Kukkelure Boogie

Looking back on last year, one of the artists that released some of the year's best original material, in my opinion, was Norwegian prog-disco king Prins Thomas. In 2010, Thomas released a superb new solo full-length album, as well as a solid new twelve-inch single titled Morfar. At this point, we all know the amazing work he does with Lindstrom, as well as the continually great remixes and edits he constantly cranks out, however it was nice to see Thomas find some time to produce his own work with both of these new solo releases.

While Thomas's self-titled LP was my favorite "Album of 2010", it's important that it doesn't overshadow the single that he released shortly thereafter in Morfar. The twelve-inch release features three solid cuts including the title track "Morfar", "Atter En Trall", and my personal favorite track "Kukkelure". While the self-titled album was a solid collection of songs that really complimented each other from track to track, Morfar is a record that is slightly more upbeat and primed a bit better for the dancefloor. It's almost a given that this year will be another busy year for Prins Thomas, however we can all just hope that he can find a little bit of time to produce some more original gems.

Prins Thomas - Kukkelure



Purchase Prins Thomas's twelve-inch single Morfar by Clicking Here.

Cocaine Blues

First off, I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving break. I certainly had a nice one, receiving some much needed time off and rest. Now that I'm feeling a bit more rejuvenated I thought I would share the latest single "Cocaine Blues" by the Brooklyn disco group Escort. This new twelve-inch release marks the first single the group has released in three years. On this new track, the group loosely remakes Dillinger's 1976 reggae cut "Cocaine in My Brain", borrowing some of the original song's melodies while incorporating their own signature disco/boogie sound to the song's overall arrangement. Riff City recently did a really interesting interview with Escort's Dan Balis and Eugene Cho that really dives deeper into the development of "Cocaine Blues" and the thought process behind reworking specific melodies and rhythms into their own original material. Along with that interview, I highly recommend checking out the group's new single. The record continues along the same brilliance that brought us Love In Indigo, Starlight, A Bright New Life, and All Through The Night. I'm just hoping that we won't have to wait another three years before we hear the next classic! Enjoy!

Escort - Cocaine Blues
(Sorry! This track is no longer available for download)

Edits By Mr. K, Volume Two

I was excited to get a press release today from Strut Records announcing the much anticipating upcoming release of Edits By Mr. K Vol. 2 by the one and only Danny Krivit. The first volume, which was released by Strut back in 2003, included some incredible re-edits including Diana Ross' "No One Gets The Prize", Lenny Williams' "You Got Me Runnin'", Ecstasy, Passion & Pain's "Ask Me", The Sisters Love's "Give Me Your Love", and Betty Wright's "Where is the Love" among many others. Volume 2 of the series will begin where the first record left off with Krivit tackling Milton Hamilton's "We Have All The Time", Midnight Movers' "Follow The Wind", Black Blood's "Chicano", The Fatback Band's "Spanish Hustle", and Rare Pleasure "Let Me Down Easy" just to name a few. This new collection of re-edits will be released on September 14th. From the difficulty that I have found in trying to hunt down the first volume, I will assume that this record will move very fast and quickly become just as hard-to-find, therefore making it an absolute priority to purchase this record very shortly after it's been released. I heard about this release way back at the beginning of the year and have been anticipating it's release ever since. I am certainly going to enjoy the remaining days of summer, however I now have at least one reason to look forward to the fall and the upcoming second volume release of Edits By Mr. K.

Tracklist:
1. PATRICE RUSHEN – MUSIC OF THE EARTH
2. MILTON HAMILTON – WE HAVE ALL THE TIME
3. MIDNIGHT MOVERS – FOLLOW THE WIND
4. BLACK BLOOD – CHICANO
5. RARE PLEASURE – LET ME DOWN EASY
6. BLUE MODERNE – THROUGH THE NIGHT
7. PHILADELPHIA ALL-STARS – LET’S CLEAN UP THE GHETTO
8. SOUND EXPERIENCE – DON’T YOU KNOW YOU’VE BROKEN MY HEART
9. THE FATBACK BAND – SPANISH HUSTLE
10. CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD – LIFE & DEATH

Here is one of my favorite re-edits from the first volume. Enjoy!

