DJS: MOST CHARTED - DISCO - MOST CHARTED JUNE 2013

Review: Atlanta-based Moon B delivers his second transmission for the PPU label with the killer Sussegad! Both the masterfully lo-fi modern funk of his PPU debut and the subsequent analogue thump of Moon B's Entropic Feelings 12" for newcomers Going Good have been characterised by a nonchalant disregard for the art of the track title, rife as they are with "untitled" arrangements. Lead track "Oof" was apparently inspired by the producer's performance at Brooklyn event Mutual Dreaming, so consumed with creative urges after the party was he. Complementing this are two of his rugged gems culled from that aforementioned performance at Mutual Dreaming. Essential cuts for fans of modern analogue funkateering.

Review: Bird Scarer return with the first 10" release of their short life span thus far and the first contribution from an artist outside the so called Axis of Weatherall, Johnston, Fraser and Fairplay. Those abreast of contemporary chug should still be more than aware of Craig Bratley's work via his output on Foto, Instruments of Rapture, Is It Balearic and his own Magic Feet label. For those not familiar with Craig, this 10" includes a printed letter penned by Sir Weatherall himself introducing Bratley to the Bird Scarer family. Musically "Obsession" fits right in, channelling the spirit of D.A.F. on a delightfully sleazy production - can we have that New Beat revival already? Weatherall and Fairplay don their Asphodells outfit for a sublime, slowed down remix on the flip.

Review: Three highlights from 2011's stunning album of the same name. Each one sees Trent returning to the mid 90s, revisiting some of his most formative moments and most enduring ideas and sketches. "CE100" is a fireside groove kindled by endless organ blasts, heartbeat percussion and infectious hi-hats (Think Mr De's Renaissance project) "Big Medicine" takes this loose, layered organ warmth further again, featuring none other than Leroy Burgess on keys it builds and builds with organic intent. "Never Too Far Away" shows the Ron at his most soulful. Slinky, jazzy and downtempo, it's the perfect comedown to his more insistent rhythms. Beautiful.

Review: The mighty Disco Deviance and the mighty Popular People's Front join forces for a righteous slab of dancefloor wax. Leading the way is a splendidly dirty extension of Five Special's "Why Leave Us Alone" which discards with the original's song based structure in favour of that final part, teasing out new levels of dirt from that break and turning it into an electro funk bomb worthy of a full floor. On the flip, "Love Itch" sees the iconic Fad Gadget make their Disco Deviance debut with "Love Parasite" brilliantly transformed into a grubby proto house monster. Those expect Frank Tovey's voice might be disappointed but you can't front on what PPF have done to the track with this edit, which could happily fit into a house or techno set.

Review: Fresh from NYC, My Rules are an anonymous editor crew closely related to the likes of Keep It Cheap and C.O.M.B.I. Both "More Fry" and "Now Show" conjure up the spirit of The Loft with their extended, lolloping grooves that seemingly go on forever. "More Fry" is the more psychedelic of the pair with wistful guitar moans and a thundering, groove. "Now Show" leans more towards traditional disco vibes with more prominent strings, a tight cheeky horn refrain and yet another amorous bassline. Jump on this while you can.

Review: Hot on the heels of Beedle and Yam Who's remixes of "Carnaval" come more respectful contemporisations of Brazilian funk troupe Azymuth. Beedle takes on "E Mulher" this time around, stretching it out into two deep, dubby renditions peppered with percussion, soulful chords and lolloping bass grooves. Opolopo, meanwhile, makes a bid to better his still-impeccable remix of "1960 What?" and takes "Carnaval" on trip to synth boogie town. With warm, wriggling acid bass and reverb soaked percussion, it's not far off his best.

Review: Tim Sweeney's burgeoning Beats In Space welcomes a new if familiar (not to mention beardy) face into the fold in the shape of Tornado Wallace. The Desperate Pleasures 12" marks another release in a resurgent year for Australian producer Tornado Wallace, following turnouts for ESP Institute and Kinfolk (the latter as part Coober Pedy University Band) Musically, Wallace himself describes the three tracks as "designed for late night wanderings through Botswanan jungles" and there's a discernible degree more thickness to his productions here. "Okavango Delta" adds notable Afro beat elements and field recordings into its sprung synth textures, while the balmy downtempo guitar and Italo elements of both the title track and "Space Tropics" call to mind Fabio Frizzi's Zombie Flesh Eaters soundtrack. Amazingly colourful artwork and vinyl too!

Review: Smoky psychedelic blues are the order of the day as Murphy, Searle and Quinn's Paqua project returns to Mudd's Claremont 56 imprint. As with "Dinosaur Zappa", expect nothing but the most delectably deep cosmic fun. If you didn't know any better you'd think it was straight out of a 70s stoner's deepest, dustiest crate. "We Are What We Are" is a more pastoral, hippy affair. Think The Art Of Lovin' but much more dubbed out and textured. Organic, jammy and superbly Balearic, Paqua mean serious business.

Review: Emotional Rescue certainly laid a claim for the most esoteric of reissue endeavours last year, and they are maintaining this approach in 2013. This release sees the label dig further into the cassette archives of Kevin Harrison, focusing specifically on the Neo project the Coventry musician did in cahoots with fellow electronic explorer Peter Every from Neophyte Records. As you can tell from the primitive drum heavy tone of the music, Neo surfaced in 1985 with the 8 track cassette release Global Network. This twelve presents five of those tracks, all of which echo the pulsing electronic rhythms of the Fly EP, Emotional Rescue's previous Harrison reissue, and will find as much favour with those who sleep on the left side of disco as fans of cold wave.

