Stix France Vinyl & CDs

Review: Back in the mid-to-late noughties, musical polymath Bruno Hovart (Patchworks, Voilaaa, Mr President, Uptown Funk Empire etc) helmed a revivalist dub reggae band famed for delivering dusty cover versions of soul, pop and rock hits. Hovart is a dab hand at making anything he touches sound scarily authentic, and much of Version Excursions, the band's now reissued debut album, sounds like proper Jamaican rocksteady, roots and ska of the 1970s. It's a simple idea, brilliantly executed, with highlights including their covers of 'Seven Nation Army', the Rolling Stones' 'Miss You' (reimagined as a toaster-sporting disco-reggae jam), and Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'.

Review: Sometimes all you need is a classic with a stylistic twist. This is the fifth installment of the very functionally named 'Disco Reggae', a series of compilations of reggae covers of disco classics. French outputters Stix are the brains behind this one, being the sub-label of Favorite Recordings, who specialise exclusively in reggae remixes. Everything from slow-jam nighttime disco ('What You Won't Do For Love' by Bobby Caldwell) to high-energy glitterballers (Labelle's 'Lady Marmalade') appear here, flaunting the easier-to-bridge-than-you'd-think gap between disco and reggae.

Review: After the success of last year's inaugural Disco Reggae compilation from Stix, it's no surprise the long running reggae focused offshoot of Favorite Recordings have returned with a second collection. All the usual Stix suspects are present and correct here with Matcher, 7 Samurai, Mato, and John Milk all contributing to the nine tracks that will nice up any dancehall that's got a sense of humour. Stand out cuts include the 7 Samurai Electro Dub take on Levan classic "Stand On The Word" and the Grandmagneto cover of "Tainted Love". The Mato mix of "Happy" is as chalk or cheese as the original from that fella in the big hat.

Review: Dope selection of reggae fire versions of classics..