Glitterbox Vinyl & CDs

Review: Get yourself geared up for festival season with some fierce party starters certified with the Glitterbox stamp. Melvo Baptiste leads the charge with 'Sweat', a sizzling disco house stomper with Dames Brown giving the biggest diva energy on her show-stopping vocal. Lovebirds bring unbridled joy on the Philly string swoon and slinky b-line funk of 'Burn It Down', while Art Of Tones & Inaya Day keep it peak time on the sassy strutter 'Give My Love'. Young Pulse & Fleur De Mur complete the set with 'Smooth Sweet Talker', another bright and bold vocal cut par excellence.

Review: Disco don Dimitri From Paris and the always glossy Glitterbox label is a perfect coming together as this new single proves. It has a cliched title but the music excuses that - it's pure timeless joy, with feel good vocals, big shiny strings and a knotted, funky bassline that cannot fail but ignore the floor. The musicianship is second to none on the extended disco mix and that areas on through all versions. There's the big full take, the more paired back club dub and a cappella, and all are dynamite.

Review: Defected's disco-minded Glitterbox offshoot has decided to dip a toe into the choppy waters (sorry) of the re-edit scene. The man at the control is fun-time rework specialist Dr Packer, an Australian scalpel specialist who has spent the last few years contributing tidy edits to a variety of well-regarded labels. First, he adds a little late '80s house shuffle to a soul-fired, boogie-era disco classic, before turning the equally familiar "Still in Love" into a bouncy, club-ready chunk of disco-house full of swirling strings and Chic-style guitars. On the flip the good doctor gets his hands a much-sampled electrofunk workout, retaining the drum delays while adding a touch of nu-disco swagger, before brilliantly dubbing out and tooling up the synth-heavy swagger of 1985 hit "I'll Be Good".

Review: Earlier this year, Defected offshoot Glitterbox Recordings delivered its first documentary, Where Love Lives, a loving tribute to the power of "dancefloor expression and liberation" which was filmed over 18 months in Paris, Ibiza, New York and London. This expansive three-disc set showcases cuts from the film's soundtrack, with Defected boss Simon Dunmore and Glitterbox A&R chief Seamus Haji acting as curators. The 52-track set is little less than a whirlwind tour of revivalist disco, nu-disco and modern boogie, with reworks of classic cuts sitting side by side with celebrated contemporary cuts and future classics - all rippling with a mixture of squelchy basslines, electrofunk synths, sweeping disco orchestration, crunchy cowbells, fluid piano solos and heady, life-affirming vocals. If you dig disco, you'll definitely dig this.

Review: During her heyday in the late 1970s and early '80s, disco chanteuse Debbie Jacobs released some killer material (see "High on Your Love" and "Undercover Lover", for starters). "Don't You Want My Love", an energy-packed, orchestral disco smasher originally released in 1979 to promote the singer's debut album, is also up there with the best of her output. Here, the Paul Sabu produced original version gets the reissue treatment by Defected offshoot Glitterbox. Sabu's original club-length version sits astride the A-side, with Dimitri From Paris providing a "classic re-edit" on the flipside. His version sticks fairly close to the original, offering necessary nips and tucks here and there whilst steering clear of contemporary production trickery. Naturally, it's a rock solid rework from a true master of the scalpel rearrangement.

Review: Almost a quarter century into his recording career, Mousse T has not lost his ability to create party-starting anthems, even if he's consciously moved away from the heavily compressed, filter-happy disco-house sound of old. "Rock The Mic" - his first release for Defected's revivalist disco offshoot Glitterbox - sounds like an anthem in the making; a cheery disco beast built around live-sounding drums, simmering strings and Plantlife style, P-funk-inspired hip-house vocals. The accompanying remixes come from dusty-fingered crate digger turned disco don Kon. As well as a warm "Remix" rich in warm electric piano riffs and authentic disco instrumentation, the Brooklyn producer also serves up a fine Instrumental take and a handy Acapella.

Review: The Shapeshifters are bonafide dance music champions with some rare studio skills. Their golden era sound is as rich as they come and their on going relationship with Glitterbox now results in a new future classic, 'Finally Ready.' It follows on from jams like 'Try My Love' and 'Life Is A Dancefloor' and has a strong message that no matter where you come from, on the dance floor there is always acceptance and hope. Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award-winning singer, director, composer, actor and playwright Billy Porter is the co-writer and with all its big strings, live horns and sense of theatre, it's another winner.

Review: Candi Staton's gospel-fired "Hallelujah Anyway" has a long and complex history. Over the years it has appeared in countless different forms, with this Glitterbox edition pairing two 2012 reworks with a couple of fresh rubs. In the latter category you'll find a deliciously bouncy and loved-up interpretation from Dr Packer that sounds like a late '80s Frankie Knuckles remix, and a "Classic Club Vibe" version by Moplen that dips the tempo and doffs a cap to early '90s New Jersey garage and gospel-house. Also worth a listen is Frankie Knuckles' luscious 2012 "Directors Cut Signature Praise" version, while there's also a fresh airing of Larse's chugging and dreamy deep house take.

Review: Ben Westbeech returns with his first solo full-length since 2011's There's More To Life Than This, marking a new chapter in a varied career as a singer-songwriter, DJ, hit producer and curator. The Glitterbox release hears Westbeech step back from the mic to focus fully on production and arrangement, bringing together a cast of musicians to channel a message of self-empowerment and inner peace, through pristine delays, diachronic desert grooves and a freed disco-bedience. Joined by fellows RAHH, Dames Browbn and Obi Franky, Westbeech's latest is a full-length ode to changing times and inner openness.