Juno Recommends Disco: October 2022

Review: The much loved and highly sought after Hot Toddy Remix of 'Never Gonna Reach Me' is finally getting a long overdue vinyl repress from the original masters and artwork. It's no exaggeration to say that NGRM has become a bona fide disco classic since its first release that has stood the test of time. Crazy P band member Chris Todd took the original version from the band's Stop, Space, Return album and remixed it up for the dance floor adding disco drums, rhodes keys and arpeggiated synth sequences. On the flip side there is another sublime remix from Still Going, the New York duo best known for their output on DFA. All in all an absolutely essential addition to any record collection...

Review: Limited edition, hand-stamped white label 12"s from Smoove, reworking as though each of its remixed originals were axiomatic expressions of sonic perfection. 'Dance', for example, has a well known 80s classic reworked to stomping, heavyweight perfection - stretching its vocals to breathy ecstasy. Meanwhile EWF's 'Can't Hide Love' and 'Playing Your Game, Baby' by a certain Mr White, unite over a similar subject matter; there's no point in hiding your love. All aboard the underground love train.

Review: JKriv & Co. at Razor N Tape serve up possibly their biggest release yet, if this one is anything to go by. The first edition in the label's brand spanking new Family Affair series features the pairing of legends Dimitri From Paris & DJ Rocca on 'Days Of A Better Paradise' kicking off the A side, before Saucy Lady's late night boogie-down biz on 'Passport To My Love'. Flip over and you're treated to a seriously lo-slung cosmic disco dub on Misiu's 'Love Me Do' and finally Clive From Accounts tells it straight up on the acid jazz joint 'It's Not That I Don't Care'.

Review: British jazz-funk outfit Freeze will always be best known for their biggest hit 'Southern Freeze' but IOU is not far behind it. Here the legendary disco edit master Dr Packer adds his own version to it on a new series of edits on M2MR. He ups the drums, lasers in some big and raising basslines and generally up the party. On the flip is his take on 'We've Got The Juice' which is a more low slung number with hip swinging claps. Both cuts are pure fire for the floor.

Review: If you're after a touch of dancefloor opulence, Luxxury's rework series - in which he breathes new life into everything from yacht disco gems to platinum-selling rock anthems - could be for you. The Los Angeles-based producer is in good form on volume five, variously offering up a swirling, gently dubbed-out and pleasingly Balearic take on a Steve Miller Band favourite ('Into The Future'), a throbbing revision of a poodle perm-sporting synth-pop/soft rock anthem ('Burn Burn Burn') and a chunky, tactile, disco-tinged, soft-focus re-imagining of what sounds like a George Michael solo cut ('Tonight'). Naturally, all are tastefully executed and add more than enough low-end weight to please contemporary dancefloors.

Review: Moodena and Sartorial's Tropical Disco is now into its 24th release and they haven't let up on the quality grooves. On the first side you've got Toscana who takes you poolside on the lo-slung deep disco of 'The Girl With The Red Hair', followed by the dusty and hypnotic late night loops of Toby O'Connor's 'Cave Of Gold' featuring a seriously sexy sax solo. Over on the flip, it's all about Neapolitan favourite Frank Virgilio, who serves up some lovely sunset mood music on 'What We Love'.

Review: Veteran Newcastle-based producer Johnathan Watson aka Smoove is back with the third instalment in the Multitrack Reworks, a new series that will be putting out limited edition, hand-stamped white label 12's that are made from reworked tunes constructed from the original multitracks. This one features the deep down and dirty P-funk of A-side cut 'Deep', while over on the flip Watson lends his Midas touch to a solid reconstruction of a certain deep funk classic by Slave, as well as a spruced up soul classic for all the heads out there on 'Superman'.

Review: Wrekin Havoc does just that with its second release from the artist of the same name. After a big first EP that really announced the label's arrival in style this one is another tasty disco collection. 'Heavy Breathing' has toting old school chords and Italo drums and 'Work It' bring glossy vocals, crashing hits and a libidinous vocal. Things get slow and seated but just as steamy on the flipside cut 'Dirty Devil' then last of all is the glorious bit of exotic and tropical, boogie tinged disco freshness that is 'That Is The Question.'

Review: The first instalment in UK label Big Love's A Touch Of Love vinyl EP series brings together some of the label's latest and finest moments for the vinyl heads. Chicago legend Mike Dunn serves up the deep late night mood music of 'It's A Groove Thang' (Black Glitter LB mixx), before teaming up with label head Seamus Haji on the deep down and dirty funk of 'Disco Dreams'. Over on the flip, Nigel Lois rediscovers '7's Philly sounds on 'Brotherly Love' with Jamie 3:26 and Rotterdam producer Danou P stepping up for a seriously lo-slung remix.