Lenny Williams - You Got Me Runnin' (Danny Krivit Edit)

Blackjoy Releases New Album 'Erotis'

Every since the release of the mind-blowing Moustache twelve-inch a few years back, I've been a big supporter and fan of the "disco-house" group Blackjoy. Since that release back in 2005, the group has gone on to release some other solid singles including my favorite twelve-inch release of 2009 titled Blackjoy Disco Jams. In 2010, Blackjoy is at it again with a new full-length album titled "Erotis". This album which is currently available digitally and will also be available on vinyl at the end of June (roughly June 28th), is clearly one of the better releases of the year with a diverse group of funky tracks that blur the lines between many different sub genres of music. On tracks like "Djomani", "52 Devil's st", and "Jenny's disco" the group showcases a more disco sound, while on cuts like "Monilola", "Downtown Jenny", and "La Disco" feature a more classic House groove with vocals provided by Aqeel, Sandra Nkaké, and Lisa Spada. The record also consists of some funky slower tempo gems like "Games" and "Safado (part2)". With all of Blackjoy's releases, the group is consistently expanding it's own boundaries musically, and this record continues along that same path of exploration. Overall, Erotis is a solidly produced and diverse album that I highly recommend checking out.

Check out this solid mix put together by Dimitri From Paris of songs off of Blackjoy's Erotis album:
Dimitri From Paris' Erotis Album Mix

Download Blackjoy's 'Erotis' Album

Prins Thomas Presents Prins Thomas

I recently had a chance to hear the new Prins Thomas full-length album, that is being released this week. With the Oslo native being one of my all-time favorite producers, I've been excited about this album ever since I heard it was in the making. Everything from his own productions and his collaborative work with space-disco mastermind Lindstrom to his brilliant re-edits, mixes, and classic Major Swellings releases, Thomas has been releasing some of the most amazing and cutting-edge music I've heard for the past decade. On his first solo full-length of original works, Thomas continues to set the bar even higher. The record features seven solid tracks that blend his signature cosmic and psychedelic sound with a lot of funky organic grooves. The prescence of live drums and other percussion are very relevant throughout the entire record. Some of my favorite tracks include "Wendy Not Walter", "Orkenvandring", "Nattonsket", and today's featured song "Uggebugg". With this new full-length album, Prins Thomas has not only released one of the best record's of the year, he has produced an absolute masterpeice. There is no doubt in my mind that this one record everyone should own. And with that, sit back and enjoy!

Prins Thomas - Uggebugg

Get Down With The Philly Sound

I was given this exciting new promo mix from the good people over at BBE Records previewing Dimitri From Paris's upcoming compilation Get Down With The Philly Sound. This is the 5th collaborative between Dimitri and BBE, and from the sound of things, this might be their best release so far. The mix features some of the highlights from this upcoming comp with a narrative of each track from Dimitri himself. The upcoming release will include a mixture of Philly original disco classics, as well as a solid new batch of re-edits by Dimitri. All the bases surely look to be covered as this compilation will include classic cuts from some of Philadelphia's finest including Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Trammps, MFSB, The Salsoul Orchestra, The Jacksons, The John Davis Monster Orchestra, Montana Sextet, plenty of Teddy Pendergrass, and much much more. Regardless of your listening preference, BBE has you covered this May, as the compilation will be released on both CD and vinyl. Overall, here is a little preview to get you excited about this upcoming release. Enjoy!

Dimitri From Paris - Get Down With The Philly Sound Promo Mix

The Rising Sun

This month, one of Canada's finest, The Souljazz Orchestra have released one of the best records of 2010 in "Rising Sun". This album, which was released by the good people over at Strut, is hands down the group's strongest release to date. The entire record is solid with an overall soulful, yet funky Afro-beat groove. Some of the album's more standout cuts include "Negus Negast", "Consecration", "Rejoice, Pt.2", and my personal favorite "Agbara". For much of the record, the group sounds like the backing group to a Afro seventies heavy-hitting Fela Kuti or Manu Dibango record. On the record's softer cuts, the group showcases it's diverse, yet impressive jazz influenced side with tracks like "Lotus Flower" "Serenity". Overall, Rising Sun is amazing record and, even though it's early, one that should contend for best album of the year honors. Regardless, do yourself a favor and go buy yourself a copy while you can still find the record in stores. Here is "Agbara" (for a very limited time, I might add) to get you excited. Enjoy!

