DJS: MOST CHARTED - DISCO - MOST CHARTED JULY 2013

Review: Tim Sweeney's burgeoning Beats In Space welcomes a new if familiar (not to mention beardy) face into the fold in the shape of Tornado Wallace. The Desperate Pleasures 12" marks another release in a resurgent year for Australian producer Tornado Wallace, following turnouts for ESP Institute and Kinfolk (the latter as part Coober Pedy University Band) Musically, Wallace himself describes the three tracks as "designed for late night wanderings through Botswanan jungles" and there's a discernible degree more thickness to his productions here. "Okavango Delta" adds notable Afro beat elements and field recordings into its sprung synth textures, while the balmy downtempo guitar and Italo elements of both the title track and "Space Tropics" call to mind Fabio Frizzi's Zombie Flesh Eaters soundtrack. Amazingly colourful artwork and vinyl too!

Review: Said to be discovered and championed by a young Daniele Baldelli, this track from 1983 has been defined as a cosmic classic. The work of producer Steve Coe and his partner Sheila Chandra as Monsoon, they combined elements of dub, dance and ethnic music, mainly released through their Indipop label. Their mesmerising and majestic track 'The Dream' is featured on this reissue by Emotional Rescue, as well as an edit of original B-side cut 'Meditasian' featuring a sublime sitar solo which will hypnotise you into submission, but cut down by a good 20 minutes compared to the original.

Review: ESP Institute excel at two things very important to labels; releasing interesting original music that spans feelings, tempos and genres yet fit into the overall aesthetical approach and enlisting some fine artists when it comes to remixes. Last year's self titled album from Land of Light, the collaborative project of ESP regular Johnny Nash and former Spectral Empire producer Kyle Martin perfectly encapsulated the former and this addendum 12" does the same for the latter. Peaking Lights, Tiago and The Backwoods all bring their respective styles to the fore in impressive fashion; in thee hands of Aaron "Peaking Lights" Coyes, "Strange Attractor" is transformed into luscious, dubby expanses nudged forth by a lazy motorik beat. Complementing this, Tiago gets his salsa on with a guitar flecked rendition of "Isle Of Tears" whilst Jap crew The Backwoods provide the defining dancefloor moment with their take on "Higher Love".

Review: Key to the ongoing World Unknown parties has been the sense of community it engenders as a group of dedicated attendees fill the South London dark room every month, and it's from this lot that Blake and Hart have also hand picked some of the artists that have appeared on the affiliated label. After a year off from the slog of releasing records, World Unknown serve up the second of two new releases that features two such talented regulars in Black Merlin and White Lodge. Both the former Bird Scarer graduate and his less heralded B Side partner seem inspired by the work of John Carpenter here - in the case of the former it's the spiraling synth lines married to the kind of chugging beat that gives Weatherall palpitations. White Lodge adopts a more interesting approach on "Swung" an appropriately titled track paced at 6/4 which is described as the "opening salvo in this year's snare roll revival".

Review: Long regarded as an esteemed crate digger and DJ, Kon's transformation into a fully fledged producer is complete with this very summer appropriate LP for BBE. It's been some time coming too, with Kon slowly revealing his production chops across a series of under the counter edits, remixes and a full EP for Soul Clap's label earlier this year. The eleven track On My Way unfurls with the kind of bump and groove we've come to expect from a Kon DJ set and also reveals him to be a somewhat talented song writer, teaming up with veteran house crooner George Levin, Ben Westbeech and Amy Douglas on several tracks ("Blow Me... A Kiss" with the latter is proper Disclosure territory) Matching bumping mid tempo cuts with some sultry jams (808 State) and outright disco burners ("Love Shine") makes On My Way a very impressive debut and perfect for the BBE label.

