Juno Recommends Disco: August 2023

Review: Fast-rising re-edit imprint Hot Biscuit Recordings continues to serve up previously unreleased reworks from the archives of Chicagoan DJ/producer Rahaan, whose re-edits have long been regarded as some of the best in the game. A-side 'Toc & Tic' is a fine rearrangement of a quirky disco cut rich in loved-up vocals, jazzy electric piano solos, spacey synth doodles and memorable riffs. Over on side B, 'Feeling Good' is a great edit of a more classic-sounding mid-tempo disco number that comes complete with heady horns, 'walking' bass, sweeping strings and glassy-eyed female lead vocals. Dope edits for diggers and those who want to show off the depth of their disco knowledge!

Review: Baldini Records is a brand new edit-centric imprint out of Naples inspired, you might guess correctly, by the legendary DJ, producer and cosmic house innovator Alessandro Baldini. It kicks off with two disco versions that he would surely be happy to reach for. They come from Alex From Utopia - he is a party impresario and a so-called DJ's DJ. Both of these have already been getting plenty of high-profile plays from the likes of Lovefingers, Jonny Rock and Ivan Smagge. 'Story Of Devotion' has a proto-deep house feel to it with nice analogue drums and a silky vocal, while 'Ask Ives' is slower and more psyched out.

Review: Yse Saint Laur'ant makes wonky, left-of-centre sounds for proper underground parties. He's done so for years, and now returns with more of his raw and inventive disco on the sought-after Vinyl Only label. Opener 'Bad Company' pairs visceral arps with glossy pads and soulful vocal, which is stripped away from the 'Better Company' version. On the flipside, 'Don't Look Back' is a more freewheeling and funky feel, with silky basslines and hip swing claps under buttery vocals. Last of all is a classic chug-disco gem. 'Foreign Love' goes slow, with crashing hits and languid bass all topped off by a yearning female vocal that slowly but surely rises into euphoria.

Review: The Saint Wax Edit Service is back with more offerings for us to bow before. This latest eclectic disco sermon comes from Pleasure Voyage and kicks off with the topical Afro disco heat of 'Jongkoloni'. 'Arzaa' has a similarly international feel with Arabic-sounding vocals over a nice striped back but simple synth-heavy groove and 'Xibi' then sinks into a lovely deep house groove with 90s influences and more worldly vocals. Last of all is 'Tudod' which has nice tight bassline twangs under pirouetting chords and vocals. A fine EP.

Review: Fresh, bustling release magic by Tokyo-based edit/remix label Funtown, featuring a catchy and percussive disco cut replete with obscure, nigh-unidentifiable samples. Like scouring a neon-lit, Chevrolet-packed city at night - and being bowled over at the sheer wealth of nightclubs to visit and streets to drive down - the eponymous Funtown beefs up the percussion on 'Bigger Fun', extending and teasing the original elements of whichever obscurity made up the backbone of this texturally rich, limited-edition release.

Review: Time to get those Gator Boots back on as the small but well formed label brings out the Sol Power All-Stars for a four tracker full of fire. 'Full Moon' kicks off with a late night disco sound that does make you think of dancing under lunar light with its warm chords and wet finger clicks. 'Water Drip' is a more ritualistic and tribal dance with chunky drums and fat acid lines. 'My Brother' has an Afro feel with its vocal cries and dusty drum loops under more textural synth arps and 'Buk In Hamm' cuts even more loose with a ramshackle rhythm and dubbed out vocals that shimmer across the face of the track.

Review: After the first two well-received outings of this series, Crazy P is back with another of their Curates offerings This is another limited edition selection with four cuts all carefully selected by the disco funksters and all served p with fresh art by the one and only Bristol artist Victoria Topping. Hardway Bros kick off with some nice far-sighted deep disco, Das Komplex's is a more psyched-out offering then Lea Lisa brings a lush and symphonic sound and Red Rack'em offers late-night lover's grooves to make for a very tasteful and nicely diverse selection

Review: With a catalogue that contains a mixture of mind-altering chuggers, deep house, disco and Balearic beats, second-guessing what Craig Bratley will release next has always been a tricky proposition. Even so, joining forces with Brooklyn maverick - and honey-voiced singer - Amy Douglas for a spot of bleeping revivalist synth soul was one of them. Douglas is at her emotive best on the B-side original mix, singing sweetly about complicated relationships over a thrillingly lo-fi low-tempo groove rich in squelchy bass and 8-bit lead lines. The A-side 'Ashigaru Dub' is arguably even better, brilliantly re-framing the track as a heady, intoxicating and sub-heavy dub workout of the sort that Mad Professor probably knocks out in his sleep. In a word: inspired!

