Back catalogue: All genres

Review: The spectroscope of Cool Million's soundworld doubles in width, as 'One Of A Kind' marks a new phase of innovation in their patented boogie funk sound. This latest single hears Danish soul singer Seest - a longtime collaborator with the Danish production duo - add her doubled, tripled, nigh quadrupled vocal overdubs to the already well collieried disco track. With the ensuing EP packed with allusive, fiery effrontery, bringing inspirations from Earth, Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang and The Crusaders, we must warn you: this is a volatile disco 7", one that should really come with a fire hazard warning.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record slightly warped***


A top value for money opportunity here, as Moiss Music deliver the latest in their sweet and sticky Jam series of various artist 12" line ups, bringing you no less than six bubbling, vivacious disco triumphs from six artists. Khemir's 'Disco Bandit' kicks off proceedings, a production that sounds like it was made by a band of around 45 musicians, a proper cavalcade of strings, brass, brazen disco thump and beautifully bold vocals. Wurzelholz's 'Prince' goes for a bit more economy but with a slinky funk bassline like that - not to mention the occasional exclamation from the purple overlord himself - it's equally devastating in dancefloor terms. Among the other highlights, 'Golden' by I Gemin has the feel of a lost Daft Punk flip tune and Cosmocomics' 'Glamorous Garcon', boasting 70s-style synth bubbles that are as cute as they are retro. Tasty as ever.

Review: Reborn Italo-disco label Fulltime Production's ongoing remix series, in which contemporary producers tackle gems from the vaults, reaches its tenth instalment. Da Lukas steps up first, re-imagining Rainbow Team's lightly funk-fuelled, string-laden 1982 disco jam 'Bite The Apple' as an action-packed disco-house anthem, before long-serving Italian producer Massimo Beradi turns Michael Baker's 1983 workout 'Don't You Want My Loving' into a hybrid boogie-soul/deep house treat. Over on side B, Souls Groove successfully 're-vibe' Say When's 'Save Me', an early house era European synth-pop anthem (and yes, you'll know it), while GAMM regular Black Truffle's take on Ma Gi C's 'Shampoo' is a gritty disco-funk delight.

Review: In this offering, the Italian project led by Stefano Trione, pairs the lush 80s-inspired groove of 'In The Sand' with the unreleased gem 'Tudo Pra Ela,' a sultry disco track that embodies the warmth and richness of Tirone's signature style. 'In The Sand' pays homage to the rare groove classic from iLevel, its tropical rhythm and sunny vibe transported through Julia St. Louis's breezy vocals and Marco Brioschi's trumpet melodies, creating an almost cinematic dancefloor experience. On the flip, 'Tudo Pra Ela' delves into a sophisticated disco sound, where Toco's delicate vocals intertwine with sensual backing from Priscila Ribas and a bassline from Edu Hebling that carries the track effortlessly into the early 80s. The perfect synthesis of Stefano's love for vintage sounds and contemporary finesse.

Review: Analog Recital's new album fantastically collides the worlds of lo-fi house and jazz-synth sounds on Inner Tribe Records. Clearly drawing inspiration from early jazz-house production but adding new ideas to that, the record combines dynamic dancefloor rhythms with crusty drums reminiscent of classic hip-hop and live horns as well as traditional African drums. It features Adrian M Nation from Antigua and Barbuda and Millicent from South Africa on vocals, while Aussie Horatio Luna is on bass to make this a truly pan-global and richly musical affair. By merging live instrumentation with late-night club vibes in this way, Analog Recital really impresses.

Review: A bumper package of six - count 'em - reworkings of disco grooves by Scruscru, offering a myriad of new takes on classic sounds. Beno, Bernardo Campos's 'Space Gruv' opens proceedings with a luxurious, soulful edge, while Tree Threes' 'Sunshine Miss' coasts along gracefully with more of a beefed up jazz house vibe. Manuel Kane's 'Disco Visions' throws more beautifully jazzy chord shapes and adds a devastating diva vocal for a proper peak time feel, Immersif's 'La Tournee Des Phares' employs more of a broken beat shuffle and 'Rebecca's Mystery Mood' by Punky Wash revolves around Latin beats and lilting guitar lines. Finally comes arguably the EP's jazziest moment of all, Justnique's 'Elevator Music', with some mighty impressive tinkling of the ivories. Authentic, gorgeous sounds overlaid on some sturdy 4/4 templates - pure DJ heaven.

