Sleazy Beats Recordings

Hunting for Sleaze

2012-01-28T01:21:00.000-08:00

Every other day polite (and not so polite) e-mails reach Sleazy HQ inquiring about digital release dates ("whaddup you cannae find tis bitch on the Port nahmean. One Love") or help tracking down one of the records from our back catalogue. If you've been reading these pages, you should know by now we don't "do" digital (not now, not ever), so that's question number one answered for you. We also stick to the whole 'limited thing' (which means no represses, just one run and then they're gone). We would however like to help out those of you hunting for copies of our releases, as we know how infuriating it can be when you really want a record but just can't find it for the life of you. So here's the first edition of the 'Beginners guide to finding what you seek'. Hope it helps. Oh and stop saying 'One Love' will you, I have no idea what that actually means.

SBR009: The Dead Rose Music Company / Moody Manoeuvres EP
Came out late December 2011 and is still widely available. Easy does it! Head over to one of these fine outlets, swipe a card or two and presto, she's yours:
Juno / Piccadilly / Deejay.de

SBR008: Dirty Dancing Sampler (Modsleep/Lord of the Isles/The Noodleman/Dead Rose Music Company)
This has been sold out at the distro for quite a while now and is getting increasingly difficult to find. Chemical seem to have the last remaining stock, so head over there if you want a new and unused copy
Chemical Records

SBR007: La Tuerie / Basement Boutique EP
This little ditty took a little longer to sell out than usual but is all gone now from the distro and most of the usual haunts. Check Sleazy fav Piccadilly though, as they have a few copies left!
Piccadilly

SBR006 / Francis Inferno Orchestra - The Night He Came Out EP
All gone. Prices on Discogs are very reasonable, so head over there and bag a copy while prices are low.

SBR005: Daniel Solar - 13th Hour Ep
Haven't seen a copy of this surface on Discogs for ages, it's rapidly becoming one of the hardest to find Sleazy Beats releases. One of Daniel's tracks made it onto the CD we did with Wolf Music. But that one sold out as well and is also going for silly money these days, so best try your luck at charity shops and messy record stores that don't do mailorder.

SBR004: Sleazy Family Sampler
Eddie C, Tornado Wallace, SE62 and Daniel Solar. Quite the lineup innit?. Rare as hen's teeth too. No copies on Discogs at the moment, so keep 'em peeled. They usually go for about 40 quid.

SBR003: Tornado Wallace - Tornado Never Dies EP
Before TW moved on to bigger and better things, he released an EP on our little imprint that sold out really quickly. Used copies go for 70+ euros these days on Discogs, though we've seen them change hands on Ebay for far less.

SBR002: The Beatdown Soundmachine / Secret Service EP
The Beatdown Soundmachine - one of LTJ's many monikers - was the second artist on the roster. It took its time selling out back in 2010 but is now getting really hard to find and the Discogs vultures are rapidly increasing their prices. At the moment there's one copy for sale for 15 quid, seems somewhat reasonable.

SBR001: Eddie C / Rocket Science EP
Our very first release. Sold out in a flash and has been hard to find ever since. There's always a few copies of it floating around on Discogs if you're willing to shell out 50+ pounds...

Pop & Eye - Toil For Olive Oyl EP (Editainment)

2012-01-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

Here at Sleazy Towers we are all about the physical product. Sure we play our share of digital downloads, but nothing quite matches up to a hot slab of wax rotating on the turntable. We are especially pleased when the record labels go that extra mile and do special bits such as limited pressings, silk screened record sleeves, colored vinyl, stickers, hand numbered releases... we're into all of that. So we're excited to hear about this great new 12" out now on theEditainment label. Their releases tend to be hand-stamped with love on both the record and the sleeve, and this one is no exception. The edits here are done by the Pop & Eye crew, which has been rumored to be none other than Tiger & Woods...although they deny everything. The liner notes say that this disc contains "four tracks like gentle uppercuts". Sounds fitting to me!

As their moniker suggests the Pop & Eye duo tend to edit more radio-friendly selections. Not an issue here. It is always good to recognize a bit of something on the dancefloor. The first cut, 'Being Boing', is a moody synth number that samples an old Pet Shop Boys tune. Then you have 'Blow Me Down', taking a bit of Sade's Sweetest Taboo and showcasing some of that stuttering T&W vibe these guys are so good at. Flip the wax over to find an edit of George Benson's Give Me The Night. I absolutely love what Tiger & Woods did with this song on a previous release, but here Pop & Eye slow things down and turn this into a beatdown monster! Rounding off the plate is 'Spinach Life' which loops pieces of the Crusaders classic Street Life up a notch into a smooth midtempo groove.

Purchase your copy of the record here while supplies last.

Frank Booker - Hope (Fine Art)

2012-01-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

We can safely claim that this 10" record by Frank Booker is the year's first essential release. We've been staunch fans of Mr. Booker since we first started this place (I just went through the archives and we first mentioned the New-Zealand based producer in 2009 when we covered his second release on Untracked) so everytime his name pop up in some obscure pre-order section or newsletter we get just a little excited (pulse goes up, dilated pupils and trachea etc). He doesn't put out much music (a handful of EPs over the past few years), but the tunes that do find its way onto vinyl are invariably exceptional. Frank's chuggy, fuzzy understated drums and driving basslines are some of the finest in the game, and he has found a way of weaving samples of old and forgotten soul nuggets into his productions that is neither obvious nor easy, layering sound upon sound and effect upon effect while still letting a track 'breathe' and retain the natural swing of the source material.

"Hope", the title track of his latest outing on London's Fine Art recordings, is a fine showcase of Frank Booker's impeccable taste and skills. The percussive intro, reminiscent of an old Marvin Gaye tune, gently eases you into deeper and headier territories with Mr. Booker's trademark drums helping things move along rather nicely. Once the bassline kicks in you're locked in for good. I've had this on repeat since getting my hands on the record, nine minutes of absolute glory. On the flip there's No Delay, a classy deep uptempo filter fest. I doubt I'll ever play that track though, as the A side is just too damn good.

Pick up a copy here

Aihki - Karesuando (Is It Balearic)

2012-01-19T02:23:00.000-08:00

Well, with the holidays now safely behind us we are suddenly left with much less cash, a few extra pounds (not the good kind!), coughing, sniffly kids and some colder weather that's kicked in for many of us. Fortunately though we've been pretty lucky discovering a few good tunes to kick off the new year in proper fashion. One shining example that immediately comes to mind that dropped just before the holidays is the latest outing by the Is It Balearic guys (who are completely on fire at the moment) . With a musthave record that came out last summer - 'Slower' - a blisteringly good 4 tracker by I Boat Captain - aka Tiago, with tight remixes by the Backwoods and usual suspect Coyote...the ever dependable IIB boys are back for more once again. This time it's in the form a lovely 12" by newcomer duo Aihki from Helsinki, along with Coyote and Eddie C on remix duties - needless to say this is just what the doctor ordered on these here cold January nights.

All four tracks here on offer are more or less ace I think, however my two favourites are probably the two mixes of 'Samarkand'. On the A side it's difficult to disagree with 'Karesuando' though - a deep and chunky flute and sitar-backed affair that actually hits the spot in a big way, despite such an odd description. Coyote's Scanarama remix does the trick too, possibly coming off as a slightly more spiced up cousin to Mark Seven's 'Deep Seoul' from 2010, a great track. 'Samarkand' on the flip is such a fun chugger though, and as I listen now might just be the pick for me. With a crisp driving beat and pulsating bassline, guitar and kindof robotic vocal hooks that keep everything alive, this tune just plain rocks. The canadian bacon then spices things up beautifully with dreamy pads and cunningly blissed out reverb sounds, creating one of the best early morning tracks we've heard in ages. Love this to bits.

Have a listen and do yourself a favour by picking it up at a fine shop near you.

Picadilly
Juno
Phonica

Sleazy Picks of the Year 2011

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

After today 2011 will be gone for good. Which is too bad really, as it was quite the year for us here at Sleazy Beats. We got to put out an awesome EP by The Francis Inferno Orchestra, whose profile skyrocketed in 2011 with releases on Melbourne Deepcast, Join the Dots, Kolour and a host of other fine imprints. We released a record with raw and sweaty beatdown tracks by newcomer La Tuerie from Milan, a producer who we'll be hearing more of in 2012 with records on Kolour and Foto. Then came SBR008, 'The Dirty Dancing Sampler', arguably our finest release yet with deep and moody tracks by Modsleep, The Noodleman, Dead Rose Music Company and Lord of The Isles (who's rapidly becoming one of the most interesting and versatile producers out there) . Right in time for the holiday season our 9th record came out, a big four-tracker by TDRMC that seems to be selling rather well at the moment. We also got to release a limited double CD with our friends from Wolf Music and Cosmic Boogie, which sold out really fast (which is quite amazing in this day and age with a million decent mixes on soundcloud and about as many sketchy blogs offering rips of virtually anything). As if that wasn't enough, we also got to play at amazing parties all over the globe (Bergen, Berlin, London, Poznan, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, New York City etc) and got to meet some amazing and like-minded people. Playing a monster back to back set in the Horse and Groom in London definately was one of the absolute highlights of the year for us. While international DJ stardom never gets old, we're still just a bunch of geeks with an unhealthy vinyl addiction that like to ramble on about music. So in between taking care of the kids, grocery shopping and mortgage payments we tried to cover the most exciting slices of plastic we discovered this year. And as the clock is ticking away, we felt like sharing our 'soundtrack' of 2011 with you.

Before we get into that, let's get a few things off our chests about all these 'best of' and end-of-year lists though. More often than not, they're just a marketing tool to push sales in December. As much as we like Juno, we were a bit disappointed to see that they ignored the many releases that sold out over the past twelve months in their 'best of 2011' lists. Another thing we don't like about most lists is that there's usually a fairly strong overpresence of recent releases. Yes, we all know money makes the world go round (again, charts are meant to push sales) and that the shelflife of a 12" record is rather short as it is. Just not THAT short. My main gripe with end of year charts is that larger magazines, shops and blogs all seem to equate 'big' with 'best'. See, Transformers: Dark of The Moon was one of 2011's highest grossing motion pictures but it sure wasn't golden globe material now was it? That's why we decided to do things a little differently this year. We carefully went over every single records we bought, played and charted this year, compiled a monstrosity of a longlist, which then got narrowed down to just 5 tracks. Five tracks that defined 2011 musically for us here at Sleazy Beats. On top of those 5 records, all three of us put together a list of 5 personal favorites. So here we go, twenty records to sum up the year:

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Sleazy Beats All-Time Top 5 for 2011

5. Being Borings - Some Are Here and Some Are Missing
We've been obsessing over this record ever since we first heard snippets of it back a few months ago. It popped up on Juno for a rididulous price so we passed on it at first. Then regret reared its ugly head and we frantically tried to unearth a copy for aeons, but alas, it was nowhere to be found. We finally received two copies at Sleazy Towers just a few days ago straight from Japan (thanks Masuo/Lighthouse Records Tokyo) and we haven't had thechance to play anything else since we put them down on the ol' platters. Produced and arranged by two of Japan's most wicked and crue-l disco overlords Kenji Takimi & Tomoki Kanda, this record is probably the one in our collection that we're most proud to own going into 2012. Both sides are awesome, but the B-side with this tune is a standout cut above the rest. Hard to describe in words but basically it's disgustingly good with fat chuggy drums, dubbed out strings and echoed out sloppy claps just how we like. There even seems to be some muted dolphin or whale sounds in there too, it's just that crazy.

4. Fantastic Man - Groove With You
We're well aware that this tune is a little bit of a no brainer to include for a 'best of' list for the past year. It was immense. Huge. Gargantuan. Etc. We fell head over heels for it when it droppend and haven't looked back. To top it all off, it's on one of the best labels we can think of, run by two of the nicest guys in the biz. Fantastic Man aka Mic Newman burst on to the scene at the end of last year with a killer cut on Wolf Music's 007 release, and then another, and then solidified himself with this beast. Awesome rolling drums with a bubbly, gurgling bassline and a morphed Maxwell sample sprinkled atop the lot make for a smash hit in our little world. We simply love this track to bits and there's no denyin'. Building and dropping and rising again until: you 'just can't take it any longer', by the time you get to the end you'll know just why this guy is running things in all of Oz along with a couple of other duders (2011 was without a doubt the year of the Melbourne crew). We're confident that 2012 will again see Mic/Mr. Fantastic doing big and bad tings.

3. Stupid Human - Get On Up
Stupid Human's third release was easily one of the biggest records for us this year. 'Get On Up' in particular got a mean rinsing at every party we played. It's pretty much a perfect edit: long extended intro with badass percussion, beefed up drums, long buildup and then bam! enter filthy disco heaven. And with a vocal that goes 'you're so sleazy, when you tease me', you know you have a winner on your hands. Fantastic track by an exquisite edit-maestro.

2. Frank Booker - El Salvador (Cosmic Boogie rmx)
We've been staunch fans of Frank Booker ever since his debut 12" on Untracked a few years ago. Mr. Booker is hardly the most prolific of producers; in 2011 he kept his output limited to two records on Japanese imprint Wonderful Noise and a compilation with Recloose, his audio-partner in crime. Both records on Wonderful Noise were really expensive (they came out while shit really hit the fan in Japan with a tsunami and nuclear meltdown) but also ridiculously good. Frank Booker truly is a master at blending elements of disco and moody deephouse into perfect dancefloor fodder with class and style. Of the two records, El Salvador got the most plays this year from us, a midtempo chugfest sampling an old Average White Band tune to great effect. For this list we went with the Cosmic Boogie remix, but the original is just as good. We're thrilled we get to release a Frank Booker record on our own Sleazy Beats in 2012.

1. Ron Basejam - Get Closer
Ron Basejam's A Life in Headphones was the best record of 2011. Period. If there's one record you should have bought this year, this is it. Five timeless tracks on one record. We raved about it when it first came out so we'll just let the music do the talking.

That's it, the five records that tickled our communal pickle. Below you'll find our personal faves to finish the year on a personal note.

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Kris Percy - 5 Big Guns for 2011

1. Try To Find Me - Needs Ending * Golf Channel
This record has was honestly a bit of a pain in the ass for me this year, as I passed on the damn thing initially then soon after realized it might just be the best track ever, only to realize the thing was sold out worldwide quickfast after only 125 pressings (welcome to the moronic inferno). Done up ever so well by Justin Vandervolgen on his second release on the mighty Golf Channel recordings, 'Needs Ending' takes only a snip of the original track, Jo Jo Zep - 'Losing Game' (cheers Isodisco crew!) but loops the thing and visciously dubs the living hell out of it, creating a relentless balearic headnodder, and brings a tear to the eye all at the same time. A description of this track cannot happen either without mentioning that bassline, one of the best I've ever heard...legendary. SO, I still don't have this in the bag, moral of the story here - don't be an idiot, buy good music when it comes out. Don't sleep or else you'll end up crying in your soup.

2. Double Hill - Wanna Get * Double Standard
Double Hill is/are putting out some of the straight up deepest and moodiest cuts we've heard in a helluva long time. This cut came out by the enigmatic Israeli crew (we only assume it's two guys cause the word 'double' is in their name) in march of 2011, and is the first of two releases now by these guys on the NY label headed by Gadi Mizrahi of W&L. 'Wanna Get' kicks off with an airy feel alongside a thunderous kick and soon glides smoothly and easily into deephouse territory, complete with dusty chimes and all. Really a top workout and an addictive pulsating groove. On the edge of our seats here at sleazy HQ to hear what crackers Double Hill has on offer next year, this past year has seen him releasing some of the most forward thinking stuff we've heard in a good bit. Kudos!

3. Pools - End Of Summer * Spills
This post was initially supposed to be about 'Blue Dream' off the same Pools Ep 1, but at the very last minute I changed my mind and decided to write about this one. Truth be told I love this whole ep more than life itself and honestly find it more or less impossible to pick a fave. When I first heard samples a few months ago my first thought was "what the hell are these tunes" as they honestly seemed so different and special. We still don't know who Pools are, wizards or magicians of some sort I'd imagine. 'End of Summer' glides along effortlessly on the back of a vocal "oooohh" that changes pitch every few bars. Combine this with catchy guitar hook and icy/glassy snares and you have one cracking cut. As I write this, and am listening to the heavy funked-up 'Skate' - the next track on the ep, and I suddenly feel compelled to change my decision again for the favourite cut on the record. In short they're all slamming, I could have
chosen any of them. Buy, play, love.

Pools-The End Of Summer by spls

4. Luv Unlimited 3 - Track 2 * Love Unlimited Vibes
We divulged our everlasting love for the Luv Unlimited crew not long ago on these sleazy pages, and this release in particular. So not to go on to great lengths about something we've covered already, I just wanted to say a few words of love for the Luv. The mood and sheer intensity in this tune from the eerie organ and especially the haunting vocal makes it one of the most proper deep warmup greats of the year for us. Stunningly beautiful, a properly amazing piece of music that any music lover should be more than proud to own. Guaranteed I'll get shivers every time I hear that vocal. Volume 4 should see the light of day anytime now, so be on the lookout.

LUV 03 A by LOVE UNLIMITED VIBES

5. Loud-E - Peppermint * Discoine
Coming in at number 5 is a dark horse, one that no one seemed to be playing much and tbh it doesn't really fit in with our 'traditional' sleazy sound, as it's perhaps more of a disco party rocker...but hell, I reckoned there should be at least one grizzly discosmasher in my list. I quite honestly love everything about it: heavy disco slap bass,strings, catchy chorus, comedic horn hook and especially the saucy French vocal. Had the opportuity to play this on a few big systems this year and believe you me it works a treat on a packed dancefloor.

** sorry, couldn't find a video/soundclip **

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Frantic - The Frantastic Top 5 of 2011

1. Alena - Changes (Ron Basejam rmx)
This is my favorite remix of the year. The ultimate midtempo party rocker, Basejam's mix of 'Changes' is just the most infectious thing to hit wax. I find myself uncontrollably doing the running man every time I put it on, and I honestly mean that in a good way! The loops, elements and instruments on this one just lock together as if they were made for each other. If you don't own this already, go out and find it. There is not a dancefloor around that will be able to resist it.

2. Frank Booker - Tell Them
We blogged about the two mysterious releases on Wonderful Noise the moment these babies surfaced. I hope you took our advice then, because now you will be hard pressed to find copies (and shelling out some serious cash, too). Both releases hold some of the classiest output of 2011. The Cosmic Boogie mix of 'El Salvador' even made our Sleazy top 5 of the year. For me, the cut that did not leave the bag was 'Tell Them'. This is the definition of a chugger. It is the perfect blend of elements, pumping along until you realize it is over...and who said it could be over, you weren't done with it yet! Some deep keys filling out the bottom end, and just the right touch of flourish and drama with the violin work when it is needed. This is original production at its finest. It is just such a well done party track, and easily makes my list.

3. Psychemagik - Wake Up Everybody
This year was clearly a good year for Psychemagik. His "Valley of Paradise" edit of David Crosby's song 'Orleans' is the number one tune on many of the top lists of 2011. But personally, it was the magik he worked on Harold Melvin's 'Wake Up Everybody' that opened up nearly all of my dreamy summertime DJ sets. He kept the intro of the tune intact and looped the best part of the opening keys to a devastatingly good effect. I have played this for young and old and I get the same reaction every time... instant adoration. 1976 has never sounded so sweet.

4. Drop Out Orchestra - My World Is Empty Without Dub
Drop Out Orchestra are Sweden's best kept secret, but we want to be sure that this secret gets out! It it hard to revisit a lot of the old classic tunes because they are so ingrained into our consciousness. Here the Orchestra expertly reworks the Motown classic 'My World Is Empty Without You' by The Supremes. All of the swing of the original tune really lies in that accented half-note, and by removing it this hit becomes a slow-motion monster.

5. Modern Artifacts - Do Do Wap Is Strong In Here (Heavy Disco Rework)
2011 was the year of the over-reverent edit. The beatdown and midtempo music that I found myself gravitating towards the most were edits done by musicians that chose to leave the source material mainly intact. I truly appreciate the electronic artists that chopped and sliced with care, respecting the original music. Ashley Beedle is at the top of this game. No artist is too large or revered to avoid his skilled blade. He just tackles some of the most untouchable material. Last year he successfully reworked The Beatles, and who on earth could accomplish that? Well, Ashley Beedle can! This year he rearranges the one and only Curtis Mayfield and man it is a killer. The title really says it all... the do do wap is strong in here! Essential.

http://soundcloud.com/modern_artifacts/modern-artifacts-do-do-wap-is-strong-in-here-heavy-disco-re-edit

Guy's (Monsieur Monod) Personal Picks

1. Sir John - White Elephant (Mark E rmx) * Redux
Since Mark E turned his back on disco and started making (fairly generic sounding) techno, I stopped following his new releases. He's still a phenomenal DJ (got to see his play in Holland this year) but the days of his Jisco edits are definitely over and done with. Mark E's smooth and sultry remix of Sir John's White Elephant on Redux was a most welcome surprise amidst all that tough techno, and one of the highlights of the year for me.

