MINT

Tropical Disco plucks out a spellbinding salvo of heaters for Tropical Disco Volume. 7, dished out on suitably heavy wax.Moodeena’s “The Horns” boldly kicks off the record, effortlessly weaving together elements of funk, soul and afro, influenced by a myriad of far-reaching regions. The earworm of a bassline subtly leads the piece, morphing, dipping and then reassembling as the brass resurfaces, creating a tender, palpable sound palette. On the flip “What Da Funk”s playful track title doesn’t reflect its cultivated build, and no doubt lethal functionality on a dancefloor.Titillating strings are the driving force for Tropical Disco newcomer Sammy Deuce’s input, bringing a burning, high-energy ode to golden-era disco with “Smack My Strings Up”. Hot on the heels of a series of well received releases on labels such as Glasgow Underground, Club Session and Big Love, Sammy deuce offers up a rare guest track on the label that pairs perfectly with a recipe Sartorial and Moodena have refined so successfully.Sartorial closes the EP with “Little Love”, a carefully plotted symphony and formidable sign off for the release. Hustling a creamy bass and slowly swooning vocal, this audio aphrodisiac will have dancers headed straight to the bedroom…Tropical Disco’s back-catalogue of quality nu-disco obscurities is building thick and fast, and the latest package is a diamond in a gleaming gold mine.

Widely revered French DJ and producer, Thomas Arroyo aka Laroye has released music exploring a variety of different genres from broken beat on the early days of MCDE and Faces Records, through to funk and boogie with QWESTLIFE on Midnight Riot, Black Riot and ISM Records and beyond. His creativity extends to a number of side projects, like Soul Rüma (with Andre Espeut) and experimental modular jams and atmospheric blues with his own project The Tom Laroye Experiment.His next release on Tiff's Joints has already received the seal of approval from the likes of Laurent Garnier, Alexander Nut, Volcov and more. The A1, 'Colombia 26a', sets pace for the release with heavy Afro-Latin percussion, a thick bassline and the type of dexterous musicality the label is steadily becoming known for. 'The Trickster' is built around an infectiously squelchy keys part, bolstered by a bouncing bassline, the track culminates in a soaring lead melody and ridiculous synth solo. 'Espiritú' is more downtempo and spacey. Kicking off with a relentlessly driving and hypnotic polyrhythm, and complete with an uplifting choral arrangement, seriously trippy lapsteel guitar (?!) and a mysterious guiding voice.

South Londons Henry Wu makes his HoTep debut with the Negotiate Ep, his most comprehensive release to date.Spanning five cuts the Ep journeys through loose soulful grooves, dusty fingered beats and bumpy analog house. Bringing that redlight, basementality throughout, title track 'Just Negotiate' featuring Simeon Jones on vocals moves above street level, adding bitter sweet dancefloor/radio vibes to proceedings.On the whole.... Some abstract jazz type sh*t!

Sho is Funky Down Here and The Grodeck Whipperjenny are a pair of albums that are the result of an unlikely but highly productive musical relationship between James Brown, a superstar at the creative and commercial peaks of his long career, and David Matthews, a then young arranger-musician whose limited professional experience had little or nothing to do with the funk and soul of his collaborator. The Grodeck Whipperjenny A psychedelic classic, created by his James Brown’s bandleader David Matthews, the first album issued on Brown’s famed People imprint. As progressive as it is funky, this album was issued in tandem with another Matthews project issued under Brown’s name – Sho Is Funky Down Here. One of the deepest albums in the Brown catalog, its story is finally told. Both albums were lacquered directly from the original master tapes at Capitol Studios. This is the first official reissue of both of these rare titles. Each album contains an extensive booklet with full annotation, liner notes by Brown historian Alan Leeds and never-before-published photos.

Krewcial is back on WPH after some seriously funky adventures on Marcel Vogel’s fine Lumberjacks In Hell label. We wanted to finish our 10” series in style and it’s safe to say that krewcial provided the goods. On the A-side ‘Plaster’ brings us raw vocal piano house of the highest order and a sure-fire hands in the air moment on any discerning dance floor.On the flip ‘Proto’ is what proto says: raw house business for more Theo Parrish or Ron Hardy styled slam dancing damage. Since his house debut on WPH krewcial has been going from strength to strength and with this E.P. he shows no signs of slowing down.

Classic Italo tunes repressed - two cuts, taken from the 1984 six tracker