Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Get yourself geared up for festival season with some fierce party starters certified with the Glitterbox stamp. Melvo Baptiste leads the charge with 'Sweat', a sizzling disco house stomper with Dames Brown giving the biggest diva energy on her show-stopping vocal. Lovebirds bring unbridled joy on the Philly string swoon and slinky b-line funk of 'Burn It Down', while Art Of Tones & Inaya Day keep it peak time on the sassy strutter 'Give My Love'. Young Pulse & Fleur De Mur complete the set with 'Smooth Sweet Talker', another bright and bold vocal cut par excellence.

Review: After the first in this new Mellow Bangers series got us nice and twisted we're delighted to have the follow-up from Italo Moderni. Cryk kicks off with an eerie blend of Italo arps and dark wave drums with electro overtones on 'Double Crash' then the moodiness continues with the depraved bass warbles and crashing hits of Fragedis and his 'Disco Nicotina.' Antoni Maiovvi brings a lightness of touch to his delicate arps and celestial harmonies on 'Stopping Power' and Adrian Marth layers plenty of sugar and pixelated synths into his loopy 'Modernism.'

Review: A modern lunar take on jazz and disco, Jazz On The Moon hears Italian producer Paolo Fedreghini moonwalk backwards through live horns, bass, synth and guitar for a crisply produced six-track EP. Opening with original NASA-issue intercom vocals from the 1968 moon landing, 'Interstellar' crafts a moonscape of Harmon-muted trumpet and avant-garde growls, while expansive electro-funk opens out on the title track and 'Distant Planet', by which point a tonal shift is underway. The vibe is increasingly P-funky, erring desolate on the interluding 'Outer Space', before we wind up purblinded by the light side of the mood on closers 'Groove Odyssey' and 'Cosmic Funk'.

Review: Hands up - this is one of our favourite ever jams and frankly we can't really understand anyone who doesn't rate it pretty highly. It is a classic of the early dance scene that got hammered everywhere from Warehouse to Paradise Garage and remains in a class of one decades on. Next to the brilliant original, which is from a time when proper songwriting and musicianship defined house and disco, you get a Ron Hardy edit that is more uptempo, with hissing hi hats cutting through the funky rhythms and loopy drums. Sublime.

Review: The American female vocal trio First Choice released their rendition of 'Love and Happiness' in 1973. The track is a cover of Al Green's original released just a year earlier in 1972, but First Choice's version was perhaps helped along the way by a peak case of nominative determinism: for us, theirs is the first choice. Featured on their debut album, Armed and Extremely Dangerous, it stood out on the Philly soul girl gang's record as one of the records most propitious to sampling by house and techno musicians, such as Todd Terry and Jungle Brothers. But this time, the legacy of this preceptive soulful-house interplay is honoured by a newly reissued remix by the mysterious but titanic Chicago producer Ron Hardy, whose inclusion on the record is the real star here. Hardy's signature reel-to-reel fuzzes and presence-bled hues effect recollections of a pre-DAW production setup, and the resonances of dub (woodblocks, four-tone hooks, burly basslines) nest the original Al Green vocal nicely.

Review: Z Records returns with a Hustle-tastic 12" to light up both your life and DJ sets. It's the boss himself Dave Lee who kicks off with his extended rework of a bonafide Brit Funk classic in the shape of Hi Tension's 'British Hustle'. Featuring David Josephs's signature vocals over the chugging Caribbean rhythm track, it's a song that's never received an extended club mix from the tapes since its first release in 1978. His second cut is a Re-Wriggle of a Funky Worm volume pumping classic that becomes a fat-bottomed house jam with stomping brass, ear-worm vocal hooks and Latin inspired keys. "On the flip' (as they say) is Foreal People's 'Tango Hustle' - a driving clav heavy, jazz funk workout complete with chanting dance instructions over various solos. Add in an acapella and some 'Hustle Beats' and you have a very muscular package.

Review: Funkyjaws is the Belarusian DJ and producer Sergey Abramov, who has been dropping his funky disco heat on the likes of Kolour LTD and Shadeleaf Music before now, as well as his own fledgling self-titled imprint. This one kicks off with 'WME' which has some big horn action and stomping disco drums to liven up any party. 'Snapshot' has a raw vocal and atmospheric energy that is sure to uplift and 'Dancin' then brings some sweet hip-swinging claps. It's a string-laced disco affair to close with the majestic 'You'.

