Back in stock: Disco/Nu-Disco

Review: In around 2013, artists like Yung Bae pioneered the genre of future funk, which took elements from early Japanese city pop and funk from the 1980s, and turned it into hyper-compressed, dull and nostalgic explosions of sampledelic sound. But in turn, it reinvigorated interest in the particular brand of city pop that had been sampled - and those already in the know about it will know it was already danceable and driving enough. ANRI, the singer hailing from Kanagawa, was a central artist in this early J-pop sound, and unwittingly paved the way for this decades-to-come cultural routing. Funky live horns, dynamic vocal jumps and an optimistic feel cut across her 1982 opus Heaven Beach - a more laid-back and relaxed album compared to her other projects, and only her fourth. Emblematic of the Sino-nostalgia that has taken the vaporwave and future funk community by storm, it was one of her four earliest albums to be released with the timeless Japanese music trademark - the obi-strip.

Review: Japanese city-pop starlet Anri was a fixture of the late 1970s to early 80s, and renewed interest in her work has sparked something of a reissues incentive. Now her 1984, early-to-mid career album Coool sees a reissue via For Life alongside Bi Ki Ni, and further hammers home her romantic vision in disco. Unlike the aforementioned album, Coool is slightly more electronic and dancey, and meditates more on appreciating nature than romance, with standout track 'Gone With The Sadness' reflecting Anri's experience of getting away from the city and leaving the sadness that comes with urbanity by the door.

Review: Hull's finest downtempo and Balearic master Steve Cobby (who is best known for being part of Fila Brazillia) is back with a brilliantly titled record that once again finds him impressing on all fronts. He is the producer but also the man who plays all the keyboards, bass, guitar, flute, clarinet, plus drums both live and programmed. Across seven captivating tunes, he explores snaking rhythms with sunny melodies, dusty broken beat smoking soundtracks, late-night lovestruck lullabies and heart-aching moments of inward reflection. Yet another vital work from this ever-underrated talent that instantly becomes a favourite for years to come.

Review: Neapolitan funk maestro Mystic Jungle returns with a new LP less than a year after the dreamy Words of Love with more astrally-charged electro/boogie/disco type wonderment. Dario di Pace's third full-length has been quietly brewing for years, shaped by studio shutdowns and shifts in location i and that patchwork journey adds a certain character to the gorgeously technicolour music on show. It's perhaps his most eclectic and free-flowing release yet: a bright, hazy blend of styles that feels both loose and deeply considered. On the dancefloor end, tracks like 'Secrets' and 'Some Lovin'' burst with disco grooves, searing guitars, call-and-response vocals and sultry sax lines. Elsewhere, 'Innervision' and 'Twilight' lean into lovers rock and wavy neon-dub pop, full of yearning, shimmer and otherworldly flourishes. Then there's the stoner sway of 'The Road' and 'Get Me Higher' i sun-soaked, psychedelic jams with zoned-out soul at their core. A richly immersive Amalfi joyride from start to finish, the Periodica fire just keeps on burning.

Review: Since taking up music production following a career-ending football injury, 20-something Leeds lad Reuben Vaun Smith has delivered two tropical-tinged, Balearic-inspired albums for Soundway. On his third full-length (his first for long-serving Californian label Ubiquity Records), the Yorkshireman refocuses a little more on the dancefloor, offering up a range of attractive cuts that combine his love of mid-tempo, dubbed-out disco with African, Latin and Middle Eastern vocals, rhythms and instrumentation - as well as a heavy dose of psychedelic sounds and trippy effects. It's a smart shift that's undoubtedly paid dividends, with our picks of a very strong bunch including 'Beams', the dreamy 'Mali' (a track inspired by that country's vibrant musical culture), and the life-affirming dancefloor shuffle of 'The Waxing Gibbous Moon'.

Review: Toy Tonics is a label that has always done house music well - it doesn't follow trends, it doesn't look to reinvent the wheel, it doesn't repeat the same old tricks. What it does is serve up superb good grooves with plenty of character that are always going to get any crowd going no matter the time or place. The label now goes big with this double 12" of Gomma Dancefloor Gems Vol 1. It is, they say, a collection of "Y2K indie dance tracks" that were all originally released on the German Gomma Records label between 2001 and 2010 and were right up there with music on labels like James Murphy's DFA and Trevor Jackson's Output Records as the hottest of the day.