STRANGE Vinyl & CDs

Review: Christopher Sprains and The Strange Band recorded a whole heap of material in a hazy, drug-fuelled 19178, but their - surprisingly - never gained enough traction with the NYC disco crowd. Perhaps this work was too ahead of its time and, while it does share some qualities with the music of Rick James, it contains something dark, sexy, a little bit twisted and, of course, strange. The lead track "You" is a synth-heavy, electrifying boogie cut with a rugged percussion swing and an air of post-punk to its mix down, not to mention those utterly freaky vocals; our favourite, though, is actually "Space V", an insanely nutty electro cut that would have undoubtedly been on The Electrifying Mojo's playlist should it have landed on his lap. Totally recommended...

Review: The now nicely matured Samosa label out of Italy is back with a 31st offering of its lavish disco and funk fusions. This time out the four tracker features four different artists starting with Strange and 'Hard Working' (De Gama Re-drums) which is a cosmic laced late night stomper then Frank Virgilio gets all romantic and feel good with 'Love Is Positivity.' Mosaik Kollektif opens up the flip with the deep sounds of 'Keep' (De Gama Re-drums) and last of all comes some more freewheeling funk with Monsieur Van Pratt and his 'Funk De Ibiza.'