New releases last two weeks: Disco/Nu-Disco

Review: Fusion five-piece Aldorande are no fustians when it comes to full-length LPs. These self-styled groove adventurers remain radically open to the sound, thanks to their stylistic touchstone, 70s funk, and its diachronic conduction of future styles. Recorded on tape in a top Parisian studio, their third record Trois brims with trifect textures, bold phrasing, and soaring choral waves. Mathieu Edouard's precise drumming is glued to the spot by Erwan Loeffel's plaited percussion, all the while Laurent Guillet's fingertips and Florian Pellissier's splayed hands make the best uses of Fender Rhodes, axe and Minimoog.

Review: Beckie Bell's 1980 debut has long circulated in fragments i a 12" here, a collector's tip there. This full reissue by Strut gathers it all in one place. Recorded after Bell's move from New York to Paris, it offers a studio-built vision of disco shaped by session musicians and arranged with subtlety. 'Super Queen' sets the tone with its patient build and clipped vocal phrasing. 'So Many Ways' and 'Magic Lady' follow a slower logic, driven more by mood than immediacy. 'Music Madness', the record's most played track, draws attention with its syncopated synths and layered percussion, though its energy remains low-slung. Bell's voice rarely reaches for spectacle. Her lines sit just above the groove, steady and self-assured. On 'Johnnies Home' and 'What You Need I Can Bring', there's no need for dramatic turns i the performances work because nothing is pushed. The reissue comes with a clean remaster by The Carvery and includes contributions from Arthur Young, Patrick Cowley and Jacob Desvarieux. What emerges is not a lost classic but something quieter: a well-assembled record with a clear internal logic, shaped by a moment where disco didn't yet need to shout.

Review: Don Blackman's 1982 self-titled debut is an underrated jazz-funk gem that fuses soul, funk and jazz-fusion into a sophisticated groove-laden journey that was produced by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen for GRP Records. The album showcases Blackman's keyboard wizardry and soulful vocals across standout tracks like 'Heart's Desire' and 'Holding You Loving You.' With playful cuts like 'Yabba Dabba Doo,' it balances polish with joyful experimentation and though not a commercial hit, its influence has quietly grown and ir has been sampled by hip-hop greats and revered by collectors alike. This reissue reaffirms its status as a cult classic and a crucial slice of 80s funk.

Review: Bologna, 1979: Change begins as a studio braintrust linking Mauro Malavasi, Paolo Gianolio and Davide Romani, with production steered by Jacques Fred Petrus. Nearly half a century on from their debut LP The Glow Of Love, cut between Italy and New York - blanketing the mean dancefloor in Euro-import modishness - we're now met by the sweet sonic hug that is Embrace, carrying the group's name after early plans to release it as a solo project of Tanya Michelle Smith, longtime vocalist member of the band. Maruro Malovasi's tender hand is given most productive airtime here, building on but reworking many of the same elements heard on 2018's Love For Love, and enlisting a sneak remix of 'Sunrise Forever' by Michael Gray, already a Traxsource chart-topper. Just 500 copies of this one, so hold tight before it's gone in a neon flash!

Review: Cicciolina. Now there's a character. Disco-pop singer, porn star, politician, and ex-wife/muse of legendary shiny balloon artist Jeff Koons i it's fair to say the Italo-Hungarian icon has worn a few hats over the years. Perversion features a selection of reissued tracks from her 80s heyday, including the magnificently titled 'Sexy Porno Shop', which in itself renders the record worthy of consideration. If you hadn't already guessed from the preamble, the music is kitsch, to say the least, with bubblegum vocals, earworm synth lines and generally pulsing tempos. But there are hidden gems: the (ahem) innocent vocals and twinkling melodies of 'Goccioline', the rousing congas and inspired 'no drugs, I love sex, much more sex' vocal of 'No Drugs', and the brilliant cover of the Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction'. Echoing far, far simpler times, it's either politically incorrect nostalgia or pioneering, sexually liberated abandon. Either way, it's bags of fun.

