A.N.O.E. is almost at the 300 000 hits mark (it's a bit more than that because I only put the counter up sometime after I had started the blog), the site also gets quiet a bit more than 150 gigs of music uploaded from it a month (with all the mixes still available, plenty of that is taken up by them). I was never convinced that my own continuing musical investigation/journey could be of that much interest to others, I am of course extremely grateful to all those that support this here place and make it more than a single mans vision. Most of all though, Thank You!

geisha groove

Listening to Red Rackem's latest radio show, incidentally the 2nd Birthday Anniversary for The Smugglers Inn which can be found on his website here, was a good idea (well it's always a good idea and not just cos he's recently acquired the Gilles Peterson badge of approval) because as always, it's a bit of a learning experience as well as a good way to hear lots of new stuff from great worldwide producers. Rackem dropped a tapestry of beardy prog jazz brilliance in the form of a track by Missus Beastly. A quick search on Discogs led me to the 1974 eponymous album which features the track 'Geisha' - it only cost half an arm and as much of a leg tho'. A few pointed inquiries amongst prog'ish fellows got me a copy of the re-released cd on Garden Of Delights (the wonderful German prog re-issue label). Not the usual Disco fare (I hear u in the back) but a really incredible piece of music...

Missus Beastly - Geisha

tender aggression

I just landed a copy of Tender Aggression's 1976 LP 'Fly Disco Fly' on Morningstar Records. The album was also released slightly later as 'Power Sandwich' in Europe on Movieplay. I had read about it on DJHistory, but also knew it to be a record which got some play from The Beatbroker & JAZ, and that 'Crying Wind' had been given a rework by that other a.n.o.e. favorite Kool DJ Dust on his 'Disco Opera' mix album. There are at least 3 really great tracks on it; the aforementioned 'Crying Wind', 'Extra High' & 'Cycle Logical'. Anyway I'm glad to have it, though I'd be just as happy with the three tracks remastered, even edited on 12". I also wanted to give you JAZ fans a heads up (if you don't already know) about his latest exclusive mix for ARAWA's 2nd birthday.

Tender Aggression - Crying Wind

poor linda

Composer of the soundtrack to 'Cannibal Holocaust', Riziero 'Riz' Ortolani scored music for over 200 films. French Dj's Chateau Flight picked up on Ortolani's 'Il Corpo Di Linda' which they used on their Get Physical compilation 'Body Language 5' back in 2007. Last year the track got bootlegged on vinyl by Disco Promozionale on the flip side of a track by Angela. 'Il Corpo Di Linda' is a marvelous slice of hi tension Moroderesque Disco...

Riz Ortolani - Il Corpo Di Linda

lime angel

I've received a couple of edits of Lime's 'Angel Eyes' over recent months, both quiet different, both remove the high camp cheese factor and highlight the fantastic groove & proto-House keys of the original. 'Angel Eyes' came out in 1983 and is now ripe for reworking, I also have a Housier version in the records somewhere, which may or may not be by Spirit Catcher. The version you're getting is by, future Press Play guest, Tony Underground, check out his top 20 0f 2008 here, to get a glimpse of the sorts of tunes this Newcastle dj spins and check out his myspace for some others he is working on. and grab the lovely edit...

Lime - Angel Eyes (Tony Underground Edit)

loudefied

Earlier on in the month I mentioned that Loud-E has an album coming out on Ambassadors Reception. I was fortunate enough to receive a copy on the promise that I'd review it, and while it is a CD release, it's arrival in my post box caused major excitement.

I want to steer you clear of thinking that the album is a compilation of recently released 12"s by the man. Last year saw 5 12" releases on Objects of Desire and Ambassadors Reception, which came out in fairly quick succession; all of them are great releases, some are more obscure and quirky than others (as a fan I rate them all), but none of them feature on 'Loudefied'. With 11 new edits, the thought did cross my mind that given Mr Loud E is so prolific ( lately), there might be any number of weak tracks on the album, this is not the case, the CD contains some of his best work yet! 'Loudefied' is this years 'Gruble' or 'Major Swellings' only better and fresher and very Loud-E. Clearly Loud is addicted to Disco and addicted to finding Disco things most of us have never heard; fascinating, intense grooves which lie hidden in crates & boots & grubby dusty piles in nowherelands all over the planet. It's as if Loud frees them from the mucky stuff; the elements that clutter and sink unsuccessful tracks, and yet as listening to the entire album proves, he also adds his own flair into the mix. The album is a finely balanced selection of 'party in a bottle' trax, slo mo weird beard Disco trax and 'which galaxy is this?' type trax. 'Granada Nights' may be the coolest edit this year, 'Prox' may be a pending underground classic, but we're letting u listen to the massive '2004 Time Machined'. The album will be on shelves (virtual & real) at the beginning of February, you can hear more of the album at the Ambassadors Reception's myspace page or here at grooveattack.

