NU GUINEA Vinyl & CDs

Review: Neapolitan duo Massimo Di Lena and Lucio Aquilina are Nu Genea, masters of the Balearic form and musical wizards who transport you to a better place in an instant. Four years later their last album they finally return with more sumptuous sounds in the form of Bar Mediterraneo, which swings open its doors and invites you in for a cocktail or two. Acoustic instruments, voices and synthesizers all come together on this funk, soul, Afro, Latin and jazz fusion and it's exactly the sort of record you needing your life when the temps begin to rise.

Review: On their debut album, 2016's the Tony Allen Experiments, Naples twosome Nu Guinea re-invented tracks by the legendary Afro-beat drummer as synth-heavy chunks of deep jazz-funk and nu-Balearica. For this follow-up - their first full length entirely made up of their own compositions - the duo serves up a set of jazz-funk, disco and boogie cuts rich in both their trademark colourful analogue synthesizer sounds and live instrumentation. It's a formula that guarantees a string of memorable highlights, from the sun-kissed peak-time brilliance of "Disco Sole" and rubbery, funk-fuelled "Je Vulesse" (a killer vocal number), to the wobbly downtempo trip of "A Voce E Napule" and Mizell Brothers fizz of closer "Parev Ajare", the album's most synthesizer-heavy cut.

Review: Italian duo Nu Guinea has previously proved adept at creating humid, sultry deep house and tropical-infused electronics. Here, they focus a little more on the latter with a concept album based around the distinctive Afrobeat rhythms of legendary drummer Tony Allen. With his blessing, and that of the Comet label on which he's been releasing since the 1980s, the Early Sounds Recordings pair has cut-up and re-constructed Allen's drums, combining them with their own steamy electronics, vintage synthesizer lines and classic drum machines. It's an intoxicating and hugely entertaining blend that sits somewhere between their previous outings, Danny Wolfers' material under the Nacho Patrol guise, and the dreamy late '80s/early '90s work of forgotten Italian producer Mr Marvin.

Review: It's taken a while, but finally Nu Guinea's brilliant sophomore set, which sold out of its initial vinyl run back in the spring, has finally been released on CD. It's worth picking up, not least because it's arguably even better than "The Tony Allen Experiments", their 2016 debut. It sees the Italian duo lay down a killer collection of jazz-funk, disco and boogie cuts rich in colourful analogue synthesizer and hazy, live instrumentation. The album is packed with highlights, from the rubbery, funk-fuelled "Je Vulesse" (a killer vocal number) and wobbly downtempo trip of "A Voce E Napule", to the Mizell Brothers fizz of closer "Parev' Ajere", the set's most synthesizer-heavy cut.