Review: This special 12" sampler, part of the forthcoming compilation, taps into the timeless spirit of the Paradise Garage with two unreleased collaborations that showcase the late Frankie Knuckles' legacy. On the A-side, the final production from Knuckles, alongside Kenny Summit and Eric Kupper, delivers a soulful, uplifting remix of Lou Rawls' "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine." It's pure house brilliance that captures the essence of the Garage sound. On the flip, the trio reunites for "Loving You," a Motown-inspired anthem featuring Yasmeen's powerful vocals. These tracks, which have been staple spins for DJs like Cajmere and Sonny Fodera, form part of a larger collection that celebrates house music's rich history, with remixes of iconic tracks. The cover art, designed by Alexander Juhasz, adds an extra layer of cultural significance to this must-have release.

Review: The debut album from The Ferguson Rogers Process dropped late last year and finally makes its way to vinyl via Impressed Recordings. Following their debut single 'Live Together' and an early Melbourne show, Tim Rogers and Lance Ferguson's Substance And Or Style is a smart take on hip-hop with tunes like 'Dirty-Clean', which leans further into their disco influences and captures the glitter-in-the-gutter mindset behind the project. With Rogers urging listeners to dive in and embrace the mess, he reminds us that 'the sink is your shrink', encouraging a no-holds-barred approach to getting things done.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Back in the heyday of the Scando-Disco scene, Jann Marius Dahle had a flurry of records as Fjordfunk and under his own name. Rightly recognised by the leaders in that scene, he's been quiet for the best part of 20 years, but now he returns with the stunning, fully-rendered wonderment of "Infinite Zest". This is an album bursting with colour and musicality, as gorgeous instrumentation meets with tenderly executed disco with a distinctly Norwegian mood. From the starry-eyed synth interplay of "Alina" to the noodling funk of "Nussing", Marius Dahle's skill as an arranger and producer is a revelation. A well-deserved, long awaited return to the fray from a rightful peer of Prins Thomas, Lindstrom et al..

Review: English former glamour model and pop-dance singer of the 1980s, Samantha was one of the main faces of pop driven dance music in the decade. Her debut album marked her transition from a famous British Page 3 model to a pop icon with global appeal, which included a humungous and very vociferous following in India of all places. The album blends catchy 80s pop-rock, with its title track 'Touch Me( I Want Your Body' leading the charge, showing her sultry, bold stage presence. Fox's vocal performance stands out for its authenticity and commitment. The album's second track, 'I'm All You Need', highlights Fox's ability to sing about empathy and romantic devotion, capturing the complexity of human connection. 'Hold On Tight', with its rockabilly feel, is different than most songs in Fox's discography, while 'Do Ya Do Ya (Wanna Please Me)' embraces 80s pop-rock with powerful, seductive lyrics. 'Baby I'm Lost for Words' explores the feeling of awe when meeting a crush, and 'It's Only Love' gives a soulful nod to Motown. 'He's Got Sex' wraps up the album with a bold, provocative theme, rounding off Touch Me as a collection of catchy, empowering anthems.

Review: This new album marks a bold new chapter for Franc Moody that offers a window into their evolution into a more mature, reinvented outfit with an intriguing sound. This album dives deep into the duo's creative depths and finds them breaking their own musical rules. Partly recorded at LA's 64 Sounds Studio and Damon Albarn's Studio 13 in West London, the album draws heavily from Albarn's unique synth collection including rare Russian models. Influenced by live performances from Massive Attack and LCD Soundsystem, the record shifts away from disco towards a grungier, grittier and more attitude-driven sonic palette so has a raw and experimental essence unlike their previous releases.

Review: London-based duo Franc Moody is made up of Ned Franc and Jon Moody and thesis their third studio album. Chewing The Fat marks a fresh chapter for the duo and is packed with unusual and interesting sounds made with mellotrons and drum machines. Across the course of the disco odyssey, it captures themes of adventure and enchantment and reflects moments of excess before recognition of being grounded by reality. In other words, it is a great summation of life's highs and lows in musical form.

Review: Following a pair of well-received albums on Juicebox Recordings (not to be confused with A Guy Called Gerald's 1990s label of the same name), self-styled "nu-funk" duo Franc Moody have transferred to Night Time Stories for the release of new album Chewing The Fat. Like its predecessors, it blends a left-of-centre, Hot Chip style sensibility with colourful and nostalgic synth sounds, disco strings, good grooves and nods aplenty to both 21st century electronica and the Halcyon days of synth-funk in the 1980s. The results are frequently superb, with highlights including the throbbing-but-sparse 'Square Pegs In Round Holes', jaunty opener 'Driving On The Wrong Side of the Road' and the blissful, tactile and string-laden nu-disco bounce of 'Bloodlines'.