2. Matt Moroder - Shuggie * Little Leaf
Matt Moroder's rework of Shuggie Otis' Aht Uh Mi Hed came out early in 2011 and immediately stuck a chord with me. It's not really clever, nor is it hands in the air peaktime fistpump material. It's a lovely, mellow, moody groover that builds and builds until you finally get to hear Otis' wonderful voice. Lush and overlooked.

3. Koosh & Dane - Jackin the Man * Common Edits
Dane's Common Edit imprint was without a doubt the most exciting new label to see the light of day. The three seven inch releases that came out in 2011, with edits and reworks by Koosh, Bron, Eddie C and Dane himself are the stuff that dreams are made of. Hard to pick a favorite, but this moody, stringy track is simply irresistable.

** sorry, couldn't find a video/soundclip **

4. Tyson Ballard - Little Too Much * Ben Sun remix * Voyeurhythm

Ben Sun had the midas touch this year and this remix is a fine showcase of his knack for the deepest and moodiest grooves. One of those tracks I lusted after for months. There's nothing like finally getting your grubby mits on the 12" when it sees the light of day now is there?

Tyson Ballard - Little Too Much // Ben Sun Dawn's Arrival mix // VR006 by Ben Sun

5. The Glue - A Broken Heart * Untz Untz
I posted a glowing review of The Glue's forthcoming track on Sccucci Manucci (out early 2012) in which I elaborated on the chops and skills of this Norwegian duo, so I'll keep this short: this is awesome and doesn't get old. Good luck trying to find a copy, the Discogs vultures are already charging over 50 quid for it.

Pools - EP1 & EP2 (Spills)

2011-12-21T02:27:00.000-08:00

As another year draws to a close, Kris and I are frantically trying to compile a list of our favorite tracks of the year. Quite the mountain to climb so to speak, with so many great records coming out over the past 12 months. The re-edit/slo-mo craze seems to have blown over a little bit and has given way to an exciting branch of moody warehousish deephouse that's a little rough around the edges but a little easier on the jugular than the stuff that came out in the 90s (I honestly can't handle 126 BPM house tracks anymore). More on that later though! (we now have a list of about 50 tunes we're trying to narrow down to our 10 absolute favorites. All we need is a few more bitchfights and we'll be ready to post it up before the end of the year).

Before we get to that, we want to turn the spotlight on two records that got shortlisted right away: Pools EP1 and EP2 on US imprint Spills. Two brilliant slices of deep, dubby and moody midtempo house-not-house/disco-not-disco reminiscent of Moodymann, Andres, Theo Parrish and the likes. This doublepack saw the light of day a few months ago and we snapped them up over at Rush Hour immediately, expecting the records to sell out in a flash. The hype we anticipated never really followed though, so we figured we'd keep them to ourselves and shelve them in the 'secret weapons' section. Since Christmas is all about sharing and caring though, we figured we'd cover them anyway and let you in on the fun.

We know little to nothing about Pools. They're from LA. That's about it. The records came out on Spills (who put out one record before these puppies came out, a bunch of wonky reworks of MJ), which we know nothing about either. Back to the music then. EP 1 is a four track affair, which starts out with "Water's Fine", a midtempo nugget with a hip-hop feel that wouldn't be out of place on one of Farina's Mushroom Jazz mixes. "The End of Summer" comes with a similar vibe, but with a steady 4/4 kick, dusty loops, filtered chants etc. "Skate" on the flip is another chuggy bomb with a vintage hiphop feel. The Pools crew upped the pace a little on the fourth and final track "Blue Dream" and spinkled some magic disco dust to keep everyone happy. Have a listen to Blue Dream below:

Pools - Blue Dream by spls

EP2 largely follows the same recipe. The record starts off with "Chlorine Cologne", a moody and haunting number which sits rather nicely alongside the downtempo and dreamy 'Tubbin'. On the B, "The Oaks" takes us back to some fine Detroity drums and muted guitar action. The closing track is another mellow beatdown affair. Have a listen to Chlorine Cologne below:

Pools - Chlorine Cologne by spls

Without a doubt two of the finest 12"s we came accross this year. Impossible to pick a favorite, so just buy them both and give them the rinsing they deserve. We'll make sure to keep a close eye on Pools and Spills in the coming years.

Buy EP1 here / Buy EP2 here

And to stick with the sharing and caring theme, we also stumbled upon this ace free edit the Pools boys are giving away on their soundcloud page.

She - Easy Money (Pools Edit) by Pools Sound

The Dead Rose Music Company - Moody Manoeuvres EP (SBR009)

2011-12-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

Our 9th release came out today, a 4-track EP by The Dead Rose Music Company, and we think it's a bit of a biggie (but then we would, now wouldn't we). Here's what the super awesome people over at Juno had to say about it:

"Sleazy Beats Recordings is now a must check label for disco aficionados, and this EP from the mysterious Dead Rose Company maintains the label's strong track record with the production outfit's biggest release to date. "So Into You" begins with a springy bassline providing the backbone for a musculature of warm synth flourishes, with the sharp guitar licks cutting through like the proverbial knife through butter. "Hankasheef" meanwhile takes an 80s vocal snippet whose source will be right on the tip of your tongue, and marrying it with a mid-tempo groove and glorious filter action leading to an epic climax. On the flip side, "Kissing In The Dark" opens with a lush string section which provides the backdrop to a track that never seems to stop climbing. The EP ends with the blissful slo-mo action of "Come Closer", whose climactic horns offer a fitting end to a fantastic EP".

Have a listen below and pick your favorite.

SBR009 - The Dead Rose Music Company / Moody Manoeuvres EP by SleazyBeats

Pick up a copy at Juno, Piccadilly, Phonica, Chemical or do the right thing and support your local shop if there's one around.

As a thank you for reading our ramblings and all the support over the past two years, we also have a little present for you. Dead Rose was kind enough to provide us with a reprise of Hankasheef, a killer DJ tool if we ever heard one. You can download it here for free (320 KB mp3)

Clickedy-Click

Inkswel - Glass Tear Groove EP (Boogie Bash)

2011-11-30T03:07:00.000-08:00

Well we all know the Australian scene is a hotbed for more than its share of great producers over the past few years. A proper handful of some of our favourite basement dwelling knob twiddlers have popped up from down under, hailing from Melbourne most often. Now once again we've become more than a tad smitten with another producer who goes by the name of Inkswel. Fresh stuff if we've ever heard it, this guy's creating some of the most different and forward thinking music we've heard in a good while.

One of the perks of running a label is you get to justify spending a good portion of your day browsing record shops for all the new releases, and to catch up on old stuff you might have missed (baby I'll give you a footrub later, I'm doing label research right now). Just a couple of weeks ago while 'working' we stumble across these 2 Inkswel releases on Amsterdam imprint Boogie Bash, two of which are by this Inkswel chap. So we click for a listen and are pretty rocked by what came out the speakers. Hard to nail down genre-wise, if we had to describe it we'd go with psychadelic boogie-funk meets cosmic hiphop meets mid-tempo casio-deephouse...with a twist, or something. Or not, I don't know. Those that know the man might recognize him from the blinding remix of the 70s soul & disco group Darwin's Theory track 'Accept The Truth' that dropped a few months ago, along with Superior Elevation boss Tom Noble on the flip - a BIG 7" that sold out in a flash...*poof* like that, it was gone...too bad so sad. Oh and we've just been informed that it was Inkswel himself who played the skins on this record as well - a man of many talents. Right then, back to the Boogie Bash 12".

The latest incarnation to come from Inkswel HQ is BB003 entitled the 'Glass Tear Groove EP', the second in the B.Bash series by the man. Kicking things off is the title track, a (partially) uptempo boogie ride that switches up the mood between super smooth vocals by Zackey Force Funk and light synth work, to an all-of-a-sudden more 4x4 punchier beat with a darker bassline. This production style really works a treat, we love it x infinity. A2, 'Good Times' is a raw emotive track (compared to the Tom Noble rub on the B) with crunchy electro-claps and another great female vocal about trying to "make it" in this crazy game of love. More smooth synthwork, and as well really 90s sounding punchy jungle-style bassline.

And that's just the Aside. Whew.

Flip this fine slab over for my pick - the remix of 'Good Times' that slows er' down a bit in the bpm dept, adds a quickened snare that moves things along amidst more of that ace deep, noodly keywork and airy synth stabs. Add a pinch of badass bassline to spice up the punch and voila! Awesome track. Actually maybe the final B2 is my fave, 'Who's Fooling Who', another more downtempo, upfront, and completely raw hip-hop styled head-nodder is primed for getting any sort of boogie-inspired party going quick. Love this track to bits too.

We've heard through the grapevine that this record is close to sold out, so grab it here asap. And while you're snapping this up be sure to grab Inkswel's first outing on Boogie Bash (BB002) that was released earlier this year. It's almost just as ace, worth picking up for 'She Likes Techno' alone. Be on the lookout for more from the man, word on the street is he's got a couple of stone-cold killers lined up for early 2012 on a couple of our fave labels. Keep em' peeled.

And while you're waiting for your new Inkswel records, be sure to check a recent mix by him here, killer stuff:

PATCHWORXX MIX by INKSWEL

V.A. One For The Road EP (Outernational)

2011-11-26T06:11:00.000-08:00

Our buddies from Outernational are about to release their sophomore EP and it's quite a special one while they're at it. I first met Mitchell and Dragan, the dudes behind the Rotterdam based label, at a Mark E party here in Holland, where we got chatting about music, running a record label and other shenanigans over a few beers. We've been keeping in touch ever since (hey, we're the only two Dutch labels that push this sound, got to stick together) and even got to play some records side by side at their first SLOW party a few months ago. After the overnight success of their debut release - Kastil's Dusty Edits vol 1 - the Outernational Men were in a bit of a pickle. So many good producers out there, who to pick for the - always difficult - second release?

They cleverly opted for a four track sampler with three different artists. We've discussed the merits of mini-comps on these pages before, so by now you should know I'm a big sucker for these things. When done right, they're serious value for money, a great way for budding producers to get a break on wax, and make it easier to switch things up a little and release music that's just a tad bit more left-of-center and - major personal pet peeve - skip the obligatory, uninspired, run-off-the-mill remix(es).

Things are definately done properly here too. All four tracks on "One For The Road" are marvellous and would have been worth the entry ticket alone. Kastil, for example, makes a welcome return to the label with a charming vintage deephouser, aptly called 'She's Back'. The infectious groove, snappy claps and vocal samples are sure to please heads and punters alike. The A2 track is a delicious moody adventure with understated drums and a juicy b-line conjured up by Rotterdam's own Ben La Desh, a talent we're sure to hear more from in the coming years.

On the flip, Tomas Malo (of Taikomochi fame) delivers two tracks. 'Scenesters' is a choppy and chuggy housed up filterfest, complete with a big big breakdown: perfect peaktime fodder. The grand finale of the EP is 'Shelter', a delicious slow burning beatdown number I would have signed for Sleazy Beats in a heartbeat.

Have a listen to snips of all the tracks below:

OUTNL002 - VA - One For The Road by Outernational Recordings

Fantastic record, which you really ought to buy. Coming out early December so stick it on your Christmas wishlist and dig up some 12" stockings. Meanwhile, keep checking the excellent Outernational site for the exact release date. Hawt!

The Glue - Without You (Sccucci Manucci)

2011-11-25T11:19:00.000-08:00

Sccucci Manucci's 'Three is a Crowd' EP is right around the corner (a few test pressings were up on Juno and lasted a few minutes, so you'll have to be patient a few more weeks for the proper record to arrive). Perfect timing for a few words about the ever-likeable Sccucci imprint then.

I got to meet up with (superfriendly) label boss James Vorres over at ADE for a few beers. We talked about the label's name - which James admitted means absolutely nothing in Italian and is impossible to spell correctly -, clever ways of making your significant other believe the records you're bringing into the house are gifts/demos/incredible finds at the charity shop/left by some div at the station can you believe that? /etc and exploding record cases in Ibiza (a bizarre chain of events involving a lazy customs official, Tal M Klein's recordbag, a bomb disposal unit and a not so happy ending).

We also got talking about the release at hand here, which features tracks by Toomy Disco, South West Seven, Aeromaschine and The Glue. "Is it good?", I hear you asking? Well obviously it's good, you son of a silly person, it's a Sccucci release. I'm not going to sing praises to all the tracks here, but will single out one tune instead: The Glue's 'Without You', a really strong contender for the Sleazy 'rework of the year' Award for me. Which means a lot in a year in which the amount of reworks we get sent easily outnumbers all sketchy Nigerian investment offers, fake university degrees and penis enlargements opportunities combined.

I've been a big big fan of the work of the boys behind The Glue (who, as fellow Sleazeman Kris P got to witness when he played alongside them in Bergen, Norway, always dress up in a bunny and bear suit when they DJ out) for quite a while now. They popped their vinyl cherry with A Broken Heart on Untz Untz last year. Sharing a record with Rayko and totally overshadowing the Spanish edit meastro: no mean feat. Fastforward to release number two: a spot on Kolour LTD's ace I Love You But I've Chosen Disco Sampler earlier this year. Again, the Glue deliver the stand out cut with 'Real Good Lovin'. What makes these tunes so special is a combination of awesome source material (80s casio soul pop with a twist), clever chopping, fine programming and additional production (also see the WIKI "how to build a mesmerizing, moody, irresistable track").

Back to Sccucci again, and 'Without You' in particular. When I asked James about this track (I'd heard a demo before) he went 'ah yeah that track that really takes off halfway through'. And that's exactly what it does. Again, the source material is perfect (Marlene Shaw's Without You In My Life) and cleverly cut up over moody and deep hypnothising drums and swishy pads. You'll need a second to get used to the pitched up vocals here (Alvin and his chipmunk pals seem dangerously close at first), but once you do it's part of the charm and enchantment of the tune, which goes on nicely for a few minutes when bam! the track takes you straight into cosmic lala-land. I can't really explain it, best listen below:

There's just one thing I don't like about this record, and that is that its release will most likely coincide with our own release by Dead Rose Music Company. This will be some mean mean competition...

Support the tache and buy this here

Love Unlimited Vibes vol 3

2011-11-19T01:26:00.000-08:00

Let's face it, I'm a bit of a lazy git. Here's my usual routine: A. get home from work B. stick the wee one in the tub C. wolf down some food D. bust out the Macbook E. check out what's new over at Juno F. whip out the credit card G. fall asleep on the couch. Which, let's face it, is pretty awesome. Stocking up on new music with minimal effort, what else could you wish for? Having said that, I've been a regular over at Rush Hour - Amsterdam's finest record shop - for well over a decade, and I invariably end up discovering new and exciting music there that would have flown under my radar otherwise. Recent examples are the Pools EPs on Spills (more on those later), Inkswel and the Boogie Bash imprint (incredible stuff, we'll cover that on these pages soon too). Another series I stumbled upon while perusing Rush Hour's disco/funk/boogie section is Love Unlimited Vibes, who just released their third EP. About time we gave this mysterious imprint/production outfit some well deserved love.

According to the hype sheet, Unlimited Vibes is run by a bunch of seasoned producers who wish to remain anonymous and 'let the music do the talking'. Limited pressing (500 copies, no represses) and comes in clear plastic sleeves. Not much else to go by, so let's dive into the music indeed. The first release (Luv One) featured a moody, stringy deephouse number, a superslow soulful beatdown cut and a proper dub workout. Have a listen to the B1 track below, one from the 'Sleazy Beats secret weapon treasure chest'

LUV 01 B1 by LOVE UNLIMITED VIBES

After unearthing this at Rush Hour well over a year ago I kept my eyes open for more stuff from the Love Unlimited camp. Luv 2 materialized a while later, offering a balearic beatdown cut (not for me this one by the way), alongside two killer midtempo deephouse chuggers.

LUV 02 B2 by LOVE UNLIMITED VIBES

Luv 3 saw the light of day a few weeks ago, and again it's absolutely sterling stuff if you like your house moody and deep. The slightly more uptempo b-side is the one for me, sweet vocals over a rolling, hypnothic groove, just perfect.

LUV 03 A by LOVE UNLIMITED VIBES

Surprisingly, these records seem to get very little attention/hype/press, which is a real shame as we're dealing with grade A material here. We'll make sure to keep plugging and pimping all things Unlimited Vibes from now on.

Go forth and buy this, you won't regret it.

Pick up a copy here

VA - DG Edits 2

2011-11-16T00:49:00.000-08:00

For a while there was a whackload of new releases flooding them pages over at our favourite record haunts, but one only needs to scan the bestseller charts to see it's more or less repress city at the moment, needless to say nothing to get overly excited about. There was one spicy record we picked up a couple of weeks ago however - purely designed to rock the dancefloor in an extremely fun way, by the mysterious DG.

Three different edits on offer here, one of which is arguably of one of the best Hamilton Bohannon tunes around, 'Take The Country to New York City'. A vocal and a dub are nicely laid out on the A. On the B, 'Movin' by 70s disco & funk-a-nauts Brass Construction is a downright classic having been rinsed and sampled by some of the all-time great 80s and 90s NYC jocks, Masters at Work for one. Granted: this ain't a helluva lot different than the original - but what a treat it is to have this gem on a nice fat 12"...and with a little extra oomph. I must say however, as rocking as this tune is believe you me: it's a bit of a grizzly tune to mix, a oneway ticket to trainwreck town is not far off. So either have a wrestle and mix it if your skills are up to par, or just drop it in quick-fast. Finally the icing on the cake is the b2 - an ace take of Temptations edit 'I Can't Get Next To You'. Nicely done, DG - this is perfect party stuff, will get dropped with sleazy pleasure.

Whip out your credit card and grab it here.

B-Jam - Swindled By Time (Smokecloud US)

2011-11-05T16:38:00.000-07:00

We've said it before and we'll say it again, what the hell is in the water over in Scotland? This week's delight comes to us in the form of a little treat by Edinburgian beatdown wiz Barry Fell, aka B-Jam to his mom (no, wait...). Barry's managed to concoct some of the best mixtapes we've heard over the past couple of years: impecably crafted, programmed and mixed (and always containing some really stellar cover art) not to mention some of the same top tunes that we're usually drooling over at that time. This little 10" gem the man's produced entitled 'Swindled By Time' arrives on the mysterious but seriously disco & funk-dedicated US vinyl-only imprint Smokecloud.

Kicking things off on the A is 'Verry Free' - a badass beatdown edit that you may well recognize, as it's one that yes we have heard before...however it must be emphasized this B Jam take strays happily more than an arm's length away from both the original and the recent edits. Tough stuff and highly recommended for the true headnodding beatdown honchos. I reckon ze flip is my pick however, entitled 'I Don't Want It' - a slightly more uptempo number reaching heavily towards Diana Ross' 'Love Hangover' vocal that quite honestly has to be one of the most infectious out there in the dance music world; it's great stuff. This one calls for some slightly more serious head-down and druggy moments on the dancefloor, but hey what is a proper slammin' party without a couple of those eh?

B-Jam - Verry Free by Barry Fell

Already getting tons of plays by some of the big boys, snap this one up HERE before it disappears, we're not sure but we have a feeling it might be leaning slightly more on the limited side of the pressing plant.

Katzuma - Life in the City EP (Kinjo)

2011-10-29T23:26:00.000-07:00

I've been following the Katzuma boys ever since their CD 'Dr Know' came out in 2010, a fine showcase of this Italian duo's ability to produce soul-soothingly warm and organic disco from scratch (no edits, no reworks, but good old fashioned craftmanship). The standout cut on that CD, "Where I'm Coming From" got a much-needed 12" release on Headcuts earlier this year, complete with an LTJ Xperience remix.

I was quite surprised to hear that Katzuma were to release a 12" on Dave Allison's Kinjo Imprint, which usually pushes a branch of jacking house I don't care too much for. Dave's involvement with the cheeky Editorial imprint is probably to blame for a serious change in direction for the label, as Kinjo's first release on plastic fuses loose, organic disco and moody deephouse quite brilliantly. Hit play below to enjoy the tunes while we ramble on about this record.

Katzuma - Stooned (Tony T Remix) by katzuma

The Italian beatsmiths start things off with titletrack 'Life in The City', a midtempo burner with subtle drums, heavy slapbass, sloppy claps and absolutely stunning keys. Pearl of a tune this. "Music is Made for Love" leans a bit more towards Detroit with its heavy drums, moody pads and crowd chants. The final track of the EP is Stooned, a groovy midtempo chugger with a looped vocal sample that works a real treat. Fantastic stuff and a delightful debut on vinyl for Montreal's Kinjo.

