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

Trevor Dale / Summer 88 / Mono Horizon

Amsterdam imprint Mono Horizon have put together a 4 track EP, rescued from the archives of London-based producer Trevor Dale. Everything dates back to the early / mid 1990s. Two of the tunes were released under the alias Torrington Foe, and these are harder, more techno, but Smiling and, in particular, Summer 88 are playful pieces of sample-packed house. The piece in question mixes breakbeats and Pacific State’s strings with jingles lifted from Mickey Dread’s African Anthem. Shouts from Curtis McClain punctuating its bleeps and mellow muted swells. 

Jon Dasilva & Skyskrapa / Sun Brings Joy / Hottwerk

Luke Una has tipped this collaboration between Jon Dasliva, Skyskrapa and vocalist Donald Waugh to be tune of the year. I don’t disagree. The package contains 4 remixes, but it’s the OG for me. For those who might not know, Dasilva is a dance music veteran who cut his teeth during the very start of “the second summer of love”, DJing at lock-ins at infamous Manchester bar Stuffed Olives and The Hacienda’s “Hot”. That experience shows / shines on this prefect slice of modern acid house. Pounding, percussive, suffused with snippets of Waugh’s soulful vocal, its pitching is constantly, subtly shifting, maintaining, building the song’s energy. Its title chanted like a healing mantra. 

Full Circle / Shiver / Offen Music

Vladimir Ivkovic’s Offen Music have digitally reissued this 2020 gem by Joakim and Alexis Le Tan aka Full Circle. In its Jack The Ripper Is A Tripper Mix, Shiver is a damn fine funky alternative that pays homage to 80s EBM and Belgium’s legendary Liaisons Dangereuses Radio show – a charge, a rush of heavy machine kick, jacking B-line, boisterous buzzing and gated ringing riffs and vocals. Versioned as a Genderless Wedding Tool its then transformed into a hypnotic, percussive, tribal ritual, while the Industrial Float Tank Dub is ethereal, magical. 

Isolée / Beau Mot Plage / Classic

Beaut Mot Plage is a leftfield house landmark. The work of Rajko Müller aka Isolée the track was originally released on Frankfurt-based label Playhouse in 1998. It was immediately picked up by London’s Classic, would commissioned a series of remixes, which ranged from techno (DJ Q) to jazzy (Freeform 5), and in between squeezed in a very dubby Idjut Boys version excursion. Some of these have recently received a repress, with the Heaven & Earth edit on the A-side. Here the trio of Luke Solomon, Rob Mello and Zaki D expertly excise the OG’s bridge and elegantly extend its infectious fidgeting, fizzing groove. Built on a bumping, skipping, clipped and glitched beat, it was branded at the time as “micro-house”, but to my ears at least the track’s roots reside in the minimalism of Steve Reich and Manuel Gottsching’s kosmische. One of its hypnotic hooks, for example, is a tiny, cycling guitar loop. Another of those records where if you were to randomly drop the needle would conclude doesn’t move, but if you pay proper attention, stay tuned, will know that it’s actually constantly changing, bubbling, bursting with energy. 

Sade  / Couldn’t Love You More (Mr. K Edit) / Most Excellent

This legendary rework first surfaced in 2008, but Most Excellent polished it and repressed it for this year’s Record Store Day. The original Couldn’t Love You More can be found on the 1992 album Love Deluxe. Its bass-line slowly, seductively bubbling like a less acidic shake of the seminal Sade B-side, Make Some Room, beneath Sade Adu’s smoky vocals, Andrew Hale’s careful keys, Stuart Matthewman’s soaring sax and a little wah-wah guitar flickering. Danny Krivit simply but expertly extended its soft romantic groove and then invited the legendary Boyd Jarvis to do his stuff. Jarvis’ funky fingers feeling their way through a near 15-minute organ solo. Sit back or shuffle, just let this soulful swing soothe you. It’s the sort of song that White Isle sunsets were created for. 

Addy Weitzman / Stranger To Your Kind (ddwy Remix) / Slacker 85

Two more tracks have been reworked from Addy Weitzaman’s long-player, Light Months Will Fly Over Us. The Field get to grips with Beyond The Speed Of Life, while ddwy do over Stranger To Your Kind. The latter is an excellent electro-beat driven dub. Understated but busy with buzzing, fizzing circuitry, bolstered by blasts of live congas and cascades of crazy cowbell, the results, for the duo, are typically Torch Song-esque, bringing to mind Weatherall-championed Balearic Beat cockney cover-ups like Prepare 2 Energize. There’s no hook as such but along the way it whips up wonderful whirlpools of sound.