Album Review: Future Disco Vol. 6: Night Moves - Various

It's that time of year again - we're approaching the end of winter and the beginning of spring and as a soundtrack we have the latest offering in Needwant's Future Disco series.

The last Future Disco album was good enough to be enjoyable but didn't quite hit the peaks of Future Disco Vol. 4, so the pressure is on for Vol. 5, subtitled Night Moves, to mark a return to form.

First things first: the disco is back. Where Vol. 5 became lost in the corridors of house music Night Moves is a little more focused again. Miguel Campbell's Not That Kind Of Girl, a mid-tempo house track, opens but Mario Basanov's mix of Playground by MotorCitySoul is filtered but boasting a funky b-line and some lush guitar picking. From here Bonar Bradberry drops the lights on Loose Grip, a deep, locked groove with a celebratory hands-in-the-air break.

The album keeps things deep through to an exclusive edit of A/Just/Ted's futuristic sounding A Brighter Light, a track that layers minimal synths over a soulful vocal, culminating in a juxtaposed nod to early nineties house. Groove Armada's Always Take Me Higher is a continuation of their recent experiments with rave and whilst it marks the point the album strays furthest from disco it's difficult not to enjoy the rounded drum kicks and stretched bass sound. following that Maceo Plex's take on Laura Jones' Love In Me is pure futurism - Maceo's trademark elastic bass applied to Jones' iconic track to create a tent pole moment.

Needwant's own release Return It by Kim Ann Foxman offers a more melodic, disco sound - a warm, acid vocal track that perfectly blends to past and the future. Crosstown Rebels' Francesca Lombardo, whom I've praised before, gets a worthy appearance in the form of progressive Sofiel, mixing in to Crazy P's fantastic disco-ballad Heartbreaker.

The album draws to a close with Satin Jackets' Balearic Make Me Feel Good, featuring sunny guitar licks and hot looping vocals, and Marius Varied's Vallefaret. It's a well pitch end, with the piano keys and gently looping drums creating a soft-filtered tribute to dancing outside in the hot evening air before the delicate female vocal of final track Clair de Lune by Flight Facilities finally drop in. For the record I'd kill to hear someone drop a sax solo on Vallefaret. Golden.

Overall Future Disco Vol. 6 is another quality release in the series, and it benefits from a slightly tighter focus than the last entry. There are still probably as many tracks here you'll know as ones you don't, but it's a nice way to consume some of the past year's best disco influenced electronic music.

​Future Disco Vol. 6: Night Moves is released through Needwant on 4 March, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].

EP Review: I Wanna Know - Casino Times

We may be deep into the darkest month of the year now in the UK but that doesn't mean we don't have time for one last slab of Balearic house from Needwant, who regularly do a good job of peddling just that kind of thing.

I Wanna Know is the new EP from Nick Church and Joe Spencer, who collaborate under the name Casino Times and this release opens up with the EP's warm title track. It's a well constructed piece with significant soulful subtlety in the gentle synths and rhythmic hi-hats, a sound that contrasts to the big piano melodies and yearning vocals snippets.

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I Wanna Know - Casino Times

Next up, 'Trust' is more electronic in feel, warm pads and a four-four beat creating foundations for some catchy synth work and an infectious vocal sample. Following this, the final original track 'Back To The Night' features a bluesy vocal and a deep, winding melody against a bass line that gradually transforms into a darker version of its original self.

Germany's David DK closes the set with a remix of 'I Wanna Know' more squarely aimed at dance floors. It's a considerably darker imagining, full of dramatic moments and large piano chords and interweaving melody.

We're thick in the frost at the moment but this EP, particularly the three original tracks, is the kind of lovingly constructed series of blissfully Mediterranean chords that will make you feel comfortably relaxed again.

I Wanna Know is released next Monday through Needwant, available from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Preview on Soundcloud below:

Album Review: Journey - Mario Basanov

Lithuania's Mario Basanov has released a number of spot on singles over the past couple of years and here he turns his hands to a full album for Needwant, Journey. It's that classic tricky territory - the house long-player, all 16-songs and 68-minutes worth.

His 'Lonely Days' track from last year regularly crops up when I'm picking favourite tracks for lazy sunny afternoons and so Journey has a lot of potential... Only it sadly never really manages to deliver.

Basanov takes the generous step of replacing the big singles 'We Are Child Of Love' and 'Lonely Days' with alternate, album versions. On a shorter album such as Merveille & Crosson's (who didn't take this step, presenting only 30% new material on their album) it might be a wise move. Here it feels stingy if anything - where are the big moments and why is the album being denied it's tent poles? 'We Are Child Of Love' loses its thundering bass and tech-heavy percussion, resulting in a more cautious, subtle take that lacks a little of the gravity of the original.

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Journey - Mario Basanov

In comparison to what he has done to 'Lonely Days' however, the version of 'We Are Child Of Love' seems pretty acceptable. Originally a beach-bound Balearic gem, here 'Lonely Days' closes out the album in the form of a slow, Prince-inspired ballad. As a b-side or a bonus track this might be fine but here, as the only version on the album, it feels like a con. It simply lacks all of the subtle disco of the original.