Pick up a copy here

Dr. Dunks Edits (Disco Deviance)

2011-10-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's true we have a good few artist names on our SBBOSL (sleazy beats buy-on-sight list), but not too many labels have fallen into BOS category over the years. Some are still around - others have disappeared into oblivion or chosen to bow out gracefully. Staples such as Jisco comes to mind, Super Value, and Kolour LTD too, and more recently the Common Edit and Red Motorbike series of 7" beauts we're drooling over (we'll surely be snapping up all these in a wink). We've been fans of DD since the label's inception - the stellar rework of Patrice Rushen's Forget me nots, BC's intrepid take of Jump To It, the Situation brilliance on DD07, I could go on. DD is like a fine wine though it seems, increasingly getting better with age. Case in point, the imprint's 21st outing which follows the same formula:

Step 1. procure obscure funk/disco monster from the 70s/80s
Step 2. turn down the suck, boost the treble
Step 3. turn the rest up to eleven.

That's exactly what NYCs Eric Duncan aka Dr. Dunks (Still Going/Rub N' Tug) of Keep It Cheap fame has done (well not exactly, he's done quite a bit more...but you get the idea) to serve up a lip-smackingly good 12" that sat proudly on top of the bestseller charts for almost all of last week. Floyd Beck's Party Is The Answer and Crown Heights Affair's Say A Prayer For Two are the two victims on the chopping block, professionally reworked for maximum hedonistic dancefloor carnage. Both cuts have been flipped on their backs and lovingly touched in their special areas by the Dr. Oh, won't someone please file a malpractice suit against this guy...a funky one!! Check 'Dunks Got The Answer' here:

DD21 - Dunks Got the Answer (Dr Dunks Edit) by Disco Deviance

As you can tell, blinding stuff that you need in your life/record bag. Will most certainly be spanking both sides of this beast at my next gig. Can't wait. Snap up a copy HERE

Oh and PS be sure to check the man's DD Pulse Radio Mix he did last week, killer!
Disco Deviance Pulse Radio Show 12 - Dr Dunks Mix by Disco Deviance

Tiger & Woods - Wiki & Leaks

2011-10-20T21:47:00.001-07:00

Anyone else feeling a little underwhelmed by Tiger & Woods' debut longplayer on Running Back that came out a few months ago? Sure, a few of the tracks on that record are modern classics, but we already had all of those on 12" didn't we? The new material was a bit samey, all heavy drums and loops, but none of that stuttering party fodder that made them the current darlings of the disco edit scene.

They more than make up for that disappointing LP with a new album they cleverly 'leaked' (it's spreading faster than herpes, marketing geniuses at work here), dubbed it 'Wiki & Leaks' and threw on all those fine boogie and disco belters of THAT RA podcast that had everyone cream their pants. It's the boogie edits in particular that are tickling my pickle, the last few tracks of these 'Lab Files' are absolutely smashing.

15 tracks in all, great stuff for the pod (they're all low quality MP3's so I don't recommend dropping these puppies over a big system) Download here

Common Edit 3 / Red Motorbike

2011-10-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

I love 7 inch records.
I love Canadians.
I love Canadians that put out quirky 7 inch records to give away at parties.
I love Dane from Edmonton, Canada.
I love exchanging records with a kind soul from Edmonton, Canada.
I love getting little cardboard mailers in the post with 7 inch records.
I love Dane's Common Edits imprint.
I love the soul soothing vintage vibes of 'Bills and Drills'.
I love the moody, chuggy vibes of 'Cosmic Muskat' on the flip, with Eddie C's token drums.
I love Eddie C.
I love Eddie C's new label Red Motorbike.
I love the chunky 'When The Wind Blows' on the A.
I love how I finally discovered a tune with a flute I don't hate.
I love how 'Yeah' on the B puts a smile on my face every time I listen to it.
I love how I've been playing these puppies for weeks.
I love seeing them sell out faster than you can say I hate Celine Dion.

Buy / Buy

Developments in Record Land episode 1: The Sampler

2011-10-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

While CD sales have been decimated over the past years, vinyl is said to be doing better than ever these days according to journalists and industry reps. A few words of warning before you quit your job at the factory and set up a record label: it's mainly reissues of classic rock albums that have been selling well, the market for 12" electronica is actually tougher than ever. It's interesting to see how small independent labels respond to these challenging times. Over the past years, we've witnessed the rise of superlimited and stupidly overpriced one-sided releases. We've seen labels (both new and old) take the DIY route, with handstamped, numbered runs of vinyl. Other imprints try to stand out by investing in proper artwork on the sleeve. The most interesting development from a record buyer's perspective though, is the advent of the mini-compilation or sampler. Four tunes by four different artists. Bigger names and new talent sharing sides of a record. Usually no room for remixes, but 4 original tracks: serious value for money.

Let's sink our teeth in three ace samplers that are doing the rounds at the moment.

Sccucci Manucci's second release was Juno's best selling record for weeks on end, and deservedly so. The 12" (with killer sleeve-art) kicks off with a classy uptempo loose disco workout by Jacques Renault. He shares his side of the record with Zoo Look's Early Doors, a lush and moody 94 BPM ride that we've been playing loads since we got our hands on the vinyl. On the B side our mustache-loving friends introduce two new names. Casino Times flips Chaka Khan and De La Soul's 90s pop hit 'Aint All Good' into a chunky stomper that made its way into the bags of all the big jocks (which actually surprised me, as I don't care for it too much in all honesty, I guess I just don't like that sample). The last track, Picture House's Blaxploitation is a nice midtempo chugger with big drums, fun sirens and heavy claps and rounds things off rather nicely.

Our friends over at Wolf Music have been perfecting the art of the sampler for a few years now. Their latest one, Wolf Music 009, is nothing short of stunning. Fantastic Man with a beast of a tune (the buildup is just insane), the much-hyped Wolf Music stalwart Medlar drops another pearl of a track (90s bouncy US house antics with cheeky disco snips, can't go wrong there), a token heavy, haunting synth number by Greymatter and a vintage sounding Bicep remix of Medlar's Terrell (the standout cut from Wolf 008). I think I played three out of four at my latest gig, not a bad score I'd wager. BIG record.

I have a real soft spot for The House of Disco's upcoming sophomore effort. Their debut release, with tracks from Nicholas, Francis Inferno Orchestra, Toomy Disco and Psychemagic was really strong, and this second release pushes all the right buttons again. The Groovers have reworked Lionel's All Night Long, and as scary as that sounds, the result is lovely and works a real treat on a big system. Luminodisco's moody excursion 'Too Night' is a delightful slice of midtempo deephouse that sounds like what I'd imagine Charles Webster would make on Nepali. Rocco Raimundo's sweet and sexy Give Me Your Love is one of the best slo-mo edits I've heard in a while, and our friend Matt Kyle got his hands dirty on Toni Braxton to great effect. About to come out and about to blow up big, this nifty release.

I think we can safely say that samplers are awesome, maximum bang for your buck (cheaper than four wavs) and great way to give new kids on the block a break.

No links to Juno this time around, try and pick up these puppies at your local record dealer, they need all the support they can get.

Skylevel 003 (Skylevel)

2011-09-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

So I've somehow gone and broken my dominant, right typing hand (just what I need before leaving on vacation) so will make this a quick post, just to let you know about the third installment of the killer Skylevel series that has thankfully hit the shelves of all fine shops. We quite honestly rinsed the first release to bits, certified dancefloor tested stuff...but I must say - and I'm ashamed to admit, that somehow the second release flew completely below my radar (luckily managed to snatch up a copy recently however, it's ace). Skylevel's enigmatic identity has been kept largely under wraps since the inception of the label so we're choosing to still not give anything away. But in case you don't know - as Skylevel 001 and 002 have proven - you should expect nothing but badass, heavy funk groovers with fat drums and gnarly basslines of the highest order from these dudes. We reckon this is seriously no-brainer, buy-on-sight fodder that's bound and destined to sell out. So have a listen below if you need to, and then whip out your credit card and grab it HERE. Cause no worries right?! Pancakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a couple of days really won't be that bad...

Tyson Ballard - Little Too Much * Ben Sun rmx (Voyeurhythm)

2011-09-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

A little while ago, we made a solemn vow to plug and pimp all things Voyeurhythm, one of the most underrated imprints in the disco/house scene. If you've been reading these little reviews over the past years, you know that the Voyeurhythm boys really push the envelope with their output. It's commendable they refuse to stick to one specific style. They've released squelchy analog boogie cuts, synthy disco tracks and motorcity soul nuggets of the deepest variety, all to great effect. It's Ben Sun's deep, moody and broody cuts like 'Salty Tears' and 'Victoria Park' that have been getting the most attention, and deservedly so. We already covered his sublime recent remix of Deep Space Orchestra on Boogie Originals. We might even have mentioned that he also had a remix of Tyson Ballard (Voyeurhythm label boss) out.

Tyson Ballard - Little Too Much // Ben Sun Dawn's Arrival mix // VR006 by Ben Sun

We might not have mentioned that it's without a doubt one of the best things we've heard this year. Mr. Sun completely reconstructed Ballard's gloopy, chuggy original and took it to much deeper and moodier plains with subtle drums, strings and synths. It's by no means hands-in-the-air-woop-woop material but it's been glued to my 1200 for the past weeks and I simply can't get enough of it. Wonderful stuff, just wonderful.

Pick up a copy here

Party Time!

2011-09-07T11:12:00.001-07:00

The guys behind the fledgling Outernational label are setting up a new night in Rotterdam, Holland's second-biggest city and arguably the country's beating heart in terms of culture with a sharp edge (the city boasts a few magnificent museums, galleries and underground venues). The first event on the 23rd of September is called Slow, and we get to play some sleazy tuneage alongside the Outernational boys, Ben La Desh and Amsterdam's rising deephouse star Simon Weiss. Well up for a night of filthy disco, so if you're out and about and in the neigbourhood, pop in and come say hi! Can't wait to bust out my brand new ISODISCO tee for the occasion. "I'm so fucking disco".

Check the link below for more info:
Clickey-click

V.A. - The Dirty Dancing Sampler (SBR008)

2011-09-03T10:46:00.001-07:00

Right, so a little over a week ago our 8th release came out. Funny coincidence that our first sampler 'the Sleazy Family EP' came out pretty much exactly a year ago. Remember that one? Yellow chick on the sticker, tracks by Eddie C, Tornado Wallace, Daniel Solar and SE62? Seems like a bit of a dreamteam now but back when we signed those tracks, all these beatdown maestros only had one or two releases under their belt. Sleazy Beats has never been about banking on the popularity of veterans or putting out intentionally 'big records'. Instead we've been trying to find exciting new music and give up and coming producers a break. Which leads us to 'The Dirty Dancing Sampler', on which we welcome four new names to our little label's roster. We're quite proud of this particular release. We like to think that, in spite of featuring four different artists from four different countries and completely different backgrounds, the record is surprisingly coherent. It is also a moody, atmospheric and chuggy affair that will most likely not get a lot of club plays but will hopefully be one of those records you pull off the shelve when you get home with a bunch of friends after a great night at a club.

SBR008 / The Dirty Dancing Sampler by SleazyBeats

Here's what the kind people over at Juno had to say about the release:
"Sleazy Beats takes on four fresh artists for its latest vinyl release, entitled the Dirty Dancing Sampler. French newcomer Modsleep opens the EP with the rich and drum heavy jam "Women Don't Want To Love Me"; stylish and with an unrivalled groove, it certainly makes us love him! Dead Rose Music Company occupies the rest of the side with "Never Gonna Stop" - deep, sexy and funky as hell, it's another winner for the EP. Flipping over, Lord Of The Isles give off deliciously moody yet bright vibes with "Teach Them No Hate" while The Noodleman and his "Lovers Dub" take things into charismatic quarters with a never ending builder"

If you like the record, you can pick up a copy here. Thanks to all of you that already did so, we've been over the moon to see it holding the number one position on Juno's disco sales charts for well over a week.

Rose Records

2011-08-31T01:50:00.000-07:00

Rose Records is a new vinyl-only label based in Leipzig, one of former Eastern-Germany's largest cities, set up by five friends for all the right reasons: to get good music out, and (as they put it themselves) "combine the message of disco, the cheese of the 80s, the warmth of house music and everything else made with love". They sent us a beautifully cut and packaged numbered copy of their debut release, alongside a promotional CD (major brownie points for the vinyl look there guys!) and a good old fashioned hype sheet (remember those things always falling out of old record sleeves at flea markets?).

On the A side Luvless treats us to a Surrounder, a lovely midtempo deephouse workout that reminds me of the deephouse that Migs and Naked Music put out in the mid 90s with its swirly, moody pads, vocal samples and fresh drums. Flip over for Martin Hayes' Take Me', a pitched down boogie chugger. I'm a total sucker for those boogie claps (yeah that's right, boogie claps shit all over disco claps these days, so this is a bit of a no-brainer for me). Can't wait to give this a whirl on a big rig. The B2 track by M.ono, 'Love Pass U By' takes us back to classy deephouse territory. The vocal sample and tight drums keeps things going rather nicely, great late night tackle for discerning floors. Have a listen to snips of the record here:

Rose01 - Various One by Rose Records

All in all a fabulous debut. The pressing is so limited (250 copies) they'll break even at best, which goes on to prove that this project is a carefully put together labour of love. Commendable and delectable. There's two ways to get your hands on a copy:

Order one directly from the label
Get a copy from Freezone Records in Leipzig

Suzanne Kraft - Green Flash Ep (Running Back)

2011-08-30T03:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a proper gem of a 12" that dropped a couple of weeks ago, but due to our extremely hectic schedules of sifting through piles of 130 bpm electro trash we couldn't get a little write-up done till now. Suzanne Kraft (I know right...who?) comes out nicely with a killer ep for Gerd Janson's always quality Running Back imprint. FYI Suzanne is actually a dude named D. Herrera from L.A., who has actually done some stuff before - but he's done a superb job flying heavily below the radar (check some of his other stuff here: http://discothequerecords.wordpress.com/tag/suzanne-kraft/). For this 'Green Flash' ep we're treated to four glittery midtempo numbers that drip with sleazy loveliness. I reckon he's really nailed a kind of "Spirit Catcher sound" circa 5 years ago...which is not something to complain about IMO. These tunes have summertime all over them, chock full of the really feel-good chuggy fodder that we love.

My pick is the one that kicks things off here, 'Morning Come' a deep and rising cut with a male vocal snippet and great bassline that really pulls you in, builds and builds and doesn't let go. Track two finds him veereing slightly more towards synthy boogie territory, with 'Turning'. On the flip you'll find the title track, which is considerably more mellow in mood, almost balearic business...definitely one for those sophisticated chill out moments; and finally 'Femme Cosmic' wraps things up - a nice enough tune, but honestly not one I'll end up playing. The 12" is definitely worth it for the first three tunes however, coming correct with a proper sleeve with artwork and everything.

All in all a very solid debut for Suzanne Kraft on a great label that we love and respect. Looking forward to more from this cat. Grab the sweet wax here.

Deep Space Orchestra / Ben Sun / James Johnston - Chrome Hand EP * Boogie Originals

2011-08-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Cosmic Boogie put together something really special for his fledgling Boogie Originals imprint. If you haven't heard the previous releases on the label yet, don't let the name fool you. The label's sound has little to do with gloopy 80s boogie but pushes a particularly enticing brand of deep, moody lo-slung house instead. On Boogie Originals' third release, current darlings of the blogosphere Deep Space Orchestra make an appearance, alongside Benjamin Sun and James Johnston, two of the friendliest and most talented producers in the deephouse industry. DSO's Chrome Hand is a swirly and chuggy technoid synthfest. Not something we'd play (too easy on the soul 'n sleaze) but I can totally see a festival tent going off properly to this. Voyeurhythms' prodigal child Benjamin Sun (seriously, he has so much talents it's not even funny) totally reconstructs DSO's cut, delivering one of the best tracks we've heard this year, a mesmerizing midtempo shuffler with broken, subtle beats that keeps building and growing. One of those tracks you should save for a very special moment.

On the flip we get to tracks from James Johnston (4Lux, Kolour, NoMatterWhat), another unsung hero of the deep. It's the midtempo burner Faces and Traces of Home that really tickles our pickle here, sweet jebus what a tune, definately one of his best yet. Vinyl is out soon and if it's digital you prefer, wait a few weeks and pick up some juicy WAVs.

BGO-003 - The Chrome Hand EP by Boogie Originals

VA - I Love You But I've Chosen Disco (Kolour LTD)

2011-08-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

A note just to let you know about the storm a brewin' over at Kolour HQ. As if they haven't been working hard enough in recent months dropping nuggets like their Norm De Plume release and their Tortoise Ep from their offshoot label Undertones, they now keep their white hot streak of releases firmly in place with a 4-tracker of e.pic proportions, doling out more of the stuff we can't resist. We simply love sampler records, not only do you usually get a nice variety (it's the spice of life, don't ya know) of tunes for those different sets some of us play, you also get to sometimes find out about new and exciting artists. This little sampler features the top talents of some hot blokes that have been making noise of late: Zoo Look (Tenth Circle, Sccucci Manucci), 78 Edits & Deadly Sins (Giant Cuts), and upcoming Bergen bad boys, The Glue (UntzUntz). Needless to say this ep has us literally quite weak in the knees.

Zoo Look kicks things off in fine form with "Find The Words", a deep workout with crisp snares and lovely female vocal (been used before in a couple of tracks I know, but great nonetheless). Deadly Sins comes correct yet again with "Sometimes", sealing in some more of his trademark loopy, hypnotic filth. The Glue's "Real Good Lovin" (our pick of the litter), is a fat mid-tempo thumper that features a back n' forth, boy/girl vocal conversation from a cheesy 80s flick we reckon; which is not only super original but also works brilliantly. A head-nodding beast if there ever was one...drop this one out and be prepared for trainspotting inquiries galore. Finally, 78 Edits (who has been unstoppable in recent months) delivers "When I'm With You", a slow and scorching romp through feel-good territory, as is becoming his trademark move.

KolourLTD007 - I Love You .. But I've Chosen Disco EP by KolourRecordings

By now you know the deal, limited release, no digital..and this one's on lovely powder blue vinyl (see the pic above). Due out next week, grip it HERE and add it to your growing rainbow collection of Kolour LTD records.

Nicholas - When I Think About (Foul and Sunk)

2011-08-09T04:08:00.000-07:00

I came home a few days ago and found a brown record mailer on my doorstep. We tend to order records all over the place (it's that collector's itch I guess) but I wasn't actually expecting any packages for a change. As it happens we were dealing with a promo done the oldfashioned way: a proper test pressing with liner notes from the new Swiss Foul & Sunk imprint. Massive brownie points for taking the oldschool route here fellas!

The label aims to provide 'quality music for your dancefloor' and does exactly that on their debut release by our prolific Italian friend Nicholas. His 'When I Think About' is a vintage sounding, synth-heavy deephouse stomper with big drums and a classic vocal sample that keeps things going rather nicely. We've seen Nicholas tear The Horse and Groom apart in London playing these stylings, so you're in for a treat if you like your house classy, deep and with a raw edge. If you're not keen on wailing divas there's an instrumental version too (though in our modest opinions the vocal works really well). It's Hauke Freer's remix that makes a really good record an exceptional one though. His rerub is moody, deep, driving haunting and mesmerizing, all at the same time. Hard to catch its brilliance in words, so best have a listen to the clip below:

Limited vinyl only release, so best snap this up quickly and watch the punters rush towards to booth.

Ace debut, congrats to all involved!

Eros

2011-08-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

We were sent a promo of this cheeky white label a couple of weeks ago and we've been playing it all over the shop ever since. Yes, we agree, the world needs another disco edits imprint about as badly as I need an asshole on my elbow, but this record aptly reminds me how much fun a good set of edits can be. 'Dance With Me' on the A is a superinfectious uptempo disco number with a Marvin Gaye loop, messy claps and subtle, gentle drums (no over-compression for a change, how refreshing). The A2 track is a mad acidic boogie squelcher. Not sure I'd play this myself but I bet it sounds wicked on a big rig. On the B-side of the record Barbara Mason gets a makeover that ticks all the right boxes. It's moody, nice and chuggy and lets the mere quality of the orginal song really shine through. The B2 track is an evil vintage jacking Chicago house track with analog sounding drums, 2 finger bass and cheeky 80s synth lines. Madness will ensue if you drop this at the right moment.

