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

Andy Bell / Apple Green UFO / Sonic Cathedral

A damn fine funky, but loose fit, rhythm section – sorta reminiscent of The Charlatans’ “baggy” classic, Indian Rope – drives Andy Bell’s latest single, Apple Green UFO. Top trap drums rattle, kept in check by a tighter B-line, while Andy whispers about being “gone gone so far away” and picks out a hypnotic guitar figure. The extended mix features blasts of squeezebox-like keys and some cool, fuzzboxing – controlled at first, before verging on freakout. In the coda Andy calls for his alien visitor to “bring me love.”

Birds / Tunnel Vision / Hoga Nord Records

For any folks who fancy time-travelling to Andrew Weatherall’s Sabresonic soirees, Birds’ Tunnel Vision is just the ticket. This, though, isn’t Euro techno, set at a barmy high BPM, but a shot of slow TB-303 trance induction. Plodding and pounding, powered by undulating low-end emissions from Roland’s silver box, tribal tom toms helping to carry the beat. Post-punk guitar shreds in the shadows and a Jayne Casey-esque vocal leads a shamanic chant. Something like Sulphuric’s Slow Burn meets Peyote’s I Will Fight No More meets Pink Industry. 

Cymande / Coltrane / BMG

Coltrane was the first single to be lifted from Cymande’s new album, Renascence – the legendary jazz-funkers’ righteous return to recording after an almost 10 year hiatus. The original is a slow, socially conscious, spiritual piece, more suited perhaps to a sunset. Its lyrics dedicated to the power of music, carried on the group’s characteristic Nyabinghi-influenced congas, and accompanied by a sweeping arrangement of brass, woodwinds, and orchestral strings. The promo package, however, came with a Crooked Man Remix which strips the track back and rebuilds it around a slinky, seductive, Massive Attack  / Soul II Soul-esque break and muted, machined modal jazz chords. Eventually introducing the orchestral arrangement and looping part of the vocal into a mantra: “Music is the message creation sends.”

Kirk Degiorgio / Lost / Cyphon Recordings

Kirk Degiorgio steps up for a second release on Jimpster’s techno-tinged Cyphon Recordings. The aim of the imprint is to showcase modern sounds that bear the influence of pioneering sides put out on Detroit labels such as KMS and Transmat. Everything though is usually shored to a formidable 4 / 4 and directed toward a big room dancefloor. Degiorgio’s Elate is no different, with 3 of the tracks set to smash house shindigs (Terry Farley is already championing Seven Minutes Of Funk). However, the final number, Lost, is an irresistible piece of racing, metallic, retro-future introspection that rivals past Degiorgio classics such as Meridian or Isatai. 

Masha Dabelka / Dolphins In China / Fortunea

Russian artist, now based in Vienna, Masha Dabelka, has a 4-track EP, forthcoming on Austrian label Fortunea. The lead track, Dolphins In China, surfs on congas and crashing wave effects. Trance-y dancing techno tones, playfully dart about, in and out of, piano, organ, and a synth that sings sorta like the titular aquatic mammal. The beat is break-like, bouncing between lithe acidic licks. Full of light, the result reminded me of `90s stuff like Ultramarine’s Stella. Uplifting, optimistic, and a perhaps a bit “pop”. 

Lovetempo / Live Or Die By Love (Eric Kupper Mixes) / Toucan Sounds

Mattie Safer’s Lovetempo project brings a new 12 to Brooklyn’s Toucan Sounds. There are 3 fresh tracks, led by Live Or Die By Love. In its original mix this is a great bumping 90s New York garage groove, with a Romanthony-like vocal and touches of jazzy sax and piano. House hero Eric Kupper’s remix, however, takes it to a whole other level. Kupper very subtly smooths things out, while adding an incredible warmth, like only he can do. The song now kind of subliminally, spiritually, emotionally climbing. Expertly employed strings further amplify this effect. 

With its rallying call of  

“Every day I wake there’s a choice I make”

“Live or die by love, won’t be bound by hate”

– undoubtedly needed now more than ever – this would have been an anthem back in the day – at Second Summer Of Love clubs such as Nicky Holloway’s Trip – and deserves to be an anthem today. 

Plastic Bamboo / Touki Bouki / Star Creature

Camille Bertin is part of Parisian collective, Les Yeux Orange. Under the alias Plastic Bamboo he’s about to release an EP via Star Creature. The 12’s titled Cinerama and all the tracks borrow their monikers from cult flicks. The standout for me is Touki Bouki, which is named after an acclaimed 70s Senegalese road movie – a work Martin Scorsese has referred to as a “visual poem.”

Recorded partly on vintage gear, the cut is carried by  programmed cowbells, just like those from The Nightwriters’ Let The Music Use You. The electronic boogie B-line could have been lifted from a Larry Levan remix, while its wistful chimes and cascading keys recall Fiona Franklyn’s Don Was-produced Busted Up on Love. Something for fans of Arthur Smith’s More Amour project, and Magic Words’ Wabi Soba, I’d describe it, quickly, as Bandaid’s A Tour In Italy meets Jeffery Osbourne’s Plane Love. 

Sex Judas & Ricky / In The Belly Of The Beat / Playground Records

Barcelona’s Playground Records, have licensed 2 tracks from Norwegians Sex Judas feat. Ricky. On both, producer Tore Gjedrem – of Ost & Kjex fame – is backed by a full band, consisting of Ivar Winther, Linn Nystadnes, Kristian Edvardsen, Sidiki Camara and Tore Brevik. The lead tune, If Life Is Easy, is buoyantly bass-ed, mid-tempo, soulful boogie. A proper song, sung by Tracee Meyn, with the other members driving the piece along with plenty of warm, party percussion. In The Belly Of The Beat, in my opinion, however, is the more “Balearic” of the pair. A downtempo drum circle workout, bongos, congas, timbales colliding, its hypnotic ritual rattle – a la Guem et Zaka Percussion’s Le Serpent – breaking down into fractured fizz, before becoming engulfed in a big, squelchy, “drug-chuggy” bass-line. 

Totem Projects / Totem Edits 19: Medicine

This my personal pick from Totem Projects’ latest crop of edits – some of which find Justin Deighton and Leo Zero collaborating with Sean Johnston’s Hardway Bros. Medicine is a marvellous dub manhandling of a much-loved Mick Jones and Don Letts-fronted Balearic Beat favourite. Initially blissed-out and then beefed up, it could well bring nostalgic heads to tears, of both joy and sorrow. Have folks flashing back to fond memories of a long lost youth (and in my case, dear friends now departed).