Paraphrasing the Soul Sonic Force and sorting through today`s releases for tunes that could have graced Alfie & Leo`s Amnesia dance-floor.

Andres Y Xavi / Bibbles / Hollis 

Brighton-based Andres Y Xavi bring us something a bit more electronic than their previous gear. Bibbles is trip hop tempo`d and toned, but with beats, and bleeps, tumbling, bumping. Juggled. Chocka with cowbell, cicadas, and snatches of sampled dialogue, the track breaks down, brilliantly, before building up to a fairly frenzied finale. Those bleeps all the while getting busier. 

Coco De La Isla / La Guitarra / Is It Balearic?

An Ibiza fixture for nearly 3 decades now, Chris Coco – of Melodica, DSSPR, and The Chillout Tent – dons another nome-de-plume and defects for a moment to rival camp, Is It Balearic? The original of La Guitarra is a super slice of old school Spanish 6-string soaked – courtesy of guest guitarist Micko Roche –  European house. It’s sexy, smiling, Latin-leaning, with copious crazy cowbell, and a tumbling timbale breakdown – i.e. the very definition of Balearic.  

There’s a dub that’s more focused on the rumba b-line. What remains of the guitar now echoed and Manuel Gottsching-like. Rune Lindbaek’s remix is slightly looser, a little more untamed and exuberant. His drums a little more disco. In contrast, Danilo Braca’s 10-minute-plus, Deep Brooklyn dive begins with an epic, ambient intro – kinda reminiscent of Jam & Spoon’s Cafe del Mar favourite, Hispanos In Space. Flickering flamenco frequencies, fat funky organ keys. Beatless, but with plenty of bass. The whisper of a James Brown break way down in there somewhere. Woah yeah! Witchdoctor laughter, bursts of bongos, and see-sawing synths all leading up to some Richie Havens / FPI Project-esque piano. 

Coyote & Rolo McGinty / Marijuana / Is It Balearic? 

Coyote cosy up with Woodentops main-man Rolo McGinty for the authority-baiting anthem, Marijuana. Rolo lays down a lyric that’s not just pro-pot, but pro-freedom – something that we can all surely sing along to. Something every underdog can get behind. As if to prove this point a whole room full of friends join in on the roof-raising chorus. Piano parts are lifted from arms aloft Italian house classics, and Rolo’s riffing is strongly reminiscent of his bona fide White Isle bomb Why? Why? Why? This single has shot into my top 2 Balearic beats of the year, where it shimmys shoulder-to-shoulder with Woolfy’s equally wonderful Aeroplane. In my opinion Marijuana is one of the best things that Coyote have ever done. 

Dominik Eulberg / Grauspecht (Acid Pauli Remix) / !K7

Bonn-based Biologist, Dominik Eulberg has a selection of tracks remixed from last year’s expansive Avichrom set. The pick for me is prolific producer, Acid Pauli’s minimal house makeover of Grauspecht. A deep, deep, introspective AM dance-floor moment, its hypnotic melody slowly surfacing, rising above the rhythm. The keyboard refrain a soft caress. The listening lost, entwined in its interwoven intricacies. Comparable to, say for example, Tom Demac’s moving Serenade. Five minutes in the beat becomes more banging, while Pauli adds an emotive accordion-like drone. 

Gold In The Shade / Over You / Heels & Souls

Over You is a serious, superior slice of bass-heavy, heartbroken, street soul. Featuring a fragile lovers rock vocal and a marvelously melodic b-line, seismic reggae soundsystem influences, via Jazzie B and the Funki Dreds, this is a really cool cut for Balearic warm-ups and loved-up acid house backrooms. 

Magnum / Squivatch / Backatcha

Squivatch is a “free-form” funk oddity from Lloyd ‘Bullwackie’ Barnes Bronx-based renowned reggae and dub stable. A slapped bass jam, where the unruly, raw saxophone honk lends a punk, uptown meets downtown, NYC Mudd Club air, and the vocals are P-Funk-baiting stoner skits. The mix is mad, lo-fi, murky, and the song a showcase for some screaming heavy metal shredding. 

That’s backed by the more restrained Mix Master by Golden Voice, which, to a funky guitar groove, recycles rhymes from We Rap More Mellow, and Rappers Delight – which itself bit from The Cold Crush Brothers and Grandmaster Caz. 

Harri Pierson / Funk Rail / Personality Edits

Funk Rail is an eccentric, oddball, exotica outing that rides the familiar, but still fierce Funky Drummer break. A barmy Turkish bizarre of Middle Eastern / North African chanting, balalaika, and Omar Souleyman-like synths, it’s a wild wig-out where the afro-cosmic of Carte Sejour meets the Balearic of Cry Sisco’s Afro Dizzi Act. A little bit Bally Sagoo. A big bit Wolfgang Ottl & J.P. Hulin’s The New Morning project. 

On the flip of this super limited 7 you’ll find Bananas – a bonkers collage of vintage house beats. Part Billy Orbit getting Balearic, part classic Chicago / Marshall Jefferson. Serenaded by sped-up happy hardcore squeaky divas, and rocked by great big rave riffs, its energy is undeniable. Unstoppable. 

Ruf Dug / I Love You / Pinchy & Friends

Ruf Dug pops up on Pinchy & Friends with two super understated tracks. I Love You is a sparse, stripped-back homage to sleazy old school Chicago jack. Paired down to its bass-line and drum machine tick / robotic finger click. Its synths slowly becoming squelchier, before finally being sharpened to laser points. Keys countering with a slightly sinister theme. Thru The Night! is more techno / Detroit-flavoured, but still super deep. Where a whistling refrain is clipped into sonar-like blips. Cooler, than cool, it’s the very antithesis of cheese. 

The Mancunian maestro has also given Glaswegian duo, Free Love, a good going over. Reworking their All The Same To Me for Lost Map Records. Letting Suzi’s lyrics roll over a Raze / Break For Love-like beat. Ruffy told me he was aiming for “Peaking Lights at Compass Point”, and he’s certainly succeeded. This is polished indie-dance with a sound similar to Aaron and Indra’s Lucifer. 

Todd Russell & The Dangerous Coats / 1900 Ocean Ave / Be With Records

The product of a Long Beach liaison between Scotty Coats and Erick “Todd” Coomes, these 2 tracks, sunset / sunrise-inspired jams, have been sat gathering dust for something like 13 years. Coats, now a marketing director at Capitol Records, has a resume that takes in stints with Stones Throw, Rong, Innovative Leisure, and DFA. Coomes is a Berklee Music College graduate and bassist with local 6-piece funk band, Lettuce. Playa Larga is the longer cut, constructed around blues-y, buzzing, delicately distorted, electric guitar licks. Initially a laid-back groove, during the course of its 8 and half minutes it meets marching snares and belching electronic bass. 1900 Ocean Ave sends big dramatic strummed chords surfing over a slow cosmic chug. The drummer, Erick’s brother. Tyler Tycoon Coomes, delivering a high-hat hammering break-beat.