The man behind EROS is a well-known UK producer (we're not going to tell you who, though if you've been following the disco / re-edit scene for a few years you should be able to figure it out. There's only few in the game that can pull off a record this diverse and awesome. When we asked our man of mystery about this project, he said it was a 'blacker, and gayer' extension of what he'd been doing in the past. Which is quite spot on, really.

Limited release so go forth and buy a copy. Really hope there will be a follow-up soon, can't get enough of this.

Deadly Sins & 78 Edits - 7 Sins Vol. 1

2011-07-25T04:18:00.001-07:00

It's no big secret that we're huge fans of the lads over at Giant Cuts, regardless of whether it's a small pub gig or a full on danceparty we tend to keep at least two of their releases close at hand in our pouches (Dance Star on #3 is simply a mint tune isn't it...and well, all of GC001 is just a beast as you probably know). Now we're treated to a similar gem in the form of a new maiden voyage 7" edit series called 7 Sins by, yep you guessed correctly - Deadly Sins and the rising star that is 78 Edits (how cool are these little 7 inch labels popping up recently!?). This little nugget contains 2 cuts here that groove, funk, pop and jump out in all the right spots for us. We reckon these producers have been progressing heavily with their output as of late, crafting increasingly drool-worthy and timeless soul/disco edit monsters as time wears on.

Deadly Sins gets first blows on the A side with 'I Can't Forget', bringing to life Ronn Matlock's 'I Can't Forget About You', which ticks all the boxes in a big way: clocking in at 96, check. Looped-up soul vocal chop, check. Low, slapbass-bassline snippets and nasty drums that thump just as we like, check. Real tasty stuff here. The B side runs along similar lines with 'I'll Be True'; 78 Edit's cheeky take of Bill Summer's 'Come Into My Life', venturing into 105 bpm territory creating a magnetizing groove that kicks. A real jam this one too - both these tunes showcase some of of the finest work from these producers to date we reckon..seriously can't wait for what's next from them (some of you might know what's on deck, it's BIG).

7SINS1 Deadly Sins & 78 Edits - 7 Inch Edits Vol 1 In Stores 27th July by Deadly Sins

So don't sleep on this - a massively tight package by two of the hottest names in the biz right now that's destined to sell out (almost all the records Deadly Sins has played part in are gonzo). Street date for this is a couple of days away I think, so bookmark the juno page here.

Highly recommended & probably in the top five records of the summer for us so far. Congrats on a top first release gents, here's to many more!

Zambon/Mental - Primitive Copies Vol. 1

2011-07-23T01:38:00.001-07:00

Zambon, one of Poland's finest purveyors of spaced out disco, teams up with his buddy Mental on their new 'Primitive Copies' imprint. I've been keeping an eye on Zambon ever since I stumbled upon his soundcloud page, where he posted a stunning Fleetwood Mac edit about a year ago. He also took care of an ace Ruffjamz mix for the OOFT podcast series a few months back, so the man definately knows a thing or two about cooking up a solid groove.

Mental kicks things off on the A-side with I want to Know Where Dub is. In case that title got you wondering/worried: yes, we're dealing with a rework of Foreigners atrocious classic. Mental wisely went for a dubby approach, using only a few synth lines from the original track, layered over a tripped out groove with crips drums to great effect. Still not sure I'd play it out though, as it's simply impossible to 'shut off' the source material, which really does send shivers down my spine (and not in a good way).

Zambon reworks another 80s 'Adult Rock' classic on the flip - Slave to Love. Zambon's approach is similar to Mental's, opting for heavy, moody drums that sit perfectly with the dubbed out stabs and loops of Bryan Ferry's original. The result is a mesmerizing slice of slick, smokey balearic disco. Should work a treat this summer.

Pick up a copy here

Primitive Copies 02 is in the works as we speak, and I've been told that the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac rerub will make an appearance, so we're eagerly awaiting the second installment.

Wolf Music, Cosmic Boogie, Sleazy Beats - I Wanna See All My Friends At Once (Sleazywolf001)

2011-07-13T00:13:00.000-07:00

Well, we've just had our secretary here at Sleazy Towers check our highly sophisticated blogging aparatus (the Blog-o-tron 2000) and it seems we still haven't made any noise about our most recent project. The culprit is a sofar well-received compilation and partnership with our good friends from one of our favourite labels, the mighty Wolf Music, as well as mr. Cosmic Boogie aka Stu Robinson. The package contains two discs - disc one showcasing the skills of none other than Mr. Boogie, blending a slew of back cat sleazy and wolf music faves into a killer mix which puts to rest any wonder why Stu is one of the hottest dj talents on the circuit at the moment. The real joy however from a djing perspective will be from snapping up disc two, which contains ten out-of-print and un-mixed sleazy/wolf tracks from our ripe label beginnings.

We have been lucky enough to sell out a whackload of our releases to date (poof! like that, they're gone...) so here's your chance to pick up some rareities like Tornado's 'Be My Ladyboy', or Eddie's dreamy 'Space Cadet'...both of which are pretty much impossible to find these days (SBR003 is going for £50 on discogs). Some absolute bombs from the Wolf Music side of things include PBR Streetgang's beast remix of Eddie C's 'My Woman', and 'Look This Way' by the enigmatic & so-hot right now Fantastic Man are among the stone-cold killers featured here.

Don't take our word for it though, do check the samples to remind yourself what you may have missed out on, and snap it up here at Juno or any other of the fine haunts around cyberspace, or possibly your local recordshop. NB this is a limited press so don't wait too long (this has been out for more than a month now already).

Sleazy Wolf by SleazyBeats

Can't give big enough props to the crew over at Wolf Music and Cosmic Boogie for their involvement in this project - without them this little gem would never have seen the light of day! Thanks boys <3

Andy Ash/Cosmic Boogie - Feel It (Boogie Originals)

2011-07-04T02:26:00.000-07:00

Right, so after a fun-filled weekend getting down and dirty in Londonia it's back to business. Just a quickie here to let you know about the second installment in the superb Boogie Originals series. With their maiden voyage still firmly planted in the SBR recordbags the dynamic duo that is Andy Ash and Cosmic Boogie hit hard again with their sophomore outing entitled 'Feel It' that features four more juicy cuts. We've been rocking this release for a bit now and have become quite partial to the excellent oldschool feel of Cosmic Boogie's original take on the title track (especially pitched down a good chunk for good sleazy measures hehheh)...this is surely the one that's really been the real reacher for us. Next up one of our favourite disco don/heroes Toby Tobias takes care of business, coming correct with a darker and perhaps more tech version of the title version. On the flip Andy Ash takes the floor with 'Part Of This' along with a Soul Renegades rub (aka Craig Smith & Martin Hendrickse). Top business to slip in later on once you've warmed up the floor a bit we reckon.

Jump on in the water's fine, grab a slice o' this HERE

Low Slung (London) - July 2nd

2011-06-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Right, so a Greek philosopher once wrote that 'talking about music is like dancing about architecture', so we figured it was about time we stopped yapping and starting playing some music. While this may not be entirely true (I highly doubt a Greek dude came up with something as inane as 'dancing about architecture' thousands of years ago) we did get invited to come over to London and play some records for Low Slung next saturday at the Horse & Groom (July 2nd).

Kris P and yours truly get to play a 5 hour back to back set in the bar area upstairs. A Dutchman and a Canadian playing dirty disco all night long, that spells trouble... Meanwhile, Italian Wunderkid Nicholas flexes his muscle in the main room with a live show (think samplers, sequencers and filters). We're really looking forward to this party, looks like it's going to be busy and loads of fun!

If you're out and about, come say hi

Check out the RA page for the 411 on this party

Kastil - Dusty Edits (Outernational Holland)

2011-06-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about running a little label is getting to meet likeminded people and fellow music enthusiasts. Great people like Mitchel and Dragan for example, who run things over at Outernational, a superclassy, Rotterdam-based online music platform that focusses on all things deephouse and beatdown disco. They're about to pass the point of no return with the first release on their brand new vinyl imprint - Outernational Holland. For their maiden voyage, they enlisted the services of Spanish producer Kastil (Ponton, Editorial), and he delivered a bit of biggie that deserves a few kind words on these here pages.

Senor Kastil kicks things off in style with Back to Philadelphia, a chuggy, bassheavy rework of an old Sister Sledge classic. On the flip there's the lush SMD, a lazy groover with a BIG squelchy bassline and some muted crowd noises thrown in for good measure. The third and final track, "Rolls Royce" largely follows the same recipe. Can't remember the name of the original track for the life of me (though I'm sure I have it lying around somewhere), but Kastil's rendition is tasty as hell. Check out SMD below, my pick of the litter:

Buy here. It's a superlimited affair (think only 250 got pressed up), so pick one up before they're all gone. Essential stuff.

Lord of The Isles - What's Lord Got To Do With It (American Standard)

2011-06-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

Brilliant release by Lord of The Isles (LOTI) on the always on point American Standard imprint. On the A, an old Tina Turner classic gets the LOTI treatment. The result is an eight minute long blissed and dubbed out spaceride, tasty sans fromage. Flip over the record for 'With An Angel', a track I would have signed for Sleazy Beats without blinking. Clocking in around the 100 BPM mark, LOTI gently fuses subtle drums and smooth keys with vocal samples of Marvin Gaye, creating a deliciously deep and chuggy number. Love it.

American Standard by Lord Of The Isles

Buy here

Lord of the Isles will be making on appearance on Sleazy Beats soon, watch this space!

Marius - The Glow of Filter and Dub (Maxi Discs)

2011-06-16T22:46:00.000-07:00

Norwegian producer Marius isn't quite a household name yet for us here at SB, he's been putting out music for quite some time under various monkiers, but under his Marius guise he's only dropped a couple of bombs since about 2008, and this one is no exception. The majority of his output has been on the tender yet hefty Maxi Discs out of London - the label that strives to push the "more tropical side of house" and has indeed put out some hefty stonkers. Run by 2 dudes who have contributed significantly to the contemporary disco house romp in recent years, Pete Herbert and Dicky Trisco - the label has consistently offered nothing but high quality goods. Here, featuring the talents of Marius, Trisco himself on remix duties and with 6th Borough Project (who need absolutely no introduction on these pages) with an original track, MD006 could easily be the imprints' most tasty outing to date.

'The Glow of Filter and Dub' (what a seriously awesome name for an ep) features 3 tracks. The title tune on the a-side is a 10 minute ride thorugh a more 'classic' house sound that has inspired Marius from his early days, complete with old-school piano and breakdown. Essential stuff. On the flip you'll find a tune by the red hot 6th Borough: 'Love Gun', which sees the borough boys come correct in true form offering a deep and chuggy beast with punchy drums building and working their way around the dubby synth/swooshy bits. Finally a third and final treat is Dicky Trisco's take on the title track that offers a more disco-fied and new-sounding rub of the original. The disco deviant adds his trademark DT style with stand-out shakers, slap bass and a wickedly schweet vocal - while keeping the the essential bits like the piano at the break.

All three of these tunes has their time and place in a set we reckon, just have an aural gander below and we hope you agree. An essential package this.

MD006 A Side - Marius - Glow Of Filter & Dub by maxidiscs

Pick up this very fine slice of wax here and skip out on the gift for that co-worker you were going to buy, he doesn't need another golf ball cleaner anyways...

Ron Basejam - A life in headphones (Redux)

2011-06-05T00:17:00.001-07:00

Got a big batch of new records in yesterday, but so far I haven't been able to stop listening to 'Get Closer', one of the tracks of Ron Basejam's new 12" for Redux. I really liked the first few releases on Redux, but they sort of lost me last year with a string of rather generic nu-disco records. Their first release of 2011 by White Elephant has to be one of the best 10 inches of vinyl I own though, and this new release by Ron Basejam (or James Baron, if you're not into the whole anagram thing) is a proper clusterbomb of a record.

Get Closer on the A-side, with its gentle drums, smooth vocal samples and moody keys, is my pick of the litter (can't wait to start a set with this, just perfect), but the bass-heavy, squelchy slow funk of One Point will work a treat too. Sanfranman on the flip is equally badass, with its chuggy, broken drums sitting perfectly with the vintage vocal samples. Ron Basejam wraps things up with Hell No, another blissed out slow burner that features his own vocals (at least I think I recognize his voice from previous outings). Great stuff all around from mr Basejam - apart from opener Looter, which doesn't really do it for me - in a lovely screenprinted sleeve, essential tackle on a label that seems to be in the finest of forms.

Go buy!

La Tuerie - The Basement Boutique EP (SBR007)

2011-06-01T21:25:00.001-07:00

So our seventh release saw the light of day last week, a four track affair by Milan-based newcomer La Tuerie. He got in touch well over a year ago through myspace (!) offering us a whole batch of superslow and raw basement disco and boogie edits. The slo-mo craze was still in its infancy, so signing four tracks that all clocked in well below the 100 BPM mark by an unknown Italian chap felt like taking a giant leap of faith, so we're over the moon to see the record out in the shops and getting decent press. Here's a few nice writeups we found perusing the net:

Piccadilly
Italian newcomer La Tuerie seriously drops the tempo on his debut release for Amsterdam's Sleazy Beats Recordings, coming up with four slow-burning beatdown disco and boogie tracks that are screaming out for play in sweaty basements or sun-kissed beaches.

"Midnight" sets the levels to sleazy as the strains of the Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Midnight Groove" lift off the groove. Seriously fattened up and set to a rock-solid 4/4 disco-house rhythm, this is sure to have some serious head-nodding going on. Next up for the chop-n-loop treatment is Donna McGhee's stupendous soul sizzler "It Ain't No Big Thing", which appears here as "Big Things". Hot! the deal-sealer for me is "Zanzibar", which takes my favourite boogie-disco cut - Class Action's "Weekend" - and PITCHES IT WAY DOWN, for a cosmic boogie reinterpretation. Add some well placed filtering, loops and total drop-outs, and you have a summer killer - this is MASSIVE! Last but not least is "Tatsumi". A more upbeat disco groover of unknown original. If you're into any of the Super Value / Kolour LTD / Small World Disco Edits etc series then you'll love this record. As usual, this is a strictly limited pressing: no repress, no digital. It's wax or nothing!

Juno
"The seventh release from the Amsterdam-based Sleazy Beats stable introduces our grateful ears to the sounds of Italian newcomer La Tuerie. His debut release switches up effortlessly between languid funk, proper boogie and breezy disco, with A-Side cuts "Midnight" and "Big Things" guaranteed to be heard warming up the more discerning dancefloors this summer. Flip over for the slo-mo boogie thrust of "Zanzibar", which brings to mind some of Ilija Rudman's finer moments, and vintage discoid lean of "Tatsumi". Strictly vinyl-only business here folks, don't sleep".

Another night on earth
"Sleazy Beats have a new EP in stores today, it features 4 slo mo Disco bruisers from Milan based artist La Tuerie. Cutting up Disco tracks is pretty much everywhere these days, so you really have to hunt out the tunes that count, that you'll be playing for awhile, maybe even for years (if you get really lucky). But Sleazy Beats have already put out some amazing records, so you know you're in good hands. I think the whole EP is good, but in particular La Tuerie's track 'Zanzibar' makes this slice of vinyl a must have; those deep warm keyboard drops, that rollerskating bump and grind, the block party atmosphere and it's Hip Hop Disco roots all work together to make a heady and very danceable brew. Hot stuff...class action even!!"

Oh and we stumbled upon this review in Drumatrixx Mag. They might like the filters. Or maybe not. Who knows? Another mystery to solve.

好きでSlow Mo’ Boogie好きは必ずと言って良いでしょうね。コチラのSleazy Beats Recordingsをレーベル買いしちゃっているんじゃないでしょうか？筆者の私も絶対3タイトルはDJ Bagの中に入っているという状態で、コチラもまぁ間違いないですよ。しかも4曲入りEPで全く捨てる曲が無いという超お得盤。とにかく全てのトラックに言える事なんですがネタ捌きが秀逸で、どれが1番良いとか言えないレベル。もう自分が好きなBPMにしっくり来る曲なら大体使えます。というか無理してでも使ってください。ヘタなFilter Disco聴く位なら、このレーベルの作品を買い揃えたほうが全然良い。とにかく見つけたら全曲チェックしてください。Sleazy Beats Recordingsも海外で一部タイトルが暴騰気味で有り得ない値段設定となっております。見つけたら即買う。コレ鉄則です。

Fantastic Man - Plastic Fantastic (Kolour LTD)

2011-05-30T22:09:00.001-07:00

If you're a record fanatic you're more than likely to have heard this latest offering from our friends from Kolour Recordings, which has been topping Juno's sales charts for a few days now. While Kolour's output is always on point they seem to keep the very best stuff for their Kolour LTD offshoot, and this release by Fantastic Man might be their biggest and baddest record yet.

Fantastic Man first surfaced on a sampler Wolf Music put out a while ago, delivering what was arguably the standout track on that release (no mean feat with when you're sharing a record with the likes of OOFT, KRL and Hunee). Inquiring minds wanted to know who this 'Fantastic' figure was, so we started looking and asking around, and guess what? We ended up in Melbourne. Again. As it turns out, Fantastic Man is Mic Newman's disco nom de guerre. I haven't really been following what's been going on in (deep)house land over the past few years, so Mic Newman was a new name for me, but while perusing his rather impressive backcatalogue two things struck me immediately: clever, rolling drums and superdeep grooves.

And it's exactly those things that make the 'Plastic Fantastic' release such a thrilling ride. Groove With You is my favorite of the 4 tunes on offer. A big fat juicy deep midtempo groove, driving drums and some clever loops of Maxwell that work really well. We've been playing this all over the shop, it's irresistable. Fantastic Man ups the tempo a bit on 'Nuthing but a Thang', which is based around a few Erykah Badu samples. And while I'm not the biggest fan of hearing ms Badu's vocals over pounding house drums (I blame the billion deephouse bootlegs in the early 90s), our prodigal Melbournite has chopped up and arranged things so tastefully you'll completely lose yourself in the groove he's conjured up. On the flip, Maxwell makes another cameo appearance on Say What You Said, a gentle midtempo groover that ticks all the right boxes. To wrap things up, Kolour have trown in a solid remix of Groove With You by Andy Ash. It's the original that will keep this record glued firmly to the front of my bag though.

Pick up a copy here. There's only 500 pressed up on pretty yellow vinyl, so make sure to bag this before they're all gone (which will be a matter of days, not weeks). Don't say we didn't warn you....killer stuff all around!

Eddie C / Koosh - Common Edits #2

2011-05-25T10:08:00.000-07:00

A little while ago a most curious 7" popped up on Juno we were seriously creaming our pants over. With not a whole lot more to go on than an appearance by the enigmatic Koosh, we figured we were dealing with an offshoot project of the now defunct Seven Inches of Love series. Hand stamped 7" coming from Canada with Koosh, obscure edits of the deepest variety..."dearest Watson, I think we're onto something here". Well guess what, we were dead wrong. The man behind these lovely nuggets is Dane from Danksoul, who runs a record shops in Edmonton, Canada. Initially, the idea was to press up some neat 7" singles to hand out over at Dane's 'The Common' party in Edmonton. A UK distro got wind of what was going on over there and picked up a stack for a few stores in the UK, and *poof*, like magic, they were gone in 60 seconds.

After we posted a little writeup on these here pages, Dane got in touch to babble about music and being the absolute gent he is, he sent us the second installment of the Common Edit series. You might have heard it by now, as it came out about a week ago, but again, it's the stuff dreams are made of. Koosh, who seems to have on ongoing love affair with the seven inch format, delivers another deliciously slow, hypnothic and raw groover that immediately gets under your skin and makes you wish it would never end. On the flip Eddie C takes care of business with a prime slice of beatdown sleaze. Sounds a little like the Isley brothers on lidocaine, and it's absolutely mint. Fantastic little release, and a true labour of love as the pic below goes on to show (handstamping in Eddie C's disco den in Banff, how cool is that?)

Essential and awe-inspiring. Thanks again for sending this over Dane, you're a rockstar. Have a listen to Koosh' glorious track and scroll down for a link to pick this up. You desperately need this in your life.

Pick up a copy here

Melbourne Deepcast Records 001

2011-05-19T03:28:00.000-07:00

I was having a chat with one of the guys from Kolour Recordings last week and we quickly reached the conclusion we should pack up and move both our labels to Melbourne, which is where all the action seems to be coming from this year.
Tornado Wallace, Francis Inferno Orchestra, Fantastic Man, Andy Hart, Weekend Express and a host of other talented DJs and producers are all based in what I've been told is easily Australia's most easygoing and culturally sophisticated city. This crew´s reign over the midtempo deephouse realm started last year and seems to be getting stronger by the day. Fantastic Man has a hugely anticipated record coming out on Kolour LTD, Tornado Wallace will soon be unleashing an EP on Instruments of Rapture and releasing another record for Delusions of Grandeur, Francis Inferno has tracks coming out on a whole bunch of different labels, and Weekend Express are topping Juno´s sales charts at the moment with a blinding record on Still Music´s Stilove4music offshoot. While all these guys are individually carving out their own little spots of stardom, there´s one thing that binds them: the Melbourne Deepcast, run by Andy Hart and Myles Mac.

