DJs: Most Charted - Disco - Most Charted November 2016

Review: It's been a while since Dedication's last 12" release, the celebratory, DFA-released "I Ain't Gonna Tell You". Here, the British-Japanese collaborative combo returns to action, pitching up on Paul 'Mudd' Murphy's admirable Claremont 56 imprint. While both of the tracks here have previously been released on obscure compilations, this is the first time they've made it to wax. Choose between the deep, bumping and evocative "Let Me Rock You" - seemingly a tribute to Frankie Knuckles' loved-up, piano heavy remixes of the mid-to-late '80s with a little Loose Ends mixed in for good measure - and the more funk-fuelled "Pito Deep". This hip-wiggler sits somewhere between Herbie Hancock style jazz-funk, Nu-Balearic explorations, and the revivalist analogue boogie of Moon B.

Review: For his latest outing on the Good Timin' imprint he set up some years back, Jex Opolis is joined by Ian D Knight. The St Louis-based performance artist notably makes his presence felt on "Look At My Car", delivering a vocal inspired by "consumerism and rampant motorism" over the NYC producer's superb, Padlock-inspired, boogie-dub groove. The Compass Point influence also comes to the fore on closer "Guitar Sands", where intertwining guitar and synthesizer motifs stretch out across a Larry Levan-friendly backing track. The EP's other cut, "Rimini Nite", successfully pays tribute to the halcyon days of Italo-disco. It's every bit as thrilling as the rest of this superb 12".

Review: The work of obscure, conscious funk outfit Africano has previously proved popular with reissue labels, in part due to the rare nature of their original 1970s releases. This limited 7" single features two of their finest tracks: the fairly well known "Open Your Heart", and 1973's "Satisfactorize Your Mind". While the latter is a string-drenched treat that feels like a dustier, slightly more psychedelic take on the Philadelphia International sound, it's "Open Your Heart" that most impresses. Featuring urgent, passionate vocals, winding horn lines and a stomping funk-soul beat, it remains the outfit's finest moment bar none.

Review: Passport To Paradise has pulled off something of a coup here, snagging a rare re-edit EP from Redlight Records' digger Abel Nagengast. Predictably, it's rather good, and full to bursting with sneaky reworks of obscure gems. Title track "African Sheikh" - a kind of wonky Italo-disco/proto Afro-house hybrid - is particularly potent, though the quirky electrofunk/synth-pop shuffle of "Impossible" is almost as good. On the flip you'll find the dreamy, Balearic disco slinkiness of "Confusion", and the even more horizontal vibes of "Dazzled", where glistening guitars and hazy vocals intertwine with delay-laden beats and sustained synthesizer notes. As re-edit EPs go, it's one of the more special ones.

Review: Earlier in the year, Ashley "Arthur Jr" Stevenson debuted a new alias, The Last Trip To Gandahar, by contributing a track to the In House EP on City Fly (a label he co-founded many years back). This four-track outing is the project's first full outing, and also marks the debut of Washington DC-based label Better Listen. It's a confident and fun-packed affair, with Stevenson delivering tracks that sit somewhere between house-friendly re-edits, and sample-heavy original productions. As you'd probably expect, all four cuts are warm and groovy, making excellent use of elements of soul-soaked disco and jazz-funk tracks. It's all impeccably playable, with the flute-laden "Over Paradise" and righteous "Profound Experience" being our picks.

Review: Think of this as an early Christmas present from the Whiskey Disco camp: a five-track assault containing fresh edits, reworks and bonus material from label head honcho Sleazy McQueen and pal Obas Nenor. There's naturally plenty of floor-filling material throughout, from the sumptuous sensuality of opener "Love Theme" - all gently undulating grooves, eyes-closed vocal samples and twinkling late night musicality - to the dubbed-out disco-funk of "I Like My Girls (Redux)", and Moroder-ish machine disco pulse of "I Wanna Change You". There's also a curious, but rather good, lullaby-style cover version of the Chic-penned Sister Sledge classic "Lost In Music"; think of that as a gift to disco dads everywhere.