Review: Complementing the fresh single 'Shine', released at the very same time, 'Tokyo Crossover Night 2023' is a compilation album by various artists selected by Shuya Okino, esteemed Japanese disco and broken beat DJ/producer. Kyoto Jazz Sextet, DJ Kawasaki, J.A.M and Shuya Okino himself all crop up on this veritable razzmatazzer, amounting to yet another worthy contribution to the label Village Again Japan, and the Tokyo crossover scene they occupy at large.

Review: Amy Douglas is the latest addition to the Razor-N-Tape talent ranks and serves up a mighty fine rough 'n' tumble New York disco double A-side 7" to open her account. The opener is 'Freak At Night' with stiff synth stabs and strident drums that get the party pumping while the belting vocal brings the soulful hook. Absolute dynamite. Things are a little more loose on the flip with 'Bit-O-Honey' having more jangling drums and guitar riffs underpinned by a funky bass riff. The vocal is more florid and expressive making this a different but equally impactful sound.

Review: For Life Entertainment do well to rerelease yet another bunch of greats from a classic artist working in the Japanese genre of city pop. Along with her album Heaven Beach, Timely!! comes as an LP reissue of the 1983 original album. It's a propulsive jet-setter in the realm of honest 80s J-funk, backed up by weighty production, dynamically swung horn sections and prominent slap bass stylings. Toshiki Kadomatsu's production neatly backs up ANRI's incredible vocal range and dexterity, and without him, perhaps we wouldn't be blessed with the present-day microgrenre that is future funk.

Review: The latest Balearic-inspired re-edit collection from the indispensable Drum Chums series comes courtesy of Bobby Snacks, a Stockport-residing DJ/producer who by the looks of it has seriously deep crates. For proof, check opener 'Picking Up', a fine tweak of a dewy-eyed, yacht rock-goes-synth-pop workout full of eyes-closed male vocals, echoing guitar riffs, opioid electronic textures and more. Or, for that matter, the bizarre-but-brilliant disco eccentricity of 'Wipe Ya Hands (XXXtra Chant Version)', with its military drum fills, soaring orchestration and low-slung bass. Over on side B, 'Slippy Energy' is a percussive and hypnotic cosmic disco chugger smothered in simmering strings, while 'Shaky Boys' sees Senor Snacks rearrange a pulsating, synth-sporting AOR disco throb-job.

Review: After launching the Dance Masters series with a much-needed trawl through the remixography of the great Shep Pettibone, Arthur Baker has now turned his attention to his own sprawling catalogue of productions and remixes. Stretched over four discs in order to present full-length, DJ-friendly mixes, the collection does a great job in showcasing Baker's immense achievements in the 1980s and 90s. Naturally, his most celebrated productions and remixes are present - see his versions of Fleetwood Mac's 'Big Love', which became Balearic anthems, Afrika Bambaata and Soulsonic Force's genuinely game-changing 'Planet Rock', Freez's 'I.O.U', Rockers Revenge's 'Walking on Sunshine' and New Order's 'Confusion' - alongside a swathe of forgotten, overlooked and harder to find revisions.

Review: Cerrone has been turning out big and beefy dancefloor hits ever since the 1970s. Despite having made so many already, he still has plenty of skills in his locker as this one on his own label Malligator Preference proves. 'A Part Of You' is utterly glorious - the synths are bright, the symphonic sounds packed with joy and the vocal a steamy compliment up top as the nimble mid-tempo drums bounce below. A full spread of different versions is included on this vital 12".