What started as a series of (some really incredible) guestmixes slowly evolved into a full-grown musical platform with very well written music reviews, interviews, label profiles and whatnot alongside the podcasts. The Deepcast boys are about to take things one step further with the launch of their own imprint, Melbourne Deepcast Recordings. Unsurprisingly, their maiden voyage is truly spectacular, showcasing once more how goddamn' good this special branch of midtempo deephouse is. These guys all have the gift to perfectly combine warmth and depth with loads of oomph and their tracks are really well-produced. Don't take my word for it though, have a listen here:

[MD001] Melbourne Deepcast VA. EP by Melbourne Deepcast

Expect to hear more from these gents soon (MD002 is insanely good too, we heard some sneak previews of it a few weeks ago, going to be huge)

Pick up a copy over at Juno or any of the other usual haunts. The artwork is amazing, building on the same photography that makes the Melbourne Deepcast website look so classy. Highly recommended and hats off to Andy and Myles for starting things off in style.

78 Edits - Been A Long Time EP (Original Cuts 001)

2011-05-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

So it's more or less been raining hot records for the past couple of weeks now. The new Memoryman on SWDE is simply smashing, Common Edits 002 is more or less to die for, and now we’re privy to yet another bomb: a cracking three tracker by 78 Edits aka Jamie Buchanan out of Edinburgh (another ultra talented Scotsman, seriously what the hell is in the water over there). Original Cuts 001 is what we’re on about here, a maiden voyage that comes to us under the mighty Giant Cuts imprint – so obviously right there you can expect something along the lines of laid-back funky disco brimming with quality, class and of course plenty of soul that has become tight characteristics of the GC name.

‘Been A Long Time’ (probably my pick of the 12”), kicks things off with a loopy mid-tempo disco groover rocking in around the 100 bpm mark, just how we like em’. The disco strings are nothing short of sensational in this cut – they have so much feeling, carrying the tune effortlessly on through the break. On the flip ‘The Love You Give to Me’, picks up the tempo a tad but still rocks with an easy flow with plenty of oomph. A seriously standout bassline and nice easy peasy transitions make this an essential summertime cut that’s quite perfect for patios and those comfy bar gigs. Finally the B2 serves another slice of breezy beatdown business entitled ‘Unlimited Love’ rounds things out perfectly with perhaps a bit more 4x4 feeling than the others. A lovely flute sample echoing in and out here will no doubt make this at prime go-to track in zee bag for me.

OC001 - 78 EDITS - BEEN A LONG TIME EP **OUT NOW ON VINYL** by Deadly Sins

Did I mention she's been pressed up on beefy 180 gram vinyl?! Hot damn I just love the sound of those puppies. So do yourself a favour and grab a slice of this badassery HERE, and huge congrats and much sleazy love to the crew over at Original Cuts! Can't wait for more, mazel tov!

Rayko & The Glue - Die For You (Untz Untz)

2011-05-09T01:06:00.000-07:00

Forthcoming and highly anticipated track by a relatively new name for me, hailing from Norway (Bergen to be precise) The Glue along with Spanish remix and edit master Rayko unleash this pure beast of a 12", the third outing by the fantastic Berlin/Bergen-based Untz Untz imprint, that is likely to get a good few plays by myself this summer season. This limited red vinyl slice of pure loveilness kicks off with Rayko's "I Would Die For You" a driving uptempo edit of Prince's 'I Would Die For You". I don't know how many of our sleazy readers remember the 80s when Prince's original version came out, but I really loved this tune then (definitely showing my age here) and the edit does it justice in my humble opinion. It's got serious 80s edge and top flair that is quite likely to bring a rush of emotions on the dancefloor especially for those who remember the old days, sure to please.

That said, it's most definitely the flip that I'm all about on this record though, which belongs to The Glue, with 'Broken Heart', my oh my what a lushious stormer they've cooked up for us here. A killer 9-minute pure journey of a tune... a fantastic breezy midempo workout that you can't help but sway and move to, killer vocal, big stompin' dreamy track. Have a listen, and tell me - how can you just not love this? Pure perfection for summertime IMO, the soundcloud button is seriously getting a rinsing here at sleazy Towers.

The Glue - A Broken Heart by The Glue

Keep em peeled for more from these two, especially The Glue; who potentially might just have put out this summer's best tune.

Wax should be available on May 23, grab it HERE,don't miss the boat.

Frank Booker - El Salvador/Tell Them (Wonderful Noise)

2011-05-02T05:45:00.000-07:00

I just got home from my local shop (Rush Hour), armed with two new Frank Booker releases on Japanese imprint Wonderful Noise. I'm well aware of the fact that these days, record shopping is a bit of a privilege for most people. There's only a few decent actual record stores left that stock 12" vinyl and if you're on tight budget, lifting a few cheap downloads from the internet is a far more attractive proposition than ponying up a tenner for just one record. But let's face it, nothing beats bagging a few gems and rushing home to play them though now does it? And oh boy, we're dealing with pure gems here.

El Salvador is a classy midtempo moody beatdown disco workout with some cheeky samplin' thrown in for good measure. If you liked mr. Booker's releases on Untracked you'll love this one too, it's got the same raw swing and drive that made those releases so special. I'm in love with the original but I want to make love to Cosmic Boogie's extended, spaced out remix on the B, it's one of the best things I've heard this year. Absolutely essential. 'Tell Them' on the other 12" follows the same recipe: chuggy beats, driving claps and hats and a dash of clever sampling: presto, another pearl of a tune. Kez YM turns in a tasty moody remix on the A, while Mark E is on remix duties on the flip, though in my humble opinion Mark's dubbed out rerubs are not a patch on the original track (the B-side of the record is cut really quietly too, which doesn't really help). I'm sure I'll kick myself in the face for writing this in a few months though when I discover that both remixes are masterpieces that grow on you, as usually is the case when we're dealing with Mr. Everett.

Fantastic pair of records this, well worth shelling out the money for (there's always Ramen noodles, right?). Superlimited (only 300 copies worldwide) and most likely worth tenfold the asking price in a month or three, so make sure to head to your local and pick this up pronto. For some reason Juno's asking silly money for these, so if you have to resort to mailorder, head over to Rush Hour.

La Tuerie - Basement Boutique EP (SBR007)

2011-04-29T02:36:00.000-07:00

After a string of heavy midtempo house bits on our little label we figured it was time for something a little different. Lo and behold our forthcoming release by Milan-based La Tuerie, who churned out four rather neat slow beatdown burners for us. On the A we have Midnight, a piece of deep midnight basement soul, and Big Things, a chunky, loopy groover. Both tracks hover around the 95 PBM mark and are perfect warm up / cool down fodder. On the flip there's Zanzibar, a fine slice of downtempo boogie, and Tastumi, a slightly more uptempo filter fest with a killer groove. We love the choppy, Theo-esque (is that even a word?) vibe on these productions over here. Reckon this should go down well on boat, beach and basement parties this summer.

Have a taste here, the 12" will be out late May

Toomy Disco - Smowing (Sold Out)

2011-04-16T22:49:00.001-07:00

Three track EP by young Argentinian producer Toomy Disco. After dabbling with Marvin Gaye for Dikso (make sure to check Blues City, it's awesome) he now turns his hands to mr. Barry White for an ace deep slow burning disco stomper. And yes, I know, cutting and looping up old disco records over heavy slow drums is starting to get really old, but when it's done this tastefully it's simply irresistable. If you like Duff Disco's output you're going to love this one. Perfect track for the summer season (drop this at the right moment on a decent rig on a sunkissed beach and people will go nuts).

There's two tracks on the flip too. While Rings of Saturn is a rather forgettable midtempo nu-disco thing, Disco Momentum is perfect peaktime disco fodder reminiscent of 90s French filter house. It's all about the A side though. The power of Barry compels you to pick up this record and make disco babies to it.

Buy here

Todd Terje - Ragysh (Running Back)

2011-04-08T01:14:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know about something a tad different but still a record we're pretty excited about this week, which is the fantastic new Running Back 12" entitled 'Ragysh' by our favourite Norwegian, The Terjenator aka Todd Terje Olsen to his mom. This guy don't come out with too many of these here eps, so when a new slab comes along by him it's always good to snap it up quick. We've been huge fans forever of many of his edits, some of them are simply a few of the best produced re-rubs of all time. This record contains possibly an even bigger surprise however, as you'll find 3 of the man's original productions...which is something you really don't see too often. Rumour has it that just last week in fact - this record apparently sold out at a record shop in Oslo one afternoon which soon resulted in people literally brawling in the streets. Luckily a truck soon arrived with a new shipment and a full scale meltdown was narrowly averted. Close call.

Although this slab is billed as containing 4 tunes there's also some hidden cuts to be found - a nice bonus. The excitement comes in the form of 3 rocking tracks though: Ragysh, Bonysh and Snooze 4 Love that all roll with a little slightly higher tempo of roughly 120 (hey, let's face it - that's fast for us) and each of which is totally special and unique in its own way; just have a listen below and see if you dig as well. It's definitely the quality we've come to expect from the combo of Mr.Terje and such a great label like Running Back.

Snap it up quickly, this one won't hang around long as it's a limited press 12" - so get some love HERE while you're still able.

Gallery of Awesomeness

2011-04-06T00:43:00.000-07:00

The fun thing about a record is that it's tangible. You can hold it, sit on it, smash it over your best friends' head in a drunken stupor, sell it on Ebay when you're strapped for cash, the possibilities are endless. One of the main perks of running a record label is the joy of seeing your records pop up in the craziest places all over the world. What remains a mystery for us though is who actually ends up buying the records. Yes, we're looking for you! Without you there would be no infinite riches, Bentleys with drivers and cheap women throwing themselves at our feet. That's why we'd love for you to send a picture of you holding/hugging/playing/kissing/heavypetting a slice of sleazy beats wax. Not only will you get a spot in our 'Gallery of Awesomeness', but if we get enough submissions (around 100) we'll use all your pics for a proper 12" record sleeve as well. Giving back and reachin' out nahmean?

Please fire over your pictures to sleazybeats@gmail.com and we'll get our creative juices flowing over here. Thanks again, you are all rockstars.

Volta Cab - Why You Came Back Here (Apersonal)

2011-04-04T10:03:00.000-07:00

A new release from the Apersonal camp is always a treat but this fifth 12" coming out of the Barcelona-based imprint is really quite special, introducing Russian youngster Volta Cab. The four tracks on offer are all orginal productions riding the midtempo express and carefully balancing between balearic nu disco and slow beatdown house. The title track features smooth guitar licks, spaced out claps and a male vocal asking us to explain 'why come back here', which may sounds kinda ghetto when you read this ("why you come back here foo") but I think language barriers are to blame here, it is in fact a sweet and tender groover that will go down a treat this summer. The A2, Surfing on Delay, is another nice chunk of pitched down dreaminess. It's the flip of the record that really gets my juiced flowing though. "Ice" is a gloopy squelcher with a really cool synth hook and understated beats, perfect fodder for the beach season. It's the closing track 'Watch Your Back' that is the pick of the bunch for me, a moody deep house excursion with heavy beats that I can't stop playing. We used it as the opening track for our recent 'Music for Serious Jogging vol 3' demo mix, so if short samples don't do anything for you, check out that mix to enjoy the track in its full 7 minutes glory.

Great release by one of our favorite labels, and kudos to them for showing the cojones you need in this day and age to give a new name a break.

Get it here

Dead Rose Music Company - May Contain Samples EP (Taikomochi)

2011-03-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

For a minute I though Dead Rose decided to resurrect those pesky little keychain pets that were a big hit in the 90s (remember how breathtakingly embarrassing it was to see grown men 'feeding their Tamagochi' in clubs etc), but luckily I was wrong and we're dealing with the elusive disco bod's brand new imprint Taikomochi. I've been told that's Japanese for 'he who wields the clan's drums' in case you were wondering. And if there's one thing that stands out in Dead Rose's productions, it's the drums. Take 'I love what you Do' on the A for example, a sexy midtempo squelcher that takes forever to get going but the understated 80s drums and vocal that keeps popping up keep things moving and interesting for the duration of the flight. Really something else this track, and a fantastic mix tool too. Dead Rose ups the tempo a little on 'Feels Good', the A2 track. Again it's all about vintage 80s drum, a cheeky vocal sample and sublime audio dynamics, making this one big fat juicy future boogie ride.
Tomas Malo, a new name for me, delivers the goods on the flip with two tasty midtempo moody burners. Great stuff but I highly doubt I'll ever flip the record over as the two cuts on the A are absolutely deadly.

Pressed on white vinyl in limited quantities kids so don't sleep on this

Buy here

Norm de Plume & Deep Space Orchestra mixing things up

2011-03-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

Just a quicky to let you know Norm de Plume (Delusions of Grandeur) and Deep Space Orchestra are playing together this Friday at The Camp in London. Norm de Plume's superb debut release on his own Plumage imprint has become a bit of a fixture in my record bag, and the Deep Space Orchestra boys seem to be taking the world by storm with acclaimed releases on Foto and their own Use of Weapons. In support of the event there's also a brand new Delusions of Grandeur Podcast up for grabs, featuring an exclusive guest mix by DSO and exclusive previews of a couple of tracks from the forthcoming 6th Borough project Album we talked about yesterday. You can find all the info on the party here:

RA info

Facebook page

PS Make sure to keep 'em peeled for Norm de Plume's forthcoming 12" on Kolour LTD, "The Groove Groces", it's ridiculously good. Can't wait to get my hands on a copy (plum-coloured vinyl, anyone?).

Craig Smith vs. Disco Deviance

2011-03-16T02:33:00.001-07:00

While yes, we are mostly a 'record review' blog, yammering away about shiny new discs we like, (and yes, probably sometimes without anyone really paying attention) we just have to make an exception here and let you know bout our sleazy soundtrack for the week. One of our favourite artists doing a seriously badass guestmix for one of our favourite labels.

Grab Craig Smith's (6th Borough Project) ludicrously excellent Pulse Radio mix for Disco Deviance right HERE. Easily on the pod for a few months. And in case you've been under a rock for a while, you'll need to know to keep em peeled for what could be contender for LP of 2011, the forthcoming 6th Borough 3xLP - One Night in the Borough

Alena / Yam Who / PBR Streetgang / Brothers Young - Futurism (ISM)

2011-03-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

And blam! Onwards with more discohouse filth, this time on the somewhat mysterious ISM Recordings label, owned by the mighty Yam Who. This imprint has gone largely under the radar for me over the years and I can honestly say I know very little about it, but with heavyweights such as Yam Who, Ron Basejam and PBR Streetgang on three out of the four (different) tracks on this release - entitled 'Futurism', you'd have to be crazy not to fork out the measely 10 bones for it. Agreed? Good. Boiled cabbage for another week it is then.

The bright and early tee time here goes to Ron Basejam's lovely remix of Alena's "Changes", starting the ep off in fine form, fans of the ever-so-hot Crazy P sound should be digging this (Danielle Moore on vox here, ja?). Seriously catchy tune this. A2 is Yam Who's "I'm in Love" and is what we like to refer to as " a pleasant enough deep houser" and is indeed a great vocal house tune - but let's face it - it's probably the track I'd play least here. PBR Streetgang's "J2THAB" on the B is an in your face funk machine, nodding heavily to the late great Mr. Brown. Straight up, no chaser and gritty, I'll be sure to reach for this on more than one occasion methinks. Finally, newcomers (for me) Brothers Young slice up the infamous Trammps favourite Disco Inferno. I know you're thinking the world doesn't need a newly done version of this dead horse - but have a listen, it's basically only the bassline that's borrowed - plus it's tastefully done, so we reckon it's easily one to whip out for the right crowd.

Grab a slice of the loveliness right here friends.

Sccucci One

2011-03-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

Obviously, we have a bit of a soft spot for blogs that evolve into record labels, even more so when there's vinyl involved. Not because vinyl is inherently better than digital, but simply because it takes a set of fairly big balls to put out records these days. James, the man in charge over at Sccucci Manucci, definately seems to know what he's doing though. For Sccucci's maiden voyage he lined up 4 choice tracks by 4 up and coming producers in the midtempo/beatdown/deephouse/nudisco realm.

Our very own Francis Inferno Orchestra kicks things off with the massive Horizon Beat, a bassheavy, druggy and chuggy reconstruction of Cloud One's classic Disco Juice. Jonno and Tommo, two new names for me, deliver the goods with Scare The Night, a filtered out disco pianofest. On the flip Scott Featherstone & Tino up the tempo a bit with Circles, a pleasant enough percussive deephouser. It's Ramboiage's Pretty Baby that is my pick of the bunch though. Clocking in at around 109 BPM and featuring heavy low slung drums, it doesn't really do much, yet the groove locks you in and won't let go. Ace stuff and congrats to the Scucci crew on their firstborn!

Sccucci One by Sccucci Manucci

Buy a copy here

Duff Disco On A Roll

2011-03-04T09:49:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since the last Duff Disco release, so we were pleasantly surprised to read about a brand new 12" that just dropped. It's quite a feat Duff managed to squeeze out two new tracks, as he just released a longplayer called 'Getting to Sirius' under his Duff Step guise. The LP offers a rather fine collection of mellow soundscapes and moody downtempo broken beat fare and makes for great homelistening. There's also a bunch of really good remixes about to drop by the likes of Session Victim, Francis Inferno Orchestra and Mark E. The latter's remix of Your Touch is breathtakingly good, so make sure to snap up that remix EP as well.

Back to the disco business though, the fifth installment of the Duff Disco series. It's Catch me Out on the A that does the trick for me, a deep and moody romper with chuggy beats and clever vocals. If you like 6th Borough Project's output this should be right up your alley. I'll pass on the flip though, where Duff reworks Cee-Lo's I Wish into a slo mow chugfest. I hated this song with a passion in highschool (I spat on anything that wasn't Alice in Chains, more like) and hearing that high pitched whistle again gives me the shivers, and not in a good way. There's no denying it'll work like a charm in the club though, so ignore the above and watch the kids go nuts.

Have a listen here:
DUFFDISCO005 - CATCH ME OUT / YOU WISH by duffdisco

Order a copy on Duff's own shop here

The fun doesn't end here though, as Duff is kindly giving away the edit that started the whole madness to begin with. For those of you that need a little reminder, it's a rework of David Bowie's Fame and it is AWESOME. I've completely worn out the vinyl so this freebee will sure come in handy. Head over to the Join The Dots blog, take a few minutes to sign up and this little beast is yours to keep

DUFF DISCO - FAME

Voyeurhythm - He Can´t Love You video

2011-03-01T02:40:00.000-08:00

Right,

By now you should know we´re huge fans of everything that´s coming out of the Voyeurhythm Camp. The five releases by the likes of Ben Sun and Megadon Betamax we´ve bagged so far all push the exciting boundaries of future-beatdown-boogie and are a real breath of fresh air in the increasingly saturated disco edits market. I can´t wrap my head around the fact these guys seem to fly under the public radar though...must be cause the kind Voyeurhythm people aren´t exactly prone to tooting their own horn. Anyway, it´s my personal mission to plug and pimp all things Voyeurhythm untill they top the disco sales charts.

Let´s start with this awesome video of Megadon´s He Can´t Love you, a nice slice of filthy 80s synth-boogie.

SBR006 - The Francis Inferno Orchestra / The Night He Came Home EP

2011-02-24T11:11:00.003-08:00

We're over the moon to see our latest labour of love out in the shops, a platter of cheeky 80's disco and downbeat grooves courtesy of The Francis Inferno Orchestra. The kind people over at Juno posted this lovely little review:

"Following releases on Dikso, Wolf Music and Under The Shade rising South Side talent Francis Inferno Orchestra turns up on the imprint of one of his staunchest fans, Sleazy Beats. Anyone who has indulged in the young Melbournite's aforementioned productions will have no inclination to read on before purchase; but for the remaining minority - if you like heavy beat down bumps that sit between disco and mid tempo house then the three tracks that form The Night He Came Home will definitely excite. Both "Rush Back" and "The Fire Is Real" are slick updates of the 80s disco template, though it's the chuggier second track that really impresses especially once FIO indulges in some subaqueous filtration. The flipside sweetness of "Love" has been tweaked before but FIO does enough to stamp his own production personality on it"

We put up samples on our soundcloud page, which you can listen here:

Head over to one of these fine haunts for a copy (they seem to be going quite fast, so don't wait too long if you want one!):

Juno
Piccadilly
Phonica
Chemical
Clone

Dane, Bron and Koosh - Common Edit

2011-02-21T04:03:00.000-08:00

Some badass musical bombs have been dropping left right and center the past few weeks. The new venture by the Kolour boys is nothing short of magical and has me more or less frothing at the mouth like some sort of sick primate; I have yet to receive this beast in the post but I know once I get it it'll be getting the full-on rinse cycle on the ones and twos. Similarly, although in a slightly different vein is the new Freekwency record on Voyeurhythm. This mid-tempo electro-boogie monster is another snappy and ultra-fresh sounding record that we've had on repeat for a while here at SB HQ.