Review: Repress of the sought after Mukatsuku Records 12 containing two remastered tracks of Atlanta musician Ojeda Penn presented here according to Ojeda officially for the very first time.The A side kicks off with the extended holy grail instrumental version of 'Brotherson' taken from the Happiness album. There were two versions of the album Happiness in 1980 on the IFE independent label. They looked almost identical but the first version contained the now rarer elongated 9 & half minute jazz fused instrumental version of 'Brotherson' and then a few months later Penn recut the same album but with a much shorter version of the main track but this time adding strings and vocals assisted by Tommy Stewart from 'Bump N Hustle Music' fame. The former version is now being sold up to 500 dollors so this 180 gram single is a welcome release to the reissue market. Juno copies come in an exclusive branded card sleeve + sticker

Review: Many hardened disco diggers have long dreamed of finding a copy of Karriem's super-sweet 1979 single, "I Love You". It has a reputation for being one of the harder disco records to find, with copies of the original Pashlo Records release changing hands for serious sums online. Happily, Favorite Recordings has gone to the trouble of licensing it, offering this re-issue in replica artwork (complete with lyrics on the back sleeve). "I Love You" itself is near perfect, with Karriem's fine vocals and killer electric piano solos riding a loose disco groove full of clipped guitars and rich percussion. Like the original 12", this version boasts the superior extended mix, and a tighter edited version.

Review: Pino D'Angio enjoyed an interesting career, finding fame in his native Italy as both an author and composer. Around the turn of the '80s, he released a number of fine disco cuts, including the tasty "Okay Okay". It boasted a gravelly rap in Italian, rubbery electric bass, twinkling electric piano solos, and just the right amount of bouncy disco swing. Here, Editor's Kutz have licensed the original, backing it up with a pair of fresh re-edits: a subtle, punchier touch-up from Sleazy McQueen and VinylAddicted, and a disco-house tweak from Lillo and Deaf Kick. Arguably best of all, though, is The Reflex's adjustment of Guido Minisky's re-edit of sax-laden, boogie era jazz-funk jam "Hey Ciao Tu".

Review: Not just a beautiful compliment to pay someone special, but a hugely influential record that inspired Floating Points' now legendary Plastic People parties, too... A super obscure and expensive one at that. Now re-issued on Floating Points' own Melodies imprint - across three 45s - the Detroit band get full exposure with the deliciously funky main track enjoying two versions before dipping into the softer, more pastoral charms of "I Feel Like Dancing" and the string-led swoon festival, "Theme For Someone Special". We close on two contrasting grooves; an earthy ballad ("Trust Me") and a Whitfield & Strong style funk instrumental ("Dance Awhile"). Cheers Sam!

Review: The Spacetalk label returns with this fine compilation by French house shotter, Jeremy Underground. We know him, and you surely know him, though his My Love Is Underground label, an imprint that has produced some of the best deep house in the last five years. He's not in house mode today, though, and instead the DJ shows us his soul roots. Ron Rinaldi's opener "Mexican Summer" is a real peach of a song, then there's some Brazilian disco-funk through Leila Pinheiro's "Tudo Em Cima", and the supremely deep and sensual "Superstar" by NCCU. Other favourites include Maureen Bailey's bittersweet anthem "Takin' My Time With You", and June Evans' "Hardly Need To Say", a tune that we could just leave on repeat. A highly recommended comp!

Review: We knew the Fortuna label was capable of delivering some high-quality output, but this new EP has truly taken us by surprise. The imprint have dub up the timeless music of Lebabon's Raja Zahr, an artist who, alongside the Turkish connection, revolutionised disco music and gave it an extra layer of Eastern charm. These three tracks are a collection of his best and most provocative tunes from the 1980s: "Drum Sequence", as the title suggests, is a drum-heavy, tribal-ridden, disco charmer with fiery electronic twists and turns around its edges; on the flipside, "Dabke" spins the entire formula on its head by delivering a truly oddball piece of pseudo disco that has a lot more in common with the leftfield scene of the modern day, and the rampant "A Drummer & A Dancer" takes the disco blueprint off-piste, and into more bizarre corners that showcase this enigmatic and charismatic artist's abilities. Warmly recommended.

Review: Oh yes, puristic disco-not-disco truth from the Spacetalk outlet, right here. They're only on their second release to date, and they already seem to have an effective formula for winning over the hearts and minds of both dancers and critics. Avant Garde, a German house outfit known for having produced some pretty badass music back in the late 90s, receives the makeover treatment, first by Jaz & Party Dad, who turn the original version of "Everybody's Lover" into a groovy, bass-heavy boogie monster with a mild pace but a punchy drum roll, and then in the form of a much murkier dub take by Mudd. Don't underestimate the power of Spacetalk. More to come from this tidy new label soon, we hope!

