Toy Tonics レコード& CD

Review: Those who pay attention to South American DJ culture may have encountered Barbara Boeing, a genuine rising star who has slowly been easing herself into music production. This is her debut EP, which was co-produced by another scene starlet, Toy Tonics regular Sam Ruffillo. 'Brigada', featuring Phil Mill, is the headline attraction - a brilliant blend of nu-disco colour, mid-90s US house motifs, hip-house breakbeats and sun-splashed melodies aplenty. Esa Williams remixes, keeping the joyousness of the original version whilst giving the track a bit of a post-kwaito, late 1980s/early 90s South African house feel. Elsewhere, 'Brasiliana' sounds like early 90s Pet Shop Boys after a fist full of happy pills, while 'Baille Do Silencio' sees Boeing brilliantly join the dots between Art of Noise, electrofunk and rushing nu-disco.

Review: Toy Tonic always deliver interesting, functional, emotional house music and here comes another such serving from the so-far so-excellent Cody Currie. The opener is as deep and jazzy as they come, with rich chords and twinkling pads all floating way above a nice warm bassline. 'LS Anthem' plays with broken beats and warped chords that are woozy and rich as a spoken word sample brings a sense of cool. 'When The Time Is Right' then keeps up the magical Rhodes work and a soulful, shuffling groove before 'M9' picks up the pace a little without loosing any of the heart and version of 'Moves' closes in steamy fashion.

Review: Toy Tonics is a real favourite here at Juno - their house is always fresh, never cheap and often with an authentic link to the past. Next up they have London's Cody Currie serving up his debut long player. Lucas is a nice broad work that opens with some of the broken beat the UK capital is so well known for before progressing through loose house funk on 'Money,' percussive and soulful vibes like 'Red Hot' and steamy slow jams in the form of 'That Stick.' And that's just the first side of the first record with three more to come that are just as good.

Review: DJ Sneak is in a great run of form right now, which is all the more impressive given that he has been turning out his signature house sounds for more than 30 years now. The self-declared House Gangster recently impressed on Dam Swindle's Heist Recordings label and now makes this way to the always-assured Toy Toncis outlet. He offers up four cuts that veer away from his loop, filter-heavy house into more edgy and late-night minimal and techno but with the robust sound design and compelling sense of underlying groove that you always expect from the man.

Review: Bologna-based Sam Ruffillo is undoubtedly a rising star. What's most impressive about his work is his seemingly innate ability to blend elements of deep house (both Italian and American) and US garage with nods to jazz-funk, broken beat, soul and boogie. His latest EP for Toy Tonics is another exceptional collection of cuts. There are three Ruffillo originals on show: the slick soul vocals, boogie bass and kaleidoscopic house colour of 'Just Fine' and the electrofunk-meets-Italo-disco excellence of 'Mind & Soul (Italo Version)'. Elsewhere, Ash Lauryn turns unreleased cut 'Don't Think Twice' into a subtly disco-tinged deep house body-warmer, while Art of Tones delivers two passes on 'Mind & Soul' - a glistening, sun-bright vocal version that sounds like a classic Dave Lee production, and an equally as impressive, vocal-free Dub Mix.