Review: Sgt Slick kicks off their new own Sgt Slick Recuts label which is presumably going to deal in red hot edits of big house and disco tunes, with a new four 12" that does just that. 'Replay' is feel good house music with funky bass and soulful vocals that will get hands in the air, no doubt. 'Wait' then pairs a well known vocal line with some super smooth and rolling soulful house groves and 'In The Air' is another one with a timeless singalong vocal that is reworked into some percussion laced house beats. Add in the big disco of '45 Theme' and 'Running' and you have a versatile EP.

Review: Breakcore don DJ Balli and tropical electro purveyor Sindaco team up on the aptly titled Mutant Goth Italo. True to its name, the Italian duo deliver a batch of oddball, high-energy Euro dance filtered through a nocturnal lens, with affecting vocals from Ossydiana. The twisted pop sensibilities of opener 'Pizzeria Brigada Rossa' set the tone i a feverish pace, shimmering synths, and a searing vocal top-line. The gorgeously sleazy 'Febbre' is a standout, driving yet restrained, while 'Ricatto' impresses with its sinister synths, crisp drums and undulating bass. Closer 'Fedeli Alle Linee' lets it all hang out, pairing singalong melodies with snappy rhythms and snarling bass arps.

Review: The eighth instalment in Running Back's playful Hits! series arrives with a globetrotting batch of quirky dancefloor charmers, spanning interstellar disco, Italo throwbacks and Berlin School eccentricity. Kicking things off, Skatman leans into sleazy synth funk and smoky melodrama with 'What I Am Feelin'', a crooning synth-pop number pitched somewhere between space cabaret and Metro Area. Baron Von Traxian Australian prince of peaktime pompibrings glitzy melancholy with 'If I Only Knew', layering ascending Italo arps and soft pads over a chugging disco pulse. Janis Zielinski and Sowhy3 (both Berlin-based) turn in 'In Your Eyes' twiceifirst as a vocal daydream of euro-pop yearning, then as a sleek instrumental. Morphena's 'Venus Underworld' dials up the noir with icy stabs and new wave propulsion, while Zoe Zoe's 'Palikau Dzemperi' signs off with a Tangerine Dream-style glide repurposed for the club. There's no unifying concept, but as with earlier volumes, that's the point: a polychrome snapshot of Running Back's curious, cosmopolitan world.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Skyrager returns to his HITD imprint with more of the magical sounds that have made him an international favourite with dedicated disco-heads. This three-tracker brims with his signature grooves, all of which are crafted from deep crate finds and reworked with his unique touch. The A-side is a 14-minute, Euro-funk-inspired boogie that combines dreamy keys and smooth synths with real vocal soul. 'Love Is Good' brings a Caribbean-infused, soca sound with a catchy guitar hook before closing with 'Love Is Bad', a funky yet laid-back disco groove with a slinky bassline and euphoric guitar riffs that ring out in prog fashion next to female vocals.

Review: Longtime disco editor Smoove played his first cards right with Wack Records in 2007, and now he returns to the imprint after decades with another raw-cut, redone diamond; a synth-driven slab of filth-funk reflecting the talents of 80s soul mogul Bobby on vocals. On the flip, things speed up as Smoove flips Mrs Jackson's vocals into a razor-sharp electro funk rework, loaded with punchy edits, Mantronix-inspired stutters, and warped stabs that twist the track into club-ready territory.

Review: Tribute To House Masters launches its homage to talented producers from the foundational days of house and disco with a first volume featuring some real heavyweights. Each of the originals has been remixed by St David who begins with swinging and delightful deep house depths on 'The Underground.' His Gentle Re-Touch of Patrice Rushen leads to some chunky and full flavour disco house fun, the Club Re-Diss of Armando is jacked up and peak time house with a retro flair and lastly Groovylizer Magic dub brings some silky and soulful flourishes to a Salsoul Orchestra classic.