Review: The nucleus of the dirrty south, and the birthplace of trap, Atlanta has more to offer than sleazy, grinding 808s. As proved by this fantastic dubby disco 7 from Smokecloud. Applejuice takes a well known Etta James sample (previously used by Pretty Lights and pilfered by Flo Rida) and massages it into a much smokier, trip-hop template while Osmose dubs out a vibrant Silver Convention string hook, drops the tempo and adds a whole bucket of low-end. Funky.

Review: Firecracker don Linkwood makes his Voyeurhythm debut on the label's twelfth release, sharing space Aussie producer Francis Inferno Orchestra. The amusingly titled "Biscuit Twat (Linkwood Mix)" comes attached with the sort of intriguing story you'd hope it warrants with the production apparently the end product of a production session with an unnamed producer from the Midlands conducted via Skype that prominently featured tea & biscuits. Whilst it remains unclear who is the subject of Linkwood's ire, it hasn't affected his talent for blending tough drums with a rich bassline. On the flip, Francis Inferno Orchestra returns to VR with "3am piano thing" which as you might guess is a drum heavy DJ tool with plenty of stabbing piano lines.

Review: Edit champion Eddie C serves up two brand new original works for Red Motorbike and they both scream summertime vibes. "Free Love" is a kind of Doobie Brothers / Ojays fusion with a tight funk groove and emphatic soulful vocals that aren't dissimilar to Isaac Hayes's backing band. "Far West" is much more languid, deeper and more cosmic thanks to its crisp guitar plucks, sun-bleached bass thumps and overall Krautrocky synth washes. Hand-stamped and limited, this needs your attention right now!

Review: The cosmic partnership of Mat Anthony and Mark Jenkins has been a long and fruitful one. Last year's album As The Crow Flies still keeps on giving on every listen but that hasn't stopped them from serving up yet more exciting fresh material. "Fireflies" is the most upbeat of the set; twinkling with a Lindstrom style guitar arpeggio. "My Brother's Keeper" is much more languid in its nature, slouching on a silky smooth double bass line and majestic harp flutters. "Lune d'Afrique" is a mainline hit of harmonic heroism, conducted by an insistent kalimba. "Sympathy" closes the show on a wistful note; all pastoral guitars psychedelic moans. Beautiful.

Review: Black Rox is back with 2 more sneaky Soft Rocks specials that have somehow been liberated from locked CD wallets and released into the wild for general consumption. Lead track "Music sounds better with 'fro" is a Stardust aping afro groove exploding into ecstatic, almost house, pianos. This one has been thoroughly road tested by dem Idjut Boys and Soft Rocks themselves... dancefloor detonation guaranteed. On the flip we get more righteous with "Brothers (& Sisters) On The Slide". Funky rollin' drums and a spoken word intro leading into a glorious anthemic song about struggling against the man.

Review: Atlanta-based Moon B delivers his second transmission for the PPU label with the killer Sussegad! Both the masterfully lo-fi modern funk of his PPU debut and the subsequent analogue thump of Moon B's Entropic Feelings 12" for newcomers Going Good have been characterised by a nonchalant disregard for the art of the track title, rife as they are with "untitled" arrangements. Lead track "Oof" was apparently inspired by the producer's performance at Brooklyn event Mutual Dreaming, so consumed with creative urges after the party was he. Complementing this are two of his rugged gems culled from that aforementioned performance at Mutual Dreaming. Essential cuts for fans of modern analogue funkateering.

Review: The identity of the mysterious Volcano Brothers remains unknown, but as long as they're serving up unique Afro funk edits like this, we're not going to complain. The title track is soaked in a sun-tinged highlife sound as we sass and sway from a light guitar-twanging intro to a more full bodied harmonic chorus into a beautiful analogue disco riff. "Obey A Man" is an instantly enduring Afro blues edit that follows a similar chord structure to Stevie Wonder's "Living For The City". Unique. Let's hope this volcano keeps erupting edits like these.