Review: "Lescudjack" is one of the finest moments in Michael Chapman's epic discography. Originally featured on 1978's "Life On The Ceiling" album, the instrumental track melded the British guitarist's distinctive finger picking style with throbbing synthesizer lines and heavy space rock influences. Famously a favourite of Daniele Baldelli, and a long-standing secret weapon of Kosmiche-minded DJs, Chapman's peerless original version is joined here by a brilliant Lexx edit that subtly extends it into a more dancefloor-friendly version, with a longer opening build-up, a tasty drum break in the original, and a deliciously dubbed-out conclusion.

Review: Smokecloud Records has long claimed to be the World's only imprint dedicated to Detroit Beatdown style reworks of funk, soul, disco and boogie gems. Whether this is true or not, there's no denying the consistent quality of the imprint's output. This latest release features contributions from two label stalwarts; owner and A&R man Osmose, and New Yorker The Silver Rider. The latter kicks things off with "I Wanna Be", a rolling, soft touch head-nodder that fuses elements of a tactile soul cut with hypnotic, pitched-down house beats and filter sweeps. It's rather good, but nowhere near as inspired as Osmose's "Trust", which turns a classic Motor City soul cut into a smooth, toe-tapping Beatdown shuffler.

Review: Last year, Patchworks man Bruno Havart indulged his long-held love of Afro-disco via a fine album under the Violaa alias. Here, Africaine 808 and Dimitri From Paris take it in turn to remix tracks from that set. The latter serves up two epic interpretations of album title track "On Te L'avait Dit". There's a full Disco Blend, in which he carefully teases out the track by layering up the original production before unleashing the catchy vocal, and a pleasingly percussive, groove-driven Dub. Interestingly, Africaine 808's mix of previous single "Spies Are Watching Me" sticks fairly close to the original, craftily emphasizing Havart's percussion, punchy horns and rich, Afro-disco bass.

Review: Between Unthank, Firecracker, Cocktail d'Amore Music, Mule Musiq, Permanent Vacation, and ESP Institute, it is safe to say that Lord Of The Isles is a much coveted artist. It would also be safe to say that he makes pretty damn good music that has landed on some pretty damn good labels. But, this is no surprise, each one of the man's releases is drenched in quality, and he has a knack for delivering spaced-out house music that sits at the very outer edges of disco. He returns with a new LP for ESP, a label that is constantly on our radar these days, and it feels like a match made in heaven; fifteen tracks of pure electronic freedom, whichever lens they're being filtered through, and from raw, disjointed boogie, through to kinetic ambient scores, or even segments of shimmering deep house, this is the stuff you need. A masterful and perfectly executed album.

Review: We probably say this more than we should, but this time our statement really isn't prone to hyberbole: we love the Cultures Of Soul label, and whatever genre they're reissuing, we can always count on them to deliver the quality like no other imprint. From Evans Pyramid to the recent black gospel compilation they've released, we have nothing but good stuff to say about them, and this is equally true of this new South African disco collection from the years 1980-1984. The title alone should do the trick but trust us, there is nothing but fire in here, and if you're the sort of collector scouting for rare African rhythms then this is the gear for you. The Cannibals start off with some lovely docile disco jams, Harari's "Party" is a sublime lo-fi funk cut, the Don Laka material is pure disco glory, and the remaining tunes by the likes of Neville Nash or Al Etto are able to destroy ANY dance floor from here to Durban. Top marks from us...

Review: Hailing from Boston and steeped in the flamboyance and fabulousness of the golden age of disco, Saucy Lady lives up to her name on this record for Street Muzik. Previous outings with Rahaan and more recently on Star Creature and Tugboat Editions attest to the quality she attaches her alluring vocal delivery to. "Emotion" comes in three different mixes to give the DJ a few options. Whether you plump for the instrumental or the extended mix, the infectious musicality sewn into the jam can't help but get under your skin, although it's Saucy's honey-coated voice that seals the deal on this 12".

Review: Marcel Vogel's Lumberjacks In Hell label shows no signs of slowing as it ramps up a killer new salvo from debutant artist C Scott. "Climb On" is an uptempo workout to capture the absolute peak of the party in the funkiest of ways, while "Hands Free" provides an apt alternative with its slow, organ-led whimsy. Disco remains the backbone of the sound here, whatever tempo the track rolls at and wherever it may head. "Stuttering" demonstrates this perfectly with its heavily treated, head-spinning FX still capturing that classic good-time mood, while "At Ease" finishes on a life-affirming canter of Rhodes led celebration.