Russia’s official policy and attitude towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people has fallen down a slippery slope. This is a compilation by 24 left-field techno producers to raise money, awareness and show our support to the Russian LGBT people.
The crown jewel of Koliphone Records, Grazia’s debut album is by far one of the most intriguing pieces of music to ever be recorded in Israel. Jaffa in the late sixties and early seventies had an exciting and exotic sound to offer, where folk musicians performed live at its taverns seven nights a week. It was far from the mainstream hit-parade of swinging Tel-Aviv but close enough geographically to attract listeners from across the Tel-Aviv-Jaffa metropolis.
Private Function is a Modern Funk compilation presented by Voltaire Records, featuring artists from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Miami. Weaving through elements of Boogie, Funk, Modern Soul, and G-Funk, Private Function heralds a new breed of talented producers re-inventing and amplifying this relished sound.
The 2nd release on PPU’s Test Pressing series. Limited Edition 1995 Uku Kuut recordings from his years living in Santa Monica. This is feel good cali funk as only Uku Kuut can do it.
Matt Star with some cosmic disco house on this new Main Records release. The last track is a collaboration with Locke.
Gay Marvine presents Bath House Etiquette Vol. 3… 1 Anxiety into Ecstasy – A clever take on a peak moment for the dance floor, fusing pieces of Chicago’s classic ”Street Player” (it was such a small space in time, I never knew what I would find, a musical path for all to see, anxiety into ecstasy) with the classic beats of The Bomb! which famously sampled the original for Henry Street in 1995. 2 America – The Bomb goes boom says Prince in this ecstatic take on ”America” found only in parts from the 21 minute 1985 12”. Guaranteed to pump your dance floor into madness. 3 Wait a Minute, Baby – One of the most gentle songs from Stevie Nicks on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk perverted into a red hanky anthem. This mix is special because it allows you to play an almost folk rock moment as pure hedonistic disco, like a fantasy lost Cocteau Twins cut from 1979. 4 I Hate the Food I Eat – I have nothing nice to say about Sting except he made some also pre-Police Italo and perfectly overacted in Dune. An effortless groove that despite being over 30 years old sounds remarkably contemporary.
Beach Mode (Keep It Simple) is the perfect snapshot of Ikonika’s new album ‘Aerotropolis’. It’s also her first vocal track, graced with the voice of One To Watch, Jessy Lanza. Beach Mode combines sunny salsa-like chords and claves, inspired by latin freestyle dance music from the 80s, with Jessy’s vocals cutting in over some soaring rough synths. It’s a refreshingly straight forward and sensual piece of pop dance. Side B starts with a dub mix for all the vocal haters, while the Percapella version breaks it down into a syncopated drum track and a slightly dubbed take on the vocals, giving it a tracky and colder toughness reminiscent of early Chicago house music.
Secret Mixes and Fixes Vol 15 features The Fantasy, a 2 veteran Detroit DJ’s making their fantasy versions of untouchable songs.
The latest 12″ from Beats In Space Records features three tracks recorded between 2005 and 2009 courtesy of Tokyo’s humbly dynamic Gonno. A dynamic producer who is clearly not afraid to nest until crucial hatch time, Gonno flies the coop with a wingspan throwing psychedelic color at a sunburst sky. Blending a spectrum of musical influences from Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, to Basic Channel and personal touch points about the people (and animals) he’s met and the joy / sorrow they cause, Gonno’s productions blur the lines between art and life experience.
Selvagem is both the name of the DJ duo as well as the name of their monthly party in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its a monthly sunset party that is considered one of the best in the city. They have hosted DJs such as Twitch from Optimo, Severino from Horse Meat Disco, Andy Blake from World Unknown and Paul Thomson, the drummer for Franz Ferdinand. They recently did a mix for Beats In Space that was 100% Brazilian music. From disco to funk, psychedelic, post-punk, electro and batucada. Its a mix of luscious rhythms, crazy translations and outer-world oddities that can provoke one’s inner savage. The three tracks on this EP were selected from this BIS mix.
An album completely filled with unreleased music productions by Gerhard Heinz. Cosmic Disco, Minimal Synth, Electro,,, music from old porn and horror movies from the mid 70’s to early 80’s. What’s actually unbelievable is that while checking Gerhard Heinz’s audio archive a 12” Maxi Version of Hydrogen – Cheaters Theme which runs about 5 min. showed up. This is certainly one of the most wanted cosmic library tracks ever and will be also featured. The first 50 vinyl copies will include a CD safety copy with 6 more unreleased tracks (for example the disco tracks which is played at the pool party of ”Bloody Moon” aka ”Die Sge des Todes” by Jess Franko as 12” Maxi Single version which runs for more than 6 min).