Review: As soon as you hit play on this one all your cares are washed away. Dutch trio Sweetness originally dropped this one back in 1982 and it has since bode a classic of the soul-boogie era. The music was written and produced by Richard Misseijer and Jos Soethout and are perfect embodiments of this sound. One of the genres rarest records, it has been officially remastered and reissued here by the baby bird Emilian-Neapolitan label Baba Records. 'If We Will Take The Time' is the real treasure with its glorious arrangement, funky rolling bass and aching female vocals. 'Can't Tell You Why' has a more upbeat feel with leggy drum funk.

Review: Seven years after he inaugurated the series, Dailysession Records founder DJ Monchan (AKA Brooklyn-based DJ, producer and scalpel fiend Toshihiro Moriguchi) presents a ninth volume of East Village Edits. There's plenty of confirmed dancefloor heat to be found across the EP, from the heavyweight underground disco-funk hedonism of 'Changes' (whose spacey, 70s style synth sounds add a deliciously cosmic after-taste) and the piano-laden, everything-but the kitchen sink disco madness of 'Triple Eching' (check the extended, percussion-laden drum breaks), to the breezy, gently housed-up, slap bass-propelled bounce of 'Feel Sweet Love' and the squelchy, slow motion, hard-to-pigeonhole, Wackies-esque reggae-boogie of '90 Exclusive'.

Review: Tokyo edits expert and Hot Biscuit Records affiliate Funtown comes through with yet another fresh soulful disco cut, 'Need 2 Know You'. We must admit that the origin of the sample that makes up the body of this track has left us scratching our heads, but that, as ever, also lends it an interest-piquing obscurity. This record is a single-sided 12"; the editwork is sublime, with Funtown's add-prod lending just the right balance of boxiness and weight to the original sample's drums and amped-up guitar.

Review: We've got some of that naughty and irresistible white label madness here from new and mysterious label and production outfit Outtaface. It comes with a label that references the energetic cartoon stylings of the late Keith Haring and a bassline that will melt your face. The 'Vocal' track mixes up disco, skank, rave, The Prodigy references and outer space designs into a truly unusual blend that will bring colour and craziness to the floor. The flip side dub slows it down, fleshes out the low and and allows the cosmic synth work more room to shine. A handy 12" for sure.

Review: Like many artists on the Napoli electronic music scene, Parbleu make music that tiptoes a fine line between multicoloured dancefloor nostalgia and forward-thinking musical fusion. Elios, their second album, expands on the Afro-cosmic and Mediterranean disco vibe of its predecessor, 2020's Danse Cett Zik, by reaching for a further range of kaleidoscopic and tactile music influences, most notably Balearica, mid-80s Mediterranean pop, zouk, dubbed-out synth-boogie and the kind of electronic dancefloor mutations that emerged from South Africa at the tail end of the 1980s. It's fantastic stuff all told, with the album sitting somewhere between fellow Italian outfits Channel Operators and Nu Genea.

Review: Hot on the heels of this one first being reissued back in May, it now gets a second run courtesy of Disques Messager out of France. Cristina Camargo's 'Moral Tem Hora' was one of the standouts from the super Brazilian Disco Boogie Sounds (1978 - 1982: selected by Junior Santos) compilation. It's a perfect fusion of Latin flair, Brazilian disco and jazz funk magic that has fat bass riffs and lots of bright chords and busy percussion next to a classic vocal. On the flip things get slower, sentimental and all loved up on 'Minas Do Rei Salomao' which his a perfectly steamy jam for those hot afternoons under the sun.

Review: Everyone Else Is A Stranger by Lindstrom is the Scandi-don's first new solo studio album in four years. It his his sixth overall and thought it only has four tracks, it plays out over more than 40 minutes. Each of the cuts is classic Lindstrom but with subtle new tweaks and additions. They are chord-stacked disco epics that take you on a freeform cosmic voyage to the stars on uptempo rhythms aimed at the dance floor. He plays a Chinese cello and violin for the first time along the way, but the Solina String-Ensemble he has used on every track since his debut still remains. All hail the king of space disco once more.

