Back catalogue: Disco/Nu-Disco

Review: Swiss DJ Princess P presents a new selector's compilation and journey, spanning over a decade's worth of rare lo-fi, post-rocky and indietronic builds, all awash with the blanket buzzes of tape and saturation. Sporting liner notes from Optimo's JD Twitch, this is a wonderfully rare case of a properly yet individually released mix album. The music spans West Coast US dance music, industrial, and kitsch pop effusions from 1980 to the present, sporting a wide array of "file under" tags including rave, retro, space rock, cosmic, introspective, minimal, acid, ambient, and transcendental (to name only a few essential keywords). The full gamut of dreaminess is laid down here, peaking at the Natalie Beridze lo-fi breaks cut 'Forever Has No Shadow'.

Review: American splatter horror director Eli Roth curates a spicy and seductive collection of Italian soundtrack gems, offering a deep dive into the rich and often scandalous world of Italian softcore and sexy comedies from the 70s and 80s. With tracks spanning disco, funk, bossa nova, and psych, Roth draws upon the compositions of iconic Italian film composers like Stelvio Cipriani, Bruno Nicolai, and Riz Ortolani. Highlights include Cipriani's infectious 'Nude Odeon (Ritmico Funk)' and Ferrio's sultry 'Quando Vuoi Con Chi Vuoi.' The collection, which also features rare and previously unreleased tracks, pulses with a heady mix of erotic tension and playful grooves. 'Amori Stellari' from Don Powell, with its cheeky synth-laden intro, adds a spacey touch, while Gianni Ferrio's 'La Musica E' effortlessly evokes the seductive atmosphere of 70s Italian cinema. Whether it's the funky disco beats of 'Avere Vent'anni (Disco)' or the dark allure of 'Il Sesso Del Diavolo,' each track feels like an invitation into an intimate, forbidden world. It's a soundtrack for lovers of cult cinema, irresistibly bold and full of character.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Breaking from his directorial duties, American cinema auteur Eli Roth (Borderlands, Knock Knock, Green Inferno) stops by the CAM Sugar sound studio for a rare double 7" LP, pinching listeners by the ear and dragging them along a forbidden trail along the gothic, red-lit path that is Italian soundtrack legendariness. Drawing his selections here from a wealth of Italian B-movie expertise, not to mention ownership in his own collection, the contemporary horrorist has chosen 20 delicious but still downright saucy disco, bossa nova and psych tunes here, centring on the Italian Sexy Comedy softcore era of 1969-81.

Review: Smoove props up his rep as a highly consistent big beat, funk and disco crossover producer with a freight-class shipment of 'Heavy Goods'. Somersaulting out from his Geordie soul group Smoove & Turrell - on top of his sought-after multi-track vinyl re-edits, as well as his remixing prowess across hip-hop, soul, and funk - this Jalapeno Records follow-up continues Smoove's recent favourite postal theme. Indeed, the postal system is what keeps us afloat (and cue the boundless irony of Royal Mail's latest sale to a Czech billionaire, the name of whose LLC is, apropos of online music retail, "EP Group"). Betty Black & The Family Fortune, Emma Noble, Kraak & Smaak, Izo FitzRoy, The High & Mighty, and Bahama Soul Club, all are all loaned Smoove's Pygmalion hand, honing a musing work of art from many a die-cut classic. Whirlwind D's 'Labels', Izo Fitzroy's 'Blind Faith' and TGH Collective's 'Higher Collective' are special versions too. Assuming you didn't already know the songs in question, you really wouldn't be able to tell the edit jobs from the originals. Mint condition!

Review: Synthwave, or "outrun" as it is sometimes popularly known, is one of the defining micro-aesthetics of the 21st Century. Cornered then abrogated by filmmakers like Michael Mann and Nicolas Winding Refn, the style was expanded upon in the music imaginary sometime in the early 2010s (though seeds were sown much earlier). This Wagram compilation charts the earliest stirrings in the sound, from the circuit-breaking Moog experiments of Giorgio Moroder through to the nightridden vrooms of Kavinsky, and the fuzz-static analog snows set to sample-funked beats of VHS Dreams.

Review: Catawba Records celebrates 40 years of influential music with The Lowdown: A Catawba Records Story. Founded by industry legend Richard Mack who helped launch icons like Earth, Wind & Fire and The Jacksons, this curated compilation from the label highlights Catawba's rich legacy in disco and soul with standout tracks from Maurice Starr, Dutch Robinson and The Fantastic Aleems. It takes in all manner of infectious grooves with throwback analogue drums sounds, brilliant keys and smooth vocals with plenty of rare edits, unreleased gems and more well-known but still timeless cuts. Favourites for us include the lithe and leggy Silk jam 'Somethin' 'Bout The Way' and the soul-drenched funk-disco of Jackie Moore & Wilson Pickett's 'Seconds Of Your Love'.

