Disco Recommendations November 2011

Review: Yam Who?'s ISM label come through with a four track slice of disco centric Futurism, featuring the man Yam himself alongside PBR Streetgang and Ron Basejam. It's the latter who takes the lead with a remix of Alena's "Changes" that sees her sultry vocal teased by a most excellent of analogue synth leads that splurges brilliantly across the crisp mid tempo chug. Yam Who? teams up with vocalist Natasha Watts for the similarly bottom heavy bump of "I'm In Love" which has a certain warehouse appeal to it. On the flip, PBR pay respect to the godfather of soul James Brown with the gritty flex of "J2thaB" with the sadly departed Mr Brown strangely sounding at times like he wants to go to Tesco. We always took him for a Waitrose man, but regardless this is probably the track you'll reach for most! Finally Brothers Young do their thing to a Trammps classic, with little more than the bassline retained. Big tip!

Review: After years of digging up the more perverse grooves, the quartet of disco obsessives known collectively as Soft Rocks are finally on the cusp of releasing a debut album. Amusingly aimed as a riposte to the "endless army of laptop-savvy poseurs that upload their bland nu-disco or faux-Chi-house directly to a cesspool of digitally downloadable fodder", the Soft Rocks juggernaut present an illuminating taste of what to expect with lead single "We Hunt Buffalo Now". Jorge Socarras, vocalist for San Francisco punk funkateers Indoor Life, lends his vocal talents to a track that veers through richly detailed and ever so slightly drunk disco dub, deviating in all sorts of directions, with a guttural bass line at the core. The legendary Andrew Weatherall is called upon to remix the track in a gothic disco fashion not dissimilar to his all conquering revision of Toddla T, which is as excellent as you would expect. Roll on the full album please!

Review: Wurst Music are on the cusp of releasing a rather fine debut compilation, amusingly titled Wurst Music Ever, which sees label regulars share album space with some new faces across a ten track selection. The first of three vinyl EPs to accompany the CD release arrives sporting a quartet of brilliant tracks from Soho808, Pink Stallone, Tiago and Chicago Damn. New York natives Soho808 announced themselves to the world with a rather fine beatdown rendition of Soul II Soul and their contribution here, "Reach", proves to be just as rewarding. Featuring some breathlessly soulful vocals from Safiyah, the track oozes emotive depth and warmth and sports the thickest of low end throbs. Alongside this, Pink Stallone continue to blur the boundaries between song writing and electronic arrangements with a little help from Joey Washington on "Help Yourself", whilst Tiago wastes little time in leaping into a hi nrg modern disco strut on "Peanuts Not Working". Chicago Damn provides a nice change in mood by slipping through superlative beatdown rhythms on "Romcom".