Riot Vinyl & CDs

Review: House music's roots are in the church and this new a celebratory various artist collection pays homage to that. The grooves are laced with soulful vocals, churchy chords and big strings that make for grand architecture and grander feelings of joy. Mark Brickman & Yam Who? open with a vocal gem that cannot help but bring a smile, while Wayfaring Strangers pump it up a little more with some funky disco house before Platinum City get you locked in a nice loose, long legged groove that is resplendent with lush keys and big vocal turns. 'Yah Mo B There' has an irresistible 80s vibe and big sing along choruses that will get hairs standing on end.

Review: Midnight Riot help the listener carve out their own personal Balearic headspaces with their new compilation Balearic Headspace, likening the "experience" of Balearic not just to a sound, but an affect, one that cannot be experienced without specific records or specific times and places. Do we believe it to be true? We may or may not, but that doesn't distract from the whopping curation job here, with most tunes on offer consisting of both total newness and reworks/revisions by the Midnight Riot crew; this 12" is a four-track selection of a wider 19-track digital comp. Our highlight has to be the ultra-smeary Tom Moulton mix of 'This Is Caribbean Disco' by Fsq, which floats atop a serious floe of stretched-out axe bubble and echoing crosstick, as its lyrics deal in word-painted themes of being held underwater. As mindfully, cognitively Balearic as it gets!

Review: Yam Who? steps up to the Riot label with a series of remixes of recent tunes from Sean Scanlan & Co. 'Down To Love Town' (feat Brian Lucas) is first up for a Starlight Disco mix that taps into old school disco bliss with glorious vocals and lavish synths and instrumentals. 'Wha' Cha Gonna Do' (feat Alexis Victoria Hall) is next up with some heart-swelling vocal delights over funky basslines and exuberant horns, then 'Get Out Of My Own' (feat Octavia Lambertis) becomes a deeper disco gem and 'Daydreaming' (feat Elysha West) is a soulful flourish to finish.

Review: The seventh installment of the Disco Made Me Do It series is here: showcaing some of the best disco and nu-disco edits out and about today, this one charts the contributions of Secret Soul, Yam Who?, Jaegerossa and Danny Kane, all of whom lay down slick, slithery soul beatifics in an ideal haze of purply production and belting beats.