Review: Strut introduces the highly anticipated third volume in the Disques Debs International series, diving deeper into the archives of one of the greatest French Caribbean labels, Disques Debs, based in Guadeloupe. Founded by Henri Debs in the late 1950s, the Debs studio naturally doubled as a record label and ran for over 50 years, releasing more than 300 7" singles and 200 LPs, cementing it as one of the foremost record labels to prize Caribbean music history. Not just limited to Guadeloupean musicians but also Martinicians and Parisians, the likes of Jocelyn Mocka, Mariz, Dominique Parol, Christian Yeye and Alex Rosa make this a thixotropic record, mercurial and restless as it is rooted in forms of zouk, biguine, gwoka and, of course, the nascent electronica. This third volume flaunts the label's dynamic latter-day period, as it interpreted the analog electronic dreams of the 1980s.

Review: Prepare yourself for a wry chuckle, as we impart the fact that the compilation you see hyperlinked before you was not at all prepackaged, with work cut out for its curators. Rather, it came from the source, having first manifested as a pile of Ghanaian highlife LPs buried at the bottom of DJ Jerry Frempong's wife's garden. Frempong is the son of one of one of the most prominent former Ghanaian-British label owners, Anthony Roberts Frempong of Asona Records, whose founding movements in the South East London district of Peckham proved highly popular helping disseminate highlife music in the English capital. BBE Music owner Pete Adarkwah caught wind of the serendipitous discovery and approached Jerry to discuss the reissue of this historic catalogue, which you hear here. The sweetest of early and untrodden highlife highlights are heard here, including sparklers by Kantata, Jewel Ackah, Sam Yeboah, Mr Cee and even Thomas Frempong himself.

Review: The seventh and final installment of this vinyl series hones in on tracks that are sure to keep the dancefloor packed. Pressed on striking transparent blue and green vinyl, this 2LP set is a pulsating collection of club classics that defined the era's nightlife, bridging disco, funk, house, electro, pop and hip-hop into an irresistible sonic melting pot. Side-A starts off with winner and Inner City's euphoric house staple 'Good Life', setting the pace for an album steeped in dancefloor euphoria. Kym Mazelle and Robert Howard's soulful 'Wait' and Coldcut's 'People Hold On' with Lisa Stansfield show the decade's seamless blend of house and pop, while 'Pump Up The Volume' by M/A/R/R/S redefined sampling's role in dance music. S'Express's 'Theme from S-Express' and Bomb The Bass's 'Beat Dis' bring explosive energy, while Technotronic and Rob 'n' Raz keep the tempo high with their club anthems. Late-'80s remix culture shines as Chaka Khan's 'I'm Every Woman' get a modernised update while PWL's glossy, synth-driven touch on 'Sandra' shines brightly. 80s dance legends Bananarama and Samantha Fox are also have vital appearances to the collection. LP2 dives into hip-hop-infused dance with Soul II Soul's 'Back To Life', Ten City's deep-house masterpiece 'That's The Way Love Is' and Neneh Cherry's genre-defying 'Buffalo Stance'. The finale is pure club gold: 'The Only Way Is Up' by Yazz, the thunderous 'Blue Monday '88', and 'Fools Gold' by The Stone Roses. Closing with 808 State's 'Pacific State' and The Beloved's 'Sun Rising', Floorfillers is a flawless time capsule of dance music's late-80s evolution. This double pack is steeped in history while being an excellent range of styles that made the 80s so remarkable.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Strut introduces the highly anticipated third volume in the Disques Debs International series, diving deeper into the archives of one of the greatest French Caribbean labels, Disques Debs, based in Guadeloupe. Founded by Henri Debs in the late 1950s, the Debs studio naturally doubled as a record label and ran for over 50 years, releasing more than 300 7" singles and 200 LPs, cementing it as one of the foremost record labels to prize Caribbean music history. Not just limited to Guadeloupean musicians but also Martinicians and Parisians, the likes of Jocelyn Mocka, Mariz, Dominique Parol, Christian Yeye and Alex Rosa make this a thixotropic record, mercurial and restless as it is rooted in forms of zouk, biguine, gwoka and, of course, the nascent electronica. This third volume flaunts the label's dynamic latter-day period, as it interpreted the analog electronic dreams of the 1980s.