Keep It Coming

Since I've been really into Faze Action alot lately (See Moving Trees post from about a week ago), I thought I would feature one of their newest 12-inches entitled, Keep It Coming. This self-released cosmic disco gem is enriched with live cellos(my favorite instrument) and theramins throughout the record. The 12" single consists of three mixes of "Keep It Coming", all being amazing and slightly different. I definately reccommend picking up this solid production. Another amazing release from the Faze Action bros Simon & Robin Lee.

Faze Action - Keep It Coming (Special Disco Mix)

Walking On a Crystal Sea

Ilya Santana recently released Discotized 12" off of Permanent Vacation, which has been seeing some really great reviews. However before this release, Ilya was probably pretty unknown to many people when it came to his music productions. After going back and listening to some of his older stuff like the 2005 12-inch single Histories & Fairytales off of Airtight Records and 2004's Analogic Mind 12", it's not hard to see that Ilya Santana is solid producer with some really amazing compositions. I'm hoping Permanent Vacation decides to releases a few more singles and possibly a full-length. Enjoy some great "disco house" from a couple of years ago that I was able to recently to dig up off his debut release in 2004 entitled Walking On a Crystal Sea 12".

Ilya Santana - Magic!
Ilya Santana - Walking On a Crystal Sea (extended version)

Bent on Going Back

Lately I've been in the mood to post some older classics from a few years back. Today I feature one of my favorite remixes in Reverso 68's take on Bent's "Comin' Back". First off, I generally enjoy everything Reverso 68, aka Pete Herbert and Phil Mison put out, and this is no different. I actually believe this 2004 track which was released off of Open Records, is there best remix they have done to date. I know there will be people who disagree with that, and that's fine, especially because Reverso 68 have released so many great remixes over the past 5 years. At times the song reminds me of Escort's re-edit of Tracey Thorn's "It's All True". Speaking of great remixes, I would also reccommend their recent rendition of Bakazou's "Yellow Fever", very solid 12-inch. Anyways enjoy this amazing track from the recent past.

Bent - Comin' Back (Reverso 68 Remix)

Flavour Saver

In 2005, Idjut Boys's Noid Recordings released one of my favorite LP's of all time in Major Swellings's, self-titled 2xLP. This debut record by Major Swellings, aka Prins Thomas was born when the Idjut Boys, who have DJ’d with him several times, were highly impressed with Thomas's interpretations and love for disco, which therefore led to the Idjut brothers promptly signing him to their new label, Noid. This LP has a synth dub sexy disco sound that places a high emphasis on driving percussion and cosmic layering. I'm not in the pornography business, however sometimes I like to think that this would be the perfect soundtrack. In my opinion there isn't a bad track on the album, and it makes me sometimes scratch my head as to why we haven't had a follow-up release. However, Major Swellings has recently released two solid remixes of Putsch '79's "Doing it", and Stephen Malkmus's "Kindling For The Master". If you can get a hold of this record, don't hesitate in buying it.

Major Swellings-Flavoursaver
Major Swellings-Assquake

Moving Trees

One group that I have been getting into alot lately is UK duo Faze Action. In 1996 these two brothers released the classic cosmic disco gem "In The Trees" off of David Hill's disco house label Nuphonic. This classic disco track has recently been re-released with new remixes from Carl Craig and Jerome Sydenham & Tiger Stripes by Juno Records as part of there 10 Years of Juno series. Besides, the popular "In The Trees", they have released other amazing records like 1999's Plans & Designs LP, 2000's Moving Cities 12", and Samba 12" along with two new recently released records Keep It Coming 12" and Stratus Energy 12". It seems like every track I hear by these guys, sheds a new light on the disco house sound, breaking the boundaries to the genre that they helped create. It's nice to see that Juno Records is giving this amazing group some much deserved spotlight.

Faze Action - In The Trees(1996 Original Mix)
Faze Action - Moving Cities(alternative version)

Double Exposure

This past week, Beat Freeze Records released two new 12-inch singles.

The first 12-inch is the debut effort from TJ Gorton, entitled Jane Fonda. This cosmic 12-inch which consists of two disco house gems, including the single "Jane Fonda" and "All Night Marathon" blend the disco house sound with a retro-italo feel.

