Most Excellent Unltd Vinyl & CDs

Review: Japanese singer-songwriter-producer Akemi Kakihara, better known as AK, is a huge star in her native country-where she's released 15 albums, many topping the charts, along with writing & producing for many other artists as well. Her first album featured a collaboration with close friend Brazilian pianist and composer Eumir Deodato-but she's probably most recognized internationally for Her composition "Say That You Love Me," originally a jazzy ballad, was remixed by Francois K and Eric Kupper in 2001 and released on New York label King Street Sounds. The remix soon became a staple at Body & Soul in both New York and Japan, ultimately topping the dance charts around the world and emerging as the top house anthem in Japan over the next decade-as well as becoming King Street Sounds' all time biggest seller. (The song wasn't the only success story to bloom from this project: visiting Body & Soul for the first time in 2001 to meet Francois K and see and hear the crowd's reaction to the remix, when she also met DJ and party co-founder Danny Krivit. A romance between them blossomed, they married in 2008, and continue to reside in NYC.)

With 7" vinyl singles currently enjoying a renaissance, Krivit suggested AK revisit the landmark track to do another re-work of "Say That You Love" for Most Excellent Unlimited, something noticeably different from the original. AK's new version of her signature tune retains her silky vocal refrain that first seduced listeners, but adds a bubbly keyboard melody and a propulsive snare kick that turns it into a dance floor stomper. Krivit then edited down her new production and the Francois K mix for the first time on 7" release; he felt the song's King Street hit remix arrangement was very strong, so he did his best to maintain it's hit arrangement within the restrictions of a 5:30 min format for the flip side of the single. The result is a must-own 7" that sounds both classic and contemporary at the same time.

Review: The revered songstress that is AK is back on Most Excellent Unlimited for another hot and soulful single that comes on the heels of a special 7" release of her seminal 'Say That You Love Me.' This one, 'Beautiful You' is making its vinyl debut here and comes with strong messages of empowerment and affirmation. The lyrics and vocals are uplifting as is the music which comes in the form of a 7" edit by Body & Soul legend Danny Krivit' of GRAMMYr award-winner Hex Hector's Lush remix. It's a perfectly paired back sound with the original on the flip, and both tunes really make their mark. This is a great package that's exclusive to wax.

Review: Having kept his powder dry for some time, Danny Krivit seems to have got back into the re-edit game in a big way. Following his recent reworks of Cerrone comes another 12" of expert scalpel works. On the A you'll find "Corazon", a vibraphone-heavy rework of a disco-funk cover of the track made famous by LTJ Exchange, laden with brilliant disco breaks and parping horns. "Deep Sky" is an altogether more intense affair, with dense percussion and curious noises jostling for position alongside murky chords and intoxicating vocal chants. It's arguably the pick of the two tracks, and has all the makings of a leftfield disco dancefloor smash.

Review: The Mr K Edits series continues to be a hotbed of crucial dancefloor wares, taking stone cold classics and giving them a gentle refinement to make the grooves stretch out that little bit longer. The latest in the 7" series focuses on The Police and two of their finest jams - the first is no stranger to revisions, covers and remixes. "Voices In My Head" has been tackled by many, not least 90s hip house upstart KC Flightt, but here the original version goes on a version excursion that brings out the best in the tune. On the flip, "When The World Is Runnin' Down" shimmers with uptempo new wave refinement that should set any open minded dancefloor alight.

Review: Two powerful edits from the Krivit vaults: "Live In Me" is a beautiful rearrangement of the Rod Temperton and Quincy Jones composed Rufus & Chakka Khan 1979 classic. Warm, touching with just the right amount of urgency, it's often overlooked as didn't enjoy a single release at the time. Flip for an equally stirring take on Pieces Of A Dream's "Warm Weather" and Danny ensures our full focus is firmed on that lavish bass and those purring honeyed vocals. Quintessential rare groove.

Review: Danny Krivit has been chopping, looping and rearranging music since the days of scalpels and reel-to-reel tape, so it's little surprise that his re-edits are constantly on-point. His latest release - a first on 7" for some time - serves up two more expert reworks. On the A-side, he serves up a tightened-up, cut-down and to-the-point version of Wood, Brass & Steel's much-loved disco-funk shuffler, "Funkanova", finally introducing the original version's spiraling synths midway through. The origin of flipside "Sex" is better disguised, though its' combination of thrusting, low-slung funk breaks, heavy bass, wiggling sax lines and occasional, James Brown-like grunts packs a serious punch.

Review: Seminal in every direction: Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" gets stripped down to its bare drum bones by Professor Krivit over two sides. The beats mix pitches naked drums sculpted with clunking, chunky futuristic fusion while Part II provides the synthetic context. Breaking down Kraftwerk's original sci-fi suite into its key chapters at a slow, smouldering pace, it's the classic as you've never heard it before. Grab two to open up even more doors of serious DJ creativity.

Review: Two more sublime edits from the one and only Danny Krivit: "Happy Song" takes a Rare Earth sample and twists, carves and extends the Dickens out of it to hit near-shamanistic levels of drum heaven. "Erucu" is another consummate lesson in extension as Krivit takes the jaunty one-minute Jermain Jackson-produced score cut from Diana Ross-featured 1975 movie Mahogany and conjures it into a five minute exercise in groove magic. Edits don't get any better than this.

Review: Most Excellent Unlimited's Danny Krivit re-edit series continues with more, erm, "most excellent" material. He begins with the heavy drum breaks, guttural funk guitars, bombastic bass and winding saxophones of "City", smartly emphasizing the densely layered percussion and the original track's various instrumental solos. On the flip you'll find the equally intoxicating and mind-altering "Sun, Sun, Sun", where chanted vocals - in tribute to that big orange ball in the sky - rise over a metronomic synth bassline and an African-influenced rhythm track. It's a chunk of genuine dancefloor voodoo just crying out to be played at sunset and sunrise.

