VA – Junta Especial [EES020]

Especial celebrates the upcoming release of it’s 2nd compilation mix CD to highlight the recent music of the label , with another Sampler 12” of unreleased tracks, remixes and versions for the heads, collectors and discerning.

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VA – Junta Especial [EES020]

NAD – Join The Fookin Party / Hold On Castro [DB008]

Bastedos returns hosting two disco objects lovingly versioned by Nad. One side features the vocal talents of a mystery man with low riding balls imploring those gathered to hear him to ‘join his party’…if you look at his backside, so to speak, you will head off down to sunny rainbow filled Castro for a happy sing along and dancing tune versioned from vaults of Moby Dick.

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NAD – Join The Fookin Party / Hold On Castro [DB008]

Cottam – Breaking Through The Pain Barrier [VER106]

Paul Cottam was diagnosed with Encephalomyelitis disseminata, or multiple sclerosis, just as his first records were released in 2009. The symptoms can come and go, one day you can feel OK and the next day a relapse can floor you. The last 2 or 3 years the relapses have become more frequent and aggressive. Both these tracks were written in the depths of a relapse; constant severe pain, couldn’t walk or even stand for long enough to play some records. He was housebound, and cabin fever was setting in. So he sat at his computer and let the way he felt influence the music. The A side ‘Breaking through the pain barrier’ is the soundtrack to a late night chemist run, with a deep brooding bass and a tension that builds like your mind working against the disease. The B side ‘Encephalomyelitis disseminata’ has warm bass and a lively percussion groove twinned with a killer acid line and mournful strings. These tracks helped Paul through the worst of times, kept his mind off the pain and focused on something, and thankfully something positive came out of it.

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Cottam – Breaking Through The Pain Barrier [VER106]

Model Man – Hidden Waves EP [BAP057]

Bordello A Parigi is returning to where it all began. Four years ago DJ Overdose inaugurated the label under his masked Model Man moniker. Now he’s back. Missile crisis and intercepted communique, Hidden Waves collects six underhanded secret music documents of Cold War espionage. Screaming out of the frost-biten night comes the mean and fast new wave inspired “Peeking Through The Blinds”. Softer encounters lurk, “Hidden Waves” and “The Plot Thickens While Pangea Cracks” being silver screen steeped soundtracks. Twist after twist are added to this narrative. “Burning Bed” smoulders with rich synthlines whilst “Antidote” ducks down an alley and dons a bleaker punk-wave mantle. The final late night exchange arrives with “Flying Knives”. Cool and smooth the track takes its cue from velvet lined wine bars and strong martinis. Model Man rising from the shadows to, again, show how things should be done.

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Model Man – Hidden Waves EP [BAP057]

Antoni Maiovvi/The Slasher Film Festival Strategy – Foreign Sounds/Children of the Night [FS010]

Giallo disco playboy Antoni Maiovvi and horror synth dealer Slasher Film Festival Strategy team up for a very limited 12″ EP.

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Antoni Maiovvi/The Slasher Film Festival Strategy – Foreign Sounds/Children of the Night [FS010]

Lata Ramasar – The Greatest Name That Lives [ICE009]

Hindustani singer/songwriter Lata Ramasar’s “The Greatest Name That Lives” has long been considered something of a pioneering voodoo disco/proto-house classic. In a bid to beat bootleggers, Invisible City have rushed through this official re-edit – produced with the cooperation of the Ramasar family – backing the original version with Alessandro Adriani’s infamous, previously unreleased remix on the flip. While that version, blessed as it is with additional analogue drum machine hits and dub effects, is rather fine, it’s the druggy simplicity of the chugging, synthesizer-heavy original – on which Ramasar’s vocal sounds particularly haunting – that’s the real killer.

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Lata Ramasar – The Greatest Name That Lives [ICE009]

The Caribbean House – The Caribbean House [PN044]

After a promising start like “Night Drive” The Caribbean House is finally introduced by his creator/curator Billy Bogus through this four tracks EP. The Caribbean House is a live project that finds Bogus teamed up with Federico Bologna, from seminal Technogod and Ohmega Tribe collective, and Cristiano Santini, from legendary italian act Disciplinatha. Straight from electronic Italian suburbia of the nineties, skilfully mixed with Bogus uncommon approach, this is an outstanding blend of new wave and slow motion disco, strictly for midnight vultures. Let’s begin Very DJ friendly, “Ivory Pagoda” hits with a catchy rhythm which evokes some sort of deep techno vibes but with house-disco flavours and jazz aftertaste. “Il nuovo Dragone” sounds like an afro spin cycle with gluey synths and a hidden sick atmosphere. On the b side: “Haitian Party” is a lively piece that can also be crepuscular and “Ivy” comes full circle with a hypnotic afro-wave with a premonition.. This EP aims to break the rules through a bizarre idea of temporal continuity which may look like a bit of a paradox : from the dark vibes/atmospheres of the 80s via the glacial synths and the warm sampled beats of the 90s to the vaporous present day disco. If you are a DJ who knows history on the dancefloor but also like to experiment with the unusual you are definitely going to love this one!

