Disco Recommendations May 2012

Review: Repress of the debut Sofrito Super Singles which celebrates the Afro-disco and boogie scene of South Africa, - where Salsoul meets Soweto. Comes housed in a new look Sofrito house sleeve. The three track EP features Teaspoon & The Waves - led by veteran alto player Teaspoon Ndelu. They released one album in 1980, covering a mix of disco and funk sounds for the SA dancefloors. Oh yeh Soweto is a cheeky version of Lamont Dozier's Going Back To My Roots - changing the lyrics and toughening up the beats, but with the same killer riffs. Saturday Night Special is from the same LP, a spaced out Afro Disco groove with excellent percussion and psychedelic synths, re-edited by the Sofrito team. The B side features a track by the Nzimande Allstars - another mysterious group of session musicians. The drawn out groove of Highway Sporo Disco fuses a heavy disco backing with jive guitar and stellar horns and organ for a unique taste of the underground sound of the Cape.

Review: ISM Records drop this tasty 12" sampler of what to expect from their forthcoming Midnight Riot compilation that showcases the finest slo mo cuts, boogie joints and late night takes. The four tracks included here represent the DJ friendly contributions with Drop Out Orchestra, Ajello, The Legendary 1979 Orchestra and Mr Chicago present. The latter steps up first with "Bad Dub" which expertly submerges a mid 90s US rock n roll classic in all manner of echo and delay, whilst fellow Scandinavians Drop Out Orchestra provide an equally inventive electro groove rendition of a Sylvester standard with "Get Up". Dinner City Sound contributor The Legendary 1979 Orchestra brings some effervescent disco vibes to the B Side with "The Living" notable for its rough drum programming as much as the slick sample looping. Little needs to be said about Italians Ajello other than they know how to construct a disco groove that combines classic and contemporary touches and "That Groove Again" is a perfect example of this talent.

Review: The consistently excellent ESP Institute reach into their sizeable archive of material to re-evaluate Sea Power & Change, the 2010 release from Portuguese producer Tiago under the same name, calling on some of their celebrated friends and contemporaries to rework the tracks. Long term ESP aficionados Soft Rocks man the A Side with a supreme revision of "Strangefruit", realigning the track to a spine tinglingly good, smacked out dub boogie main frame that immediately brings forth a craving for relaxed summer nights with a bottomless jug of sangria for company. Fresh from a stunning turn on the fledgling Beats In Space label, Secret Circuit brings his mangled analogue stylings to "Wild Combination" which takes on 23rd Century visions of the Wild West as it canters forth. Finally a glistening, dubwise horizontally inclined re-appropriation of "Yesterday Is Dead" is delivered courtesy of Johnny Nash, providing a sumptuous end to another fine release from one of our favourite labels.

Review: The good ship Claremont 56 sails back into focus with the sumptuous cosmiche strains of Fursatti, otherwise known as the non vocal elements of revered German act and Leng regulars Mountaineer. Stripped of this vocal element, the band's love of that vintage German sound shines through, the appropriately titled lead track "Rheinlust" rippling with metronomic glee over a subtley intoxicating groove. We defy anyone not to get consumed wholly by this track as it glides effortlessly on a wave of gently implemented sounds towards the run out groove. The band's love for another Claremont artist Holger Czukay and his celebrated band Can shines through on the accompanying "Links Der Pegnitz" a delightful jazz flecked number rich in thick layers of expert instrumentation.

Review: The deliciously named duo Boys From Patagonia step forwards as the latest additions to International Feel's roster of pan-continental contemporary balearica with the sublimely sounding Rimini '80. The cousinly duo of Davide Armour & Philippe Mascerano form Boys From Patagonia, bonded by blood, a love of vintage synthesisers and vaguely cheesy Italian pop from the past - with Mascerano's home base in Patagonia influencing their moniker. The title track "Rimini '80" sits proudly alongside Lindstrom's finest moments as a producer, deftly aligning a strident mid tempo beat with all manner of glowering synth manipulation which sounds undeniably authentic in its approximation of a summer's night on the floor of a Rimini hotspot. On the flip, "It's So Exciting" (High Jingo Love Love rework) adopts a slower, digital beat which clearly gets the female vocalist a bit hot under the collar.