Review: We know that there are tons of re-edits around and some tend towards the pointless, but it's always worth paying attention with the editor involved is Danny Krivit AKA Mr K. His edits are rarely less than brilliant, in part because the veteran New Yorker is usually able to breathe new life into classic cuts just through rearrangement and occasional use of additional instrumentation. 'Street Player', his latest rework of the Chicago classic of the same name, is a brilliant example of this. We all know and love the original, but Krivit's take is vastly different thanks to a lengthy, percussion-heavy build up and next to no chorus. It's a genuinely brilliant revision. Over on the flip he presents a short 'breakdown edit' of a sweaty old James Brown jam.

Review: The tunes on this 7" have legendary status and are hard to find in original format. But Mr K serves up a couple subtle but essential reworks here that mean you don't need to look any further. Opening up the a-side is 'Love Is The Message', a perfect soul drenched and funky groove train that never lets up, with big sax lines and chunky drum breaks carrying you as far as you want to go. The flip side 'I Can't Turn Around' is a mainstay of the early house scene and has classic status to this day with its broad horns and tender male vocal.

Review: 1971: Isaac Hayes redefines what a movie theme can be with the worldwide sensation "Shaft," single-handedly making wah-wah rhythm guitar and racing hi-hats a prime ingredient for the decade of music to come. The huge success of "Shaft" meant Hayes was in demand to bring his vision of cinematic funk to other films, and in 1974 he scored (and starred in) the Blaxploitation B-movie Truck Turner. It's from this soundtrack that "Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile" is drawn. The progression Hayes made as a composer is clear: "Pimpmobile" uses complex layered guitar lines with brass and string sections that build and cascade over each other and takes the "Shaft" formula to an entirely new level.

The song became a firm favorite with funky DJs in the '70s, from the refined space of Mancuso's Loft to Bronx and Harlem jams. Indeed, when the Zulu Nation DJs began spinning at a downtown roller disco / dance club called The Roxy in the early '80s, it was firmly entrenched as one of their favorites. Another resident DJ at The Roxy was Danny Krivit, who was already well acquainted with the song and the effect it had on dancers. For this latest addition to Most Excellent Unlimited's steadily expanding catalog of Mr. K 7-inch edits, the master editor distills the sprawling nine-minute original down to a fit five-and-change, maintaining all the muscle that made this one a perennial champion of New York City's varied dancefloors.

The quirky "Isabelle And The Rain" was also a key cut for deeper DJs, uptown and downtown, albeit often on bootlegs as the original was, and remains, extremely scarce. Very little is known about the obscure jazzy cut, the work of a largely anonymous bunch of Los Angeles studio veterans led by keyboardist Mike Lang, whose electric piano solo is the song's defining feature alongside the driving drums, which get plenty of space to shine on Mr. K's Breakdown Edit.

The audio fidelity and peerless editing of these essential tracks - virtually nonexistent on 7-inch vinyl before now - makes the latest from Most Excellent Unlimited a can't-miss addition to the playout box of any DJ with a funky floor to rock.

Review: Danny Krivit returns to the vinyl source with two killer edits for Paul Raffaele's Most Excellent Unltd. Label. He kicks off with a Cymande version that's been lurking in his crates for well over a decade. Taking the iconic bassline and stretching the Dickens out of it, it's a kindly reminder of how well Danny understands groove dynamics. Absolutely perfect for teasing a crowd before dropping the classic original. Flip for a shake-up of Niagara's "Sangondongo". A dedication to the drums whipped up with shamanic feels, say hello to your brand new favourite secret mixing weapon.

Review: More hot-to-trot edits from Most Excellent Unltd's 7" series. As usual, legendary New York scalpel fiend Danny Krivit is at the controls (under the now familiar Mr K alias, of course). A-side cut "1 2 3" boasts Krivit's edit of an obscure, unreleased acetate mix by Walter Gibbons of a jaunty funk number rich in military style drum fills, mazy electric organ solos and bold bass guitar riffs. Over on the flip you'll find "My Sweet Summer Suite", a drum-heavy workout that seems to be built out of elements of a number of low-slung disco and funk tunes. The clipped, loopy groove - as previously used on a number of Krivit's other edits - is loaded with lots of extra percussion and some trippy, Amazonian flute motifs.

Review: Launched in late 2013, Paul Raffaele's Most Excellent Unltd has developed into a most unpredictable label, equally happy to facilitate more thunderous techno from Phil Moffa being released as it is to coax Mr K edits out of Danny Krivit. The label's first point of business for 2015 swings the focus on the edit talents of Japanese selectors Mori Ra and DJ Ground, two heads with deep knowledge of their country's musical heritage (here's a tip: check Mori Ra's Japanese Breeze mix series). Anyway Ghost Guide is a fine edit 12", veering from thunderous psyche drum work outs to slinky proto house via sultry 80s sax pop workouts and cosmic jazz. This one is likely to remain in many a record box!

Review: Absolute DJ pleasure... Most Excellent take a break from their buy-on-sight Krivit edit series with this beautiful collection of groove tools that will bring rhythmic, loopy magic to any mix in any dancefloor style. Intricate and refined enough to vibe to as stand-alone tunes, but best when places in the heat of a mix we range from lean percussive hypnosis such as Phil Moffa's "Kings & Queens" and Photay's "J Tain Squeak Break" to gutsy soul persistence like Justin Van Der Volgen's "High In NYC". Those looking for total gospel immersion should jump on Devin Dare's "WatCanUDo4Me" while those in need something grittier and more machine-funk need to be acquainted with Non Stop's "Whatever / Whatever" and Jex Opolis's "CR78 Sharing" stat!