Review: Fresh from NYC, My Rules are an anonymous editor crew closely related to the likes of Keep It Cheap and C.O.M.B.I. Both "More Fry" and "Now Show" conjure up the spirit of The Loft with their extended, lolloping grooves that seemingly go on forever. "More Fry" is the more psychedelic of the pair with wistful guitar moans and a thundering, groove. "Now Show" leans more towards traditional disco vibes with more prominent strings, a tight cheeky horn refrain and yet another amorous bassline. Jump on this while you can.

Review: Initially released as part of last week's Record Store Day antics, Juno are happy to get our mitts on some of this limited "split grooves" 12" from the always reliable Kolour Ltd. Mr Frank Booker of Hit It Or Quit It fame leads the way with two A Side productions that sit happily between disco and house; loose, funk laden disco is very much the shape of lead track "Movin On" which features some great drum chopping. Complementing this, "It's Time" takes discoid elements and applies them to a crunchy mid tempo house template. Flip over and rising talent Ugly Drums pairs with Chesney for two soul laden productions, with the dusty Raw Cuts style antics of "Soul To Keep" complemented by the sugary beatdown of "Girls Girls Girls".

Review: The inaugural and highly sought after Secret Squirrel release came our way exactly a year ago... Could this be an annual thing? That would be a shame, as these edits really are very special. On the A-side we have what appears to be a high-NRG/newbeat reversion of Eddy Grant's "Nobody's Got Time" while the B-side is a much more subtle sample-based bassline chugger that loops and wriggles with filtered charm. Proper wholesome disco, these won't be secret for very long... Get on it!

Review: The mighty Disco Deviance and the mighty Popular People's Front join forces for a righteous slab of dancefloor wax. Leading the way is a splendidly dirty extension of Five Special's "Why Leave Us Alone" which discards with the original's song based structure in favour of that final part, teasing out new levels of dirt from that break and turning it into an electro funk bomb worthy of a full floor. On the flip, "Love Itch" sees the iconic Fad Gadget make their Disco Deviance debut with "Love Parasite" brilliantly transformed into a grubby proto house monster. Those expect Frank Tovey's voice might be disappointed but you can't front on what PPF have done to the track with this edit, which could happily fit into a house or techno set.

Review: The C.O.M.B.I. shaped journey through the disco alphabet assisted by the well respected curatorial hands of a certain Eric 'Dr Dunks' Duncan reaches letters W & Y and thus the penultimate point before all good things come to an end. Side W is classic strutting vocal disco (is that a high pitched lead male or female vocal?) whilst Side Y opts for a funkier groove with some killer flanging from Mr Duncan! It's been a killer journey through the archives of obscure disco of alleged Japanese origin since the C.O.M.B.I. series commenced way back in 2007 and contemporary Disco DJs will need to look elsewhere for their secret weapons soon.

Review: The Thinking Allowed EP that saw Tornado Wallace debut on ESP Institute earlier this year not only signaled the end of a production hiatus from the affable Melbournite, it hinted at a fuller, more vivid sound that went much further than the pitched down deep house upon which he first made his name. Having subsequently demonstrated this further on releases for Kinfolk and Beats In Space, Wallace returns to Lovefingers label - well sort of - as tracks from the aforementioned Thinking Allowed are reworked by Pharoahs and Nina Amnesia. It's the latter, somewhat mysterious compatriot of Wallace who leads the way with a wonderfully uptempo take on "Bit One", whilst LA trio Pharaohs discard with the Will Powers style vocals of the title track and add plenty of their own instrumentation and production gloss.

Review: It's been some three years since Phil Mison last graced the world with some original material as Cantoma, and fans will be glad to hear that the producer is preparing a third album for release in October. Some advance insight into how it will turn out is afforded with this limited 12" release of lead single Alive that features the silky vocal talents of Bing Ji Ling. The crooning alter ego of fuzzy headed Phenomenal Handclap Band member Quinn Luke, Bing Ji Ling is the perfect vocal foil to Mison's guitar flecked arrangement which is bound to feature on many an upcoming Balearic compilation. On the flip Mison's Reverso 69 partner in crime Pete Herbert delivers a glistening discoid take on "Just Landed".