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

Arsene / Jack Shit / Star Creature

Windy City native Arsene takes us back in time with a 4-track EP that pays amazingly authentic tribute the old school Chicago sound. The lead track, Jack Shit, is torn straight from the pages of the Trax Records textbook. Raw, ruff drum machine gymnastics, with phased high hats, and beast of a growling B-line, its lyrical hook could be aimed at any one of the “experts” / fuckwits, whose opinions, on any and every topic, currently flood my social media feeds. The Breeze Of Your Shirt is mellower. The rhythm is no less relentless, but it’s a deep, dreamy dive, where serene strings and bells ringing offset the rumbling. The results more reflective, like Aphrodisiac’s Song Of The Siren, or Wayne Gardiner’s Waterfall. Smacking Your Head shakes stuttered vocal samples in and out of trippy, trance-y chimes. Transporting ravers to somewhere between William S and Marcus Mixx. All are excellent examples of not soft synths, but live and direct, unfiltered, analogue hardware house. 

Courtney Bailey / Animals Ate The Mushroom / Animals Dancing

Courtney Bailey, originally from Zushi, Japan, now based in Berlin, has an EP ready for Animals Dancing. The standout for me is Animals Ate The Mushroom, which appropriately features a jungle full of agitated wildlife noises – elephants roaring, monkeys shrieking, wolves howling. The latter also setting my dog off. Musically, the track’s a mad mix of frantic percussion and energetic acid, that made me think of Hungry Ghost’s Don’t Eat The Apricots. A crazy congo and bongo Afro-Cuban carnival, like someone spiked Candido’s punch, things get a bit more tribal and trance-y in the second half, as the TB-303 turns gnarly. 

(I have a sneaking suspicion that the driving drumbeat is a bite from Kissing The Pink’s Balearic favourite, Footsteps)

Ghost Assembly / De Laatste Rit (The Last Ride) / Big Strings Attached

De Laatste Rit (The Last Ride) is the latest from Abigail Ward’s Ghost Assembly. A collaboration with harmonica player Oliver Cross, the original mix understandably focuses on his boss blues harp. Howling in a style similar to the Supertramp tune School – which was sampled by both Orchestra J.B and One Dove back in the Balearic day – the track also features percussive panting and psycho stabs of the orchestral strings that give Abigail’s label its name. Joni Newham aka Outsider’s darker Long Way Home Version is a live dub, that echoes the OG’s arpeggios, the ringing resembling Chris & Cosey’s Walking Through Heaven, while the drums tumble and rumble like thunder trapped in delay. J.S.Zeiter‘s Inside the Constellation cut adds an Italo edge. Midtempo, moody and powered by boiling, bubbling acid, it loses the harmonica, to become a suitable score for a nocturnal drive through a deserted urban Babylon. As cinematic as end credits from Vangelis, or John Carpenter, tiny pinpoints of piano now provide the only glimpse of humanity. As with the label’s previous release, profits will be donated to the charity, Medical Aid For Palestinians. 

James Hardway / Take A Minute

David Harrow returns under his James Hardway alias, which he revived in 2024 after 15 year hiatus. Take A Minute comes in 8 different mixes, ranging from 2 Step, drum & bass, house and footwork, but it’s those by Rude Audio that are my favourites. Rattling and clattering, initially like a chunk of industrial dub – imagine Adrian Sherwood manhandling Shriekback or Wolfgang Press – the track’s rhythmic riff is then shredded into a robotic, rocksteady skank. Vocals, care of DangerRed, are sped up, slowed down, totally fucked with. Shaken, stuttered in and out of a boisterous bouncing, jumping post-drum & bass groove. The brass comes in bright, camp `60s Batman “Biff, bang, pow!” blasts, the bottom-end is a behemoth, and there’s a splash of bubbling soundclash effects. The results are proper modern pop dance. 

Hi Fi Sean / Waiting For The Sun / Plastique Records

HiFi Sean’s Waiting For The Sun is a brilliant bit of piano-led house meets soul jazz, that picks up right where his rework of Fire Island’s Shout To The Top left off. Blue-skied and uplifting, it benefits from big gospel vocals and cracking, virtuoso keyboard solos. The brass, the bass-line, everything sounds live, and it blows my mind – in a very positive way – that folks can still summon up budgets, time, space and energy for stuff like this these days. Its finale features group cheers and ad libs that I’m sure are an affectionate, playful nod and wink to Sean’s previous life as a Soup Dragon and their hit, I’m Free. There’s a Sunrise Reprise that drops the drums, and a Dub that loses most of the vocals and has the keys linger dreamily in delay. 

Jonny Sender / Zhivago Zhivago Reworks / Codec Records

The electric voodoo of Jonny Sender’s Zhivago Zhivago was essential in establishing the vibe of “drug chuggery with an underlying spirit-lifting positivity” present of Sean Johnston’s recent A Love From Outer Space comp. For those who don’t know, Jonny was a founding member of `80s New York punk funkers Konk. Dubby dynamite, with fluid, dynamic details its lyrics consists of a series of “shout outs” in the Senegalese language, Wolof, to cities around the world, delivered in a rich, booming baritone. Jonny has now released 2 remixes. The first is a slightly gentler journey, with a brand new B-line. The second, conversely, takes the tempo up into house territory for a taste of thudding, pounding, tribal tech. 

SidiRum / Iris Remixes II / Earthly Measures

Argentinian artist SidiRum serves up a second set of remixes from his 2023 EP, Iris. Folks involved include John Beltran, Eddie C, Coyote, Blair French and Pete Herbert, but I’m really digging the Ruf Dug one. The mischievous Mancunian’s make over of Cielo Spike is a bit of a breakbeat epic. It retains the fine fretwork, but cops a few cues from `90s San Francisco and the sound of Young American Primitive. Its panpipe-like synth must have surely been inspired by Duran Duran.

Stash Magnetic / Underground Deception

Psychedelic electro searchers Stash Magnetic have tuned into our shared theta wave space to bring us a track titled Underground Deception. The original, created on Rolands 707 and 808, plus some vintage Moog filters, is icy, synth-y and glacial tempo-ed. Digi-dubbed, with gothic, operatic, Dead Can Dance-esque Pagan shaman vocals, it rocks gated guitar riffs and slo-mo go-go cowbell like a Siouxsie Sue fronted Tackhead. A Panic In The Chillout Room mix is sparser, stoned and definitely more paranoid. A sample intoning “Panic 24 / 7” accompanying squeals of shredding. Rude Audio, who are obviously on a roll, though, again take the disco biscuit. With a fresh, fuller bass-line, their remix is macro – not micro – dosed with delay, effects and TB-303 mind-fuckery. Familiar, faithful timbales and snatches of axe. Like The Sabres Of Paradise seriously strung out. Mr. Weatherall, the Guv’nor, would, for sure, be impressed. 

Talking Heads / Once In A lifetime (Mr Mushi Edit) / Mister Mushi

I guess this is a “mash-up”, but in my humble opinion it’s very cleverly done. David Byrne’s vocals, and subliminal snatches of the original’s distinctive chimes, are sent out over a fiery funk loop.  A suitably Mudd Club / CBGB punk energy comes from some great guitar, that first bleats like James Chance’s reed, then locks into a bout of militant machine-gun riffing, before hitting a final, angry solo. 

(The Talking Heads track starts at the 1 minute mark)