Piccadilly Records says, "Future Force's TJ Gorton goes solo for this more cosmically-minded 12" on Beat Freeze. The cracking, criss-crossing synths and sharp hi-hats of "Jane Fonda" are exact replicas of the Italo / Canadian electronic disco stylistics which we all love so much. "All Night Marathon" has a touch more 'techno' direction, but you could still easily mistake it for a Clone or Environ archive reissue." While Clone Records states "Nu school disco tracks: Jane Fonda and All Night Marathon. Nice building tracks that work great on the dancefloor. Could be big!" You can purchase this new 12-inch single at Phonica Records, Juno Records, Piccadilly Records, or many other vinyl outlets.

TJ Gorton - Jane Fonda

The second record, is the new 12" from Future Force, entitled She Tasted Like a White Russian, which is an electro-disco anthem that's built off of italo arpeggio's and high-energy percussion. The titled track has seen some recent air play on Pig Radio.

Piccadilly Records says, "She Tasted Like A White Russian- not only has a wonderful title but also aspects of electro, new wave, Italo and techno which go together to create this killer piece of modern dancefloor material. Alden Tyrell mastered it too...". While Clone Records describes the new 12-inch "Cool nu school disco for all fans of Lindstrom, Alden Tyrell etc.". You can purchase this new 12-inch single at Phonica Records, Juno Records, Piccadilly Records, or many other vinyl outlets.

Future Force - She Tasted Like a White Russian

By The Way You Dance

Let's take it back to the Garage on this Friday. A couple of years back, Suss'd Records released a collection of Larry Levan edits that I can't seem to get enough of lately. This timeless release was entitled The Definitive Salsoul Mixes '78-'83, which featured some of Levan's best remixes and edits from early disco artists like Instant Funk, Inner Life, Loleatta Holloway, The Salsoul Orchestra, First Choice, etc. This collection was also divided up and released in a collection of 12-inch singles. My favorite of the bunch has to be 2004's By The Way You Dance / Handsome Man 12" which included unreleased edited versions by both Bunny Sigler and Sparkle. Both songs are amazing and capture the true "Garage house" sound that made the Paradise Garage such a legendary New York dance club. A great time piece for a great era in dance music.

Bunny Sigler - By The Way You Dance (Larry Levan Remix)
Sparkle - Handsome Man (Larry Levan Remix)

Step by Step, I Get Lifted

One of my favorite things to feature on this blog is TangoTerje edits. They always remind me of a Larry Levan edit remixed by an artist from Full Pupp records. Tangoterje, aka Todd Terje always tends to have the ability to find some really good hidden gem that most people wouldn't consider in remixing, put his touch to the song, and finally turning them into a golden classic. The two I have featured today always puts me into a great mood. First is George McRae's funk classics "I Get Lifted" which was orginally release in 1974 on the album Rock Your Baby. Second is a classic cut from Discognosis titled "Step By Step ", which was first released on the 1977 self-titled LP Discognosis. Tangoterje has release both of these new re-edited versions on 12-inch singles released by Supreme Records, both being amazing re-edit records.

Tangoterje - I Get Lifted
Tangoterje - Step By Step

Off the Boat, On to The Floor

Staying with a Permanent Vacation theme, today I'm featuring the new remix 12-inch from legendary electro-samba group Antena. After the huge success of last year's "Camino Del Sol" 12-inch which featured amazing remixes from both Joakim and Todd Terje Permanent Vacation records released the second round of Antena remixes, this time including remixes from Belgium's Disco Devil, Nouvelle Vague, Lexx , and the Phreek Plus One. I think the standout track on this solid record is Disco Devil's re-edit of the 1982 original "On The Boat ", which has very "DFA production" feel to it. The instrumental remix also features a nice lead synth part that was adding for the remix. By far another solid release for both Antena and Permanent Vacation, which in time is becoming one of my favorite labels.

Antena - On The Boat (Rubber Room's Disco Devil Remix)

Permanently Discotized

Munich based label Permanent Vacation released a new 12-inch single this past week from Spain's Ilya Santana. Ilya's "Leather Blackpants After Midnight" off of the 2006 Permanent Vacation Sampler 12" was definately a solid standout track among the compilation that gave us a good insight for what was to come. Now he releases his first solo 12-inch off of Permanent Vacation entitled, Discotized. This single is a cosmic disco masterpiece that includes two amazing tracks, "Discotized" and "Holding You". Both are solid downtempo disco house productions that are very reminescent of the music that is exploding out of Norway lately. This is an oustanding release for both Ilya Santana and Permanent Vacation, another great record to add to both of their respective collections.

Ilya Santana - Discotized
Ilya Santana - Holding You