Back catalogue: Disco/Nu-Disco

Review: Mondo Groove is one of the leading purveys or disco, Italo and nu-disco and it has been for ages. This new and limited 12" is packed with four hard to find gems from between the years of 1983 and 1988. They have all been taken from the original master tapes for this special reissue. Camomilla's chugging and snappy 'Queen Of The Night' opens up with a squelchy arp and heavenly melodies, Noa-Noa gets more cosmic and De Dion offers the drama and neon colour of 'Sexy Cola' with a fine extended version while Sandy Samuel's 'I Like Sado Music' is a loose limbed percussive workout.

Review: Last time out, back in 2021, Nassau Track Authority served up a swathe of previously unreleased instrumental mixes of songs recorded by Grace Jones at Compass Point Studios, Nassau. This 12" sees the shadowy collective once more dip into the archives of the legendary Barbados-based studio to recover more synth-laden, dub-wise disco instrumentals. They begin with 'Peanut', a Sly & Robbie-fuelled, vocal-free take on Gwen Guthrie's peerless Larry Levan fave 'Peanut Butter', before wallowing in the susp-enseful, slow motion boogie-dub brilliance of 'Adventures' (a take on an old Will Powers single). Over on side B, 'Seventh' is an infectious, musically detailed instrumental take on another Gwen Guthrie classic (the slap-bass propelled 'Seventh Heaven'), while 'Doctor' is a particularly dub-wise, slow-motion mix of what we think is a Thompson Twins classic.

Review: The superb Make Up series hits release number three and in doing so heads back to the trio that started it all. The combination of Chicago house originator Chez Damier, Adeen label head Camille and Italian talent Nico Lahs is a dream team indeed and they serve up some crucial edits that cover a wide sonic range. There are standout cuts on the first 12" such as 'Dance to Freedom' and 'African Bump' while jazzy grooves define 'Sunny' and 'Changes' is all about getting that dance floor vibing. This is another in-the-know musical voyage from this crew that more that deserves a spot on your shelves.

Review: Hit makers Rodgers and Edwards' mammothly influential Chic songs enjoy one of the finest curatorial salutes from UK disco's most discerning torch-bearer/creator Dave Lee. Digging deep into his vaults and unearthing some of the best homages, references and blatant covers, Negro join the dots and delivers some rarities you may have never heard before. Get lost in the music of She's shiny guitar strumming "Easy Money", freak out to Charanga 76's "Good Times" and get lucky with Van Jones's "Not About That"... Everyone knows about the hits and influence, most of us know how important a role Chic played in sample culture but Negro has gone the extra mile to celebrate some of the lesser known references Chic have had over the years. Freaking great.

Review: It would be fair to say that The New York Disco Orchestra's 1978 album Reverie - Get Up and Dance is not the most celebrated set around, though it has long been on the radar of many well-funded record collectors. The album was the work of brothers John and Rocco Giamundo and was originally released in miniscule numbers in the US, Belgium and Japan. If you dig high-quality orchestral disco, it's well worth a listen. Particularly impressive is jazzy opener 'Reverie', a solo-packed dancefloor interpretation of a Claude Debussy composition, heavyweight disco-funk workout 'Get Up and Dance' and epic B-side opener 'The Wat We Were', a wonderfully lengthy and over-the-top orchestral disco number that's just the right side of cheesy.

Review: Lleida-based Espacial Discos is a division of Guerssen, with a focus on '70s - '80s rare disco, funk and boogie. Here we have a highly sought-after album from the US, originally released as a promo album in 1979 in a blank sleeve by The New York Disco Orchestra. They are tight lipped regarding who was behind the project, but it was rumored to be a bunch of anonymous session musicians of the NYC scene at the time, with top engineers such as Jack Jones and Joaquin J. Lopes. This the first ever LP reissue of Reverie, featuring new artwork (based on the band's original idea for the intended US cover) and restored sound from the master tapes.

Review: American DJ and producer Nickodemus commands an eclectic and global sound, mixing EDM with organic instrumentation and vocals through a cross-cultural musical lens. Coming to his very own Wonderwheel Recordings, Soul & Science is a befitting name thanks to the seeming fusion of electronically-programmed dance beats and regional organics, but this is also one of those albums that could also potentially shatter the hard border between the two connotations. Vocal contributors and instrumentalists from Sudan (Alsarah), Cameroon (Pat Kalla), the Caribbean (Hector "Tempo" Alomar) and Cuba (Quantic) make for a floor-shakingly diverse and humanist appreciation of the collective dance-spirit.

Review: Space Oddities (1972 - 1982) are the results of Frenchman Georges Achille Teperino aka Nino Nardini, fellow countryman Roger Roger and German Eddie Warner's collaborations over ten years at Ganaro recording studio. Given some underground recognition in the late nineties by the likes of Barry 7 of Add N to (X) (with his Connectors series) or UK electronica legend Luke Vibert, they can now add Alexis Le-Tan (Les Edits Du Golem) and Jess as devotees, who made the effort of compiling the release. As Born Bad stated quite succinctly, the trio used their "strange instruments to sketch out the beginnings of something that resembled the future of music. This collection presents some of the highlights from their light-hearted, electronic pop sessions."

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


In anticipation of Nouvelle Phenomene's forthcoming album, Bordello A Parigi concomitantly announce the reissue of their acclaimed debut LP Glory Of Romance, almost ten years after its initial release. An emotively depth-scouring work of contemporary synthwave-via-darkwave, the musical quadrangle of Angela Santa, Fanni Santa, Peter B. and Zsolt Dziba first produced this impressive studio project under the ambit of Russian indie label Other Voices, giving rise to the likes of 'Glory Of Romance' and 'Caresse', both excellent singles venturing into a well-established sound, yet colliding it with a fabulously fresh thematic locus, such as modern-day fatigue and artifice. Truly an ever-new phenomenon, Nouvelle Phenomene's style - that of gothic-sonic art nouveau - is a newness that nevertheless does not forfeit timelessness.