But the latest addition to my arsenal is the newest output by the mysterious 7IOL camp. Following in the footsteps of the hand-stamped-with-love Canadian imprint that put out 7 glorious little collectors items in the past few years, comes a new and similar venture. Dane, Bron and Koosh bring us CE001- the first in the Common Edit series. "Is That a Drunk" on the A is a playful dizzy, erm..drunken romp with a Tom Waits-esque slurred vocal. If you were at all into Kid Koala's stuff years ago (this one immediately reminded me of Drunk Trumpet) you'll love this tune I think. The B side is my pick though, "Jackin The Mann": a deep, swirling, twisted mid-tempo disco house affair that keeps suspense throughout and seriously invites dancefloor mayhem. Honestly can't wait to rock this one...have a listen:

This is the first in the series with only 250 pressed up so grab one HERE while they're around. Lovely stuff.

Shoes - Shoes of Roy (Shoes US)

2011-02-02T02:05:00.000-08:00

Aaaand speaking of fantastically polished edits done to near-perfection...You just know it's a good month when the ultra-mysterious Shoes crew unleash a new 12". These guys have been dedicated to re-working some of the best in soul, jazz, funk and disco that often respectfully pay homage to the originals, leaving the musical meat on the bones of the edits they put out. Chunky, romping funk for the dancefloor, Shoes crew admittedly don't release stuff that often but when they do they're bang on, consistently set phazers to stun. We've been doing some snooping around but for the life of us can't figure out who the hell they are. All we know is the label is spearheaded by Earwig, apparently the main man behind one of our favourite edits labels Plimsol (label home to none other than a release by the man whose record we just reviewed below, coincidence? hmmmm you decide).

This killer 4 track monster is a hefty nod to the great Roy Ayers, featuring rubs of 4 of his greats that are seriously well varied, resulting in another perfect record for the bar jocks among us. All these will likely get plays from me but my pick is possibly the euphoric head-nodder, Sunshine, man where the hell was this tune years ago in the "chill-out room" at the local warehouse rave? Running Away's playful broken-house and dubbed out doobie-doo vocal takes precedence in the uptempo cut; and the more 'serious' groove of Superstar hits the spot in a big way with rhodesy noodles and stabs amidst live drums that kick along effortlessly. Finally 2000 Black builds sweetly as the empowering vocal takes control at the break...so go forth and buy this record and 'save the human race', won't you?

As usual, we wholeheartedly advise you to go forth and get this one in the bag, because as you will notice with one quick glance - these Shoes records don't seem to wanna hang around the shelves long.

Ps. also check out their 'Shoes Your Illusion Vols I and II" shiny, tiny silver disc if you haven't already - it's also a must!

Onur Engin - Edits Vol 2

2011-01-30T01:33:00.000-08:00

I think I've said this before on these pages, but I have a bit of a love & hate affair with disco edits. The advent of soundcloud and ableton has made sure there's hundreds of new edits floating around on the web every day and if you keep a close tab on Juno Download's disco section you see them pop up left and right as well. My main gripe with these edits is that I either think the source material was shit to begin with (can't polish a turd, no matter how obscure said turd might be), or a total lack of imagination on the part of the person responsible for the edit (hurray, a 16 bar intro).

Our friend Onur Engin has restored my faith in merits of editing though, as the second release on his OE imprint showcases EXACTLY how it's done. Instead of an ordinary review, let's draw up some basic lessons in editing by Onur Engin, Istanbul's finest:

A. Carefully pick some of the loveliest music ever made (in this case: Love Me Now by Curtis Mayfield and Bill Summers' Come Into My Life)
B. Gently reconstruct said tracks (which does not mean 'warp in ableton, loop first 8 bars and cut out diva vocals, but entails lovingly and respectfully rearranging and extending the tracks and adding beats and other bits and bobs to make them a little more DJ friendly)
C. Press tracks on limited white vinyl for the world to hold and cherish

There you have it, these are the rules, stick by them and we'll love you for ever and always. Now hop on your bicycle or whip out your credit card and buy a copy of this record, it really is something special.

Have a listen to a preview of the record here:

Into My Life is baby-making music of the highest order, and for those of you that play a lot of bar sets, this one should really set the mood. Essential.

Henry Greenwood - Henry's Edits Volume 1

2011-01-28T19:03:00.000-08:00

I have to be honest with you...I'm not too familiar with the name Henry Greenwood. It doesn't ring any bells. Not like, say, UK legend DJ Greg Wilson. Now that is a name I know and trust. Greg only drops the finest of party tracks. The ones that get the people up and the dance floor moving. It is rare that I hear this DJ play something that I would not consider playing myself.

I'm also a sucker for a great edit. And lately, Greg has been dropping a sweet edit into his DJ sets of Sharon Brown's 'I Specialize In Love'. At the height of a good time, I dare a crowd not to move to this one. It really adds a nice bottom end thump and extends a tune that we know and love. A tune we're familiar with... unlike the name Henry Greenwood.

Well, perhaps that will soon change. It turns out that the edit in question is by our mystery man Henry. He has launched his record label Henry's Edits which just recently hit shelves. I'm hearing a lot of that early 80's disco sound here, and I like it. And there is a lot more to explore over at Henry's SoundCloud page. Like most great artists, some of it I question, and some of it I think is just wonderful.

Since we're being honest, I'm not sure that all four of the cuts offered on this vinyl are a 100% slam dunk for me...but clearly there is a talent here that needs to be closely monitored. So, if you have your own dance floor that needs to be up and moved, you can grab Volume 1 of Henry's edit series here at Juno while they still have some copies left.

Tell them Greg Wilson sent you.

Henry Greenwood - Special Hangover - Out 24/1! by henrygreenwood

J.Cub (Eclectic Avenue Recordings) - Sleazy Beats Mix

2011-01-19T04:53:00.000-08:00

Eclectic Avenue Records' head honcho Jacob Kelly was kind enough to get busy behind the decks and take care of the first Sleazy Beats guest mix of 2011. I've been slobbering all over the three records the Leeds-based vinyl-only imprint put out in 2010, which should come as no surprise when there's class acts like LTJ XPerience, Popular People's Front and current darlings Dead Rose Music Company involved. We earmarked E.A.R. (see what I did there?) as a label to watch out for in 2011 in our '2010 wrap-up', and I can safely predict that their forthcoming 12" by the label's own Ryan Shaw is going to be one of the biggest records of this winter. Don't take my word for it though, give JCubs excellent Sleazy Beats mix a whirl and find out for yourself just how exciting their planned releases are. I've had this one on repeat for a few days now, it's truly an amazing beatdown disco safari.

Setlist:

1. LTJ Xperience "You Touch Me"
2. Joshua IZ "SueOos" Released on Eclectic Avenue Records Summer 2011
3. Ron Basejam - Title unknown Released on Redux 2011
4. Reset* "Juicy" Released on Eclectic Avenue Records July 2010
5. Ryan Shaw "Lovin'" Released on Eclectic Avenue Records Feb 2011
6. The Revenge "Aint Nobody"
7. Eddie C "My Woman"
8. Square Edits
9. Ernie "Looping Stars"
10. Unknown
11. Nicolas "Sick Groove"
12. Mike T "Do It Any Way You Wanna"

And while you're at it, head over to the E.A.R. blog, soundcloud or facebook page for more info on what our friends are up to.

Dead Rose Music Company mixing things up for Delusions of Grandeur

2011-01-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

We've professed our love for the ludicrously talented Dead Rose Music Company many a times on these pages, and predicted great things for the UK based production outfit. Oddly enough, their debut record on the ace E.A.R. imprint flew under the radar a little, but was easily one of my favorite releases of 2010. The seminal 'Just a Bitter Love' on Wolf Music deservedly propelled DRMC into instant stardom though, and the track has been topping Juno's sales charts for weeks now. Our mysterious friends start things off in style in the new year with a killer mix for the esteemed Delusions of Grandeur podcast series. Not only is it a rather splendid blend of contemporary disco, it features no less than two forthcoming tracks from our little record label. The mix starts off with Francis Inferno Orchestra's delicious Lovers, the B track on FIO's The Night He Came Home EP which will be out early February. Dead Rose's own 'Kissing in the Dark', which we snapped up for release in the summer of 2011 also rears its lovely head in the mix. We're most excited about working with DRMC this year, more info on those projects to follow soon.

Check out the DOG mix here

Delusion of Grandeur's head honcho Norm de Plume (make sure to check out his mint debut release on Plumage, it's awesome) knows a thing or two about throwing a party, and invited our mysterious Dead Rose friends to come over to The CAMP on the 21st of January and throw down some filthy disco in London.

Check the RA page for more info on the event.

And to finish up our first post of the new year in style, we advise you to head over to the Dead Rose Soundcloud page for a free download of some seriously glitchy, over the top 80s synthesizer disco, sterling stuff (limited download too, so act quickly, dear people of the internet).

Dead Rose on Soundcloud

Sleazy 2010 wrap-up / List-o-rama

2010-12-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

Let's face it, 2010 has been a rather fantastic year. Yes, the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was horrible, kids getting trampled to death at Germany's Love Parade a horror scenario and to top it all off, those Take That wankers got back together. The miners in Chile survived though, Obama managed to hook up every American with health insurance (welcome to the developed world, American brothers and sisters!), babies were born, Soundcloud took over the world, disco dragonpunched minimal techno and the exploding edit scene kept vinyl alive pretty much by itself. For us over at Sleazy Beats, 2010 was pretty special too, with our first 5 releases all selling out in record time. Eddie C's Rocket Science EP is going for over 60 Euros on Discogs these days, Tornado Wallace's record is simply impossible to find and some of our favorite DJs have been rinsing SE62 and Daniel Solar's tracks for months. We've bought some incredible music these past twelve months and tried to cover as much of it as possible on these here pages. Since everyone and their mum are doing end of year lists, we figured we might as well follow suit and put together a list of our favorite producers, tracks, mixes and records to have surfaced over the past twelve months ("everyone else is doing it, so why can't we?"). Thanks so much for reading our ramblings and buying our singles, loads of love from Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Boston and see you next year!

Record of the year:
Wolf 006 - Paw to the Floor EP (Wolf Music)
Runner up: 6th Borough Project - Part 5 (Instruments of Rapture)
Honourable mention: Eddie C - Between Now & Then (Endless Flight)

Easily this year's best 12" on one of our favorite imprints around. Four killer midtempo deephouse tracks by Session Victim, Francis Inferno Orchestra, Greymatter and Dead Rose Music Company. One of Juno's bestselling records this year, and deservedly so. Would have signed these tracks for Sleazy Beats with our eyes closed. Awesome!

Track of the year:
Erdbeerschnitzel - To An End (Mirau)
Runner Up: Tornado Wallace - Swimming (Delusions of Grandeur)
Honourable mention: Red Rack'em - In Love Again (Untracked)

We picked Erbeerschnitzel's To An End as our track of the year, but we could easily have chosen one of the other tracks Tim Keiling unleashed in 2010. To an End, Suave, 4 Months, Tonight is Today is Tomorrow, all these tracks were a breath of fresh air. Proper forward thinking deep electronic soul that will stand the test of time. Can't wait to hear what he's been cooking up for 2011.

Edit of the year

TBD Extension - Get to my Baby (Golf Channel)

runner up: Eddie C - Hold on (7inches of love)
Honourable mention: William DeVaughn – Be Thankful for What You Got (Onur Engin Edit on Square)

Golf Channel has been a consistently proper label for all kinds of quirky beatdown deepness this past year, but this one edit Try To Find Me dropped mid-way through 2010 of TBD Extension's Get To My Baby blew our minds, and surprisingly not in a beatdown sense. Nearly impossible to mix with it's unquantized drums, but once it's on there's no going back. Limited edition, single sided, etched business that makes you proud to be a vinyl collector.

Producer of the year:
Eddie C

runner up: Erdbeerschnitzel

honourable mention: Nicholas

We simply can't say enough about Eddie C, seems he has something to do with almost every third record or so we cover on these pages...but hey, where would we be without him? He broke our cherry as a label, appearing on our very first record and that's something pretty darn special we think. Since then he's done umpteen other releases on labels like Kolour LTD, Seven Inches of Love, Endless Flight and Wolf Music (including a massive tune on SBR004 that sold out in a blink) so in these respects we think there's no contest, Eddie wins hands down.

Label of the year:
Delusions of Grandeur
runner up: Wolf Music

honourable mention: Kolour LTD

Jimpster's Delusions of Grandeur imprint was simply unstoppable in 2010. Two stunning records by Tornado Wallace, two equally badass releases by Session Victim, a fantastic twelve introducing the considerable talents of Franc Spangler (how massive was that Open Eyes track?) and more clusterbombs by Manuel Tur and Trickski. The geezers over at DOG sure have an ear for timeless moody midtempo deepness, are not afraid to sign new names and have the balls to keep pushing vinyl. Awesome label, awesome music.

Edit label of the year:
Super Value Special Edits
runner up: Kojak Giant Sounds

honourable mention: Whisky Disco

If there's one imprint we've bought more from than any other this past year it's definitely Super Value Edits. Spearheaded by Luca 'LTJ' Trevisi and Riccio out of Bologna, the tracks they put out easily live up to the label's name. The Super Value crew reworked a shitload of old disco, funk and soul into dirty, lowslung beatdown chuggy beasts with heavy drums. We've been fans since the first Super Value release (back when we had no idea who was behind these bits) and have been in constant awe of the quality control and consistency of the label (and its sister imprints No More Hits and Small World Disco Edits). Great to see these guys getting the recognition they deserve, they really are working their balls off.

Best newcomer label:
Dikso
runner up: Apersonal

Honourable mention: Eclectic Avenue (EAR)

Berlin's Dikso took the midtempo deephouse/edit scene by storm this year. Three vinyl releases (all of which were contenders for the 'record of the year' category) featuring the talents of label owner Daniel Solar alongside Francis Inferno Orchestra, Nicholas, James Johnston, Matthew Kyle, Andy Hart and a host of other up and coming producers. These guys know a thing or two about how to put out a record too, as their profile has been skyrocketing since the first release popped up on the shelves. Destined to be even bigger in 2011!

Best label resurgence:
Tracky Bottoms

runner up: R&S
honourable mention: Ugly Edits

Yeah so Toby Tobias dusted off his Tracky Bottoms imprint and did a pearl of a record (which we covered a while ago). A most versatile piece of wax incorporating deephouse, disco and filthy wobbly boogie. Presto: one of our biggest secret weapons this year. Deadly stuff, really hope mr. Tobias will treat us to at least one release in 2011.

Blog of the year:
Another Night on Earth - Chris Keys has been keeping things tidy for yet another year over at ANOE, our favorite hangout on the net by far (with the best guest-mix series around).
runner up: Disco Delicious

honourable mention: Ooft

Mix of the year: LTJ XPerience 'Stay Free' mix

runner up: Cottam's 'Quick, Jacob's in Bed, Time to Spin Some Wax'

Honourable mention: Bonar Bradberry - Ruff Jamz

That's it folks, thanks for all the support and see you in 2011, the year that Boogie will kick disco's ass, Benjamin Sun and the Voyeurhythm imprint will finally get the recognition they deserve, Dead Rose Music Company will sell a shitload of records, 6th Borough Project will finally release their LP and another 5 Sleazy Beats records will see the light of day.

Bedmo Disco Edits up for grabs

2010-12-21T01:56:00.000-08:00

The kind people over at Bedmo decided to get with the Christmas spirit and treat us to a delectable bunch of free high quality edits by the likes of Cosmic Boogie, Jimmy the Twin and a host of other talented discobeards. Comes with a tasty mini-mix from the Bedmo crew too (which comes in handy when you´re stranded on snowy trainstations and malfunctioning airports * sigh *). All you have to do is post up a little tweet or facebook message and the goodies are yours to keep and cherish.

Get your goodies here

Maxxi Soundsystem - Criticize (Kojak)

2010-12-19T02:44:00.000-08:00

Brighton's Maxxi Soundystem ensemble drop their debut 12" on Kojak, Finland's finest. We were sent this a few weeks ago and it didn't quite fit in the bunch of moody midtempo sets we were doing for a few blogs etc, so I almost forgot about this release. Thank god for being snowed in and perusing the stacks of music we got lying around Sleazy HQ, because this latest 12 by Kojak is a right treat. It's quite a departure from the usual fare we cover on these pages, as we're dealing with peaktime disco fodder here, drawing heavily on cheeky 90s tunes (think wailing diva, electronic tom drums and euro synths). As bad as that may sound, Maxxi Soundsystems' deep and heavy rub of Alexander O'Neal's Critize works a real treat. While the original track is a genuine slice of late 80s cheeze (check out the original video here, it's awesome in a very twisted way) the rerub is a cool piece of modern boogie. The flip is great too, but it's all about the A for me. Excellent record by one the freshest and most forward thinking labels around.

Buy here

House Is The Cure - We Get By With A Little Help

2010-12-19T00:37:00.000-08:00

If you've been following our ramblings on here, you should know by know we're big fans of Kolour, one of America's most consistent deephouse imprints. Our friends from Kolour branched out into disco territory this year with the tasty vinyl-only Kolour Limited Series, which featured heavyweights such as Eddie C, Alex Agore and Tornado Wallace. In 2010 the Kolour boys also relaunched their charity project - House is the Cure. The concept is simple: producers pitch in a free track and all proceeds are donated to charity - "helping out someone in need one track at a time". Hats off to the Kolour crew for this initiative, it's pretty amazing to see such selflessness in this day and age.

In the case of We Get By With A Little help, it's not only a great initiative, it's a badass record too. Kolour lined up 4 of the biggest guns in beatdown disco edit land for this release. On the A Nicholas steps to the plate for a delish vocal disco workout with trademark Nicholas' drums on Just Like Magic. If you missed Nicholas' work on Small World Disco and No More Hits, make sure to peep this cheeky CD that just surfaced). Deep Space Orchestra (who are seriously on fire these past months) delivered a moody, understated edit of Steve Spacek's classic 'Dollar' that works a real treat in these dark December days.

On the flip OOFT's Ali gets his hands dirty on Dexter Wansel's The Sweetest Pain. It's a pretty straightforward edit, but Ali cleverly chopped and rearranged some bits to get the fans of Global Communications' classic 'The Way' jumping and shouting. Dead Rose Music Company finish things off rather appropriately with the heartfelt 'The World is in an Uproad', a lovely sub 100 BPM trip to beatdowntown. 2011 is bound to be a big year for the Dead Rose crew, mark our words. Awesome record, on limited clear vinyl only (no downloads on this one).

Hard to pick a favorite, as all tracks are mint, but Deep Space Orchestra's edit is blaring through the speakers at the moment and ticking all the right boxes, so here goes:

Dollar edit by Deep Space Orchestra

Pick a copy here and feel good about yourself ('look mum, I'm all about charity these days..)

Eddie C - Migration EP (Sound of Speed Japan)

2010-12-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

It's been more than a while since we covered a record by our hero Eddie C on these pages, if we were to cover more of his releases on here we'd seriously be writing about him on a weekly basis. As we predicted 2010 has been an impeccable year for the man - he's quickly emerged into one of the most in demand producers, remixers and djs out there; he's been booked at some of the hottest parties worldwide in recent months, constantly on the move to grace the decks at gigs in Detroit, Japan, Germany, France, England, and at the recent Sleazy Beats label parties in Melbourne and Sydney Australia. In short, Eddie's had a pretty damn successful year to say the least, and looks poised to take 2011 by storm as well.

The new one by the crown prince of dirty disco entitled 'The Migration Ep' on Japan's Sound of Speed imprint has finally hit the shops. I've been hitting refresh on my browser daily to see if it's finally in stock ever since it popped up on Juno months ago. The A1 'Migration' is a suspenseful and relentless midtempo cut with heavy slap bass and disco strings, with carefully constructed vocal breakdowns. 'Keepin' On' is a perfect slice of downtempo electronic soul sure to warm your heart with its sublime female vocal about "drifting on your love" that laces Eddie's tight drums and melodies together effortlessly. Flip it over for the uptempo disco-house loveliness of 'Give It To Me'; one to whip out prime time. Finally the moody, breezy keys create a restless and stellar groove in the EP closer, 'Days Like These'.

