Esa returns with the final instalment for this Highlife World Series which included previous releases Cuba and Kenya. Having been invited to attend the East Africa music conference DoaDoa in Jinja, Uganda back in 2014 and again in 2015, Esa shares the sounds of a new breed of talent and ideas emerging from East Africa and beyond, showcases music not only from Uganda but artist from Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa who all attended the conference.
Three monstrous tracks straight from the basement feat. one of the original house music creator Ron Hardy. Set the tone – Dance sucker, Starflight – dance to the beat, Electronic Drums# 5.
Four monstruous tracks straight from the basement feat. one of the original house music creator Ron Hardy. Connie case – Get down, R.E.M. – Computer communication, Electronic Drums#3 & #4.
Amazing italo re-issue for the hardcore italo lovers with extended edits made by the notorious Flemming Dalum and Hysteric.
The fine folks at Moton, that’ll be Diesel and Jarvis, with a 7’s of edit delights… Krypto is deeper than deep with an uptempo space disco number alive with expansive synth lines, funky clavs and intergalactic fx. Flipping it over Exotiq drops down a few gears for an Eastern influenced synth trip in the true wonky cosmic style – all dub fx, off kilter melodies and chanted vocals.
Bath House Etiquette Vol. 8 continues the devastation from Gay Marvine: totally transformed Donna Summer, a Prince disco edit that removes all the vocals, his Liaisons Avant Apres Mars master edit, and Iggy Bowie Eno Sister Midnight.
Reinforcing the way things happen since the beginning on Macadam Mambo, London new comer George Kamm has selected and adjusted 4 cuts of Weirdo synth-pop, alternating dance floor killers and experimental nuggets. No need to say that its again high digging level, and extremely well done edits.
Black Booby is back on it with the Disco NoT Disco Summer release. First up on the A-side there’s ‘Sun Lab Export’ from Richard Rogers’ mystery partner, an edit of the super-unknown ‘Laxton Superb’ by Dutch 80’s electronic outfit Spectral Display. Next up is ‘I Need Somebody Raw’ a new take on disco’s campest hero Sylvester’s ‘I Need Somebody To Love Tonight’. Then moving on to the B-side, we have ‘Jungle Booby’ which is already attracting some underground heat, as this reworking of late 70s French disco group Kikrokos’ track ‘Jungle D.J.’ sees Rogers take the original’s intro for a long session on the dancefloor in its own right. Finally, ‘And She Walks’, a take on Kazino’s ‘Binary’, sees them revamp the original B-side (of Around My Dream) by highlighting its darker sonic sensibilities.
Optimo Trax 015 sees label boss JD Twitch indulge his love of cult Australian DIY act Severed Heads with a trio of dub version culled from the B-sides of their 1980s 12″ output. Titled quite artfully Big Saints Reward (1987 – 90 dubs), perennial Twitch favourite “Greater Reward” features prominently with the Dub version accompanied by an all new “Piano Power Edit” from the Optimo man which takes full advantage of the glorious keys that characterise the track. Complementing these, the B-side houses “Big Car (Crash dub)” and “All Saints Day (Saints Dub Day)” which add further credence to the notion Severed Heads are one of the most important acts in the formation of club music as we know it today.
Albion is back with a 6 track EP of delightful cosmotropical disco edits. In true Rotating Souls tradition only the freshest cuts make it to the table. Bursting out the A1 like a chrome clad sapce pimp, “Veni Vidi Voodoo” blasts psychedelic synths all over the shop before exploding into a crazy cosmic disco funk number. Somewhere between an obscure 1970s italian space opera and a sleazy blaxploitation jam. Next up, “Turning On” sees the vocoder in full effect as Albion turns out a percussive Italo disco chugger perfect for the pitch black warehouse. A3 ‘Mind Confusion’: outdoorsy psychedelic festival synth disco sounds. As we saunter over to the B-side, “Nightliner” gets properly cosmic with some totally galactic jazz-funk leanings. If you need some funky guitars, moog melodies, sweet strings, and tropical sounds in your set, throw this one on. “Shangri La” beams us down from the stars to the sun and fun of Miami thanks to a true electro disco stomp. Rocking Balearo-Beach style guitars and funky synth solos, this is undoubtedly one for the synth funk freaks. Last but not least, “All We Need Is Each Other” is a catchy vocal number which seems to blend the infectious guitar part from Barrabas’ “Woman” with another breezy Euro-pop gem for all out Balearic dancefloor destruction.
Albion, the “continental Disco” King, is back on Macadam Mambo with a new EP, reinforcing, with those 4 killer nuggets, that he is definitely the boss to put out weirdo obscurities. And giving us again, the feeling that the level of the tracks is getting higher record after record.
Mannequin continue to deliver the brutal sound of the Italian industrial/ebm electronic band Musumeci, this time with 2 killer edits from Lee Douglas / An-i.
The Skylax affiliated Warehouse Classics series has always taken an authentically old-fashioned approach to the humble re-edit, serving up chopped and looped versions inspired by the loose, drum-machine heavy reworks of original Chicago house masters such as Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles. This fourth volume, the first from label boss Hardrock Striker, continues in this vein. Amongst the four tracks you’ll find a slamming early house gem (the clean kick drums, metallic hits and chiming melodies of “Mano a Mano”), a brilliantly teasted and tweaked Ready for the World revision (“Shyla”, where the French producer builds the drums before dropping into the vocals), and what sounds like a Paul Weller/Jam/Style Council rework (the undulating Balearic funk of “Precious Thang”).
The second volume in the Salamanca edit series comes with four tracks by Mad’R, Afrobot, Mike Burns and Matt Moroder.
Next up in the Highlife World Series, we take a trip to Kenya where our man Esa plays the role of producer for the first time; with super talented local musicians – Sarabi and Makadem (aka the Fela of Kenya). Instantly timeless on both sides, see for yourself..
The Black Electro Orchestra is an alias of Tevo Howard that was originally meant to be used as a template for other artists to take and use, rearrange, rework, and reiterate.. Respectively, after a first eclectic album, the alias took on the identity of cover songs reiterated as Chicago House and Chicago Electro House tracks.. This album titled Cosmopolitan 1987 does consist of that, 12 covers from classic electronic compositions that paved roads in the 1980s and set the path for electronic composers today….
The mysterious EROS return with the ‘X’ series, an altogether more strobe-lit and full-tilt take on the glorious Disco supernova from whence we all came.
Lets Get Lost vol. 26 … this time Jacques Renault steps up to the plate with 4 quality edits.
Three edit jobs again of Todd Terje this time of Roni Griffith’s “Love Is The Drug”, Rinder & Lewis 1979 rarity “Willie And The Hand Jive” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”.
The Hipodrome Of Music 