Review: Originally released way back in 1978 on a thoroughly obscure seven-inch single, Nina Dunn's sole single, 'If You Want My Love (Do It)' is one of the rarest Canadian disco records around. The team behind the Le Freak label are fans and have delivered this much-needed reissue. The title track (side A) is a righteous slab of funk-fuelled, orchestra-sporting disco built around a typical 'walking bassline', cut-glass strings and a brilliantly sassy, emotion-packed lead vocal from Dunn. Original B-side 'Stay & Dance', meanwhile, is a deeper and more laidback two-step disco affair with warmer horn arrangements, simmering strings and a killer, Clavinet-sporting groove section later in the track. Disco gold all told!

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: Rahaan is a Chicago legend and master of the most soulful sounds in the studio. His new EP for BBE, 'We Are The Ones,' sees him joining up with a whole host of top musicians such as Marcus J. Austin and Nancy Clayton on vocals, Carnell C. Newbill on keys, Todd Swope on guitar and Lou Terry on bass. Between them they bring real dance floor adventures that are steeped in proper musicality. Ohio Players' Kenny Anderson on the horns brings some real soul to these four-to-the-floor cuts which mix up disco and house in the finest of fashion.

Review: After an absence of a few years, 40 Thieves return to Leng Records with one of their most special releases to date: a hook-up with long-time Patrick Adams collaborator Gary Davis and long serving soulstress Cinammon Jones. What's on offer is a re-make of one of Jones' songs, 'The Gift', whose sweet lyrics celebrate the arrival of a new day. 40 Thieves take, explored first in the A-side 'Disco Mix', sounds like it was designed to be danced to during a San Francisco sunrise - think dub disco delays, hypnotic grooves, bubbly electronics, languid guitar licks and gentle melodies. Over on the flip, they take the track further into 'woozy 6am open air dancing territory' on a superb, stretched out 'Disco Dub' mix, before peppering a killer drum track with spaced-out electronics on the 'Beats' version.

Review: FAR aka Simon and Robin Lee's Faze Action Records serve up a special 7" featuring Faze Action's 'Fantasy' which sounds very much like a tune you might unearth in some dusty old crate that hasn't been heard since the 70s and 80s. It has lush synths reaching up to the stars and gentle disco beats that sweep you off your feet. The bustling arrangement bubbles with subtle energy and gorgeous vocals are layered in for extra escapist magic. On the flip is an instrumental that is pared back and more direct, but both tunes really do take you into a fantasy world.

Review: 'Adzagli (Jungle Funk)' and 'A Song For You (Ayawa)' have never before been released on vinyl. Kalita has acquired the rights to do so though so we are now treated to two next-level slices of West African disco from Amsterdam's Kofi Ayivor. They have been taken from his 1981 classic and much sought-after album 'Kofi' and have been cut nice and loud for extra impact. As well as the lively and vibrant, instrument-rich originals, DJ and producer Mendel has cooked up his own remixes of each recording using the original multitrack session tapes. Pure fire.

Review: Earlier in the year, Miss You offered up a first ever 12-inch pressing of Patrizia Pellegrino obscurity 'Il Mondo Da Una Nuvola', an obscure Italo-disco B-side that they backed with their own tastefully executed extended mix. Here they repeat the trick with one of the Italian singer and actress's earlier B-sides, 1982 gem 'Musica Spaziale'. In its original form (track one), the song is a throbbing, heavily electronic chunk of infectious Italo-disco excellence topped off with a decidedly cosmic lead vocal from Pellegrino. It comes backed with a suitably moody, chugging and even more musically expansive 'Extended Mix', and a fine TB-303-laden Italo-meets-acid revision courtesy of the cheekily monikered 'DJ Asshole'. Space disco for the win!

Review: For the 29th instalment in their ongoing series of seven-inch singles, Demon Singles Club has decided to offer up a 45rpm pressing of Komiko's 'Feel Alright'. First released on legendary disco-boogie imprint SAM Records back in 1982, the track has long been a favourite with boogie DJs and with good reason. Built around a memorable bassline, squelchy electrofunk synths and unfussy machine drums, 'Feel Alright' boasts a fine female lead vocal whose lyrics extolls the virtues of dancing all night with happy strangers. As it did back in 1982, the vocal mix comes backed with an instrumental take in which producer Darryl Payne's killer bassline and synths rightfully take centre stage. If it's not in your collection already, you need to grab one of these copies pronto.