Barcelona’s Anbau debuts on Bordello with a Giro d’Italia themed EP. Dedicated to its heroic riders and specifically the late Marco Pantani. He broke through in 1994, winning one of the hardest Giro climbs with an incredible time record; the Passo del Mortirolo. He eventually became second in the final rankings of this legendary tour of Italy.
The obscure operation madness label is back with an insane electro and acid release from Matt Whithead.
Members Only is back for 2024 with another entry in what must be one of the most creatively off-the-wall series of edits ever committed to wax. The 4 cuts on offer here deftly blur the lines between disco, house, and EBM reminiscent of The Music Box or Medusa’s.
There are mysterious records. Records hiding and showing something at the same time. This is one of them. It is made from two records that were most probably released in the mid-1970s, most probably primarily by Turkish Roma. It brings together what Anadolu pop music lovers always dream of: Anatolian geleneksel (traditional folk tunes), disco and funk, jazz and hard rock, psychedelic sounds, hard-hitting drums, Arabesk percussion, and hip-hop friendly breaks. Put together in a careful, smooth production with a warm, relaxed and dance-friendly vibe. Here you get it: Roma-nized instrumental Turkish pop music in all its facets of the 1970s.
Dresden’s very own Sneaker is an Italo, Chicago and synth-house aficionado. His Deep Cover series flaunts this as such, focusing on atmospheric yet respectful remix-edits and originals, often blurring the lines between them.
The track ‘Abyadh Aswad’ is a manifestation of Ali’s self-described Middle Eastern beats with Southeast Asian twists, specifically influenced by Indonesia. It offers tropical cruising vibes and tranquil melodies, incorporating Arabic lyrics and repetitive desert-like riffs. Floating melodies and background vocals inject a psychedelic element into the track. The lyrics themselves translate to ‘Black and white in one vision.’ On the B-side, there is an instrumental track titled ‘White Stallion.’ It’s a simply cinematic funk track with psychedelic elements and hypnotic repetitive riffs. This track aims to capture the adventurous landscape of Indonesia through music, offering a flat, chill, and contemplative vibe that would suit a cinematic soundtrack.
The Debut Album “Latin Freaks” by Funkool Orchestra is finally out. Get ready for another dose of Neapolitan Funky Disco Boogie madness with a Latin touch. The Long Playing is a mixture of Rare Grooves, Napoli Sound, Disco Boogie, Latin Soul and Boogaloo, ideal for a trip to Nueva York and back to Naples just to say hello to your Puertorican uncle Manolito “Gennaro” Marròn.
Another name-your-price disco edit from the Australian master Hysteric on his bandcamp page.
Sao Paulo’s Rafael Cancian steps up with 2 brilliant edits on Hot Pot. ”Heaven” takes up the A-side, a cosmic disco groover for midtempo dance floor ecstasy. Over to the B-side, ”Nigeriac” is a syncopated Afro Funk Rock joint for those rare groove moments.
Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost. It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary. After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed. There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is “We Love Your Ears”, which is in essence what it is all about to them.
‘Instrumental Dubs #2’ is a deep dive into the world of the Dub version and beyond. The A side has a distinct boogie feel, starting slow with a George Kerr produced cut from 1984 followed by a Brit Funk-esq instrumental from Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes originally released on the Philly World label (home to ‘Voice of Q’). The A side closes with the ‘Sweeter’ instrumental mix of Boogie bomb ‘Loving Sweet Devotion’ by Idiater Edwards. The B side opens with ‘H2S04’ from Mad Professor that defies categorisation, sitting somewhere between Electro, Disco and Dub. Last but by no means least there’s an uptempo Dub mix of Original Rockers ‘Push Push’ making its first appearance on Vinyl having only been on the CD single release first time around.
Hysteric offers a free edit of a 1986 song by French singer-songwriter François Feldman.
(Emotional) Especial looks to the emergent producer that is Chez De Milo for a new EP that collides the energy of Glastonbury, historic echoes of the free party scene and the psychedelic electronics of Bristol and the West Country into four fresh new cuts here. ‘Et Al’ is a mystic late-night house cut with crisp hits and spooky synths keeping you on edge, while ‘Gieser’ is dark and paranoid as the churning beats and snaking leads tempt you into the shadows. ‘Kremer’ keeps you locked in a synth-heavy and transcendental suspense at the heart of the dancefloor with Egyptian folk samples and ethnic grooves and ‘Thus One’ is a razor-sharp electro closer.
The Hipodrome Of Music 