CASERTA Vinyl & CDs

Review: Joseph Caserta is an LA-based artist with a now global profile after outings on God Hour, Shadeleaf and Razor-N-Tape. He brings a distinctive funk style, has put out disco and deep house, as well as adding his own distinctive takes on classic cuts on his own label BridgeBoots. Now he lands on Local Talk with an EP called Hip Hop that once again finds him serving up his singular sonic signature. It features two originals and two versions and the A-side comes compete with swinging drums and a stabby chords that keep the energy bumping while the flip is all about punchy and bumping house jackers.

Review: Caserta is legendary digger Kon's long time engineer, and he sure does have a wealth of tricks up his own sleeve. Here he gets to tackle his own super 7" on the Bridge Boots label and first off he serve sup a lovely take on a Stevie Wonder tune. 'Stevie?' (Caserta Sunday Saint mix) has mid-tempo grooves rolling away nicely beneath exquisite synth work and a well-treated vocal from the man himself. JoDaCe steps up on the flip for a Saturday Sinner mix that is more driving and ready for the club. The bass is rugged, the vocals more looped and freaky, the effect just as brilliant but in different ways.

Review: Having previously worked his magic on classic cuts from Diana Ross, Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass - among others - Bridge Boots boss Caserta has now moved on to Marvin Gaye. He's grabbed the acapella from a classic song - in this case one of Gaye's duets with Diana Ross, "My Mistake (Was To Love You)"- and incorporated it into a brand new track. The A-side "Casey Mistake Mix" sits somewhere between early '80s boogie and the mid-80s proto-house sound created by Boyd Jarvis, Timmy Regisford and Paul Simpson. Interestingly, Gaye and Ross's vocals fit it like a glove. The flipside "Dub That Got Away" is an altogether more bumpin' garage-house workout rich in cut-up vocals snippets and wobbly analogue bass.

Review: Bridge Boots main man Caserta has previously proved to be one of the most talented re-editors around, up there with higher profile artists such as the Reflex and Joey Negro. His latest offering, a red seven-inch single featuring new rearrangements of Diana Ross hit "I'm Coming Out", is another beauty. On the A-side he offers up a "Long Way Mix" that gives more prominence to Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards' killer backing track (partly via stripping it back to the groove at key points) while retaining most of Ross' vocals. On the flip you'll find a "Sing-A-Long Dub" that strips it back further during key instrumental passages to allow the Motown legend's vocals to shine.

Review: After years spent serving up tasty, digital-only singles, Polish imprint That's Right Dawg Music finally makes its vinyl bow via a six-track mini-album featuring some of their most-checked catalogue cuts. Demarkus Lewis kicks things off via the carefully crafted disco-house release of 'TGIF', before Federfunk slams down the jazz-sampling peak-time punchiness of 'We Keep It Groovin' and Jazzmik offers up the funky deep house bounce of 'Get Him Outta Here'. Over on the reverse, Oggie B cannily combines mind-mangling electronic stabs, pumping beats and orgasmic vocal samples ('Steady Old Foot'), Makson makes great use of vintage rap and disco guitar samples on the energy-packed house thump of 'Last Man Standing', and Casserta and Jonny C join forces on the bass-heavy garage-house bump of 'Party #1'.