DFA US Vinyl & CDs

Review: The mighty DFA label has always come at dance music from a rock and indie perspective and for that reason has always brought plenty of new ideas to the dancefloor. Fernando Pulichino has long been at the heart of the operation with his fusion of rock, funk, and electronic beats and here he is again with more of the same. 'I Got, She's Got' is a raw, energetic track, while the remix offers clarity and rich arpeggios. 'She's Playing With Fire' with saxophone by Gustavo Buchiniz, meanwhile, adds another explosive element meaning that all three tracks deliver pure club-ready firepower.

Review: The DFA debut of longstanding member Jayson Green also signals the revival of the classic DFA twelve-inch format, so you might playfully suggest it stands for Dying Formats Always. Jay has lent his vocals to various bands such as Panthers, Violent Bullshit, Cheeseburger, and the renowned hardcore group Orchid, always showcasing his wit and humor without veering into cynicism. Assuming a bandleader role, he presents a classic A-side here with the low slung funk of 'Local Jerk,' which was recorded during a lively party. It has tight disco drums, resounding claps and a groove-inducing bassline with big horns. On the B-side, 'I Need Love' unfolds as a darkly humorous nightlife satire.

Review: DFA Records and Bokeh Versions have teamed up for a joint release here that offers up some mad reworking of "Guerilla Toss" by Greece-based producer Dimitris Papadatos, aka Jay Glass Dubs. Up first, the "Skull Dub" is a dark, echoing affair filled with dread and ominous drum rolls. The "String Dub" is much more fulsome, with vast caverns of bass, water droplets and spooky reverb expanding all around you before the TV Do Dub is a little more playful and airy, but still with a subtle sense of tension running through the muted harmonica and drifting vocal sounds. "Can I Get The Real Dub" closes out in fat bottomed fashion.

Review: A few years back, legendary Alt-jazz saxophonist (and original Philip Glass Ensemble member) Dickie Landry handed LCD Soundsystem's Korey Rich a tape of a very NYC-sounding punk-funk track he recorded in his native Louisiana way back in 1986. Finally out, 'Hang The Rich' sounds like a long-lost downtown dub-disco gem that joins the dots between Patrick Adams' more eccentric disco productions, Bristolian punk-funk mavericks Maximum Joy, and McFadden & Whitehead after a fistful of psychedelics. Optimo's JD Twitch provides the obligatory 21st century dancefloor tweak - a stretched out, DJ-friendly revision blessed with bonus jacking drum machine rhythms and some trippy synth motifs. It's breathlessly brilliant, as anyone who has heard him and Optimo partner Jonnie Wilkes DJ over the last three years will confirm.

Review: US only 12" from LCD Soundsystem on DFA, featuring tracks which were only on limited UK 7"S and 12"S - including 'North American Scum' Oananisyic dub mix.

Review: Pat Mahoney is no stranger to us - one of LCD Soundsystem's many creative tour de forces, according to the band's biggest spokesperson, James Murphy, Mahoney is a lyrical genius and born poet. Museum of Love, the latter's project with Dennis McNany, certainly makes a strong case for us to buy into that hype. Two tracks that pack their bags for the synth pop stratosphere, but don't forget to throw in some nostalgia for the trip. Opening on the title song, it's a deceptively simple and yet unarguably rousing single that focuses down on a minimalist buoyant bassline, tracking rhythm, and lets the words to the talking - as they usually do. A surreal vision of a disappointing future riddled with unhappiness and disaster, set to a light and airy slice of naive electronica. Flip it for the more David Byrne-esque 'Look of Disgust'.

Review: Russian avant-garde sculptor namesakes Naum Gabo, AKA Jonnie Wilkes of Optimo and mastering engineer James Savage, drop their inaugural album, 'F. Lux.' The pair delve deep over eight tracks of cavernous ambiance, pummeling industrial techno and barren, windswept synthscapes, which are perfectly alluded to by Scottish painter Andrew Cranston's surreal artwork. In turns introspective and oppressive, the pair ditch their usual stylistic sensibilities for something altogether more longform and enveloping, allowing for full immersion in the cavernous soundworld. Highlights include opening wormhole 'Aora' and the deeply tense grindhouse resonances of the aptly named 'Hebust Cometh'. Wicked and bad.

Review: In the early explosion of millennial indie-dance, The Rapture were surely one of the best. It helps their roots were in spikier realms on Sub Pop before they connected with James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy. The combination was potent, and Echoes was the dazzling result, with knockout hits like 'House Of Jealous Lovers' and 'Sister Saviour' offset by an album which never misses a beat whichever direction it heads in. 20 years on, it's as brilliantly inventive and downright kick ass as it was upon release, capturing an exciting time when DFA represented a new vanguard in dance music and indie alike.

Review: Marcus Lambkin aka Shit Robot has been closely tied to DFA since forever. His work embodies the label as much as anyone's and it's always nice to hear something new from him, which is what we get here. The diehard Dublin raver turned adopted New Yorker then semi-retried inhabitant of Germany serves up his first new music in some time and it's all perfectly heavy and chubby for those sweaty back rooms. The machines are raw, the vocals dark and the synths strobe-lit, just as they always were.