The Souljazz Orchestra - Agbara
(Download will only be available for a couple days)



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Uncover The Love

Fresh off of the recent reissues of his Disco Demands series, Al Kent and BBE records have put out another solid disco compilation titled Disco Love: Rare Disco & Soul Uncovered. Just in time for Valentines Day, this amazing compilation features many uplifting and feel good disco gems like Sweet Daddy Floyd's "I Just Can't Help Myself", Bob Williams' "I'm Alright", Patricia White's "Cosmic Disco", and many many more. Unlike some of Kent's other disco compilations, this collection of music is seeing a release on both CD and vinyl, so there is no excuses to pass on such a solid record. I have a feeling that this release will move fast, therefore I highly recommend snatching up a copy as soon as possible. Enjoy the love!

Sweet Daddy Floyd - I Just Can't Help Myself

Don't Take My Shadow

One of the best releases of 2009 that went a bit unnoticed was Kings Go Forth's seven-inch release titled Don't Take My Shadow. Kings Go Forth is a ten-piece combo from Milwaukee that made some headway this past year by releasing a number of solid seven-inch releases and more recently a twelve-inch release of featuring of a new Tom Moulton mix of "Don't Take My Shadow". The group has an overall funky soulful sound that is basically a throwback to the seventies. It's safe to say that new groups like this don't come around that much anymore, so it's nice to see a full band releasing new music of this calibur. It will be interesting to see how this group evolves over the next few years. Until then, sit back and enjoy this funky gem!

Kings Go Forth - Don't Take My Shadow

The Real Sound of Chicago

The good people over at BBE records recently released another great compilation, this time of lost disco gems from the forgotten vaults of The Windy City. The new compilation, titled The Real Sound Of Chicago, was compiled by Mr. Peabody Records. This compilation mostly consists of hard-to-find tracks from Chicago disco/ boogie/ early house artists and labels that never got much attention on the national level. Some of my personal favorites consists of Sidney Thomas's "Look, Let's Make Love (And See If You Like It)", Premonition's "Your Love Is In The Pocket", and Lonnie Givens's "Running To A Disco" among others. Overall with this fabulous collection of rare Chicago based music, BBE puts together another fine compilation worth snatching up.

Sidney Thomas-Look, Let's Make Love (And See If You Like It)

Secret Sounds of Disco

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe New Years. Mine was pretty low-key with me and my wife choosing to avoid the crowds and share a bottle of champagne in the middle of an "upscale" San Francisco park.

Anyways, sometimes the best way to enter in a new year musically is to continue to look back and give some much do praise for some of the best releases from the past year. One of those amazing releases, was Al Kent's Secret Sounds album. Unlike his amazing Better Days album which was recorded and produced much like the disco records from the 70's with a full orchestra, under The Million dollar Orchestra alias, this new album features a much smaller cast of musicians and contributors. Kent, on this new album, nicely blends that classic disco sound with a refreshing new feel that at times reminds me of some of the newer Faze Action tracks. Some of the standout tracks include "I Like It", "Come Back Home", "Tenner Rap", and my personal favorite "Disco Sex". Overall, it's another solid release from Al Kent, who is certainly establishing himself as one of today's top disco producers.

Al Kent - Disco Sex

Best of 2009

So here we are at the end of another year, and even another decade. It's safe to say that was another good year for disco/nu disco. Many solid re-edits, albums, twelve-inch originals, and compilations. One of the toughest assignments I've had in a while was going back through the entire year to pick out my top favorites. I know that I definitely missed at least of handful releases that should be on this list, but it's pretty challenging to wrap an entire year of new releases in one blog post. That being said, even though this is a "Best of..." list, it should be really titled a "Favorites" list as these choices are purely based on my opinion. Please feel free to leave your lists and records I might of forgotten in the comments section.

