BELPAESE Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Since launching in 2018, the Belpaese imprint has delivered a string of must-check EPs featuring re-edits of old Italian songs and instrumentals. It's a bit of a niche pursuit, but given the country's contribution to dance music culture over the years one that makes total sense. Volume ten in the series arrives with two sweat-soaked cut-jobs to enjoy. 'Ancora Un Baccio' is a quirky and eccentric Italo-disco number that boasts both rubbery slap-bass (including some energetic soloing) and surging electronic bass, alongside suitably camp lead vocals and heady vocalisations. 'Un Sogno Per La Testa' is a bit more Balearic minded, with the shadowy scalpel fiends making merry with what sounds like a holiday-ready 1980s pop song full of glistening guitar licks, jazz-funk bass and unfussy beats.

Review: The Belpaese crew is all about serving up big edits of big tunes form the rich Italian canon. They have plenty to go at and as such are putting out these useful EPs at decent speed. The next is another fine bit of studio tricker from the in house production team as they offer up the recognisable top lines and vocals of 'False Ipocrisie' but re-sung in Italian and replayed in Italo fashion. ON the fit is the more groovy and cruising jazz-funk-disco bomb 'Strumento Di Una Notte' that oozes silky grooves and nice icy hi hats.

Review: The Belpaese crew are back with another round of edits celebrating strictly Italian grooves. Let's face it - there's a rich enough culture of disco and funk hailing from the Romans to keep diggers busy for a long time yet. "Ed Invece Vai" is a mid-tempo cruiser with a sweet falsetto vocal and a whimsical tone, while "Disco Astrale" ups the pace and weaves in some cosmic swishes for a particularly funky trip amongst the stars. "Prigioniero Dei Sogni" is a cool 70s workout with dramatic strings and some killer synth flex where it counts. "Fuori Un Brutto Vento" completes the set with a powerful blast of bombastic songwriting strapped to another sure shot built for the dancefloor.

Review: The sneaky scalpel fiends behind the Belpaese Edits imprint are back with more inspired reworks of obscure, little known and overlooked European - and mostly Italian - gems from the 1970s and '80s. First up is "Vieni Con Mi", a wonderfully overblown chunk of loose-limbed jazz-rock/disco-soul fusion blessed with breathy female vocals, mazy flutes, wah-wah guitars, heavy bass and drumming so wild it may well be capable of raising cadavers from their graves. Flipside "20 Secoli Di Favole" is similarly minded, if a little closer to Baldelli "cosmic rock" territory - all ragged rock riffs, manic female vocals, groovy bass and intergalactic analogue synthesizer lines.

Review: Climb on board the Belpaese express for another scalpel-wielding excursion into the eccentric world of cosmic disco and long-forgotten Italian club cuts. It's a journey every bit as riveting as their previous 12-inch trips. On the A-side you can settle in and let the extended Latin piano solos, Balearic boogie grooves, sweaty percussion breaks and early '80s jazz-funk synths of "Vai Di Samba" carry you towards your destination. A trip to the B-side buffet car is encouraged, too, where both "Fonde E Confonde" and the jammed-out, off-kilter Brazilian style electrofunk madness of "Electrosamba" are far more appetizing than your average on-board snack. The latter track, which also contains some insanely heavy passages of layered samba beats, is probably the EP's most potent cut.

Review: Back in August, Shadowy Italian re-edit crew Belpaese impressed with their first self-titled EP, which offered up decidedly cosmic and Balearic-minded reworks. There's more on offer on this similarly fine second set of revisions. On side A you'll find "Dai Vivo", an extended, near ten-minute revision of a quirky European disco-rock record of the kind that Daniel Baldelli may once have rocked at the Cosmic Club. On the reverse, "Moribonda" is a fine version of a synth-laden, turn-of-the-'80s Italian disco-pop/funk-rock record (think Greg Kihn Band and you're close), while "Sara Uno Smacco" is a sleazy, slo-mo disco delight.

Review: Belpaese Edits is a new Balearic and cosmic-minded rework series shrouded in mystery. We know it is Italian in origin (the label makes that clear), but very little else. In many ways, it doesn't matter; whoever is behind it, this debut EP is excellent. It opens with the chant-along, carnival-ready jazz-funk/South American style disco fusion of "Sentimento", before charging off on a more low-slung and driving direction via "Ancora Piaccio", a tasty revision of a lesser-known disco-era Italian record. Over on side B, "Di Chi Sei" sounds like it was made by Italy's answer to Sade (and, yes, it made us want to walk barefoot down a beach arm in arm with a loved one), while "Para Para" is a chugging, reggae-influenced chunk of slo-mo Italian disco-exotica.