An all-round monumental package of a record this, seriously. Easily buy on sight material - it's 99.9% sure to sell out we reckon. Grab it here, or any other worthy retailer.

Onur Engin - Edits Vol. 1

2010-12-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt some of the finest quality edits on the market these days are coming from Istanbul by our friend the blindingly talented Onur Engin, a genius producer who we've gone on about on these pages before. His recent slabs on UK label Square Records are seriously two of the most exciting pieces of wax we've heard in months; I honestly defy anyone to try and sit still during his rub of William DeVaughn's Be Thankful, or Rock Creek Park on SQ003 for that matter. Always exquisitely crafted with clear homage to respect the carefully selected source material, Onur's midas production touch is consistently setting standards miles above the rest. Buy the wife some new books, tickets to the zoo, trip to the spa - whatever it takes because you'll be wanting some serious alone time with his new record. 100% essential for lovers of funk/soul, disco and house, you're crazy if you think you don't need this record in your life.

The culprit is the spanking new three-tracker on Onur's new OE Edits imprint. Kicking things off is a masterful re-work of Herbie Hancock's 'Thought It Was You', where he sprinkles some magic dust over the essential elements and the funky bubbly bassline, oh and the vocoder? Hell yes. George Benson's beast 'Turn Your Love Around' is next, with a killer take on the original - extending the essential parts and snipping the less-so, allowing more room for the glorious vocal, and inflating the thump allowing it to breathe - this one will is locked and loaded for dancefloor carnage. Finally on the bside is our patented sleazy pick of the pack™ - a 10-minute dreamy, breezy, poolside charmer of the classic 'Your Love' by none other than the late great Mr. White. We can't say enough about this re-rub - it will quite honestly have you in a mesmerized grip of a trance in no time at all. Gorgeous.

Onur Engin - Edits Vol.1 [OE001] (Limited 12") by Onur Engin

Similar to the Square Edits series, this one is also for the vinyl purists - wax only, limited 12". Snap it up HERE or most other fine retailers and give it some serious love before it sells out.

Three Sugars Please

2010-12-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

Damn, loads of great new music coming out these days ("vinyl is dead" my ass). We already covered Francis Inferno Orchestra's ace new record for Under The Shade last week, but there's a shedload of other great records that deserve a mention on these pages, so here's three picks to get your early Christmas shopping going.

OOFT - Just Peachy (Wolf Music)

New music from The Wolf Music camp is always a treat, and their 7th outing definately doesn't disappoint. As we've come to expect, it's a sampler with 4 different artists. Winner for me is OOFT, who whip a cheeky Melba Moore sample into a deephouse frenzy on the smashing 'Just Peachy'. Can't get enough of this track, been playing it all over the place.

Just Peachy by aliOOFT

Buy the heavy pressing (180 gr!) of this record here

Erdbeerschnitzel - Suave (4Lux)

Goddamnit I love Erdbeerschnitzel, I love everything he touches. Been itching to get my hands on Suave for what seems like a million years, a cut that Gerd wisely snapped up for his classy 4Lux imprint. By now we know what a ballache it can be to get a record out (the term 'music professional' does not apply to 80% of the people that actually work in the music business) so kudos to Gerd and Tim Keiling for sitting this one out and making it happen. If you liked the records on Third Strike, you'll love this one, and Suave in particular, it's a slice of awesome future electronic soul.

Buy a copy here

Deep Space Orchestra - Clockwork Ninja (Weapons of Use)

Speaking of classy future electronic soul, we're in good company with Deep Space Orchestra, who just released Trust Skynet, the debut single on their new label Weapons of Use. I'd buy this on the strength of the Terminator reference alone, but the 4 tracks on offer are rather excellent too. Trust Skynet will go down very well with discerning deephouse crowds (and having The Revenge on remix duty won't hurt things either), but for me it's Clockwork Ninja that's ticklin' my pickle. Have a listen for youself:

Deep Space Orchestra - Clockwork Ninja - Use of Weapons by Deep Space Orchestra

I can't wait to start a new mix with this badboy, awesome stuff. Buy a copy over at Rubadub, it comes in a lovely sleeve with proper artwork

The Francis Inferno Orchestra - Meet Me In Salt Lake City (Under The Shade)

2010-11-29T11:09:00.000-08:00

After appearances on samplers on Dikso and Wolf Music, Melbourne-based producer Francis Inferno Orchestra gets to headline Under The Shades' latest offering, a record we've been eagerly awaiting for the past six odd months. The title track is a delightful midtempo deephouse chugger that builds and builds in all the right places. Chuggy, warm drums? Check. Sloppy, swingin' soulclap? Check. Sweet piano rolls? Check. Sweet vocal loop to keep things going? Check. Deep rolling bass? Check. A pearl of a tune this, expect to hear this getting played all across the board. On the flip we get Me & You, another beast of a midtempo workout treading the fine line between deephouse and disco, and again. FIO sets the filters to stun here, and the heavy drums, slap bass, shuffly hats and cheeky male vocal combo works a treat. Deadly stuff, can't wait to play this out.

The fun doesn't end there though, with two heavyweights on remix duty. Both Soulclap and Eddie 'Midas Touch' C take on Meet Me In Salt Lake City to complete the package. The Soul Clap boys stripped the original down to the bone and completely reconstruct the track into a moody, dark workout. Needless to say, Eddie C's remix does not disappoint. He stays closer to the original, keeping the vocal intact but adding his own trademark drums. Easily one of the years top releases, one that should do wonders for Francis Inferno Orchestra's profile.

Soundcloud is cocking out on us tonight and there are no vids up on Youtube yet, so make sure to head over to Juno for samples and to get your mits on a copy.

Meanwhile, keep an eye our for more music by FIO in 2011 on Future Classic and a release on our very own Sleazy Beats Recordings in January.

Megadon Betamax - Don't Ask (Voyeurhythm)

2010-11-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry we haven't been posting as much lately, but all of us men of Sleaze have little babies keeping us up all night now, and it's proving increasingly difficult to squeeze in a little review in between changing nappies, running the label and falling asleep on the couch watching reruns of antique roadshow. We'll try to pick up the pace a little though in the next few weeks, as there's a barrage of awesome music coming our ways. The upcoming Wolf Music release deserves a few words, the new Dikso release ticks all the right boxes for us, Onur Engin is about to launch his own edit imprint, LTJ 'Supervalue' XPerience is dropping bombs left and right, Delusions of Grandeur's Norm De Plume put out a most tasty pair of edits on his new label Plumage... the list seems endless. We'll try to cover at least a few of these beasts to help you fill your christmas stockings.

Just a few lines about the new release on the ever classy Voyeurhythm before we leave you to it though, arguably the most underrated label around. I've professed my love for everything Benjamin Sun touches on numerous occasions, he makes music so deep and emotive it puts moodymann to shame. Moody, stringy deepness is not the only thing the guys over at Vouyeurythm do well though, as Megadon Betamax aptly showcases on Don't Ask. The outfit's refreshingly analog leftfield boogie disco bits funk like a bastard and scream for loud systems. Irresistable stuff, stupidly awesome. Why this isn't on the number one position of Juno's sales chart is beyond me.

Pick up a copy here

PS There's another Voyeurhythm record dropping in December, so keep em peeled.

Sleazy Update - SBR005 * Daniel Solar - 13th Hour Ep *

2010-11-15T00:16:00.000-08:00

Wanted to take a moment to let you know about our latest sleazy project that's just recently materialized. Following up on the wow-factor of Into My Life - his contribution to our sleazy family sampler release a few months back, we simply had to enlist the talents of Daniel Solar (No More Hits/Dikso) for a full on ep, as there was obviously a need to showcase more of his production talents to the fullest extent.

Daniel has generously done up 3 beautiful tracks that we're more than proud to have come out on sleazy wax, entitled the 13th Hour Ep. The deal is the same as usual, vinyl only, fresh new artwork - limited run. Get your mits on this one, big support from the likes of a few of our favourite heroes: Cottam, The Revenge, Mark E, LTJ Xperience and Chris Keys so far to name a few. We think this is an essential release obviously...but as we've often said before - it feels a bit weird to hype our own wares, so luckily Juno has done up a stellar review that does it more than justice.

Juno review:

"After arguably stealing the show with his slo-mo tweak of Melba Moore on the recent Sleazy Family sampler (no mean feat in the company of Eddie C and Tornado Wallace), Daniel Solar steps up with a full EP for the tireless Sleazy Beats Empire. Those familiar with the German's releases on Dikso and No More Hits won't need much persuasion to indulge in this release, but allow us to persist. The 13th Hour EP starts in engagingly midtempo territory with the snapping, string heavy chug of "Midfidelity Funk", a perfect exercise in building dancefloor tension. It is however the B Side counterpart "Twinkle Love" that proves to be more immediately satisfying; the bass riffs dovetailing nicely with the rewarding hi-hat crunch. The final cut "La Fleur" thankfully doesn't appear to desecrate the memory of Minnie Ripperton, instead delivering a 110 BPM filtered house jacker that DJ Sneak would be proud of".

Grab a copy at Juno, Phonica, Picadilly, Chemical Records, Decks Records in the UK and Europe and otherwise most of the other fine vinyl retailers in the US and worldwide in the coming days.

Cisco Cisco - If You Want Me (Apersonal)

2010-11-08T01:18:00.000-08:00

We haven't heard much about the Spanish disco or deep house scene..often when we think of Spanish dance music, quality underground stuff doesn't exactly spring to mind. But when we heard the new Trujillo release on Barcelona's Apersonal Music 001 release that dropped a month or so ago featuring the talents of Venezuelan don Trujillo, along with heavy hitter remixes by the likes of Social Disco Club and Mark E needless to say we were pleasantly surprised. Back with a vengeance the newbie imprint drops it's sophomore release in top form with this debut ep by Portugal's Cisco Cisco, entitled If You Want Me.

The main cut If You Want Me comes in two flavours, the original of which is my pick of the pack. Simply a gorgeous tune, it starts off tidy and slow, hooking you straight away, then chugs and rises, picking up new elements that add spice and dollops of flair; like cut up vocal snips, electronic organ stabs and snappy snares complete this oh-so-sweet package for me. This is followed up by the techier Jay Shepheard mix, which is also great but it's this original that will get all the plays on my end. On the flip Giro Disco is similarly ace, also pitched nicely to perfection. More mesmerizing cutup vocals, prodding bass and crisp drums comprise another belter of a track that's ready to ride a slow and sweaty dancefloor groove until the early morning hours.

Pop this one into your cart & keep a close watch on Cisco Cisco as well as Apersonal, who are releasing some seriously exciting music. Highly recommended.

Isodisco / Sleazy Tees

2010-11-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

As you've no doubt already heard, we've made up a couple of really quality sleazy tees that were the result of a little design comp we had a few months ago. We had tons of designs to choose from but in the end we had the tough job of narrowing it down to just two, by Lucie Barriere & Matt McDonald. We think they look pretty badass and thought we'd post up a pic of Mark Whyte from Isodisco sporting his (Lucie's design) at their recent show with The Revenge in Belfast.

If you'd like to pick one up one of these killer tees they're print on demand from Zazzle (check the internet for discount codes first, or at checkout) just click the link under our 'Sleazy Beats Store' tab above, and it should ping you over to the sleazy tee shop. Be sure to visit the Isodisco blog too, the boys update it regularly with new mixes, downloads and tons of tasty bits of info that we're often on about here at Sleazy towers. Essential!

Soundstream 5 (Soundstream Germany)

2010-10-29T03:15:00.000-07:00

Quick heads up to let you know about a top-shelf housey little nugget by the always inspirational Berliner Soundstream (aka Frank Timm), who is back after what seems to be a 2-year hiatus with Soundstream #5, on his astounding self-titled imprint. We're huge Soundstream fans here at SBR, I still play the hell out of Soul Train from his second release from 2005, amazing track, great record. This cat usually somehow sneaks in a bit of gold from each genre in his productions, for the house as well as disco dudes, but also nods are often made even to the tech beards as well. I'm well excited about the B1 'Tease Me' on this one, which we'll surely pitch down and play on repeat in all its glory at the sleazy office.

The other two are smashers as well in their own right, Deeper Love being a swirly, loopy house cut with reverbed, dizzy keys and stuttery claps. Flip it over for 'All Night', another great cut with slick slap-bass and tight keys. The housier numbers this guy puts out always seem to be a cut above the masses for some reason, they always stand out tall and sound different than most. Wish he'd generate a bit more output, but then again, that might take some of the sweetness right?

Snag this gem and be sure to grab his last one which is still in stock at Juno, Live Goes On - also ace.

Eltron John - And Then We Realize (Koh-I-Noor)

2010-10-26T01:08:00.001-07:00

Stumbled upon this release over the weekend while perusing the ´disco/edits´ section of my local record dealer and boy what a find this is. Both Eltron John and Koh-I-Noor are new names for me. My friend Google tells me we´re dealing with a supertalented young gun from Poland here (which seems to be a hotbed for filthy disco these days).

It´s And Then We Realize on the A that tickles my pickle. It´s a superslow (90 BPM) shuffly affair with heavy yet subtle drums and leftfield sythn stabs and lines. It´s the haunting vocal loop (you guessed it: ´and then we realize´) that sucks you in and keeps you hypnotised for the duration of the flight. The two disco stompers on the flip aren´t half-bad either. Secret Weapon alert!

...And Then We Realize by Eltron John

Buy here

SouthWest Seven EP - (Kolour Limited)

2010-10-22T01:05:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, finally. Our good friends at Kolour Recordings have rolled out the red carpet with their third release in the Kolour Ltd series. For the vinyl geezers among us this label has been doing something well nifty with their lovely aesthetics (not to mention the smashing music) that makes you wonder wether to either put em up on the wall or play em', (ok well that's not really true now is it). The boys at Kolour have been seriously on point when it comes to quality control since day one, having put forth some mint releases to date on their Ltd. series involving tracks from two sleazy faves that have obviously tickled our fancies. This time we're treated to a special treat by newcomers SouthWest Seven that could quite possibly be the best in the Ltd series yet, featuring three beastly cuts that all hit the spot nicely in their own way.

My Ride has to be the cut that cruises directly up my alley, with a few twists along the way. Timing in wonderfully slow, this unique track rocks a thunderous bassline, some delightful raindrop-style keys and strong strings. The vocal is absolutely stand-out on this tune, with soul brother number one going on about fixing his ride so he can get to the disco through the storm...man, I can relate. The crescendo busts out with an up-front n' heavy piano riff that rides things out nicely. Peep this one in the stellar recent Melbourne Deepcast mix done up by SB's very own Monsieur Monod, if you haven't checked it out already. Sensation is a punchy yet tropical trip that floats along with quite cleverly positioned vocal snippets that juxtapose nicely. The result is a timeless piece of dance music that soothes the soul and is sure to put a smile on some faces. Finally, The Only One cranks up the tempo for an absolutely sweaty dancefloor belter with a b-line to write home about. Complimenting keys and yet another killer soul vocal (we're thinking Sister Sledge here, but can't be sure) make for a killer tune. Drop this one and dancefloor madness is bound to ensue.

Three solid flavours to choose from here on this lovely release then, and plus she comes on beautiful clear vinyl which is an obvious bonus. Grab it here to give her a good home and play her loud. And be sure to stop by the Kolour blog for news on all things Kolour related. We like!

Cruel L Grand Orchestra - Barbarella * Eddie C remixes

2010-10-21T05:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry we haven´t been posting much these past weeks, things are busy at the moment and we´re getting everything ready for our next release (more on that bit of exciting news to follow soon). Couldn't let Eddie's pair of incredibly sexy remixes of Cruel L Grand Orchestra's Candy Mountain in the Rainy Woods pass without a quick headsup though. Both takes of this classic clock in at around 105 BPM and have those dreamy, subtle drums Eddie is so good at and take you straight to wonderland. Delight of a record after the rather overhyped and disappointing Theo Parrish remix of More than Paradise on this Japanese imprint.

Yes, the record is stupidly overpriced. Yes, it's stupidly limited. And yes, you need this in your life. Time to smash the piggybank and pony up the 18 odd quid for a copy, you won't regret it. Special stuff.

Listen/buy here

Popular People's Front - Limited Series 03

2010-10-11T02:09:00.000-07:00

You know it's a good week when we get another record in by Popular People's Front (although yeah I know, it actually surfaced last week), which is hard to believe but is possibly an upstage of the previous two in their limited series. This freshly squeezed third release is yet another hand-stamped collectors item by the edit gurus PPF (aka Bill Brewster, Chris Duckenfield, and Leo Elstob aka aka Leo Zero) and features three absolutely infectious cuts of their own brand, resulting in a diverse wobble-fest of the highest callibre as we've come to expect from these guys.

The A is essentially worth the ride price alone in my opinion, with Abah Dabah Dis, a stumbly/mid-tempo/balkan disco-cracker with Eastern vocals, killer acidline and clarinets. I know it sounds quite odd but let's face it the gypsy balkan sound is seriously catchy, and this is one tune bound to get people excited. Flip it over for the B that similarly won't disappoint, with a more true-disco track, an edit of Cheryl Lynn's You Saved My Day. Cheryl's vocals in the foreground along with catchy disco guitar and keys, and fierce handclap breakdown make for another easy winner. Finally the B2 is another track with characteristics that will also no doubt sound quite odd on paper, but is fiercely original and contagious: a heavily vocoded sample of P-Funk "make some noise from the front to the back" (which admittedly took me a bit before I recognized it).

Head over to Juno and pick up this gem before it sells out, oh and and be sure to grab yourself a copy of Back 2 Back if you haven't already, which surprisingly got re-stocked/pressed recently.

Wolf Music - Paw To The Floor EP

2010-09-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

A new record from those lovely guys over at Wolf Music is always a special treat, but sweet Jebus, they really outdid themselves with the ´Paw To The Floor EP´. As we´ve come to expect from the Wolf camp, it´s another mini-compilation, which means full bang for your buck: 4 tracks by 4 different producers. Things start off with The Dead Rose Music Company´s "Just a Bitter Love", a piano-laden chugfest with the most irresistable breakdown I´ve heard all year. A classic in the making, and a fine showcase of what the Dead Rose crew are capable of. Watch those guys, they´re about to drop the first single on their own imprint Taikomochi , and will make an appearance on Sleazy Beats vinyl in 2011. Next up on side A is Melbourne-based youngster The Francis Inferno Orchestra. Hot on the heels of his classy debut on Dikso comes his ´Time for Tea´, a classy moody midtempo deephouse workout with a relentless groove wrapped around subdued diva vocals. I love everything FIO touches these days (we snapped up a few of his tracks for a forthcoming Sleazy Beats Single).

These two tracks alone are worth the entry ticket, but the fun definately doesn´t end here. On the flip Wolf Music regular Greymatter reconstructs a well-known 80s tune into a fresh leftfield bomb with crisp drums and haunting vocal loops. Session Victim - by far my favorite Berliners at the moment - top things off with We Want To Thank All Our Friends, a slow deephouser that oozes drive and soul. If you like the stuff Session Victim have been putting out on Retreat you´ll love this one.

Clusterbomb of a record then, with 4 tracks I wish we´d have signed ourselves. We´ve had this for a few weeks now and just can´t get enough of this baby. Essential stuff ladies and gentlemen of the beatdown disco persuasion. Make sure to check out all the tracks, but here´s a snip of the Dead Rose´s cut to begin with:

buy on sight.

Deadly Sins - Giant Cuts vol 3

2010-09-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

The Giant Cuts crew continue their deadly saga (see what I did there?) with their third outing on vinyl. I don´t know about you, but I love to throw in some cheeky disco when I play slower beatdown stuff to keep things fresh and upbeat (and the ladies happy too). Let´s face it, there´s a limit to the amount of moody strings and deep pads a floor can handle...Deadly Sins aptly provide us with some prime dancefloor disco fodder for those moments. If you´ve been reading these pages, you know what to expect: extented and expertly chopped up disco beats and breaks, some obscure, some well known, with some extra oomph thrown in for good measure.

On the A, Mtume´s ´So You Wanna Be A Dance Star´ get the Deadly Sins treatment, turning an already grand original into a true and cheerful boogiefest. Sure to bring out some smiles when played loud. The Jackson 5´s "Mirrors of My Mind" is the next victim of the DS editing blade. A similar edit of this track surfaced a few years back on Underdog. That version was a right ballache to mix though, so I´m well pleased with this little update.

