Disco Recommendations October 2010

Review: 
Irish Edits crew Keep Schtum deliver their second release with an expansive nine minute reworking of Odyssey's ''Hang Together'' stretched out across the A Side. On the flip Cymande's ''Getting' It Back'' gets some added oomph via a chugging beat and a dirt-funk bassline, whilst Willie Bobo's ''Roots'' receives a heavily percussive makeover.

Review: Ahead of what's become one of this year's most anticipated albums due to unforeseen circumstances, Aeroplane drops his second single in ''Superstar''. Given that the track itself leans quite heavily on vocoder it was an obvious step to get Chromeo involved on an amended version called ''She's A Superstar''. Yuksek and Brodinski add a peaktime 2010 French touch on their remix as The Krays.

Review: We fully expect this third Popular People's Front Edit 12 inch to swiftly follow the previous editions into the realm of "sold out and only available for ridiculous amounts on Discogs". Rightly so too, as the third volume is the best one yet and worth buying for the A Side alone! "Abah Dabah Dis" is a marvellously drunken disco throbber, replete with heavily phased horn arrangements and over dubbed Eastern vocals. The ever present acid bassline guarantees smiling faces and encourages hip movement. The B Side is equally as good though, commencing with an Everlasting Chorus Edit of Cheryl Lynn's all too rare "You Saved My Day" which expands the vocal refrain and rearranges the song progression to take advantage of the infectious hand clap rhythm section. Heavily dubbed vocoder reverberates out over the vintage outer galactic p-funk groove of "Party Over Here", the final track on another superlative and varied selection of edits from the PPF camp.

Review: Leo Zero's remix of prominent chinned pop star Florence & The Machine has been long term floor filler for DJs but amazingly never got a full vinyl release. The Lets Get Lost imprint run by Mule Musiq's KZA corrects that and throws in a previously unreleased Greg Wilson edit for good measure. Reconstructing Leo Zero's version, Wilson turns in an almost instrumental effort which will please people who might be a bit tired by the trademark Flo holler.

Review: Riccio is back in the seat for the 12th volume of Super Value Edits with three more obscurities reworked for the floor. "Reach Out" has neat vocal interplay between a yelping male lead and some harmonious female backing on top of a string heavy uptempo strut. On the flip, "Lay Next To You" is a sleazy groove more than complimented by some decidedly Prince sounding vocals. The heavy boogie flex of "Mercy" rounds things off nicely.

Review: It's been a hot minute since some classy Toby Tobias has been rotating round our 1210s at 33rpm so there was a tingle of excitement when news of a new 12 from the Rekids fella filtered through. That Tobias has once again indulged his musical schizophrenia to deliver some edit action as Casinoboy on the newly relaunched Tracky Bottoms label is further reason for joy. (The Casinoboy rework of "La Vie En Rose" from the last TB EP in 2008 edges out Mark E's subsequent version for UTS). The title track "Alreet" is a pleasant enough bump through synth shimmer deepness. "Omniad" shows more production nous, infectious soul claps combining with crisp midtempo programming, with chopped up vocals and dramatic string stabs providing some real heat. The B Side provides more smiles, with a captivating bassline squelch mutating out of the sharp drums and electro synth patterns of "Paradub" - fans of the recent Lee Foss EP on Hot Natured will gravitate towards this one. The reverberating chugging boogie bliss of "Ce Soir" is an equally fine end to this EP.

Review: Having recently treated us to the brilliance of the PAJ Disco retrospective, Million Dollar Disco add further reason to heap praise on them with the first in a new series of vinyl EPs. Al Kent comes correct with three subtle disco touch ups here. "J'adore" has been in Al Kent's record box all summer and the MDD don finally shares the goods. The brilliance of "Don't Stop" is in the simplicity a€ a vocal loop plays out over a building crescendo of strings and horns and then starts all over again, while "Down To Me" plays out like the epitome of one long relentlessly pleasing groove.

Review: Legendary Mancunian imprint Paper Recordings drop this tantalising vinyl taster of what to expect on the forthcoming remix album of Crazy Ps debut album A Nice Hot Bath With Greg Wilson on one side and Ray Mang on the other. Yes please.

Review: The eighth edition of the Small World Edits series comes courtesy of the mysterious Memory Man. The sultry soulful bump of "Coming Home" shivers across the A Side, augmented by deep bass and a heavy percussion pay off. On the flip "Memory Love" is a heavily filtered disco funk bomb whilst "Mac Zal" is Memory demonstrating his edit prowess, chopping up vocals over a soulful popping synth.

Review: After unleashing two edit bombs from The Revenge archives, Disco Deviance look to the South Coast for DD015 with the Nocturnal Music crew at the controls for two Greg Wilson approved cuts. Love Explosion reworks "Sweet Thing" by Convertion, giving the drums some extra weight and laying down some boogie bass heat before the drop into the track. The real treat is the B Side reworking of Goody Goody's "It Looks Like Love" which is turned into a sultry dubby seven minute delight.

Review: One of Juno's best selling official boogie represses of the last couple of years is none other than the Midnight Express Show Band with ''Danger Zone''. Originally out in 1983, it's a solid slice of feel-good boogie funk with a chunky electronic bassline, catchy horn riff and vocals from Robbie M (who has performed with bands such as Zapp, the Dazz Band and War & the Chi Lites to name a few). As championed by Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay, Danny Krivit, Kenny Dope and many more, this is as good as it gets.

Review: Prince Language provides yet more reason to heap praise on his towering shoulders with this retooling of Gary Low's "I Watched You" on his Editions Disco imprint. Head straight for the genius "FrenchKissmix" on Side A which strips the Italo bump of the original of its cheesier vocal excesses to concentrate on sucking you in via the groove before dropping 30 bpms to replicate the Washed Out track that sampled it before gradually picking up speed again.