Gallery レコード& CD

Review: The first instalment of the Gallery edits series, which landed in stores at the very end of 2019, was an artful, off-kilter treat, so we're expecting big things from this eagerly awaited follow-up. A-side "Stop" is simply superb: a clattering, delay-laden, dub disco style revision of a poodle perm-sporting bunch of early-to-mid-'80s electronic disco laden with percussion hits, ear-pleasing synthesizers, druggy, arpeggio-style bass and familiar-sounding vocal snippets. It just keeps building throughout, suggesting dancefloor pandemonium is almost guaranteed. Flipside "Remember" is rather good, too, with the mystery audio art lovers re-wiring a deliciously camp, over-the-top electro-disco stomper.

Review: Some artistic edits from a brand new series. We're not sure who the "unknown artist" is behind the reworks (which date from this year and 2016 respectively), but it's clear that they know what they're doing. A-side "Baby Baby Please" is a wonderfully dubbed-out and glassy-eyed revision of a lesser-known Italo-disco/Hi-NRG cover of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' classic "Don't Leave Me This Way" that boasts a killer vocal breakdown midway through. Over on the flip, "True Destiny" is an epic, low-slung revision of an obscure disco number that rightly emphasizes the heavy groove pushing the track forward and includes some tasty delay and echo trickery.

Review: We remain in the dark as to the identity of the shadowy artists behind the Gallery re-edit series, which is now on to its fourth release. Whoever is behind it clearly has re-editing skills and deep crates because the choice of tracks and the quality of the scalpel style rearrangements is always top-notch. For proof, check 'Hello You Yeah', a fine extension of a jazz-funk-tinged, near Balearic '80s disco oddity that includes some great solos, sun-kissed horn motifs, rubbery bass and occasional doses of joyous chorus vocals. Summer may already be over (here in the UK at least), but it sounds like a sunshine anthem in the making. Flipside 'Just Be Yourself' meanwhile is a heavier affair; a pleasingly pompous, synth-laden disco-rock excursion that's as camp as they come.

Review: Whoever Gallery are, they're a wilfully obscure exercise in metatextuality, with the digital frontispiece of this instrumental disco edits EP depicting two gallery punters idly loitering around the blown-up 12" record, as if fawning over it in a white cube. Whatever the case, these are two mysterious post-mid-70s disco-funk edits, which seem to make a mockery of the exclusivity culture endemic to the art world (a maligned practice that goes comparatively uncritiqued in the realm of dance music) - indeed, so far, the tracks have been played out solely by DJ Harvey and Artwork. Obviously, that means this 12" is worth your one dollar... right?!

Review: The Gallery series of edits and reworks has already dropped some killer cuts, though we're no nearer discovering the identities of the 'unknown artists' behind the imprint and its fine collection of re-appropriated disco workouts. On 'Don't Wait For The Doctor', a single-sided affair, they dip their toes into the sometimes murky world of the mash-up/bootleg remix. Of course, it's a tasteful and well-crafted affair, with our mysterious heroes combining a gently tweaked, effects-laden instrumental re-edit of First Choice Salsoul classic 'Doctor Love', with vocals borrowed from another Larry Levan favourite, NYC Peech Boys' proto-house classic 'Don't Make Me Wait'. The nods to the Paradise Garage legend don't stop there, either, with the infamous laughter sample associated with his DJ sets and remixes making an appearance from time to time too.