Camp Supafrico return with the sixth edition of their highly acclaimed ‘Sound of Funky Africa’ series. Digging even deeper into the Afro-funk vaults, side A features the über-rare 1984 Shina Williams and His African Percussionists ‘Agboju Logun’. Grooving along for a massive eleven and a half minutes, this super-heavy Nigerian disco cut splices raw sounding horns with choirs and chants. Flip over for ‘Don’t Do It’ from Bongi Makeba, a mesmerising afro-funk workout with her powerful voice weaving in and out of the grooving bass and spaced-out sax. Last up is the sought-after ‘Mangous Ye’ from Black Soul. Originally the B-side of a 1976 release on tiny but top-quality NYC label Beam Junction, this Tom Moulton mixed slice of high-octane percussion-soaked afro-disco hit big on Italy’s Cosmic scene as well as the clubs of New York.
Apersonal Music introduces a very special collaboration between Massimiliano Pagliara and Jules Etienne that goes by the name of Egyptian Nipples. The songs on “Back but Half EP” were originally composed and produced by Jules Etienne. Massi then proposed Jules to re-work them and add his additional production. The result is an ode to 80s inspired song writing, analogue grittiness and heavenly melodies.
Heinrich Dressel from Minimal Rome and Ali Renault in his Cestrian guise team up to bring us the latest release on Cyber Dance Records, a split EP featuring 2 tracks from each of them. Side A is Heinrich Dressel’s half of the record and kicks off with ‘Out Of The Blue’, a deep throbbing monster of a jam full of psychedelic synths rumbling and pulsating beneath mesmerising electronic tones. His other track. ‘Thru The Fog’ ups the tempo and pushes the rock-solid analogue weightiness into a Chicago-esque jack classic that DJs won’t be able to resist. The Cestrian half of the record counter-balances Dressel’s moody analogue jams with 2 LSD-driven electro-monsters that evoke bleak but somehow lush visions of life in the modern world of concrete and machines. ‘Strong Face’ with its distinctive audio sampling and dystopian future vibes would surely be just the kind of electro JG Ballard would approve of, while ‘Methane Filter’ is a tweaked-out electro rocker that sounds like robotic paranoia distilled into soundwaves.
Sean Johnston’s Hardway Bros aligns on the Throne Of Blood label with some rare original produce in the shape of A/B Musique, a killer 12″ brandishing some assistance from fellow Axis members Scott Fraser and Timothy J Fairplay. Eschewing the Balearic nature of previous Hardway Bros material, the title track is geared as homage to Belgian New Beat and hits the spot as soon as those hollow drums kick into gear. The aforementioned Mr Fairplay provides some punk funk swagger via intermittent guitar riffage and the vibe throughout is geared towards interplanetary love parties. On the flip, “Shorty” feels a bit darker, with tough multi layered drum breaks and fuzzy edged arpeggiated bass lines gradually teasing out a seemingly never ending fluctuating precession of delay laden acid lines and swirling hypnotic vocal smudges. Scott Fraser turns in a murky basement remix of “Shorty” which is tinged with a machine made melancholia that tastes decidedly Detroitian.
Let’s Get Lost label’s 21st offering welcomes Italo Disco innovator Daniele Baldelli into the fold with an eight track, double 12″ cosmic transmission. Naturally given the length, Baldelli canvasses an array of styles, like the post punk and jazz fusion of “Dark Sax”, the pulsating future disco of “Teens & Teens” or the Studio 54 referencing “Portorico”. Baldelli also dips into some more down-tempo, ambient and darker italo stylings with “Tunnel”, while taking a Latin approach with “Conflitto Mexicano”.
Gramme is the musically pioneering band that went missing in action sometime around 2000. Originally signed to Trevor Jackson’s Output label, the band emerged in the mid-nineties with a sound so out of step with the cultural milieu they found themselves swimming against the tide. Originally a five piece, the band formed around a shared love of the emotional melancholy now synonymous with Factory artists such as Joy Division, Section 25 and A Certain Ratio. Gramme were attracted by Manchester’s psycho disco of the early 80’s and NY’s subterranean proto punk-funk on 99 Records and bands like Liquid Liquid and ESG. The die was cast when, following a particularly intense Camden gig in 1996, the legendary DJ Nathan Gregory said the immortal words “ I love your band, but I dunno whether to dance or pogo?!”. The individuality of Gramme around ‘97 remains their lasting signature. Gramme 2012, now a streamlined four piece but equally as passionate and excited by the possibilities of their own music making. With three new 4 track E.P.s already on the shelves this year, reportedly selling out before the dust had time to settle. The next step is a 12 track long player scheduled for release in February on Tim ‘Love’ Lee’s Tummy Touch Records. The album represents about two and a half years of sporadic but intense writing, jamming, recording and editing and at least three complete fresh starts. The aim was finally to create something immediate and in the present but something that would also stand the test of time. It needed to work in the club, the car and the kitchen simultaneously.
The Hipodrome Of Music 