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

Dexys Midnight Runners / You Got The Love (David Holmes Remix) / Heavenly Records

David Holmes’ remix of Dexys Midnight Runners’ single “You Got The Love” is only currently available as part of the deluxe download of their  new album “Love”. Holmes, who also produced the original, has a whole lot of fun, teasing with the song’s emotions by chopping it into repetitive, heavily hypnotic loops. He hooks these up to a hugely groovy jazz-funk-y bass-line, begins bringing in soaring strings, the chorus and then Kevin Rowland’s vocal vamps. The resulting blissed out boogie bears a strong Second Summer Of Love vibe. Like DJ Harvey taking a razor to The Blow Monkeys jamming with Ten City.

Russ Farelo / Sàcame A Bailar / Music For Dreams

White Isle resident Russ Farelo makes her Music For Dreams debut with “Sàcame A Bailar” (“Ask Me To Dance”), a break and contrabass driven bit of Balearic Acid Jazz. Lively with Latin piano, timbales, trumpets, a wicked wah-wah solo and a husky Spanish vocal, it effortlessly summons a sense of steamy, nocturnal, Mediterranean humidity and heat. Kinda A Man Called Adam, kinda LUPO, it’s very Ibiza 90 and the sort of thing Rampling would have definitely rinsed. 

Fundido & Nieri / Nuova Persona / Phantasy Sound

New York duo Fundido team up with vocalist Nieri for their debut on Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound. The “Club Mix” has a heavy kick and classic EBM bass arpeggio, clearly inspired by folks like Front 242, Nitzer Ebb and Liaisons Dangereuses. Full of dark, driving energy, it’s a shot of sleazy, S&M jack, that summons flashing images of dancing bodies, throwing shapes, frozen in the strobes. The “Bliss Mix” is warmer, way more Balearic, with more “organic” percussion and a bouncier beat. Part skippy mid-90s NYC garage dub and part eccentric, excited William Orbit production, with a Deee-Lite like B-line and saucy, elastic sequences jumping in its shirt. Faux horns and funky organ snippets. In both cases, Nieri describes cold, clinical modern living. His ecstatic falsetto backing countering his multi-lingual spoken lead delivery. 

Julio J / Rhythm Vault III / SFR Records

Californian in Ibiza, Don Froth aka Jane In Palma aka Julio J has lined up the third instalment in his “Rhythm Vault“ series. These are EPs of tight, polished house. Stripped back nods to the sounds of `90s New York, in places, possibly, via `90s Rome. The classic, classy NYC, jazzy ingenuity of Nu Groove’s Burrell Brothers, with added Mediterranean warmth. Pitched up a tad, and peppered with finger snap / hand clap percussive details. “S 23”’s beat is a bit more banging. Its swirling synth breakdown allowing the space for some trumpet to blow. “W 19” introduces whistling, droning techno tones to the syncopated swing. “Sun Sep” mixes collaged TV and film dialogue over heavier, almost skanking bleep bottom end.  

The Night Institute / Dun Dun Heyabi

Belfast’s cutting edge club night, The Night Institute, launched its physical label in 2024. Their second release is now ready. Titled “Dun Dun Heyabi”, its the work of imprint founders, Timmy “Black Bones” Stewart and Jordan Nocturne. The original mix is a boisterous, banging, dark Balearic thing. Building from a forceful 4 / 4, bringing in tribal timbales, heavy hats and a crazy, unstoppable cowbell. Echoed Bollywood vocals adding a hook and a hypnotic, exotic edge. 

Shit Robot’s remix is more mechanical, more rigid. Stamping, stomping robo-disco, whose bass pulses, throbs through showers of machine-gunned handclaps, mixing desks effects and bleeps. Viper Patrol’s take is an early Chemical Brothers-esque mix of B-boy / B-girl break and renegade rave tech. Freestyle-flavoured and acid flecked. L.A. DYSTO hang everything on a classic Italo bass arpeggio.

Test pressings of this are in, but I don’t think it hits store until the end of October. Please keep an eye on TNI’s Instagram and Bandcamp pages for news.