Back in stock: Funky/Club House

Review: Donna Allen's 'Serious' is a stone-cold boogie classic whose acapella subsequently appeared in all manner of dance tracks from the early '90s onwards (most famously Strike's brilliantly OTT house classic 'U Sure Do'). Here 'remix-a-classic' specialists High Fashion get to work dragging the track into 2023, which will no doubt infuriate purists but delight those who have always longed for slightly faster and heavier mixes (the original rolls at around 110 BPM). Label regular Michael Gray steps up first with a tasteful, string-laden disco-house re-make that's actually quite radically different, whilst including enough of Allen's vocal and original version to make it familiar. Wayne Soul Avengerz and Odyssey Inc take a different approach, retaining most of the original instrumentation whilst upping the tempo and beefing up the beats.

Review: Alex Attias is the man behind the El Mustang Project and here he teases his upcoming album with a couple of new tunes on Visions Inc. As always, they find him fusing the organic with the synthetic to make for deep and silky house tunes that straddle genres and ages. 'Love Me Better' opens with a gorgeous vocal and rickety drums that ooze charm. 'Dream Drumz' gets a little more raw and edgy with pixelated melodic spirals and 'Life' gets old school. Cowbells ping about the mix as distorted bass and frazzled pads add texture to this subtle throwback jam.

Review: Joi Cardwell's "Imperfect", out on Asante, has support from Dennis Ferrer, Roger Sanchez, Kenny Dope and more.

Review: It is with immense joy that we present for the first time on Musique Risquée the Montreal/Argentinean duo Chic Miniature, composed of Ernesto Ferreyra and Gabriel Coutu-Dumont. They bring their EP, "Poco-A-Gogo". As their alias so aptly reveals, Chic Miniature fabricates intricately sculpted little gems, finely crafted works that unravel like finely woven lace. Their delicate structures and warm spellbinding melodies trigger rich imagery while fervently rousing the desire to groove. "Chanchita" plunges us directly into an electropical jungle where fractured voice and percussion bustle around an elegant succession of elements woven into a slow progression both organic and sexy. An aural oasis. The warm and sensuous piece, "Kimono", will leave no trace of indifference. The magnificent and obscure quasi-mystical Latin melodies, the unmistakable signature of Chic Miniature, reveal an immense sensitivity and sensuality. All is strung together by a solid rhythmic structure that will surely move your feet before the information even reaches your brain. "Kimono" invites us on an expedition through the furrows of certain unknown sombre terrains, such as an unmarked seductive mirage at the heart of a dessert where anything can transpire. A classic.

Review: For the next installment of Argentinian label Music Broker's tribute series, they have selected some of seminal Parisian duo Daft Punk's finest works and remixes, spanning the last two decades, along with some of the music that inspired them. The Many Faces Of Daft Punk: A Journey Through The Inner World Of Daft Punk features disco royalty such as Niles Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone, while more contemporary producers from the house music spectrum feature also, such as Detroit's Scott Grooves (featuring Parliament/Funkadelic), The Micronauts and Versatile's I:Cube receive de Homem-Christo and Bangalter's midas touch. the latter's 'Disco Cubizm" from '96 being a particular highlight on the remix side of things. Not to mention their roaring rework of indie-pop darlings Franz Ferdinand's classic 'Take Me Out'.

Review: Anjunadeep has pulled out another majestic album here, this time from Nils Hoffmann. 'A Radiant Sign' is his sophomore album and another one that backs up many people's claims that he is one of the most exciting emerging talents out there. The Berlin-based producer showcases his mastery of his synths and magical melodic sounds with music that takes cues from the likes of Rufus du Sol, Olafur Arnalds and Stephan Bodzin. He opts for hard drums on 'Tiderays' but more ambient designs on 'A Radiant Sign' while 'Let Me Go' is complex synth work that takes you to a higher emotional plane.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Josh Milan and Louie Vega are real heavyweights and as Soul Fusion they step up here to remix the legendary 'Little Orphan Boy' which is the second single taken from album 'This Is Brian Jackson', the veteran artist's first true solo LP in over 20 years. They do so across four different versions and give it a vintage treatment. The extended 'Two Soul Fusion' mix brings back golden era of Masters at Work with a Latin-infused percussion groove while the 'Downtempo' remix lets Brian Jackson's vocals ride over a stripped back but just as soulful arrangement.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***

After hitting on something of a formula with 'Only Human', this A-side banger is further proof that Four Tet is onto a rich vein of side hustle action with his KH alter ego. 'Looking At Your Pager' is a cheeky slice of '90s throwback-ism in jackin' house form, and in a heuristically Hebden-esque style, makes deft use of the hilariously autotuned opening verse heard in 3LW's girl band hit, 'No More'. It's a very clever tune; just as no-one uses pagers anymore, nor do people use the kind of dubstep wobbles heard underneath the track's clacking groove... Mr. KH makes them cool again!

Review: The Lahaar is a Trans-Tasman collaboration between Julien Dyne, Horatio Luna and Surprise Chef's Lachlan Stuckey, featuring Mara TK and Toby Laing on vocals. Channeling a heady cocktail of inspirations from New York to Lagos, the supergroup easily moves through different styles in quick succession, from uptempo boogie to mega-ploddy dub. Seguing between original bangers and exploitation movie library music, the EP closes on the riveting 'Chase Scene (Part 1)', which casts evadign tjhe law in a surprisingly emotive light.

Review: To mark the 20th Anniversary of the American Life Mix Show Mix, this new album brings together eight songs that also honour the life and work of Peter Rauhofer, a notorious remixer who did many such great works for Madonna for over two decades. Six of these tunes are brand new edits of Madonna's top commercial and promotional remixes from the 'American Life' era that have never been released before. The two others are a superb Ralphi Rosario House Vocal Mix of 'Love Profusion' and Deepsky's Home Sweet Home Vocal Edit of 'Hollywood.'

Review: The sixth salvo on Sundries sees the Russian label offer up a third serving of 'Disco Goodies'. Rising stars ScruScru and Meowsn, fresh from the release of a fine collaborative album, get things going via the rubbery, electric piano-smothered deep disco-house bounce of 'Your K' - all chunky beats, swirling strings and dazzling Rhodes solos - before scene stalwart Hotmood blur the boundaries between original production and re-editing on the sparkling, piano-sporting disco-goes-sample house excellence of 'Hard Feelings'. Over on side B, Lowres wraps some low-slung disco samples around a killer bassline and snappy drum machine beats on the heady and hedonistic 'Slishish', while Erik Ellman's 'Tribal Disco' is a beefed-up, full-throttle disco-house translation of a lesser-known 10970s discoid gem

Review: Originally dropped mid-summer as a digital release, the quality on this remix package from The Sunburst Band was just too good to keep off wax. First up, bandleader Dave Lee himself steps up with a 'Jazz Funk Renaissance' version of 'Listen Love' which frames Wayne Hernandez's stirring vocal turn with molten Rhodes and wah-wah guitars aplenty. Then the Louie Vega-Josh Milan dream team come correct with two spellbinding versions that speak to their prowess in the field of live, deeply rooted house music. For good measure, Lee rounds things off on the B2 with a 'Flute Reboot' for those who just want to zone in on the groove.