Paraphrasing the Soul Sonic Force and sorting through today`s releases for tunes that could have graced Alfredo Fiorito & Leo Mas’ Amnesia dance-floor…

Pete Blaker – Balearic Blah Blah 18

DJ Harvey championed editor / remixer Pete Blaker pays tribute to a trio of soulful divas on this terrific 12. There are four cuts in total, but the epic Slave And Jones is the record’s real treat. The clue’s in the title, of course, but by creating five minutes of tumbling, programmed percussion*, the intro here is impossible to beat, and blindfolded you’d never guess the OG. A slowly evolving, shuffling, chugging, go-go-not-go-go groove, its drums occasionally explode, dropped into delay, to hide the join. As it gradually builds in intensity, its string-like synths take on an almost Detroit techno tone (sorta like the breakdown of C2’s remix of Incognito’s Out Of The Storm). Pete saving snatches of the singer until you’re 6 or 7 minutes in… and then Ian McShane gives the game away.

*The wrong-footing intro is actually a ringer for Savage Progress’ Ron Hardy favourite, Heart Begins To Beat. 

Dad Bod Dub – Sweet Dreams – Cry No More

Perth-based band, Dad Bod Dub deliver a slo-mo, reggae reading of the Eurthymics’ huge 1980s hit, Sweet Dreams. Turning the original’s hymn to hunger slightly sinister, and even more S&M suggestive, with eerie electronics, theremin-y, in amongst the echo and bass. Zed Field’s vocal recalling New Zealand’s Black Seeds. On the flip you’ll find the moody and effects drenched, melodica-led, Experimental Sounds. 

Leo Mas & Sergio Portaluri – Lipstick Traces – Sound Metaphors

Sound Metaphors seem to be going from strength to strength since launching their own distribution company. Every month they deliver a big pile of new releases, apparently oblivious to the set backs that others face. I picked up three in October. While I wait for the postman to pop in with the other two to arrive, I can introduce you to this 12, which contains a couple of prog-y hybrid house diamonds rescued from a 30-year old DAT. Italian dance music legends, Leo Mas and Sergio Portaluri, are the producers responsible for Runaway Universe, which begins as Sci-Fi ambience, a shimmering of sonic comet tails, before boldly going beyond, driven by computerised congas, pace-y 4 / 4 kick and cymbals. Hand claps and snatches of rolling snares. While its bottom-end shouts classic late `80s New York, the track’s details – bouncing ping-ponging bleeps and trippy tumbling tones – are drawn from UK rave. The more stripped down Vogue Mars has a simplified beat and bass-line. The pattern of the latter’s pulse recalling Talking Heads’ Once In A Lifetime. Smothered in spinning, spiralling, phased sequences, the tumbling tones are exchanged for the rattle of a skeleton bone xylophone. Apiento gives the tune a respectfully retro remix, fixing everything to a frenetic, frantically cut-up Funky Drummer break. Resulting in some hypnotising rapid, relentless repetition.  

The NM Band – She Wants – Isle Of Jura

One for fans of Heels & Souls reissues, and Sam Don’s recent Just A Touch comp, She Wants is the latest musical gem to be dug up, dusted off, and polished by Isle Of Jura. Originally released by The NM Band – an alias of UK reggae outfit, Natural Mystic – on their imprint, Mixdown, in 1985, it’s a nice slice of synth-y soul / pop / boogie. Dubby, with ethereal, falsetto vocals and jazzy electric piano runs, the production’s a little I-Level-esque and also had me reaching for a track called Traitor, by an `80s act called Elevation. 

Nusantara Beat – Kota Bandung – Les Disques Bongo Joe & La Munai Records

Dutch 6-piece Nusantara Beat return to Les Disques Bongo Joe with a 7” of revived Indonesian funk. An ode to the West Javan capital, Kota Bandung rides razor sharp surf guitar licks, dates back to the 1970s, and is presented as authentic, exotic, exuberant psyche.

Prince Fatty – Expansions – Lovedub Limited

Prince Fatty launches his Lovedub Limited label with a lush lovers rock cover of Lonnie Liston Smith’s `70s jazz-funk smash, Expansions. Featuring flute, and Silly Games syn-drums, Shniece McMenamin sings timeless lines like “Expand your mind to understand that we all must live in peace on Earth”, that in these hateful daze sadly seem like the stuff of fairy tales. 

Rude Audio & MSOM – Disco Renegade – Rude Audio

Michael Mikkelsen aka MSOM’s Disco Renegade opens with a swirling carousel of Baba O’Reilly-esque synths. These then make way for a chunky, chugging, ALFOS-friendly beat. Heady, hypnotic boogie, it’s topped by a mysterious Middle Eastern melody, and peppered with the percolating break from Prince’s Sign `O` The Times, plus the Purple One’s shriek from Alphabet Street (all legit, and PRS cleared, I might add). On the remix, Rude Audio’s Mark Ratcliff transforms the keys at the start, swapping the Who-isms form something now resembling A Split Second’s Balearic classic, Flesh. He also adds disembodied voices, and timbales, teasing with the track’s individual elements, before finally bringing everything into the mix.

Karen Verros – You Just Gotta Know My Mind – Ace

Karen Verros’ You Just Gotta Know My Mind is a raucous rock `n` roll rumble, ringing with teenage rebellion and heavy axe riffs. With a touch of the French ya yas, the sort of stuff that inspired the Liminanas modern Gallic psyche, it’s a stamping, stomping, barmy `60s beat combo freak out, that boasts a jumping joie de vivre, and conjures images of go-go dancers in mini-skirts and kinky boots. 

Originally released in 1965 on Dot, the song was written by Scotland’s Dylan, Donovan, and arranged by the legendary Jack Nitzsche. Produced by David Hassinger – manager of the Electric Prunes. It’s a track that I can imagine Roger “The Hippie” Beard spinning in the “alternative” room at `80s acid house shrine, Spectrum. Soundtracking his lava lamps at The Land Of Oz. 

Woodleigh Research Facility – Phonox Nights – Facility 4

Phonox Nights is the lead teaser from the long-awaited album of the same name, from Woodleigh Research Facility. One of nine archival cuts, co-produced by Nina Walsh and Andrew Weatherall, it’s a dynamite, dancefloor-directed mix of motorik and house. A 303 b-line bossing about a stomp that recalls late `80s / early `90s Depeche Mode. Muted ethereal fanfares, and psychedelic sequences, colour the track’s forward momentum, which marches, mechanical, like the water-carrying broomsticks in Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Despite having to dodge loads of laser blasts. There are no breakdowns as such, the tune’s drama, dynamics, instead rise and fall over the rhythm. Peaking, plateauing, and peaking again.