S TONE INC Vinyl & CDs

Review: Considered "the absolute Don of Italo piano house", Don Carlos is up next on esteemed NYC label Razor N Tape with an EP of rare vintage house from the archives - 30 years old in fact. For the uninitiated, Don (Carlo Troya) and S-Tone (Stefano Tirone) released two records on Italian imprint Calypso in the early '90s under the alias Montego Bay. Features the emotive, late-night garage of 'Music All Night' (Deep In Milano mix) followed by the low-slung dancefloor heater 'Keep Dancing The Boogie' on the A-side. The flip offers the life-affirming vocal cuts 'Waited So Long' and 'Gotta Keep Dancing' respectively which perfectly capture the zeitgeist of house music's golden era in the early '90s.

Review: Stefano Tirone is one of Schema Records's main men and here he remixes his own last album Moby and Soul. He reworks it into a more dance floor friendly disco sound with bright nu-disco melodies and slinky drums. It is an homage to the original sounds of the 70s and 80s and American DJ Larry Levan and Italian Baldelli. Opener 'Body & Soul' kicks off with nice fresh and upbeat vibes and then there are summery Balearic sounds like the gorgeous 'Flying Away' and the groovy 'In The Name Of Love' (feat Laura Fedele - extended remix). 'No Meio Do Samba' then sinks into hip swinging house territory.

Review: Stefano Tirone's career as S-Tone Inc stretches right back to the dawn of the 1990. Back then, he was joining the dots between deep house and acid jazz, but over the decades since he's settled in to a groove rooted in nu-jazz and soul. On this seven-inch, he revisits two tracks from his fine 2020 album Body & Soul. First, he re-imagines 'Move On', featuring vocalist Afra Kane, as a sumptuous chunk of disco-influenced dancefloor soul - all Chic style bass and guitars, hazy horns, lilting synth-strings and crunchy Clavinets - before reframing the Toco-voiced Latin number 'Rosa De Rebeira' as a warming chunk of samba-house loveliness.

Review: Stefano Tirone has been a stalwart of the Italian scene since making his debut on legendary Italian house label Calypso Records way back in 1992. Since then, his productions have become increasingly more jazz and soul focused, with a sizeable side order of groovy downtempo beats. His latest seven-inch single begins with "Try My Love", a hazy chunk of head-nodding jazz-funk/soul fusion rich in languid synthesizer solos, lazy grooves, hazy horns and soulful vocals. It's really good all told, though we'd argue that flipside "Odoya" - a wiggling chunk of Afro-tinged mid-tempo funk - is even better. Either way, it's another rock solid release from the effervescent Tirone.

Review: With a career stretching back to the turn of the '90s, Stefano 'S-Tone' Sirone has long been one of Italy's foremost purveyors of jazz-fired goodness. Last year he returned to action with "Onda", a brilliant set of jazz-funk, disco, samba and deep house fusion that also marked his first album-length excursion for four years. This nifty seven-inch offers up two new interpretations of one of that collection's standout tracks, "Luz Da Joaca", by fellow Italian nu-jazz veteran Gerardo Frisina. On the A-side, he turns it into a Clavinet-sporting chunk of samba-house fusion rich in layered percussion and '70s style Brazilian jazz-funk vocals. The flipside dub, an altogether heavier and more percussively intense affair, is arguably even better.

Review: The original version of "Beira Do Mar" was one of the tracks selected by Gilles Peterson as best singles of 2005 for his Worldwide radio show's awards. The seminal radio host, former founder of Talking Loud, liked it so much so he put it in his latest chapter of Brazilian music compilations, "GP Back In Brazil" (disc 2). In this 12" we have a version of "Beira Do Mar" skillfully remixed by Solo Moderna (formerly known as Combo Moderna) in a very minimal style if compared to the original take. Yet it creates a groove as hypnotic as incessant which grows slowly to reach its final peak. Rhythmically keeping its Brazil-Jazz source, it is mainly directed to clubs though. On side B this single presents a previously unreleased track titled "Cueva Del Lobo" which highlights the musical skills of trombonist Beppe Caruso, who offers a impressive and refined solo, over a base rich in Latin-funk taste that is vaguely retro. Seemingly this tune's rhythm starts in Bossa then develops almost in Samba, whereas harmonies graze Salsa.

Review: Although he released his first 12" singles during the Italian house boom of the early 1990s, S-Tone Inc's Stefano Tirone has never considered himself a house producer. A quick glance at his back catalogue confirms that he's made far more nu-jazz and acid jazz, though he never abandoned the dancefloor completely. As Onda, his first album for four years, deftly proves, he can still knock out superior quality, jazz-flecked deep house when he needs to. Accompanied by a string of friends and guest vocalists, the Milanese producers lays down a series of superbly summery cuts that casually join the dots between jazz-funk, disco, samba, house, soul and bossa-nova. That the album is hugely entertaining and musically compelling is testament to Tirone's undoubted studio skills.

Review: Although he released his first 12" singles during the Italian house boom of the early 1990s, S-Tone Inc's Stefano Tirone has never considered himself a house producer. A quick glance at his back catalogue confirms that he's made far more nu-jazz and acid jazz, though he never abandoned the dancefloor completely. As Onda, his first album for four years, deftly proves, he can still knock out superior quality, jazz-flecked deep house when he needs to. Accompanied by a string of friends and guest vocalists, the Milanese producers lays down a series of superbly summery cuts that casually join the dots between jazz-funk, disco, samba, house, soul and bossa-nova. That the album is hugely entertaining and musically compelling is testament to Tirone's undoubted studio skills.

Review: Old school piano anthem needs no introduction.