Various
Cosmic Balearic Beats Vol.1
Belgium’s finest, Eskimo Recordings – the one-time home of luminaries such as Optimo, Ivan Smagghe, Tiga, Ray Mang and, of course, The Glimmer Twins – follows up it excellent array of Balearic-tinged releases with this space-inflected journey. The thinking behind the release was for the label to showcase artists from around the world who it’s been nurturing, and the mix takes the listener on a funky, psychedelic pan-global futurist voyage. Phoreski’s 80s Boy is like a fiercer version of Moroder’s propulsive and populist Italo sound, and it merges quite beautifully with Coyote’s Grow Your Hair, a track which transports you from Italy to South America in moments. And it includes the most innovative and listenable use of panpipes this boy has heard in some time. Other stand-outs include Maelstrom’s Petrichor, with its chug funk and Arabic exotica influence, and the staggering Cockroach by Rubberroom, a warped, tribal disco meets JJ Cale on crack vision for the dancefloor. The Cosmo remix of Spektrum’s Fit Together is pretty special too – its swirling epic synths marry with fast African bongos and a hi-nrg camp diva vocal which ought to get any club into the hedonist mindset of Studio 54. Ultimately, this intergalactic odyssey is as good a starting point as any for those looking to get into this burgeoning electronic scene. Skinny Joe’s mix is interesting, entertaining and innovative, with a perfect balance of contemporary beat-making, floor-shaking funk and knowing winks to our 70s and 80s disco forebears. 4/5
Out now on Eskimo Recordings
DJ Agent 86
Electric 04
An accomplished and highly regarded DJ in his native Australia, DJ Agent 86 takes up the reins of the latest mix from EQ Recordings to give us an insight into his DJing dexterity. The resultant disc proves he really should be better known than he is outside his own backyard. The mix recalls the housey electronic excursions of Metro Area and French stalwarts Alex Gopher and Daft Punk, but there’s enough in the way of surprises to ensure this ain’t no one-trick pony. The 20 tracks seamlessly travel from the slow, driving funk of 40 Thieves’ Don’t Turn It Off and the Balearic splendour of Aeroplane’s Pacific Air Race, to the electro space boogie of the compiler’s own Come To Roxy and Soundtroopers’ Shake That Booty, which sounds like the missing link between Chaka Khan and Model 500. One particular highlight comes from an arcane wonky-disco reworking of Spektrum’s Horn Pony by the master that is Greg Wilson. Agent 86’s mix features lots of idiosyncratic elements like quirky block party scratching snippets, fuzzy synth stabs and old-school house ‘whoops’, which add a level of playfulness to the party. The lasting impression the mix leaves is the way it changes direction with the subtlety of a truly experienced music lover. So Electric 04 ends up being one for the hipster electro kids as well as those with a more demanding and inquisitive taste in dance music. 3.5/5
Out now on EQ Recordings
Chris Coco
Big Freeze 3
Chris Coco has been a significant entity within the music industry for well over a decade. He released material on Warp in the early 1990s, has been the editor of DJ Magazine, and between 2002 and 2006 was an influential member of the Radio 1 Blue Room team. This double CD in the Big Freeze series is an excellent downtempo mix which displays his esoteric taste in music, while remaining, in the main, completely palatable. Disc one shines with an understated and elegant radiance. The first track, Asle Bjorn’s Fyresvatn, is an ambient psychedelic soundscape, like Eno meets Enola Gay, which sets the scene for the remainder of the disc in fine fashion. Glass Candy’s cover of the Kraftwerk classic Computer Love – with its sensuous female vocal and synthesised grandeur – can’t help but raise a smile, and the subtlety of the song means it manages to stand up where many attempts to revise the works of the German geniuses would fail. Infamy’s Rest sounds like a cosmic version of the Gotan Project, and quietly hyped Quiet Village bring a slice of epic prog disco into the fray with Pillow Talk. Sweden’s STUDIO offer a relaxed ‘baggyaric beat’ to proceedings with their remix of Williams’ Love On A Real Train, a song that features sonic world music effects and Fleetwood Mac-esque guitars. And finally, for disco one, Todd Terje and Prins Thomas’s Reinbangen is a joyous Salsoul-tinged, sunshine-infused ending point which I wish lasted longer.
Disc two is slightly less accessible, but more of a rewarding listen overall. The mix begins with the heavy electro-dub-tronica of City Reverb’s Pinsharp (Trojan Soundsystem Remix). The effects and surreal drum patterns mean it manages to snuggle up nicely to Loco Dice’s M Train To Brooklyn – chiming and bleep heavy, this sounds like Ulrich Schnauss and Etienne De Crecy hooking up with Lindstrom in Kingston. Early 80s Belgian avant-garders Allez Allez bring us back to more disco territory with the afro-cosmic, Grace Jones-redolent African Queen. From here, things veer more towards US indie and alt-folk – Seabear’s Cat Piano is a lo-fi experimental number. It is also quite charming and sublime. Au Revoir Simone’s cover of the Bowie classic Oh You Pretty Things is similarly beautiful. The mix closes in a more electronic style. Final track Monolake’s Plumbicon Epilogue is definitely the darkest moment, and with its sci-fi, almost gothic electronica, we leave the big freeze in a beguiling and haunting manner. Now Chris Coco has got us looking forward to a big freeze – bring on the winter. 4/5
Out now on Platipus
Le Le
Flage
Taking influence from disco, classic pop, electro and house in equal measures Dutch Francophile’s Le Le come across like a Justice or Simian Mobile Disco-alike with added wit and humour – an attractive commodity in the current electronic music climate, you would think. With a penchant (check the French) for Bardot, Piaf, Bangalter and Manuel, these electro-jokers have came up with an interesting piece of work. And while it’s definitely worth checking out, the main fault is that it relies on humour, settling at times for quite dated beats. Show Monaco, for example, is a disco-house Homework-style track – a great tune, but just slightly backward in outlook. Similarly, Kickstart Le Brommer is a good sunshine house tune, but it’s just not forward-thinking enough for my liking. However, highlights come is the shape of Beautiful People – swapping the French for German, Le Le come over all D.A.F. gone Eurovision here, and although that sounds terrible, it totally works. It’s a quirky tongue-in-cheek Teutonic paean to the physical elite. The other standout is the short and slower synth-pop Jean Pierre La Douche, which is what Yazoo might have sounded like had they been produced by Prince with Serge Gainsbourg on vocal duty. So all in all, Flage is a mixed bag – it’s genuinely funny, but the tunes would benefit with more consistency in quality. On the other hand, perhaps we’re due a mid-1990s European house revival. 3/5
Out now on Magnetron Music