Review: More golden goodness from Athens of the North here - the label that never runs out of soul and disco goodness. Strictly Business hail from Dayton, Ohio and deliver a double-sider gem of deep 80s soul on this rare 7". One side brings pure boogie heat and is funky, driving and brilliantly dancefloor-ready, while the flip slows it down with a more smooth and heartfelt ballad. Originally self-released with the help of friends and family, the record flew under the radar until rediscovered by Daniel Mathis, who helped license it for release here in limited quantities. A fine and soulful slice of overlooked Midwest magic.

Review: While he's not put out many re-edits of late, Luke Una has serious scalpel-job pedigree. Back in the 2000s, he and then DJ partner Justin Crawford released a series of largely disco-focused edit EPs on the hush-hush Electrik Souls series. Here he returns to the format with the first in a series of reworks focused on his popular, dusty-fingered E Soul Cultura project. He begins by teasing out and lightly toughening up a killer Caribbean cut from the 1990s, Ella Andall's 'My Spirit Is Music' - an insanely rare and hard to find number that the Sheffield-born DJ has naturally tweaked sensitively. Elsewhere, he emphasises the 'proto-house dub' feel of Slick Mission's early UK house number 'Time's Up', before going even dubbed-out and more percussive on Manu Dibango's lesser-known cover of Latin disco classic 'Jingo'.

Review: The long-lost gem YU Disko Expres, by Igor Savin and Orkestar Stanka Selaka - both Croatian / Yugoslavian studio dons, the latter at one point serving as visiting tutor at Berklee College Of Music, and an electronic music studio founder at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall - returns with its first official reissue, fully restituted from the original reels. Its 1979 first editors, Jugoton, couldn’t have foreseen its later status as a “highly sought-after” album, one which perhaps resultantly remained nearly impossible to find in good condition since. With an all-star lineup of Yugoslavian musicians, including trumpeter Stanko Selak and bassist Miljenko Prohaska, Yu Disko Expres remains a coal-fired viaduct scaler of impossible speed and panache. Essential for fans of jazz-disco, rare grooves, and, on the off chance, Yugoslavian music history.

Review: Scruscru and Los Protos hook up on the former's ever-reliable label for some more funk-fuelled and sample-heavy madness. This eight-tracker draws on the best of Library, jazz, hip hop and soul and collides elements of all of those together with some raw, and what sounds like, MPC beats, all tapped out with a lovably loose vibe. Some like 'Local Sugar Diggers' look up towards a sunny, cloudless sky, others like 'Dreams Of Sonora' are swaggering broken beat workouts with sensuous sax lines setting a steamy tone. 'Por Do Sol Em Shelekhmet' is another highlight with its aloof, angelic vocal tones.

Review: The Situation collective, led by Mr. Mulatto and Frank Situation, returns with their new album Audio Proxemics. It's a rich, genre-blurring journey across nine tracks of soulful nu-disco, jazz-infused house and broken beat featuring global collaborators like Javonntte, Venessa Jackson and Faze Action's Robin Lee. The album highlights Situation's deep musical roots with live instrumentation that ranges from shimmering keys to brassy horns and guitars which elevate each track beyond mere tool status. From the club-ready sparkle of 'Mrs Donovan' to the sun-drenched groove of 'Bullit,' this is a warm, musical celebration perfect for summer days and late-night sessions.

Review: Two years on from the release of his Ubiquity label debut, the hard-to-pigeonhole Balearic/global musical fusion set that was Da Cuckoo YaYa, self-taught producer and multi-instrumentalist Reuben Vaun Smith returns with a fresh full-length. Once again, the warming, colourful and effortlessly atmospheric set is both gorgeous and hard to pigeonhole, with the Yorkshire based artist variously doffing a cap to dream pop, yacht rock, blue-eyed soul, shuffling downtempo soundscapes, soft-focus AOR synth-pop and sun-bright Balearic beats. It's the kind of set that not only impresses on first listen but also grows on you with each successive listen. Few artists can achieve both of these things on one album, so congratulations are most certainly in order.