ray of light

From the little bits of information I've managed to gather (via the www), I have ascertained Argo were a Lithuanian band who dabbled in very spacey 'electronica', Disco light, Spiritual Jazz and free form music. They began in 1979 and went on to make 3 albums. 'Discophonia' was re-released on CD by a Russian label in 2004 and is a truly beautiful meandering thing. The Dream Chimney guys put up a few tracks of theirs as far back as 'o6, but it was only recently that i actually found a copy of the CD which also contains a few tracks from an older album of theirs. Sadly however it does not contain the track that started the search for me, the track that is weirdly available for download on numerous (dodgy) free (and probably Russian) mp3 sites, the track called 'Tender Touch Of Raylight'. Does anyone know more about this item and which album it came from and perhaps (although doubtfully) where to look for the original vinyl? Supreme lithium love on a Monday!!!

Argo - Tender Touch Of Raylight

Press Play #21 - The Main Stem

Next up in the ever growing list of Press Play magic comes from The Main Stem. 3 blokes (perhaps alien) who have been quietly working away on edits and tracks of pure class for the last few years, they're on the verge of becoming very well known for at least three really fantastic, imminent 12"s on a variety of the finest of labels. They've already featured in these pages (here) and their tracks pop up regularly in mixes of mine, I believe they are doing great things. Their story involves long haired aliens, Stella, a naked man (who enters the scene like that other naked 'terminator'), grown men playing with knobs in the attic and discovering deep grooving Disco for facial hair carriers. I guess at this point it's redundant to say the mix is hot (all the Press Plays are hot, I've not been disappointed once), but it might help if I said this is a superb journey into the outer limits of Disco and beyond. 'Sounds From the Top Room' is only 46 minutes short, but just long enough to give you a taster of their unique style. The other good news is they'll be back on the Press Play series in the not too distant future. In the meantime, harvest this mighty space dust now and see if you can work out some of the tracks, we'll put the list up soon'ish. Get it on the sidebar or here.

Tracklist

01. White Noise - Love Without Sound
02. Bill nelson - Hard Facts from the Fiction Department
03. Herbie Hancock - Twilight Clone
04. Herman's Rocket - Hanged in the Universe
05. Loud - E - Robolove
06. Vastkustska Ryggdunkarsallskapet - Du E En Storr Grabb
07. Sweet Music - Get Lifted
08. Cornflakes - Sing pt 1
09. D*note - D*votion
10. Rosko - peacemaker

brown cassanova

It's been awhile since I raided the hard drive of beardy type Sad Ghost. Perfectionist that he is, his reluctance to share his cut ups is probably understandable, that said I'm a pushy guy and managed to get this item in progress. The Ghost get's all repetitive on that glorious section of Gloria Gaynor's 'Cassanova Brown', I have some vague recollection of this track getting cut up before, only now i don't remember who it might have been by, or even how it sounded (if I even heard it). Check this for a little late night old skool Theo flava... play it loud!

Gloria Gaynor - Cassanova Brown (Sad Ghost Brown Cassanova Demo Edit)

bang the party - deadly mix

Bang The Party is a Toronto based night and home to Gang of Two aka Andy Capp & Rod Skimmins; these guys have been running their multi-genre (Disco not Disco, Futureboogie, leftfied House, Old School Hip-Hop, Afro Funk, Tropicalia, Yacht Rock and Disco) night for 8 years now (yeah they been there since before the Disco revival), they've played alongside greats like Maurice Fulton, James Murphy, Prins Thomas, Lee Douglas, Pat Mahoney, they're buddies with a.n.o.e. featured Andrew Allsgood & Makeshift (both of whom have guested at B.T.P.)... the list goes on, but I reckon those credentials should get u interested. You lucky fiends get to take home a fantastic recent mix from the two of em; it's 100% quality (of course, why else would it be here?), off center, superbly mixed, designed for mad sexy dancing... the bee's wax, the cream of the crop, by the time 'Precious Little Diamond' drops you'll have forgotten what day it is. I get the feeling Gang Of Two should be better known, it's nothing a mini tour of Europe wouldn't sort out - Book 'em folks!! and dont miss this!!

