Back catalogue: Disco/Nu-Disco

Review: Enter the Island is the new Concept EP of Daniel Monaco. Is the story of a group of friends who have ventured on a mysterious Island with the only mission to enter its infamous Reptilian Club. The tracks are a mix of Disco, Tropical and Dub an obscure psychedelic trip performed and recorded live at Daniel's studio, but the adventure is not over yet because Enter The Island is not only a long trip into a mystical place is also a Board Game for two to four players. The idea was born during the first lockdown. Due to the big crisis brought by Covid-19 there were no chances to print Vinyl for this EP therefore Daniel thought to design a game made exclusively for this concept, its rules are unique as well as its design reflecting perfectly the spirit of the music.

Alessandro Rosa is the artist who made the design. The Board Game is the same size of a Vinyl cover made on Forex printed white on black. An unprecedented concept unique in its genre, a creative reaction against hard times.

Review: The cleverly deceptive genius Patrick Adams was born March 17, 1950 in New York City. Some people are just destined for greatness and Adams was one of those. He wrote his first song at 12, recorded his first record at 16 and produced his first track at 17. It would take several more years for the world to realize his genius. In 1966 Patrick joined a neighbourhood group and they immediately auditioned for a role in "Up The Down Staircase". The boys won the part of the high school dance band and are featured in a segment of the Warner Brothers film. Two months later the guys, now known as "The Sparks," were signed to Curb/MGM. But after failing to chart the label quickly dropped them. The Sparks continued performing and touring together for four more years. Patrick's next success came the following year (1967) when he wrote "You've Got To Learn Something" for the children's show "Sesame Street". In 1970 Adams left the group to take a job as A&R Vice-President of Perception/Today Records. During that period he also worked as a sideman with numerous artists like Astrud Gilberto and Les Variations. In 1974 Patrick teamed up with Peter Brown to form P&P Records. The label was distributed by Morris Levy's Roulette Records and housed the sub-labels Queen Constance, Heavenly Star, Jay Star, Chocolate Star Records and many more. He also started Papmus his own production company. During the next four years, as disco was emerging, Adams became a key figure in its growth scoring countless hits including: "Atmosphere Strut" with Cloud One, "My Baby's Got E.S.P." with Four Below Zero, and "Lady Bug" by Bumblebee Unlimited. 1978 was Patrick's breakthrough year. The infamous song was "In The Bush". "I did not sit down and invent the phrase "Push Push In The Bush" in a moment of meditative genius. I was in the recording studio looking for a chant to put on the chorus of this last hot track for the Musique album. I was thinking out loud of my older brother and his friends. Sometimes they would chant - "To The Bush". This was a reference to a dance club that they frequented. A true indicator of how times have change, the first time Patrick played the cut for his label head honcho Marv Schlacther yelled, "Patrick, I can't put that out!" After some serious discussion it was decided that it would be included on the album but not promoted as a single. About three weeks later, the cover story on Billboard Magazine was that about 600 radio stations were banning some naughty record called "Push Push In The Bush!" exclaims Patrick. The rest as they say is history. Over the course of the next three years Patrick Adams racked up an impressive 22 hits. As the disco-era changed, so too did Adams. In the 1980's he would lend his creative genius to such notable acts as Salt 'N' Pepa, Keith Sweat and Carol Lynn Townes. In the 1990's he helmed recordings by Eric B. & Rakim, Paul Lekakis and Morris Day. Patrick has received the ASCAP "Songwriter Of The Year" award three times. He has multiple Gold and Platinum record awards and at last his very own 'Best Of' collection.

Review: Arabic music crate-diggers Habibi Funk have so far proved adept at unearthing killer material from the 1970s and '80s that joins the dots between indigenous styles and familiar Western genres. Their latest collection focuses on the work of 1970s Egyptian band Al Massireen, an outfit funded by one of the country's most successful producers of the period, Hany Shenoda. Modern Music, so called because the band was Shenoda's attempt to modernize Arabic music, includes tracks taken from a wealth of forgotten cassettes and albums. Musically, it's rather special; a heady blend of Arabic vocals and instrumentation, orchestral disco influences, blue-eyed soul, grown-up pop and dreamy West Coast style rock.