These changes do Basanov no favours as there aren't any natural replacements for these down-played high-points. Mario's willingness to drop the BPM and play things slow should be commended but it feels like at times he goes too far - the result plodding rather than laid back, and lacking the charm of his earlier, sunnier work. Guest spots are wheeled out to provide vocals but a lot of these feel like standard album-filling fodder, not providing extra dimension that a decent collaboration can.

There are a few moments that survive however. The gentle percussion of 'Slip Away' gives the track a delicate, emotional feel reminiscent of the use of steel drums on the latest xx album. 'High School' leaves out the guest vocals and instead delivers a tight piece of electronic funk, complete with thick, chunk bass, handclaps and vocal shouts.

Basanov is at his best when a bit more left-field, pushing into funky, relaxed  sunshine territory. Aside from the slightly jazzy 'Mes Souvenirs' and two frustratingly good interludes there just isn't enough of that here, and yet there is too much of everything else. There is talent in Journey, it's just buried beneath 45-minutes' worth of desire to create an album.

Journey is released through Needwant tomorrow, available to pre-order on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].

EP Review: Horizon EP - EJECA

​Garry McCartney unleashes three tracks of 90s influenced dance on this new EP through Needwant under the pseudonym EJECA. Growing up in Belfast McCarthy's entry into dance music came through the house and garage popular at the time - a fact clearly evident on his new EP.

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EJECA - Horizon​

'Horizon' sounds like mid-nineties garage - tracks like Roy Davis Jr's 'Gabriel', released before the concept of a UK version of New York's "Garage" was even a concept. The bass is raw and hollow sounding, the vocals pitched slightly up and samples tweaked to perfection. If you were there at the time it's hard not to feel a twinge of nostalgia - you can almost smell the smoke machine kick in. On the flip side 'Dazed' is deeper but equally inspired by the recent past. Progressive keys build a gentle tension before a snappy house beat and driving chords.

Final track 'See Through You' is actually the most contemporary of the three, influenced as much by dubstep as 90s garage and house. The beats are more complex yet softer, the bass deeper but more rounded and the vocals submerged in layers of noise. It contrasts well to the immediacy of Horizon's opening in being a little less obvious.

Horizon is released through Needwant on Monday, available for pre-order on MP3 from Amazon.co.uk [affiliate link].​

Album Review: Future Disco Vol. 5: Downtown Express - Various

Last year's Future Disco 4 turned out to be one of the better mix albums I heard last year. Despite coming fairly late in an ongoing series it had a really strong sense of identity and multiple classic tunes. Future Disco Vol. 5 follows the mantra of if it ain't broke, don't fix it... What you have is another collection of contemporary house tracks from the current batch of hot new things, this time packages up under the subtitle Downtown Express.

So we have another winner then, right? Sort of. The problem here is two-fold:

Firstly this doesn't have any disco. Where as volume 4 had Kaine's 'Love Saves The Day' and 'Zombie Tropicana' - classic soul vocals and experimental eclecticism that encapsulated some of the original spirit of disco this latest release really just feels like a collection of recent house releases. Because of that fact there just isn't any noticeable identity.

Secondly and more importantly the quality just ain't as high. There are a few good standout tracks but nowhere near the same caliber as on the previous release.

So if it isn't exactly a killer release or a highwater-mark for the series then what is it? Mostly just a collection of decent tunes - good but unlikely to blow you away. Miguel Campbell's 'Something Special' is a case in point - it's a nice minimal but bouncy house track but nowhere near as good as his MAM collaboration I recently reviewed, which would have been a much more 'disco' choice.

There are still a few good moments, they just aren't quite as consistently essential as volume 4's best tracks were. Tensnake once again deliver the business on Tiger & Woods filtered mix of 'Need Your Lovin' and the Pitto instrumental version of T J Kong & Nuno Dos Santos' 'Something Happened' is a great tense piece of tech-house funk. Benoit & Sergio's 'Principles' is still excellent, as Benoit & Sergio frankly always are and Maceo Plex's mix of DJ T.'s 'City Life' shows once again that no-one makes techno influenced sunshine house as well as Maceo Plex.

The album only really starts to deliver as it closes though. Joakim's 'Find A Way' is given a beautiful remix by Soul Clap - aptly entitled the Soul Clap Floating remix the result is a deliriously contemplative loved-up sensation that captures the introspective coming-of-age feeling the Joakim album from which it is lifted attempted to capture in the first place. It just might be Soul Clap's finest remix to date. Similarly the Prince Language mix of Penguin Prison's rather formulaic pop house track 'Multi Millionaire' transforms the original into a suitably climatic old Chicago house tribute.

It's a shame things don't start quite as well as they finish.

Future Disco Vol. 5 is out on February 27 on Need Want, available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD and MP3 [affiliate links].