Review: Oltreoceano take a strident second step with Oltreoceano. Made between Italy, France and the US, we've eight tracks here cherrypicked from funk, 70s electronica and spiritual jazz, though the pregnancy of its influences contrast its core themes of absence, longing and invisible threads that bind. Tommaso Cappellato (drums), Nicolo Masetto (bass) and Alberto Lincetto (keys) enlist a further draw of collaborators like Dwight Trible, Mocky, Isaiah Collier and Maylee Todd, ensuring the nostalgic ensemble eidetics of 'Tempo Al Tempo' and 'Alberoni', both of which evoke smoky clubs and panoramic soundtracks, nodding to Azymuth and Umiliani without ever getting peated in reverence.

Review: Amsterdam-based duo Maarten Smeets and Lars Dales - Dam Swindle - offer us their album, Open, prying ajar our otic tract with 14 quixotic tracks. After years of introspection, Open marks a rupture, as the pair break from their preeminent deep house for an even-deeper-down embrace of the lower tempi, with them now incorporating synthwave, hip-house, and ambient elements. A first taster comes with the smoothly lavished 'Girl' with Faye Meana, while 'Bloom' with Joep Beving develops the theme of self-analysis through well-shovelled deep house chords. Still reining in some four-to-the-floor precepts, Dam Swindle have nonetheless presented their most heartfelt and least harried detour to date.

Review: Greek-born, London-based artist ELLI announces her debut self-titled album, out May 2025 via Horisontal Mambo, the label run by Nordic disco icon Prins Thomas. Blending cinematic textures, cosmic synth-pop and 80s euphoria, the 12-track release marks a bold new chapter. Inspired by her background in dance and love for visual storytelling, ELLI crafted the album using unconventional sounds-including sea shell percussion-and film projections in her studio. From the soaring opener "New Muse" to the introspective "In My Field of Experience," it explores the space between joy and melancholy. A striking debut, both personal and timeless, built on emotion and sonic curiosity.

Review: Originally released in 1982 and now reissued by RHINO, this collection from Florida-born Gwen McCrae captures the tension between silky r&b and the tougher end of early 80s boogie. Her voiceiraspy, agile, unmistakably Southernidelivers every line with a kind of electrified conviction, whether she's yearning ('I Need To Be With You'), standing her ground ('I Didn't Take Your World'), or commanding the floor on 'Keep The Fire Burning'. That track alone has become a staple across dance, soul and disco scenes, but deeper cuts like 'Doin' It' and 'Make Believe' show her range in full colour. It's an archival release that still hums with present-tense urgencyisleek, groove-led and proudly unpolished. A welcome reissue that highlights McCrae's enduring place in the post-disco lineage.

Review: Of all the terms here, the one used at the time was most frequently new rave and it would be an unthinkable scene without the Klaxons, so it's great to see them make the tracklist, alongside top tier like-minded acts. Bloc Party are one of the best indie bands to remix ever and the version of their best song 'Banquet' is a banger. Elsewhere, LCD Soundsystem's most catchy number 'Tribulations' is a dead cert in terms of getting people off their seats. One of the hyped bands of the era who deserve recognition are We Have Band and it's a shrewd move to include them. Electroclash heroes Fischerspooner had signed to Minsitry of Sound for L2 million around the time 'Emerge' came out and were easily one of the hottest dance acts around, and make for another cracking addition to this seriously high quality retrospective.

Review: Kalita returns with the third instalment of its Borga Revolution! series, continuing its deep dive into the sound of Burger Highlife, a genre born of traditional Ghanaian melodies, synths, drum machines, and disco groove-matics. Emerging in the 1980s during a time of great political turmoil, public strife and mass emigration, the style evolved as Ghanaian musicians abroad began blending their roots with the digital tools of their new homes. Volume 3 showcases rare and elusive cuts by the likes of Obibini Takyi, Osei Banahene, and Okyerema Asante, as well as keystone figures George Darko and Lee Dodou. The collection paints a fuller picture of a moment where innovation thrived in exile, and highlife was reshaped through transcontinental influence and technological experimentation.

Review: Following the success of their standout single 'Feel The Rush,' Zaimie returns with Black Velvet, a lush new long player that blends jazz, funk, soul and global rhythms that all expand on the group's signature sound while remaining rooted in groove and emotion. Each track showcases Zaimie's refined musicianship and evolving songwriting, from silky basslines to soaring melodies on 'New Life' to more horn-led celebrations like 'Weekender Breeze' and sunny vocal charmers like 'Can't Do Without It'. Black Velvet feels timeless and contemporary and makes for a confident step forward for Zaimie, who are ever more polished and full of soul.