Review: And so it is that we say a teary goodbye to Claremont 56's superb Originals series of decidedly Balearic compilations. While a bespoke vinyl box set featuring tracks from the series is due at the end of September, this is the last official installment. This time round, NYC-based, Tokyo-raised Frenchman Alex From Tokyo is the man at the controls. Predictably, his selections are spot on, from the laidback, jazz guitar-flecked bliss of his own Tokyo Black Star re-edit of Pepe California's "Meli-Fali", and the wide-eyed synth-Balearica of Violets' "Sunset", to the tongue-in-cheek post-disco funk of Electric Guitars' "Night Bears", and the 1983 proto-house/boogie dubbiness of Tia Monae's "Don't Keep Me Waiting (Dub Mix)". In other words, it's as impeccable and essential as the rest of the series.

Review: As the convoluted title suggests, this double CD mix-up from leather jacket-clad Phantasy Sound boss Erol Alkan offers two distinctly different flavours and a welcome update on his classic first Mix CD release for Bugged Out. The first disc, his Bugged In selection, delivers a fuzzy, off-kilter trawl through some of Alkan's current home listening faves. It's typically eclectic, touching on lo-fi rock, psychedelic oddities, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and soft focus electronica from the likes of Walls and Space Dimension Controller. The second disc, on the other hand, sees Alkan in full-on club mode. Recorded live, it's something of an energetic romp through darkroom disco, Italo, classic techno, balls-out bangers and twisted acid house revivalism. It is, of course, a sweaty treat.

Review: Although he started his career back in the early 2000s and has links with Moodymann's Mahogani Music label, Andres' profile has increased of late thanks to a string of brilliant EPs for M1 Sessions and his own La Vida . The time is surely right, then, to drop his first commercially available mix CD. As you'd expect, it's firmly rooted in soul, effortlessly joining the dots between disco-funk, jazz, slow jams, global beats and summery Latin flavas. Opening with the Universal Robot Band's impeccable "Dance and Shake Your Tambourine", Culture Shock sits somewhere between a particularly good radio show and a dancefloor-bating mix-up, making it perfect for home listening. It also includes Gilberto Gil's disco era samba classic "Toda Menina Baiana", which is never a bad thing.

Review: Arp is the most recent project of Alexis Georgopoulos, formerly of Tussle & The Alps. As an emblem of Alexis' commitment to natural electronic music, (bridging the natural and electronic worlds), nearly all of "In Light" was recorded live. Very few loops were used - in fact, only one. This gesture was meant to bring back some of the rough (re: natural) edges that have been lost in so much electronic music today. "In Light" is a luminous album of warm, pulsing music.

Review: Dutch dude Arp Frique won plenty of praise for his 2017 debut 12" on Rush Hour Store Jams, which featured contributions from Senegalese and Cape Verde musicians. On this surprise debut album, he continues the same approach, delivering a scintillating set of tracks that gleefully join the dots between Afro-disco, jazz-funk, boogie, Caribbean reggae-disco, bossa-soul and the kind of up-tempo, synth-laden madness that defies easy categorization. Throughout, the presence of live drums, vocals and instrumentation gives the album a loose and fluid feel, as if what we're listening to is not a fresh album, but rather a long lost African rarity from the turn of the '80s. As debut albums go, it's a bit of a corker.

Review: The hype around Toronto house outfit Azari & III has been steadily building since the release of "Reckless (With Your Love)" and "Hungry For The Power" in 2009. On this debut full-length, it's easy to see why. Blending infectious vocals and retro-futurist riffage with snappy jack tracks, incessant analogue rhythms and bold pianos, they offer a deliciously contemporary take on the classic house and techno sounds of Chicago, New York and Detroit. At times parallels can be drawn with acts like Inner City and Ten City, at others with innovators such as Virgo Four, Larry Heard and DJ Pierre. Yet Azari & III are no imitators - for all the classic house reference points, they have a fresh, floor-friendly sound all of their own.

Review: Until he quit the music industry in the mid-1990s, Shep Pettibone was the most in-demand remixer on the planet - a position he'd held since the late 1970s. This four-disc compilation does a great job of showcasing some of his greatest remixes, all of which are presented in full-length form. There's naturally plenty of versions of big pop singles of the '80s - see the epic 'Mastermix' of Pet Shop Boys' 'West End Girls', as well as rubs of Duran Duran, New Order, Whitney Houston and Belinda Carlisle - as well as a sprint through his celebrated disco and boogie reworks (see disc four). In addition, you'll find versions of some lesser-celebrated gems from the freestyle-era, including heavyweight revisions of Sinammon, Alisha, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and The Flirts.