As for me, it was a pretty tough year with moving to San Francisco and having both my Grandmothers passing within three months of each other. However, musically it was a great year, releasing two more Cabana Disco twelves (with more to come in 2010), collecting many great records to my forever growing collection, and the discover of new artists, releases, and sub-genres like Afro-beat, 70's African Funk, Latin Jazz, and many others. This year I tried to not only post rare disco classics but songs and genres that I felt crossed over and expanded the boundaries. This year funky world music compilations were popping up left and right and I found myself enjoying most of them. As I continue to grow musically, I hope my readers choose to do the same. Disco is always where my heart is, however I find sometimes that it can truly be refreshing when you step out of the usual arenas and explore something new. I will continue to try to do this in the next year, posting more funky African/Latin and even jazz tracks alongside the disco gems and re-edits that I come across. I hope this blog has been helpful this year in exposing you to disco and new music in general. Continue to come back in 2010 as this blog, which is now in it's 4th year continues to evolve. Thanks for all the support throughout the year and I hope everyone has a great and safe New Years! Enjoy!

Best/ Favorites of 2009
------------------------
Album of the Year: Faze Action - Stratus Energy (mp3)
LP of the Year: Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - II
Twelve-inch of the Year: Blackjoy - Blackjoy Disco Jams 12" (mp3)
Re-Edit Twelve of the Year: The Popular Peoples Front - Love EP (mp3)
Re-Edit Album of the Year: Loud E - Loudefied Album
Compilation of the Year: Various - Tumbele! (Soundway)
Record Label of the Year: Soundway

Best of the Rest...
------------------------
TTJ (Todd Terje) Edits - Like An Eagle 12" (mp3)
Baris K - Eurasia EP
Pat Les Stache - Cabana Disco vol.03 12" (mp3)
DJ Spinna - The Boogie Back (Compilation) (mp3)
Prince Language/ Lee Douglas - On The Double 12"
Still Going - Spaghetti Circus 12"
Ooft/The Revenge - Part Three 12"
Al Kent - Secret Sounds Album (mp3)
Daniel Wang - The Best Of Balihu 1993-2008 (Compilation)
Horse Meat Disco - Horse Meat Disco pt. 1 12"
Altair Nouveau - Space Fortress 12"
Orlando Julius - Disco Hi Life 12" (mp3)
Arthur Russell - Is It All Over My Face (Slow to Speak)
Leo Zero - Glory's 03 12" (mp3)
Wild Geese - Macho Disaster Master 12"
Ray Mang - Mangled Again Album
Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Tirsdagsjam (mp3)
Various - Panama! 2 & 3 (Soundway Compilations) (mp3)
Various - African Scream Contest (Compilation) (mp3)
Rubber Room - Taliban Discotheque 12"
Pax Nicholas & The Nettey Family - Na Teef Know De Road Of Teef: Part One LP
Tony Allen & Jim Tenor - Inspiration Information LP
Mulatu Astatke - New York Addis London LP (mp3)
Various - Africa Boogaloo (Compilation)
Frankie Francis/Simbad - Fiesta Angola 12"
Tom Noble - Africa Bump 12"
Fat Camp - Anorak Edits vol.03 12" (mp3)
New Found Land - Wings 12"
Tropical Treats - Afrikan Riddims 12" (mp3)
Mad Mats - The Blue Eyed Soul EP
Afrobutt (Steve Kotey) - Wunderbutt Album

The Boogie is Back

This past week, the always wonderful label of BBE released a new compilation put together by DJ Spinna of boogie gems from the "post-disco" era. The solid record includes classic boogie cuts like Ronnie Dyson's "All Over Your Face", South Bronx's "The Bottom Line", Chemise's "She Can't Love You", and Jan Leslie Holmes' "I'm Your Superman" just to name a few. From all the compilations that I have come across, this might just be the best boogie-genre based comp I've ever heard. Now I'm sure I can be wrong, and people will definately inform me if I am, however the point is that this is an amazing new collection of post-disco boogie music that I highly recommend go snatching up. Enjoy your weekend!

