AROOP ROY Schallplatten & CDs

Review: If It Ain't Jazz, we don't know what it has! Back, after a punctuated pause, the label return to dazzle us with their enduring, distinctive brand of instrumental disco-soul razzmatazz, and here we hear Laroye and Aroop Roy rub two heads' choices up the right way, both into phattened, globular, kick-boosted anthems. First comes 'You're A Star', an electroni-cization of Aquarian Dream's 1978 disco explosion, to which Laroye brings much extra shimmy and sway. Then there's Roy's 'Let The Music Play', sampling an unknown (to us) number that - don't get caught off guard - certainly *isn't* Shannon's freestyle hit from 1983. Whatever it is though, it's a banger too!

Review: Nothing is tastier than some Freerange deep house and so it proves with this first new offering of the year from the venerated UK label. Aroop Roy is the man on the buttons and 'Mama Mwana' is the Afro opener that transports you to somewhere hot. Squeaky guitar lines unfurl over the warming rolling beats to a hypnotic effect. Next is a remix from Moroccan scene mainstay FNX Omar who flips 'Re Bulele' into a deeply sonorous affair with twinkling melodies and steamy vocal coos and the original version rounds out the EP with percussive, funky and soulful house grooves. A typically rich EP from this crew.

Review: The Barefoot Beats crew return with outing number 14 and once more it is music for sunny climates. Aroop Roy takes care of the A-side of this 10" with 'Fankiando Taniador', the Latin flavoured deep cut disco and funk roller with 80s horn stabs and rumbling bass all topped with a red hot vocal full of flair. It's pure Brazilian heat that is perfect for outdoor dancing and Bernardo Pinheiro's 'Expresso Amor' then brings more sunshine goodness with its slinky disco house beats and swinging hand claps all irresistible to anyone with a heart.