Ozobby Horn was a very obscure band from Nigeria composed of three musicians that only released one and only very hard to find cult album that has finally been reissued by Afrodelic. “Born To Move On” is an absolutely killer album that sums up the best of 1970s Nigerian sound. Heavy wicked psychedelic Afro-funk; phat drums and hefty, chunky bass with shredding fuzz guitar insertions on a bed of analogic keys.
Japan meets funky disco in an explosive fusion led by maestro Jiro Inagaki here on a classic album that gets a worthy reissue. In a particularly inspired year during which he also released Funky Stuff on Nippon Columbia, Inagaki masterfully reinterprets tracks by Quincy Jones, Commodores, Graham Central Station, B.T. Express, Kool and The Gang, Stevie Wonder, Sly and The Family Stone, Ohio Players, Ripple, and Billy Preston on this one. He does so in collaboration with Hiromasa Suzuki, a prominent name in Japanese jazz, and seasoned session musicians who add their own spice. Inagaki brings a fresh, danceable sound here with a broad mix of inspirations from jazz to city pop all shining through.
The superduo formed by two authentic stars of the Italian dance scene is back with the ‘Rolling Wave’ EP on Mondo Groove. Daniele Baldelli & DJ Rocca are on fire in the four tracks of this new EP on Mondo Groove, which starts with the bleep sounds of the title track ‘Rolling Wave’, goes into orbit with the deep boogie of ‘Funk Infusion’ and a party number like ‘Marchin On’, and culminates in the refined disco-jazz digressions of ‘Focused Image’. A record that will be a future classic.
Remember that period at the turn of the century when people were talking about Lounge, Exotica and Easy Listening? It was the so-called Cocktail Generation phenomenon, of which VIP 200, a quartet formed in Italy in 1999, was the ultimate expression as a band. The most important input came from the reissues and compilations of Italian soundtracks that debuted with great success at the time, and VIP 200’s interpretations of them were genuine, rustic and rich in atmospheres that led back precisely to music for the image. Their live shows, as well as their first and only record re-released for the first time on double gatefold vinyl by Cinedelic with many outtakes, alternated between danceable moments with fast rhythms such as shake, beat and soul funk, to more ethereal and psychedelic, to softer and more ironic ones. They loosely and spontaneously re-presented songs that before then no one had ever performed live with a band; 10 years later Calibro 35 would get there. Strong was the “fetishist” component that pushed them to research original instruments of the vintage, design, sound and atmosphere to be created. An iconographic record of the period, a must-have for those who lived through it and for those who want to understand its essence.
‘Fog’ is one of most obscure and dark italo instrumental works done in 1984 late at night in Riccardo Cioni’s garage/studio by his trusty Stephen Head experimenting on PPG Wave 2.2, Linn 9000 and Phophet 5. Mondo Groove release this 12″ 45rpm involving 4 key figures of analog electro: Morgan Geist, Tiger & Woods, N.O.I.A. and Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi.
Mondo Groove is one of the leading purveys or disco, Italo and nu-disco and it has been for ages. This new and limited 12″ is packed with four hard to find gems from between the years of 1983 and 1988. They have all been taken from the original master tapes for this special reissue. Camomilla’s chugging and snappy ‘Queen Of The Night’ opens up with a squelchy arp and heavenly melodies, Noa-Noa gets more cosmic and De Dion offers the drama and neon colour of ‘Sexy Cola’ with a fine extended version while Sandy Samuel’s ‘I Like Sado Music’ is a loose limbed percussive workout.
Finally the cult italo disco 12 from 1984 by Riccardo Cioni repressed in limited edition for the first time.
Antenna! is the brand new music project created by the Italian producer Andrea Bertolini. Andrea, who’s a synth addicted and craftsman of the sound, over the last decade has shaped his own groove signature releasing hundreds of tracks for the best electronic music labels of the world; his particular attention and passion for stuff like Chicken Lips, Loose Joints and The Emperor Machine, that have been source of inspiration for him from day one, has generated the idea to create Antenna!. Juno 106, Korg MonoPoly and SCI Pro-one are his special weapons and disco, funk, house and psychedelic attitude are the special ingredients. Let yourself be taken by the hand for a dance floor journey from 110 bpm until the infinity.
An hypnotic and groovy journey that starts off with ‘Batongo’, a tribal and exotic dancefloor banger that will let the sweat out of the listener in zero time. ‘Espresso Notte’ is filled with organic house grooves, dreamy pads and a synth that tells you a story that could go on and on and on. ‘Gulliver’ and ‘Litoraneo’ pick up from there and bring the sound scenario down heavy with 70s-80s disco sounds and boogie, transporting mind and body to a warm and mellow planet. Panoramica reflects perfectly Club Pradiso’s goal of mixing past and future, an über-cool EP that is both club and disco friendly.
After the creation of Computer Disco, Marcello Giombini produces the year after I Adore Commodore – Computer Music Flash, which was mainly made with a Commodore 64. Giombini was a veteran of music applications with personal computer, started with an Apple II Europlus and then converted to the Commodore 64 thanks to the presence of 3 independent music generators that allowed him to make more elaborate music easier. The record was inspired by the VideoGames of the time, so that the titles of the 10 tracks are inspired by the names of famous games. The music was created using four to eleven Commodore 64 programmed and synchronized with an external audio interface. At the time, Giombini, in his studio in a basement just a few steps from Nomentana, Rome, had organized a small school with courses of basic and computer music. The graphic is the same of original LP with inner-sleeve dedicated to Commodore 64.
One of the greatest euro synthi-disco album of early 80’s finally reprint by Mondo Groove Records. Original released in 1982, “Computer Disco” is the most Kraftwerk-ian italian production. Marcello Giombini was a pioneer of early sequencers and in this cult LP produced cheesey cosmic synth pop a little bit italo disco oriented. Every fan of 70/80’s synthesizer music and electronic djs should put in his collection if they not already possess the extremely rare original edition.
The progressive jazz groove library holy grail album produced in 1971 by Gianfranco Reverberi, composed by himself, Stefano Torossi and Sandro Brugnolini, and performed by the musicians from NUOVA IDEA band.
The Hipodrome Of Music 