Review: 3 off cuts from the personal archives of Mr Frank Booker make for another worthy 12" transmission from the KAT label. First up Booker reworks the 1983 gem "Synchro System" from King Sunny Ade, adding a mid tempo groove to the original's lilting array of guitars, horn riffs and vocal hooks that locks you right in. This is matched on the flip with the wonderful edit of Fela Kuti's classic "Egbe Mi O" that has a similarly crunchy feel to it and funks wholeheartedly. The final track "People Must Jam" showcases Booker's cut and paste skills, sitting snugly between, p-funk, boogie and house music and is dominated by that wondrous filtered groove.

Review: The C.O.M.B.I. shaped journey through the disco alphabet assisted by the well respected curatorial hands of a certain Eric 'Dr Dunks' Duncan reaches letters W & Y and thus the penultimate point before all good things come to an end. Side W is classic strutting vocal disco (is that a high pitched lead male or female vocal?) whilst Side Y opts for a funkier groove with some killer flanging from Mr Duncan! It's been a killer journey through the archives of obscure disco of alleged Japanese origin since the C.O.M.B.I. series commenced way back in 2007 and contemporary Disco DJs will need to look elsewhere for their secret weapons soon.

Review: Following the superb Visions of Estonia album from last year, estranged Estonian producer Uku Kuut resurfaces on Washington DC imprint Peoples Potential Unlimited with I Feel Love. This two-track EP is yet another perfect example of the label's speciality in dealing with obscure and unknown dance music gems from the '70s and '80s and highlights why PPU is an eternal favourite at Juno HQ. "I Feel Love" sounds like a combination between Todd Terje's heralded disco-edits and the Norwegian's pumping originals, while "Santa Monica Pier" shuffles and slides like Steve Wonder and Ray Charles knocking heads, drum machines, keys and synthesisers in a sun-drenched Californian studio.

Review: Said to be discovered and championed by a young Daniele Baldelli, this track from 1983 has been defined as a cosmic classic. The work of producer Steve Coe and his partner Sheila Chandra as Monsoon, they combined elements of dub, dance and ethnic music, mainly released through their Indipop label. Their mesmerising and majestic track 'The Dream' is featured on this reissue by Emotional Rescue, as well as an edit of original B-side cut 'Meditasian' featuring a sublime sitar solo which will hypnotise you into submission, but cut down by a good 20 minutes compared to the original.

Review: Emotional Relish sees Emotional Response team up with the Relish label overseeen by Headman to launch the limited Emotional Relish label with the first release helmed by Headman in cahoots with Scott Fraser and Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb fame. The title track has McCarthy suppling gurgly and anthemic vocals while Headman and Fraser drop cold basement beats, warbling synths and driving arpeggios. Of the three alternate mixes, the first comes from the Hardway Bros and their "Axis Forces dub", which powers home '90s new beat and EBM stylings, while Mexican producer Daniel Maloso puts emphasis on the the original arpeggio and breathy McCarthy vocals. The additional dub mix reduces the synth action and like Maloso, reworks the the Nizter Ebb's vocalist's yelps, making a great alternative club mix.

Review: International Feel returns with the re-release of a record that inspired the label's foundation in Punta Del Este, Uruguay back in 2009. Originally released back in 2008 on the rarely seen and now seemingly dormant Misericord label, "Boutade" by Belgian duo Mugwump was exclaimed by the revered Bill Brewster as "one of the tracks of the noughties" and listening back to the thick acid bassline, slightly over the top orchestration and a chugging 107BPM groove now it's hard not to disagree. It certainly sounds as ripe for the modern disco floors as it did some 5 years ago, and this new edition also sees Mugwump turn in a "2103 Techno Redux" which isn't necessarily techno but does update the track.

Review: The Thinking Allowed EP that saw Tornado Wallace debut on ESP Institute earlier this year not only signaled the end of a production hiatus from the affable Melbournite, it hinted at a fuller, more vivid sound that went much further than the pitched down deep house upon which he first made his name. Having subsequently demonstrated this further on releases for Kinfolk and Beats In Space, Wallace returns to Lovefingers label - well sort of - as tracks from the aforementioned Thinking Allowed are reworked by Pharoahs and Nina Amnesia. It's the latter, somewhat mysterious compatriot of Wallace who leads the way with a wonderfully uptempo take on "Bit One", whilst LA trio Pharaohs discard with the Will Powers style vocals of the title track and add plenty of their own instrumentation and production gloss.

Review: Bumpy, shuffling and just the right amount of jazzy, Ron Basejam's remix deserves to take the lead here. Strutting and shuffling with a perky slap-bass and subtle vibraphone meanders, it's the ultimate summer disco stomper. For a more direct tech punch head for Iron Curtis's remix where the same chords and grooves are interpreted through a Detroit machine. Finally we're treated to the album version of "New Beat". Slow, analogue and synthy, it's a great tribute to its formative 80s genre namesake.

Review: A prolific editor and sampler, it's interesting to see Eddie C go under other peoples' knives. Here we find three cuts taken from his album Country City Country, each one polished in a completely different fashion. The edgy, shoulder barging electro jack of "It Goes Free" gets seduced into a much sexier, cosmic Terje-style groove by KZA, the twinkling jazz noodles and soft boompty-bomp of "La Palette" is given a much more uncompromising jack by Young Marco while Rune Lindbaek thaws out the obtuse iciness of "Eisbergen" for something much warmer and slinkier.