best Of' compilations can be a rum old do... You've either got most of the tunes, it lacks the consistency of the albums they're taken from or it just stinks of a horse being flogged. Thankfully not with this Best Of from Parisian edit kings. For starters each of the four cuts are taken from different releases from two different labels. For seconders, there's a wonderful cosmic consistency throughout. From the Spiller-meets-Tom Tom Club slinkiness of "Move To The Groove" to the DJ Sneak style looped-jack-attack "I Like Disco" via the woozier, disco oil slick of "Boogie Zapping", this is one best of collections we've heard in years...

Review: Moton come through with their first release of the year brandishing a triplet of edits from Jarvis, Diesel and The Reflex either side of a sleek white slab of wax. Classic elements of Chicago deepness are seeping through every pore of "Doom" which comes loaded with a wonderfully expansive bassline. Make sure you switch down to 33rpm for the altogether more serene psychedelia of "I You We", the first of two Jarvis and Diesel edits which is nothing less than a balearic gem which contrasts nicely with the taut, disco strut of "Spend The Night" which unfurls magnificently from it's cosmic beginnings into full blown harmonious, percussion heavy glee. Moton equals satisfaction guaranteed!

Review: Is there a cool label on the planet that Butch hasn't released on? It's doubtful... Especially now the ever-consistent Hot Creations have grabbed him by the short and curlies. Following the original release last week, here we find him under the knife as Maceo Plex, Miguel Campbell and PBR Streetgang all make major disco surgery incisions. Maceo strips the original of its 808s and adds a fuller, liquid electro boogie texture to the groove while Miguel takes the same song on a much deeper departure giving the tune a Hercules and Love Affair flavour. PBR Streetgang, meanwhile, soften the edges on "Faith". With a warm, lucid groove and heaps of squidgy bass, it's got heaps of dancefloor potential.

Review: Bell Towers is alias of the wonderfully named Melbourne resident Roman Wafers. Bell Towers is one half of the Bamboo Musik DJ Team. Bell Towers is by our counts the first Australian added to the Internasjonal network of excellence overseen by Sir Prins Thomas. Tonight I'm Flying marks him out as a fine new addition to the ambassadorial cause, presenting two cuts that draw on all manner of classic electro, freestyle, early house, italo, soaring soul strings and much more. And look old hands The Idjut Boys add some disco vintage to proceedings with no less than two superbly warped takes on the title track.

Review: Super-shimmering vibes from Lithuanian producer Basanov, here: "More For Less" is a purring piece of disco that doesn't sound too far away from fellow Eastern European electro boogie peddler Illija Rudman. Coated with Canadian vocalist Jeremy Glenn's emphatic vocal, it's an instant soul smoocher. Remix-wise Mario provides his own more stripped back underground house twist, Pablo and Maurice serve up a subtle early Get Physical style Euro version and Michael J Collins presses the 'weird' button as we drift in a laidback Mushroom Jazz style groove. Beautiful.

Review: With his Midnight Riot compilations, Yam Who has proved to be a shrewd mover. By focusing largely on the edits-not-edits sound - where disco and electrofunk meets deep house - he's managed to catch the zeitgeist of a scene that remains hugely popular. This 12" culls four certified jams from last year's third Midnight Riot compilation, with Ex Friendly, Peza, Panorama and Inkswel representing the delay-laden disco dubbiness, Tiger & Woods-ish disco-house and starlight nu-boogie sound either side of the wax. Indeed it's Australia's foremost exponent of dust laden boogie Inkswel that impresses most with the Suzi Analogue featuring future funk of "Like That".