do it slow

Hot Ice's 'Dancing Free' is a much sought after deep Disco groover, it can be found on the band's 'Hot Ice No.1' lp on Polydor from 1976. The track has featured on a couple of diggers styled comps, Dimitri & Dj Muro's 'Super Disco Friends' for example. The thing is the whole album is delicious and quiet varied in it's depth. It's not that hard to find and it's not all that expensive all things considered (about 35 euro should do it for a mint copy). 'Do It Slow' and the hippy Disco beauty 'Up Off Your Ass' are my favourite items on the record, although if you're looking for a guaranteed party rocker it would have to be 'Dancing Free'. I'm thinking you need to hear the slightly off beat and  spacey 'Do It Slow'.. check it...

Hot Ice - Do It Slow

journey to love

Tis the season of the chart and the forecast, but not here on a.n.o.e. Though not for some clever or thought provoking reason, but more to do with the fact that i don't have a clue about 96% of new records released this year. Thus it would be seriously uninformed. I did buy a lot of records in the past 12 months, a great deal more than I did in 2010. Partly due to a bigger budget for records (I just ate less) and partly to due to that chronic 'must have' emotional surge caused by so many good sides in 2011. Anyway you know what records you liked this year and you don't need me telling you what i think is better or best.

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season, I certainly needed the break. So here's wishing you all a fantastic year ahead, it's the year of the dragon soon and i heard the dragon smiles on everyone. So by February the latest, your year should be rocking! Expect more deep digs and the occasional look in on newer stuff on these pages, plus an ever growing Press Play series with some killer mixes coming up from Lee Douglas, The Drunk (oh yes!) and newer heads like Niall Kirk. I hope you've enjoyed the goodies from 2011, yeah i know it's been a little more erratic than the 'hardest working blog' of earlier years, but I gots to make the dough for the bread and biscuits. Love to ya all!! xxx...

Stanley Clarke - Journey to Love

spaced out

Funky midtempo, space themed Disco from Juice People Unlimited, lifted from their 'Disco Godfather' album on Apple Juice Records back in 1979. The album is the soundtrack to the fantastic blaxploitation flick 'Disco Godfather' which features the immense Rudy Ray Moore of 'Dolemite' infamy. The film's anti drug message lends the track it's double meaning (stating the obvious there I think - ed)... Trippin'...

Juice People Unlimited - Spaced Out

surrender

As their name fatefully suggests Secret Weapon is a lesser known Prelude outfit who released one album back in 1983. Actually they had club hits with 'DJ Man' and 'Must Be The Music', but their eponymous album is the harder to find beast and indeed it contains one or two real secret weapons. For me both 'Surrender' and 'Piece Of The Rock' are great tracks, I'm half surprised that they haven't been edited yet (hasn't everything been edited?), partly because they could do with a little clean up, but also because they're such tight grooves. Check 'Surrender' out below with its heady mix of midtempo R'nB Disco.. very Prelude...

Secret Weapon - Surrender

e. b.

Coming back to an old idea with this post. The fact is I'm sitting on a massive heap of edits from some great producers that never made it onto vinyl, or legit digital download (whatever that is). Anyway it's almost Christmas (whatever that is) so I'm gonna drop a few 320k 'lost' edits your way over the next month or so. Well Hung Don is an old moniker of a now fairly well known producer, it was a name he used to create something a little different from his usual stuff (um not that his usual stuff is usual at all) and probably to avoid any legal wrangles. His work as WHD had strong Hip Hop overtones and a cheeky attitude. Lets hope this doesnt get me one of those copyright warnings from the fat cats...

Well Hung Don - E. B.

ready to fly

Some time back I mentioned that you needed to check out Niall Kirk's Amen Brother Disco Band on Soundcloud, where the man keeps a bunch of really great edits of lesser known goodies. Since that post Niall's added numerous off kilter chop shop jobs over the months and one thing is clear, he's got a great ear for unusual grooves that beg for repeated plays on sweaty, free thinking, underground dancefloors. One of his recent cut up's, a Psyche Beast of glorious stature called 'Ready To Fly', is destined, I hope (I hope, I hope), to find it's way onto vinyl sometime in the near future. You know you're onto something good if JD Twitch is already dropping it in his sets, even friend of a.n.o.e. Basso loves it, I love it! So I guess I'm saying it comes highly recommended. Like drugs and Spacemen 3 never happened...

Amen Brother Disco Band - Ready to Fly by Amen Brother Disco Band

Traveller

I've been keeping an eye on Traveller Records for awhile now, with early releases from Bicep and Rayko and Alphabet City and links to Kojak Giant Sounds, it was inevitable. But things got a lot more interesting over their last three outings. First off the label re-issued Jerline & Friends 'Joy Trip pt2' (a track i nattered on about some years back) as well as 'Tell Me' a superb groover from Jerline Shelton and her gang. It's a legit re-issue with the tracks being licensed from the original label, so major kudos there. The label quickly followed the 7" with a brilliant re-issue of original House tracks from Creation, Fantasy and X-Man. 'Deep' & 'Reach Out' hail from a time when House music was made on machines; warm analogue sounds, heaps of Soul and authentic art make this release unmissable. 

Most recently Traveller launched Ultimate Man's 'The Prologue', a killer House monster with Ravey stabs and a warehouse energy onto the airwaves. Ultimate Man is a side project of one Toomy Disco or Mariano Iliuta as he's known to his mum, it's undoubtedly the best thing he's done so far too. Sadly I think you'll find the record is sold out in most places, given only 151 copies were pressed up. Talk about creating an instant, highly desirable, hard to find record. I'd suggest putting Traveller on your radar if you haven't already, in case you miss any more gems from this Finnish goldmine... Check out a clip of 'The Prologue' below...

Magic Wand 4

News of a fourth Magic Wand 12" is trickling across underground music scenes as we speak, in fact Clone Records online store is already featuring it as a pre-order (with sound clips too) sometime ahead of it's January release schedule. The way I see it it's an AOR Disco Balearo types essential, not only because it has a synthy rework of an unlikely English Folk Rock ditty from Sad Ghost, but because the other three tracks by Coyote, T2MM & Swarthy Rogues makes this (possibly) the best Magic Wand release so far. But I would say that right? Certainly this piece of wax is as necessary to your collection as Magic Wand 1 is. Head over to Clone and abuse their players...

rainy...

It's a rainy night in Jozi Town, moody as anything. So here's Daniel Salinas' 'Like A Rainy Night' from his excellent Atlantis album. I'm wondering what happened to Whatmusic.com, they were responsible for a number of fantastic re-issues of hard to find Brazilian, Latin and Jazz albums during the early 2000's, amongst them Daniel's great record...

Daniel Salinas - Like A Rainy Night

Honey Machine

I have zero info on Nigerian 80's act Honey Machine, their self titled lp came out in 1982 on Grandstar Records. For the most part it's a Disco Pop record with vocals sung in English. The album opens with the shebeen Disco track 'Pleasure', surely some sort of proof of the material girl's far reaching influence at the time....?

Honey Machine - Pleasure