Review: Johnny "D" DeMairo is a veteran of the New York house scene - he frequently appeared on the legendary Henry Street Music imprint in the 90s - but in recent years he's devoted more studio time to reworking classic disco and soul cuts. He's at it again here, rising to the challenge of rearranging and tweaking Frankie Valli's classic 1975 disco-soul jam 'Swearin' To God'. His A-side 'Johnick Disco Mix' is an organic, slowly building affair that makes the most of the original's flanged guitar licks, sweet backing vocals, Philly Soul style orchestration, laidback dancefloor groove and Valli's inspired lead vocals. Over on the flip, the 'Maurro Mix' is a much more languid and super-sweet affair, with a little less dancefloor focus. It's no less inspired or entertaining, though.

Review: Naples does disco like nowhere else and that is from where this EP originates. It is like a siren call to Balearic beat lovers with its hypnotic drum loops and dazzling Italo melodies, The angelic vocals rise out of the mix next to pixelated pads on 'Sirenusa' and soon have you shaking your ass. On the flipside is 'Vetara' which is edgier and driving for the later night hours. But it is still lush and cosmic disco, with swathes of retro-future synth sounds, chugging drums and crispy 80s textures. Irresistible stuff.

Review: As we wait impatiently for the release of Sam Redmore's forthcoming debut album, Universal Vibrations, the hotly tipped producer has treated us to some club-ready revisions of two tracks from that set. In its extended mix form (track 2), 'Just Can't Wait' is an inspired slab of vocal boogie brilliance complete with heady Afrobeat style horns, sparkling piano riffs and a chorus so addictive it should probably come with a warning. Kid Creme's accompanying remix is a bouncier disco-funk revision rich in rubbery bass guitar, Nile Rodgers licks and jaunty electric piano stabs. Over on the flip, Latin-fired, rap-sporting Afro-breaks number 'One More Time' is given an airing, alongside a fine, stripped-back, sub-heavy deep Afro-house rub from Bristol-based veteran Red Rack'em.

Review: Krewcial unleashes Discosaurs Vol Two with another series of raw edits that are all given some modern dance floor weight to get dance floors roaring. 'Track 1' is all about the soaring strings that bring great scale to the instrumental disco beats. 'Track 2' gets even more expressive with florid melodies, big disco male vocals and hurried funk grooves. 'Track 3' keeps the soul train chugging with more gorgeous strings but this time some cute balearic style guitar noodles and then the closer slows things down a touch to allow a female vocal plenty of room to to its work.

Review: If warming, glassy-eyed midtempo disco niceness is your thing, we'd heartily recommend this languid, sun-drenched edits offering from the Too Slow To Disco camp. It's packed to the rafters with toasty, afternoon-ready fare that's arguably best listened to while decked out in boat shoes, pastel-coloured shorts and a stripy t-shirt. HOLDTight steps up first with the head-nodding, saucer-eyed shuffle of future yacht disco classic 'Be My Love 2Nite', before Delfonic offers up a fine rearrangement of an obscure, breathy and seductive disco gem full of prominent Moog synth sounds, jaunty pianos and whispered vocals. 'Jorge's Pipa' by Jack Tennis is a fine, floor-friendly tweak of a disco-era Brazilian gem, while Those Guys From Athens' '4 Your Love' is a seductive disco slow jam straight from the top shelf.

Review: Metropol was a Berlin-based cosmic disco night that rose to prominence in the mid-1980s, and attracted many pioneering dance artists at the time, from Giorgio Moroder and Andy Bell to name a few, through their doors. Cornered in West Berlin for most of the decade, it was something of a hotspot for the liberal city's golden era of dance. This new album by Roland Sebastian Faber - normally known for his 2-step and speed garage - pays homage to the night and charts various collabs with Boy George ad Scarlet Fantastic. It contains an honest and stripped-back take on its sound.

Review: The simply and aptly named 'Cuts' label launched in 2021, and immediately set about re-editing "precious (disco) gems mined from a wall of vinyl, cut, polished and mounted for maximum love." The image is endearing; that of a masked vigilante picking from an array of his/her/their best disco weaponry. For their fifth love-bombing crime fighting spree, the artist known as Guest (literally) cuts up classic cuts including 'A Place For Us' and 'Disco Is The Thing Today'. Moody, choppy and supremely dark.

Review: Hitomi Toyama's 'Sweet Soul Music' originally made it to wax last year, when the track appeared as part of a rare Japanese funk compilation curated by the sound's brightest stars, Wamono. Now, though, it gets a proper release on 7", and is backended by the sultry B-side 'Wanna Kiss', which sounds pitched up and chirpy in its shrill alto vocals, which assure us we're held. The A, meanwhile, is as horny (in both senses of the word) as ever, quite obviously singing the praises of "sweet soul music... I love you!"