Ronnie Dyson - All Over Your Face
(Download will only be available for a couple of days, go buy the record!)

Buy The Record

Cabana Disco Vol.03 Repress News

Thanks to everyone that has picked up a copy of my new re-edit 12" Cabana Disco Vol.03. The response has been amazing as the record continues to fly off the shelves. Due to growing demand, I have decide to do a re-pressing of the twelve-inch. That being said, it is going to be a small run of 200 copies, therefore you are going to have to jump on it as soon as this second pressing gets released, which should be in about three to four weeks. That being said, if you continue to look around, the record is still available in many stores including Phonica. While your at it, I highly recommend picking up the new twelve by The Popular People's Front entitled Sample Pleasures Part 4, which is one of my personal favorites of the year.

Stay tuned to this blog for more info regarding the repressing of the Cabana Disco Vol.03 twelve-inch as more info about the records exact release date is known.

Stratus Lovin'

One of the best "nu disco" (or whatever it's called these days) groups, in my opinion, Faze Action, just released a new CD/digital-only album entitled Stratus Energy. This well produced album is a collection of the many amazing twelve-inch releases the group has released over the past 3 years including standout tracks like "Disco Warrior", "Hypnotic", and "Keep It Coming", combined along side some newer album-only cuts which include "I Wanna Dancer", "Starship" and "Danaes' Journey" among others. The only real criticsm that I have concerning this album is that it includes a lot more vocal focused tracks then what I generally am used to hearing from this group. I'm not saying the vocals are bad, I'm just saying I tend to enjoy their instrumental tracks like "Keep It Coming" and "Stratus Energy" a bit more than, say "Hypnotic". Overall, Robin and Simon Lee bless us again with another quality release and one the year's best albums.

Here is an instrumental B-side mix of the one of the album's many excellent singles,"Good Lovin'". ENJOY!

Faze Action - Good Lovin'(Instrumental mix)

Balearic Disco Gone Prog

Since the later part of the week has been talking about new "disco" releases (which was generally just coincidental), I can't leave out the return of Lindstrom & Prins Thomas with the amazing cosmic-prog twelve-inch Tirsdagsjam. This record, which consists of two versions of the track, "Tirsdagsjam", is a slight departure from the past few releases from this incredible duo, however in a good and refreshing way. Relying less on programmed electronic synths and more on live drums, driving bass, and a vintage keyboard sound, both tracks have a "live-band" feel to them. It almost sounds like a 1975 prog-rock band that was produced by Daniele Baldelli and Manuel Göttsching putting on a live show in your backyard, which basically sounds like a dream I'm hoping to have at one point in my life. I'm definitely nominating this twelve-inch in the "Best of 2009" category, giving much credit to a duo that continues to re-define themselves and their sound, and hence by doing so, always staying a few feet ahead of the rest. Enjoy!

Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Tirsdagsjam (lang versjon)

Blackjoy Disco Jams

Every since the release of the amazing Moustache twelve-inch a few years back, I've been a big supporter and fan of the "disco-house" flavoured group Blackjoy. Since that release back in 2005, the group has gone on to release some other solid singles including "Untitled" and "Mercurian". That being said, the group's upcoming twelve-inch release, entitled Blackjoy Disco Jams, might be the group's best, since the release of Moustache. The record, which should be released in May, is definitely a lot less "house" than their past few singles and a lot more "disco", which makes a person like myself very happy. The single features two solid tracks in the african-disco influenced "Djomani" and the roller-disco grooving "Apollo Funk". Both songs on the production-side are very solid, with an overall organic 70's feel, while mainting a fresh new outlook. Overall, it's another exciting new release from a group that always tends to put out great work.

I was specifically told not give out the exact versions that appear on the record, however here is an edit that you can definitely work into a mix or radio show to get people excited.

Blackjoy - Djomani (Radio Edit)