Hungry Ghost – Illuminations review

If you got asked to name a country that typifies the new disco heartland, you’d probably reel off a few before suggesting Uruguay. If press releases are to be believed the International Feel imprint has been doing it’s bit for Uruguayan national identity with a slew of releases that have been causing a storm on the more discerning disco dancefloors of the world.

Squeezing some discodust out of chairman of the discobeard board, Harvey, was obviously a good way to start. And hot on the heels of love for Harvey’s second installment of Locussolus comes Illuminations, this EP from Hungry Ghost. The 50% of Hungry Ghost familiar to anyone with a passing interest in sludgey house music is Ben Williams aka Gatto Fritto who has released music on Electric Minds and the sadly deceased Dissident, as well as turning in stunning remixes for Subway and Franz Ferdinand. The 50% of Hungry Ghost unfamiliar to most is Sam Weaver.

The Illuminations EP sees the duo work together for the first time in over a decade with the immediate thought upon finish being ‘Why did you wait so long!’ The title track might lift a percussive perk from Jagger’s ode to the devil but drowns it in live drumming and a lovely synth breakdown. B-side “Don’t Eat The Apricots” strays far beyond the realms of bog standard cosmic disco with six minutes afro centric disco that is built around taut percussion, with a floor destroying bassline hitting around the three minute mark.

Fans of remixes should take note here as two of the best are enlisted to reimagine “Illuminations”. Veteran Italian tape edit don Danielle Baldelli goes deep into cosmic delay wigout territory whilst Marcellus Pittmann takes the track into the sort of abstract techno that his work as part of legendary Detroit production triumvate 3 Chairs have become renowned for.

With releases such as these and the imprint’s forthcoming Summer Balearic Trilogy re/edit series to come, International Feel is certainly a label to watch out for.

Review: Tony Poland