Toy Tonics Schallplatten & CDs

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: New York psychedelic soul/stoner disco fusionists Phenomenal Handclap Band have been rather quiet of late, with this surprise single on Toy Tonics marking the New York combo's first outing for 18 months. Curiously, there's no original version of "Judge Not" for us to assess, just three reworks from disco stalwart Ray Mang. They are, though, extremely good. The A-side "Special Remix" is particularly potent, with Mang lacing the band's breezy, gospel-influenced vocals and killer pianos solos over a lolloping West Coast disco groove. Those pianos take pride of place on the dub disco style flipside "Reprise Mix", which may well be our pick of a very strong bunch, and on the sweaty, dancefloor-ready "Instrumental" version.