Blame It On Rea vinyl

The UK's Max Essa resides in Tokyo these days and is one of the city's leading nu-disco purveyors. We're particularly fond of his 2010 full length "White Shoes Blue Dreams". While usually releasing on isitbalearic..? or his own Jansen Jardin imprint (which he runs with Motoyoshi Shimakazi), he now appears on Palms & Charms, a new Tokyo/Hong Kong joint effort run by Samuel and Barnaby Bruce. "Blame It On Rea" starts in typical Essa Style: warm '80s strings, funky guitar licks and epic slow burning arpeggios that sound like the perfect accompaniment to Crockett and Tubbs veering down Nikki Beach chasing bad guys on Miami Vice. "Body Time" is far more uptempo with its Italo influences worn firmly on its sleeve. There's more epic retro sounding synths on this retrovert nu-disco anthem. Finally "Keep On Truckin'" is all hands in the air, summery balearic business that does throwback sounds as good as any of the best of them at the moment, namely Tuff City Kids or Love On The Rocks.