On the flip, Dolly Parton´s ´Get your hands off my potential boyfriend´ gets reworked into a long and sweet balearic journey. I know how unlikely that sounds, but it works really well (ask Eric Duncan, who releases an edit of the same track on his new Keep it Cheap imprint). Finally, we get ´What About Lola´. Remember that horrid ´Lola´s Theme´ by the Shapeshifters that everyone and his mum played a few years ago? Here we get an edit of the original, starting with a great loop of ´that hook´ before morphing into the sweet tones of the original. Presto: the perfect party starter.

GC003 clips by Deadly Sins

Time to bag this badboy then, perfect secret-disco weapon. The first two releases sold out rather quickly, so don´t sleep on this. Check Juno Download for some digi-only bits from Deadly Sins too if you´re that way inclined. I have a bit of a soft spot for ´Feeling something´, the bonus cut on volume 1. Ace stuff.

Trickski - After & Before Ep (Suol Germany)

2010-09-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

Berlin heavyweights Trickski have been at it again, and are quickly making a smooth transition into 'buy-on-sight' territory for us here at SBHQ. These guys have seen massive success with their releases in the past on many of our fave labels such as Stillloveformusic, Future Classic, and DOG (the latter release we covered here on these pages earlier this year). Their latest release - dubbed the After and Before Ep on Suol Germany (formerly known as Baalsaal) is honestly nothing short of astounding, as it features what Juno have anointed 'one of the year's best slo-mo jams'. All diction/adjective usage aside, and as much as we've come to seriously hate the term - they're probably not far off the mark.

Many of our readers will already know about the one we're talking about here as a) the hype surrounding it has been pretty huge for months now and b) it has been out for a bit already. We are of course talking about the long-awaited and highly anticipated 'Pill Collins'. Starting off with a muted piano riff that instantly grabs you and wraps you in a nice fuzzy blanket of 100bpm rhythm, it builds and winds steadily and doesn't let go till the end apart from a more or less monumental breakdown that'll probably have you doing unspeakable things. It seriously sounds biiig, can't wait to hear it on a real system. Have a listen to 'Pill Collins' below if you haven't already:

Pill Collins by trickski

Oh yes, there's also another version of this tune on the flip with a remix by H.O.S.H., which is decent - slightly more uptempo although a bit too peaktime for my liking, and it's damn hard to hold a patch to the original I think. Also worthy of mention is the rmx of 'Point 0' by Suol heads Chopstick and Johnjon, who have created a pleasantly sleazier affair of the original version of Point 0 on the flip that's a nice deep n' chuggy slugger, complete with a megasweet slap bass. I'm not big on the evil effect used on the vocal at the breakdowns, but it luckily only comes in at the 2 breakdowns - and the track itself is a damn fine one, and easily play worthy for me.

This great record has already been on the shelves for a bit and will very likely sell out so grab your copy today.

Deymare - Talking About Your Love (Boe Recordings)

2010-09-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

Since its inception in 2007, London's Boe Recordings has firmly established itself as a staple imprint for simply spectacular house music with a range of influences. Boe honcho Ben Parkinson has made the clever move to sign tracks that often fly deceptively below the radar, with material from Iron Curtis, Ladzinski and Leif to name a few; as such Boe Recordings has proven to be a consistent tag for those who like it deep, but with raw emotion and authority. The forthcoming BOE009 release is one that we're quite excited about, as it incorporates a bit more of a sound that we have come to love and cherish here at SBR, this time by Finnish producer Deymare. His Talking About Your Love Ep is a sublime 4 tracker of slightly pitched down and edgy deepstuff that's still aimed towards a heady dancefloor.

The A side kicks things of properly with my pick 'Your Love' - a crunchy, off-center, rich & rhodesy deephouse workout with heavily layered drums and a great vocal, with a seemingly reminiscent nod to a Moodyman or perhaps Theo Parish. A most excellent bit of tune that will get tons of plays from myself. Next, 'Talking About That' pitches things down a bit and rolls along with a distorted airy bassline amidst tambourines, guitar stab and ever-so-slight keys. A clever vocal of an interview about record collecting is an easy deal sealer here.

On the B, 'Tomorrow Was Yesterday' features a delightfully tasty piano cut; a bright and warm mood goin on here with a subtly ascending acidline squeaking in mid way that really compliments the killer bassline and makes for a boss tune; a perfect go-to cut for those patio gigs this upcoming indian summer. Finally, speaking of boss tunes, label head Ben Boe gets his fingers dirty with his take on 'Talking About That'. Keeping things gritty and raw, he strips it down but leaves the vocal intact, a move that brings out the bassline and creates a scorcher of a deep tune that I'd go so far to say is even better than the original.

Have a listen to Your Love:
A1 Your Love by boerecordings

The wax'll be in shops on October 4th, keep em' peeled for it and no doubt more exquisite tunes out of the Boe Recordings camp.

Skylevel - Skylevel Edits 01

2010-09-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

We get sent a lot of stuff these days (and a lot of dross to be honest), but we don't get sent many actual "records". You can imagine how excited we got when the postman stopped by at Sleazy HQ to drop off a promotional copy of ´Skylevel01´, a new project from a well-known and well respected Berlin based producer (that´s all we can say about who´s behind this though, we´re sworn to secrecy). We can, however, assure you this is an absolute pearl of a record, which features two bassheavy, chunky midtempo reworks of obscure funk tracks.

Things start off with ´55 steps´, a chunky groover with what has to be the filthiest slap bass I´ve heard this year. Picadilly Records aptly described it as "a concentrated, bassline groove that just keeps piling on the dancefloor pressure a la Paperclip People "Throw". The track moves from part to part smoothly, playing with a certain rock attitude while holding back a few surprises along the way".

Things get even better on the flip with the badass ´Six Million Steps´, a slightly deeper workout with a driving bassline and chunky percussion that sucks you in and won´t let go. I´ve played this for some of my "oh my god edits are killing house music" friends and they all go apeshit over this one.

The record first popped up over at Hardwax in Berlin, but got picked up by a distro for a proper release. Superlimited pressing of 200 copies with proper artwork on the sleeve, best whip out the ol´ credit card if you want to own one of the coolest records of 2010. Picadilly picked it as their Record of the Week, Phonica stuck it up on their frontpage as an essential release. Don´t miss out!

Buy now!

Casinoboy/Toby Tobias - Alreet (Tracky Bottoms)

2010-09-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Man there's great records dropping left and right these past weeks. Ben Sun's release on Voyeurhythm is nothing short of spectacular, the forthcoming Wolf Music sampler is propably their biggest one yet and the boys over at Kolour Limited have a bit of a treat in store for us as well. We'll make sure to cover all of these in the coming days, but here's a quicky to celebrate the return of Toby Tobias' cheeky Tracky Bottoms imprint.

I'm a big fan of Toby Tobias, you never quite know what to expect when he has a new piece of music out. While some of his output is a little too nu-disco-ey for my taste, his productions skills always shine through. I like Mr. Tobias best when he flies under the 'Casinoboy' flag and throws those studio skills at some proper disco. The first two releases on his Tracky Bottoms label were superb (that never-ending edit of 'La vie en rose' has been doing it for me for years now) and this new one is no exception.

On side A we get Alreet and Omniad. Alreet is a pleasant enough deephouser, Omniad is a tasty midtempo shuffler with sloppy claps and chopped up vocals. Flip over for the flagrant badassery that is Paradub, with it's squelching bassline and sharp drums, and Ce Soir, a choppy chuggy boogiefest that is simply irresistable. All tracks will get a mean rinsing but it's Ce Soir I'm itching to play out the most. Have a listen to some snips here:

Toby Tobias / Casinoboy - A Night Out at the Casino EP mini taster by trackybottomsmusic

Pick up a copy here

Whiskey Disco - Boogie Bodega

2010-09-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

The fifth release on Sleazy McQueen's classy Whiskey Disco imprint is a downright clusterbomb. Cosmic Boogie starts things off with the deliciously slow and soulful 'How can you say goodbye', one of those tracks that even your gran will like. The real boogie juices start flowing once Rayko (one of Soundcloud's current darlings, check out his page, he has loads of great bits up there at the moment) mans the controls. His S&M (Sexy Music) is a proper chunk of 80s quirky boogie with wonky synths, sharp drums and inane vocals. Drop this at the right moment and the floor will be yours to keep.

On the flip, Anthony Mansfield reworks 'Hercules', a most tasty 70s vocal blaxploitation jazzfunk track. Mr Mansfield wields the editing blade with predictable style and grace, and keeps the warm, hazy vibe of the track in tact. Not one for the clubs, but a perfect track for bars, restaurants and outdoor parties. A Whiskey Disco party is not complete without an appearance by owner Sleazy McQueen, who transforms Stevie Wonders rather cheesy Do I Do in a chunky bit of dancefloor fodder. The added squelching bassline and heavy drums work a treat and make this track the pick of the crop for me. Don't take my word for it though, check it out here:

Stevie Wonder- Do I Do (SMQRe-Edit) by SleazyMcQueen

In a recent interview with the kind people over at Deepcast, we predicted great things for all things Boogie in 2011. Whiskey Disco might just be leading the pack with this fine release.

Pick it up here

Erdbeerschnitzel - To An End (Mirau)

2010-09-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

After two massive 12"s for Under The Shade sister imprint Third Strike, Erdbeerschnitzel unleashes an absolute pearl of a record on Tensnake´s Mirau. I´ve been lusting after the title track ´To An End´ for over a year now, so I´m over the moon to report it´s finally out on Juno Download. In case you haven´t heard this before, a few words of warning: if your significant other is not into electronic music, buy him/her a cheap flight to a vacation resort, because you´re bound to be playing this non-stop for the coming weeks. To An End is a genuine and timeless piece of electronic soul. It´s slow, it´s deep, it´s mesmerizing, it´s melancholy, it´s perfect. Tim Keiling - the man behind the wonky name - assured me a 12" is in the works as well, so keep em peeled.

Give ´To An End´ a whirl here:

Buy here

Reviews of SBR004

2010-09-10T00:48:00.000-07:00

Things are busy here at Sleazy HQ, so just a quick update to share some nice reviews of our brand spankin´ new Sleazy Family Sampler (Juno´s best selling record this week, how amazing is that?!) we found perusing the net. In the following days we´ll be covering new music from Whiskey Disko, Kolour Limited, Voyeurhythm, Boe and Skylevel, so keep ´em peeled!

Juno:
"Good thing there isn't much to do on the Canadian ski slopes during summer, as Eddie C seems to have spent the warmer months knocking out a steady stream of killer releases. The man from Banff has just dropped a delicious new 12" on Hometaping Is Killing Music, and here headlines a four track EP that also boasts new material from SE62, Tornado Wallace and Daniel Solar. Eddie's effort kicks off the A Side, with the deliciously funky rolling rhythms of "Move Me" ably supported by SE62's "Out There", itself drenched in Motor City atmospherics. Flip over for Melbourne's golden boy Lewie Day aka Tornado Wallace, who provides some hazy summer instrumentation on "Stop Holding Back", while the midtempo tropical funk Daniel Solar's "Into My Life" rounds off one of the best samplers we've heard in some time."

Picadilly Records:
"Amsterdam's Sleazy Beats Recordings serves up their fourth platter of beatdown disco-house grooves. Eddie C makes a welcome return to the label with "Move Me", a delicious pitched-down chugger featuring sexy, soulful female vocals. Next up Home Taping's SE62 deliver a heavy rework of a forgotten Willie Hutch track - nice and fat, in a "Do It The Max" kinda way. On the flip Tornado Wallace also comes back to the Sleazy Beats fold, following his recent outing on Delusions Of Grandeur. Here he drops a killer take on Surface's “Stop Holding Back”. If you liked The Revenge's "Looking Up To You" edit, then this is a must! Lastly Daniel Solar (of No More Hits fame) wraps up the EP with a classy, dubby rework of Melba Moore's "You Stepped Into My Life". All essential for your disco, folks!"

Sleazy Update

2010-09-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Holy shit there's a lot going on at the moment around Sleazy HQ! First things first: our new record just hit the shops. For those of you who haven't heard it yet, it's our first sampler, it features tracks by Tornado Wallace, Eddie C, SE62 and Daniel Solar, it's vinyl only, a limited pressing and we think it's very, very good. We'd had some great feedback from giants like Harri, Ali OOFT, The Revenge, Cottam, LTJ XPerience, Dead Rose Music Company, Sleazy McQueen, Craig Smith and a few others, who've all been finding a place for these bobs and beats in their sets.

Fatcity Records wrote a nice little review on the release:

"Fourth release on the label from those guys over at the excellent Sleazybeats blog. Eddie C returns with a bang with his chugger 'Move Me', Tornado Wallace continues his fine form with a take on Surface's 'Stop Holding Back'. On the flip, Home Taping´s SE62 delivers a heavy rework of a forgotten Willie Hutch track and Daniel Solar (of No More Hits fame) wraps up the EP with a classy, dubby rework of Melba Moore´s ´You Stepped Into My Life´. Lovely stuff".

It always feels a little weird/wrong to hype up our own releases, so have a listen and see if it's up your alley:

It's out now in all fine record stores, so head over to Juno, Phonica, Picadilly, FatCity, Chemical or your local record dealer for a copy.

In other news, we got to do a mix for the classy Deepcast series, which is run out of Melbourne. They've had some of the world's best DJs to throw records together for them, so it feels like a huge honour to be part of their show. We even got to answer a few questions and talk about music, vinyl, misunderstandings and upcoming Sleazy Releases, so head over to their website if you're interested in our ramblings.

Andy Hart, the gent who runs things over at Deepcast, has a fine ear for production too, so make sure to keep track of his tracks and bits over at soundcloud.

The fun doesn't end there though, as we finally managed to find a way to get some sleazy cotton action going. We set up a shop with the fine folks over at Zazzle, which means they take care of the printing, selling and handling etc. Their prices are a bit steep (sadly, we have no say in that) but hey, it's printing on demand, they use really nice and soft American Apparel tees and the quality of their screenprints is superb. We have two different designs up at the moment (by the two winners of our design contest, Lucie Barriere & Matt McDonald), available in a bunch of different colours.

Make sure to google for Zazzle Promo codes before ordering, there's always a code floating about that'll knock a few bucks/quid/euros of the price...

Sleazy TeeShirtShop

Kojak Giant Sound Feature

2010-09-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

Those of you that have reading up on all things disco for a few years must have stumbled upon the now defunct Kojak Giant Sounds blog at some point. Finnish veteran Ionik (who also runs things over at Traveller Records) pulled the plug on the blog back in February 2010 and set up a label under the Kojak flag instead. In a few months time, Kojak has established itself as one of the most-hyped edit imprints around, and deservedly so: with rising talents like Nicholas, Rayko, Blacklodge and Leftside Wobble expertly wielding the editing blade, you know you can expect nothing but quality leftfield disco and boogie beats. The five 12"s Kojak put out all sold out in a matter of days and go for silly amounts on discogs now. About time we got in touch with Kojak label boss Ionik for a quick Q&A (see below). Have a listen to some of Kojak and Traveller's best bits below while reading up on upcoming represses and Finland's vibrant disco scene.

Nicholas - "Slick Groove" by Kojak Giant Sounds™

Alphabet City Edits - "Poyson" by Kojak Giant Sounds™

Alphabet City - "Turn Me Up" by Traveller Records

SB: So far the releases have been very limited. How do you feel about people selling Kojak records on Discogs for over 30 pounds?

I only press what I think is necessary. Obviously the demand is bigger these days compared to the beginning of the year with the first release, so there will be represses coming soon. I generally press up what I can ship quickly and then move on to the next release, I like to keep busy with it. Having said that, I´m pressing up more Kojak stuff from now on due to hooking up with a worldwide distribution. As far as the earlier Kojak titles being expensive, I don´t have a problem with it - Discogs is definitely a buyers market these days.

SB: Traveller has been going for a while now, what sound are you pushing with

this imprint at the moment?

Yeah man, it´s been a great 7-year ride so far! We just dropped the two summer anthems with Alphabet City and Rayko, both are still doing very well. Next up is a long overdue dream of mine coming into reality and that´s the Rhythm Kings compilation - it´s looking to be something to be really proud of, that´s all I can say at the moment. I also have the first reissue on Traveller lined up for early 2011 - stay tuned folks!

SB: You run things out of Finland, is there a deephouse/disco scene to speak of?

Most definitely. Having djed here for over 15 years I´ve seen the musical trends come & go like in any other place but disco/deep house has always prevailed. The most discerning & respected clubs here will always keep the vibe alive. The downside is the lack of bigger cities but the choice of quality nights on any given weekend more than makes up for it.

SB: How do you feel about everyone and their mum making edits these days? A good thing, or the beginning of the end?

I guess the freedom of nobody actually producing (in the traditional sense) as an artist can lead to unnecessary tracks being released as an mp3 or whatever but as long as there are actual labels putting in the work of overseeing the substance of a final product I guess the overall good/bad ratio doesn´t really differ from any other music genre. It´s always a good thing when you can express yourself through music.

SB: What do you have lined up for both labels (read: when do we have to cancel
all previous engagements, whip out the credit card and scan the horizon for
a new Kojak release)

Kool DJ Dust 12" plus more disco/boogie heat on Kojak, we´re dipping into some
merchandise as well. Traveller will bust out the Rhythm Kings compilation plus more disco/house 12" for the floor. We´re witcha!
-----------

Head over to Kojak's soundcloud page for full-length samples of all releases and buy those 12"s on sight

The Groovers - Chicken Noodles (Sad Ghost Remix)

2010-08-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

We don't cover many digital releases on these pages. It's not that we're snobs (well maybe a little) but there's just too much stuff coming out these days to really keep track of what's going on in digital disco land. I'm really glad we got sent the Sad Ghost Remix of The Groovers' Chicken Noodle release that hit Juno Download a few days ago though. Sad Ghost is the alter ego of Another Night on Earth editor in chief Chris Keys, whose blog has been our favorite musical hangout for years now. We already knew Chris had a fine ear for melodies and song structures (his recent edit of Flower - For Real on American Standard is one of those tracks I simply can not stop playing), but here he showcases his talent for the deepest deephouse.

Despite the really unimaginative name (seriously, "the Groovers" is the best these guys could come up with?) the original is an incredibly deep and slow, erm, deephouser, with loads of oomph and acidic synths. It's mesmerizing, it's ace. The Sad Ghost remix retains the solid groove of the original, but its added claps, swirly bits and deep pads work a real treat. Close your eyes and it sounds a little like Charles Webster and Manuel Tur just made a tune together and then decided to drop the tempo to 96 BPM. Which is definately a good thing. Don't sleep on this. Have a listen to the Sad Ghost remix here:

the groovers - chicken noodle (sad ghost remix) by chris keys

Buy your copy here

No Request - Sleazy Beats Mix

2010-08-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

Another installement of our Sleazy Beats Mix series, this time coming from NYC's Matt MacDonald, better known as slo-mo edit maestro NoRequest. I don't know where he finds the time, but it seems there's a new rework up on his soundcloud every day. We're not talking lazy extended intro type edits, a NoRequest edit means a complete workover in all its pitched down and sleazified glory. Matt's recent rework of Kissy Asplund is one of the sexiest things I've heard in a while, make sure to head over here to grab a copy.

The Dikso Super Sound Single vol. 1 we covered on these pages a few weeks ago featured No Request's first track on vinyl. Another 12" is in the works on a new label, and a digital release in September on Parallax. You can catch Matt playing alongside Aaron DAE on September 3rd. Check out the flyer, it doesn't get any sleazier than this does it?

Matt did us a two hour long ride that starts incorporates druggy downtempo, lowslung deepness and midtempo sleazy disco. Check out the mix here, it's really quite amazing, and we're more than happy to be able to share this live recording with you

NoRequest - Sleazy Beats Mix by SleazyBeats

Benji Boko - Perhaps
Nightmares on Wax - Les Nuits
Negghead - Being
The Pointer Sisters - Going Down Slowly (Brevil Edit)
The Deadbeats - Breathe
Franc Spangler - Open Eyes
Dennis Edwards - Don't Look Any Further (The Revenge Rework)
NoRequests - I Love Biggie More
Reset - Juicy
Nicholas - Dig Deep
Mtume - Ready For Your Love (Ramboiage Edit)
Cosmic Boogie - Catch 22
Tornado Wallace - Stop Holding Back
Tornado Wallace - Be My Ladyboy
Nicholas - Never
SE62 - Out There
Tornado Wallace - Swimmin'
The Francis Inferno Orchestra - Oh Teddy (Demo)
Toby Tobias ft. Kathy Diamond - A Little Bit More
Zoe's Raygun - Gangster Sunset (Extended Lowrider Dub)
Mock & Toof - Shoeshine Boogie (Wolf & Lamb Remix)
Kasper Bjorke - Heaven
Soulpersona ft. Kia Bennett - So Natural
Sade - No Ordinary Love