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The Caribbean House – The Caribbean House [PN044]

Skymax – Hooker Boogie [IML001]

With tickering hi-hats leading the first tracks on both side A & B Skymax enters a familier Finnish sounding disco (and part rock) sphere with kraut elemtents, synth-bass, a DJ Sotofett dub, a tango-fied slow machine ballad and a beatless 80s soundtrack conclusion to round it off. It has that utterly great and little-bit-hard-to-swallow Finnish quality stamp.

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Skymax – Hooker Boogie [IML001]

Golden Bug – Wild Boys EP [DLM007]

Antoine Harispuru, otherwise known as Golden Bug, has been delivering consistently excellent levels of disco-tinged house and electro over the last eight or so years, and it was only a matter of time before he’s pop up on Ivan Smagghe and Leon Oakey’s eclectic Les Disques De La Mort. The original mix of “Wild Boys” features Yan Wagner drooling over the beats in his familiarly lamenting, 80’s reminiscent style, and there’s a Lord Tusk mix on the back of it; the Londoner adds a subtle EBM flavour to the song, making harder and more penetrating on the dancefloor. “Ik Voel Je” is the weirdo in the crew, a magnificent piece of lo-fi psychedelia that stutters its guitar riffs amid heavy distortions and delays, while “L’Horloge” enters Kraftwerk territories thanks to its broken chops of mechanical voices and robotic beats.

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Golden Bug – Wild Boys EP [DLM007]

Khidja – El Fadaa [MT003]

For its 3rd release, Malka Tuti is welcoming Khidja to the ever expanding family. The Romanian Duo appears to be in great form after their successful releases on Emotional Especial and Love on the Rocks. With their unique approach to production that combines recording alot of friends playing live instruments (Saz, Guitars, Violins, Persian Poetry just to name a few) and with references to obscure Fusion Jazz as well as to early Industrial and techno music, a very fertile and creative ground was made. Out of it Came Racheta El Fadaa, a unique slow hypnotic tune with some Arabic and Andalusian touches, that keeps on evolving, Drums of Taksim, a timeless tune, with the mesmerizing speech in the beginning followed by heavy bass and uncontrollable string grooves, and Monkey Tiger, a pure Industrial mid-tempo power track for all the chuggers out there to go mental to with its heavy baseline, screaming violins and dance floor scorching synth lines. On the remix to Drums of Taksim we find a collab between Turkish maestros Baris K & Mehmet Aslan, that strips the original down, pitches it up, and give the ep a bit of a mid-tempo house touch and a final seal of approval.

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Khidja – El Fadaa [MT003]

Massimiliano Pagliara – Connection Lost Part 1 [UV034]

Synth wizard and disco don Massimiliano Pagliara is the latest addition to Uncanny Valley’s roster. From the first bass drum it is clear that “Connection Lost” pulls out all the stops. There is an urgency in its drumming and synth work that shouts “dance floor anthem” right from the get-go. “I Am Running All My Drum Machines At Once And Dancing” plays out like a percussive orgasm triggering pretty much all the drum sounds you could imagine. On the sleazy Disco affair that is “Don’t Give Up On Love” Massimiliano gets vocal support from Sigrid Elliott. This is a oh-so-sexy alliance that would have shined bright even in the heydays of Boogie. Finally, “I Enjoy Myself While I Am Here” shows off once again that when Massimiliano Pagliara is at the keys he creates glorious vibes like nobody else.

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Massimiliano Pagliara – Connection Lost Part 1 [UV034]

VA – RDY #25 (Ron Hardy Edits) [RDY025]

All three tracks here are on a stretched-out, dubbed-out electronic disco tip, beginning with what appears to be Hardy’s reel-to-reel extension of Disco Dream & The Androids’ quirky 1979, Moroder-ish arpeggio-jam “Dream Machine”. Flip for an all-instrumental dub take on Craig Peyton’s decidedly wonky, electro-disco cover of “Be Thankful For What You’ve Got” and “116 BPM Trax”, an un-credited, boogie-era, proto-house jam full of bubbling electronics, cheeky synthesizer riffs and clanking drum machine hits.

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VA – RDY #25 (Ron Hardy Edits) [RDY025]