Review: Transmissions from the Cyber Dance imprint have been sporadic since its inception in 2005, but when they arrive they're always something very special indeed. Ostensibly one of Italo Disco's great lost producers, we suspect that Bandido's Gang may well be a nom de plume for one of the label's many associates. Whatever their provenance, the tracks certainly sound like vintage Italo, with "Marinche" leading with a pulsating bass arpeggio and synth horn melody worthy of Moroder, whilst the Flemming Dalum & Steen Gjerulff remix adds layers of vocoder and a variety of cosmic accents to its sturdy frame. "Last Train to Tucamari" meanwhile takes a more languid approach, pulling in an opposite direction to the speeding train samples, whilst Flemming Dalum & Mike Salta's remix adds some guitar licks, hazy synth atmospherics and even a flute solo which just adds to the classic Italo feel. Killer!

Review: Kansas born London resident Shawn Lee brings his Ping Pong Orchestra to Aficionado, for another release brimming with inherent musicality. "San Diego" is a delightful piece of nu-disco that incorporates a very distinct Motown feel; the shuffling percussion, downtrodden vocal and gently tinkling piano work all capture the essence of one of the motor city's most significant movements. Phil Mason's Tour Werks After Hours mix on the flip makes light work of the original. He retains almost every element of the track, but gives the drums, bass line and guitar hook room to move, allowing them the privacy to unite in a union of funk and soul.

Review: Room 315 step up to the fledgling Kinfolk imprint for three tasty psyche-edit numbers; opener "The Eon Men" sets the standard with its robust bass pulse driving a slow beat forward on a flurry of digitised synth solo and live guitar action, whilst "Night On The Shore" begins as a sinister number with lurching bass, but soon opens itself up with its solitary guitar line and floating synth pads which recall the end credits to an 80s thriller, all driven along with minimal 808 percussion. On the flip, edit masters Soft Rocks provide their own version of "The Eon Men", taking the grizzled quality of the original and creating their own minimal wave inspired reworking, with a brittle bassline joined by shady echoes of dub music in its cavernous backdrop and savage low end.

Review: Aside from a few select remix commissions and monthly Soundcloud mixes, Vito Aeroplane has been largely absent this year, possibly holed up in the studio plotting how to follow We Can't Fly, his epically cast debut album. Whilst we await some new material form De Luca, Eskimo return to that debut for possibly the final time, electing to assign some French royalty the task of remixing the title track. Cassius are up first with a magnificent revision, stripping the track of its mid tempo Compass Point swagger in favour of an incendiary gospel house refrain that is fully dosed up on rave juice. Tigersushi boss Joakim is on inspired form too - as he always seems to be with remixes - with an equally anthemic take on the Aeroplane classic "Caramellas"!

Review: The Blackdisco edits imprint predated the overwhelming explosion of unnecessary and poorly executed disco tweaks in recent times and stood apart thanks to the enviable music knowledge of its owners Lovefingers and Nitedog, and their chosen participants (which include Soft Rocks, Justin Vandervolgen and Alexis Le Tan). The 11th instalment in the ongoing series sees the reins handed to the three pan European brains behind the Frisbee Records operation in Dea, Albion and Spacelex. Dea hogs the A Side with two sublime disco revisions - "Malaka" strutting camply between lightly arpeggiated movements and thick orchestration, whilst "Taubat" expertly weaves through empirical Eastern romance via a delightful lead synth refrain. Albion infuses "Kaleidoscope" with enough shuffling percussion and textural warmth to fully justify the title, while Spacelex name checks our favourite Washington DC based label with the short but broad and languid space rock epic "Future Times".