Review: Smoove props up his rep as a highly consistent big beat, funk and disco crossover producer with a freight-class shipment of 'Heavy Goods'. Somersaulting out from his Geordie soul group Smoove & Turrell - on top of his sought-after multi-track vinyl re-edits, as well as his remixing prowess across hip-hop, soul, and funk - this Jalapeno Records follow-up continues Smoove's recent favourite postal theme. Indeed, the postal system is what keeps us afloat (and cue the boundless irony of Royal Mail's latest sale to a Czech billionaire, the name of whose LLC is, apropos of online music retail, "EP Group"). Betty Black & The Family Fortune, Emma Noble, Kraak & Smaak, Izo FitzRoy, The High & Mighty, and Bahama Soul Club, all are all loaned Smoove's Pygmalion hand, honing a musing work of art from many a die-cut classic. Whirlwind D's 'Labels', Izo Fitzroy's 'Blind Faith' and TGH Collective's 'Higher Collective' are special versions too. Assuming you didn't already know the songs in question, you really wouldn't be able to tell the edit jobs from the originals. Mint condition!

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record slightly warped***


The Strikers were a talented band from New York who delivered catchy and groovy tunes with soulful vocals and tight instrumentation. This album, originally released in 1981, features their two classic singles 'Body Music' and 'Inch by Inch', which are still played in clubs and on radio stations today. This reissue by Unidisc Music is a high-quality vinyl release that preserves the original sound and artwork of the album. This record is a must-have for fans of 80s funk and disco.

Review: A worthy reissue that helps celebrate 40 years since it original hit the airwaves, Cats Without Claws finds Donna Summer at a crossroads. Having ruled the disco era, by 1984 she was adapting to a pop world that wasn't quite sure where she fitted in. Reunited with producer Michael Omartian, the album aims for the sleek, adult-contemporary sound that had revitalised her on 'She Works Hard For the Money' and the result is a spirited and fascinating listen that shines brighter in hindsight. Tracks like 'There Goes My Baby' and 'Supernatural Love' pulse with polished energy, while ballads like 'Forgive Me' (which earned Summer a Grammy) reveal her gospel roots with searing sincerity. Some of the production choices lean heavily into 80s gloss, mirroring the drama that made her disco-era work so riveting. Summer's voice remains a powerhouse, navigating pop, soul and inspirational styles with effortless charisma - making this an overlooked gem, for sure.

Review: This 1984 album demonstrated Summer's continued ability to experiment with various musical styles, The album features a blend of dance, pop, rock and even calypso influencew. The production, led by Michael Omartian, reflects a glossy, polished sound with heavy use of synthesisers and drum machines, which at times give the album a distinctly 80s vibe. The opening track, 'Maybe It's Over', shows Donna at her best vocally, with a passionate performance that highlights her emotional depth. 'Supernatural Love' and 'Eyes' blend rock and funk elements with her signature disco flair with the results being dynamic. 'I'm Free' is o standout track on the album, offering a more upbeat, danceable sound that recalls the energy of 'She Works Hard for the Money'. The track's infectious groove, combined with Donna's confident delivery, gives it staying power like a classic of hers. 'There Goes My Baby' is a cover of a 1974 The Spinners hit, which is delivered with great vocal precision. The album also includes 'Love Is Just a Breath Away', a track that leans heavily into the soft rock territory, showcasing Donna's ability to adapt to different genres. Often overlooked, this albums music is finally getting the recognition it deserves. This edition is pressed on beautiful pink and white vinyl to celebrate the 40th anniversary.

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


This 1984 album demonstrated Summer's continued ability to experiment with various musical styles, The album features a blend of dance, pop, rock and even calypso influencew. The production, led by Michael Omartian, reflects a glossy, polished sound with heavy use of synthesisers and drum machines, which at times give the album a distinctly 80s vibe. The opening track, 'Maybe It's Over', shows Donna at her best vocally, with a passionate performance that highlights her emotional depth. 'Supernatural Love' and 'Eyes' blend rock and funk elements with her signature disco flair with the results being dynamic. 'I'm Free' is o standout track on the album, offering a more upbeat, danceable sound that recalls the energy of 'She Works Hard for the Money'. The track's infectious groove, combined with Donna's confident delivery, gives it staying power like a classic of hers. 'There Goes My Baby' is a cover of a 1974 The Spinners hit, which is delivered with great vocal precision. The album also includes 'Love Is Just a Breath Away', a track that leans heavily into the soft rock territory, showcasing Donna's ability to adapt to different genres. Often overlooked, this albums music is finally getting the recognition it deserves. This edition is pressed on beautiful pink and white vinyl to celebrate the 40th anniversary.