Review: The unstoppable Purple Disco Machine is back! The German DJ/producer serves up two nifty reworks here once again on Aussie label Sweat It Out. On side A, you have the one-and-only Robert Hood under his Floorplan alias giving 'Hands To The Sky' (feat Fiorious & House Gospel) the Midas touch on his Justified remix. The legendary priest-cum-DJ from Detroit serves up an uplifting and life-affirming house rendition, as do Italy's Roberto Intrallazzi and Luca Provera aka Cube Guys on their remix of 'Money Money' reminiscent of early noughties funky house.

Review: The 10th and final volume of the Deep In India series is another real doozy. It is a limited edition double vinyl that features all the very best cuts for the previous volumes which date back to 2017 and have found this artist revive Indian cinematic sounds and rework them for the modern dance floor from disco and cabaret to Bollywood with house, acid and funk infusions. It makes for an alluring listen that goes deep into mystic house and supple Indian rhythms with mind melting chords and dark and dub vibes in which to get lost.There are too many highlights to pick out favourites - suffice it to say this is an essential pickup.

Review: After successfully showcasing his wares via EPs on GAMM, Razor N Tape and Barefoot Beats, fast-rising re-editor Elado pitches up on Bonfido Disques for the very first time. The resultant 12" contains some of his most interesting re-edits yet, with Elado cunningly opting for eccentric and oddball source material. 'Deepy Mango' sounds like a cross between proto-house, post-punk synth-pop and Kwaito - and that's a great thing in our book - while 'Space Lokum' is a throbbing revision of what sounds like a North African electro-disco obscurity (an Arab take on the Giorgio Moroder sound, basically). Over on the flip, 'Massi Tobi' is a boogie-era tropical disco gem from the Francosphere given a subtle makeover. In a word: excellent!

Review: The Prolifics were a New Orleans-based funk project responsible for two now classic releases in the early '70s. Emotional Rescue has stepped in to keep their legacy alive with the reissue of another one of their dusted down numbers from the vaults entitled 'Boy Child' which receives a re-rub by the one and only Felix Dickinson, taking the track into lo-slung soul-acid territory in his typical style. For your listening pleasure there's another track from the archives in the form of 'You Got To Me', a life-affirming disco epic that should have received the attention it was worthy of the first time around.

Review: When it comes to gorgeously summery blends of colourful nu-disco and sunset-ready deep house, Tim Berndhardt AKA Satin Jackets is in league of his own. That much is proved by his third album, and first for three years, Reunion. It begins with an immersive dose of sunrise deep house warmth, 'For What We Have', and ends with the piano-spotted, hands-in-the-air audio dopamine of 'Don't Worry'. In between, you'll find a sparkling, sun-bright mixture of Balearic house loveliness ('Little Aeroplanes'), head-bobbing synth-pop lusciousness ('Different Directions', with Ivy Falls), melody-rich cheeriness ('Hundred Fifty Up'), dreamy vocal nu-disco (Tailor hook-up 'Spell'), and smile-inducing, guitar-laden joyousness ('Coffee & Feels').

Review: Purple Disco Machine's 'Dopamine' came out last year in a blissful burst of singalong vocal house goodness, with Eyelar up front on the mix creating a fully fledged anthem which was a deserved hit for the German producer. Now comes a remix 12" which casts 'Dopamine' under the watchful eye of John Summit, a young producer with serious pop nous to his beats. It's a shoe-in for big rooms and big stages where you want to enrapture the masses, and if the A side isn't enough you've also got the Daft Punk-tinged disco delights of 'I Remember (Club Dub Mix)' on the flip. Purple Disco Machine's name is a byword for catchy club classics in the making, and so it goes on this new 12".

Review: Q.A.S.B. is a Tokyo-based soul group that presents danceable funky tunes and more mellow laid-back numbers, featuring strong early '70s influences. The track 'Vivalava' is taken from their fifth album Candy Dream released last year. It's veteran DJ/producer Kaoru Kawasaki's Island dub mix which takes the spotlight here, giving what already was an awesome track a nice reshape, with groove dynamics optimised for the dancefloor. The song's magnificent horns section takes centre stage much like the original, supported by Amy A's wonderful vocal. Over on the B side is a Remaster of the original.

Review: After dropping two fine contributions to the Echo Beach Edits series, Pantai People main man Marc Roberts pitches up on Moton with four more ear-catching revisions. He begins by putting his stamp on a familiar disco favourite, looping up the most impactful orchestral sections before unleashing the original vocals ('King of Nice Days'), before switching his attention to an early-to-mid-80s disco-boogie number on the glassy-eyed 'Uno'. 'Maia Amor' is a tidy tweak on a summery, sun-drenched, Spanish language disco workout, while 'Star Max' sees Roberts successfully turn his attention to a polished, early '80s AOR disco number of the sort that yacht rock fans will undoubtedly love.