Wont Give In and Wont Feel Guilty

Tracklisting

6th Borough District - Just A Memory
B.W.H. - Stop
France Joli - I Wanna Take A Chance on Love
World Premiere - Share The Night
Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
Gayle Adams - Love Fever
Crazy P - Lie Lost (Maurice Fulton Remix)
Jacques Renault - Bad Skinned
Hugh Masekella - Don't Go Loose It Baby
Fox The Fox - Precious Little Diamond
Putsch '79 - Arpeggio Life
Morgan Geist - Palace Life
Sharon Redd - Love How you Feel
Afefe Iku - Mirror Dance
Earth People - Dance
Recloose - The Way
Lil' Louis - Club Lonely

Go Check out their wordpress page for more info, pics and to keep up to date on their parties.

black gorilla

In order to redress the heavy load of expensive records featured here recently, I wanted to give you this brilliant slice of slo mo beard action, just to prove some of them do come very cheap. In this case Black Gorilla's 'Funky Jungle' happens to be on the b-side of the absolutely dire 'Gimme Dat Banana' 7" single from back in 1977 and if you check Discogs, there's one going for a Pound fifty, right now. Bargain!! (someone bought it.) I first looked into finding more of Black Gorilla when I heard the lovely 'Soul Dancer' in JAZ's 'Leather Get Going Pt2' set (which is still available on the sidebar), it was then that I came across this beauty!

I'd like to take this moment to also mention that JAZ has an album of edits, 13 of 'em, on the always quality Claremont 56 label coming out on Feb 01... unmissable! - check it here!

Black Gorilla - Funky Jungle

all day music

I first found War's album 'All Day Music' in my folks collection, I go through periods of playing it to death, especially the title track. It's a Sunday, open air walkin' in the park Soul classic. The album is from 1971 and contains the much sampled 'Nappy Head', amongst other beauties...

War - All Day Music

im not ready

Northen soul classic 'I'm not Ready' by Ujima is uplifting, life affirming, love confirming and an all round song for life. Ujima hailed from Richmond in Virginia and later became Anglo Saxon Brown, even later they evolved into Silk. 'Im Not Ready', the b side of their 1975 single 'A Shoulder to Lean on' is tough to find and yes, it goes for serious money (one page i was reading claims sightings of upward of $1000), anyway it really is that good... (Paul Weller's Style Council definitely took notes)

Ujima - 'Im Not Ready'

endless race

Serious diggers and followers of obscure gems from sites like Bumrocks will already know Leda and her synth heavy album with Tangerine Dream man Peter Baumann called 'Welcome to Joyland', in fact her track 'Endless Race' closes off the Bum's recent 'El Bum' compilation (a very fine beast that's definitely worth getting). The Leda album is excellent, with nary a dud to be heard; every track mines a deep in space Disco Electro sound thanks mainly to Baumann, most of them also feature Leda's beautiful pop vocal stylings. Once again if u want quality Disco obscurities like this on vinyl, you're likely to pay a bit, but it's value will only increase.... Running for gold!

Leda - Endless Race

slaves of pleasure

Loud-E has an excellent album coming out toward the end of the month, but we'll get to that later.... right now I wanted to post the original version of Love Robot's 'Slaves Of Pleasure' an absolutely deadly dance floor item from 1978 which got loud-e-fied for Ambassadors Reception last year. If you manage to find the original eponymous lp then grab it, though they cost a bit (Mr E's edit has pushed the prices up even further). It features some great tracks on it and though I'd say the other tracks aren't quiet as capturing as 'Slaves', if you're into robots making love to a disco beat and other fun robot type stuff then it's worth hunting down. Slaves for your Monday night needs.. (I so could have gone another direction with the pic)

Love Robot - Slaves Of Pleasure