Album Review: Future Disco Vol. 7 - Various

The Future Disco series from Needwant has been running for so long now that it feels like it is reaching that difficult, slightly flabby middle age period on this, the seventh in the series. The label continue to put out decent material but the nu-disco scene feels a little less sprightly than it once did and it is difficult not to feel that coming through.

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Future Disco Vol. 7

Future Disco Vol. 7 is cast in tribute to those that make it through to the end, the obligitory strap line this time proudly claiming "’Til The lights Come Up". It's a mentality Future Disco resident Sean Brosnan appears to take to heart, because much of the best material is saved for the album's close making the opening half feel like a bit of a slog. Ejeca's starry-eyed rave anthem Together still feels just as youthful but it is sandwiched between so much by-the-numbers female vocal house (H.O.S.H.'s Disc Jockey) and trance influenced groove (Mirror Mirror's Kaleidoscope) it numbs the ears. Even Benoit & Sergio fail to turn things around, Shake Shake still not delivering anything like their previous highs.

It isn't until the more considered second half that Vol. 7 starts to get interesting. The DJ Koze mix of Mount Kimbie's Made To Stray is unexpected and ushers in a more constrained and slightly melancholic atmosphere. Both Naughty, by Names In Lights, and the Outboxx mix of Clouds by Crazy P feel understated - tracks for those that really want to dance. When James Fox shows up with Holding On (NYC Mix) it therefore feels like the album has earned a moment of self-encouraging reflection, and it gets it.

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Sean Brosnan

From there, as is often the case with Future Disco albums, things are seen to a close with a series of beautiful moments. Templehof's Drake is played as a soulful electronic bed to the looped vocals from Holding On, creating a wonderful momentary pause. Ada's cover version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Maps, here remixed by Michael Mayer and Tobias Thomas, is similarly restrained, even if it will never make you feel as much as Karen O's staggering original. Downtown Party Network's goosebump-inducing 'Space Me Out' features in its Mario Basanov remixed form and it feels like a real end-of-the-night moment. The actual finale is Tale Of Us & Clockwork's subtler but equally introspective Lost Keys.

So in the end, Future Disco Vol. 7 brings it back, but that first half feels like this is a label compilation that could do with being more prudent with its own catalogue, looking afield more often for inspiration.

Future Disco Vol. 7 is released on Monday through Needwant, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on CD [affiliate link]. Check out the album mini mix on Soundcloud:

Too early to go home, too late to stay still... The award winning Future Disco series sets the tone for 2014 with their seventh instalment 'Til The Lights COME Up'. After a successful third summer residency in conjunction with Carl Cox at Space in Ibiza, Future Disco's Sean Brosnan delivers a seventeen track compendium that pays tribute to those that keep pace until the end of the night.

EP Review: Together EP - EJECA

Northern Ireland's EJECA appears to be going from strength to strength at the moment, with remixes for Bloc Party and The Magician as well as a growing reputation as a DJ. This EP follows on from last year's Horizon EP and marks his return to Needwant, the label behind that release.

"Together" moves away from the pure garage influenced sound of "Horizon" but keeps its eyes firmly on the past with jungle rhythms and a starry-eyed piano house riff that gives the track a distinctive early-90s rave feel. It's unashamedly nostalgic but Ejeca does this style so well. Marking his first release on Needwant, Terence Parker delivers a more upfront Detroit influenced house version, with firm four-four rhythms and a driving groove.

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Horizon EP - EJECA

On the flip side is a deeper 'Night Edit' of "Horizon" by EJECA, who gives it a fuller beat and a more dubby sound. The EP is rounded out with a second original track in "Forest", a deep, restrained track that points to a more varied sound. It is much less of a dancefloor track and more of a moody instrumental, with soulful strings hidden within a mix that dials up some round, sophisticated drum work and bass.

 Together EP is released through Needwant next week, available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk on MP3 [affiliate link]. Check it out on Soundcloud:

Listen to EJECA - Together (Available now on Needwant) by EJECA | Explore the largest community of artists, bands, podcasters and creators of music & audio.

EP Review: Ministry of Love - Romanthony

I recently mentioned Romanthony in my review of Poolside Sounds Vol. II from the Future Disco series. At the time the inclusion of a track from Romanthony, years since his last high profile release and just weeks after his untimely death, seemed a spooky coincidence.

And whilst this release does nothing to reduce the coincidental nature of Anthony Moore's music cropping up again just as he left our world it does provide some more context. These remixes come out on Glasgow Underground as a result of label owner Kevin McKay's affection for Romanthony's work, and they started working on these remixes together with a view to releasing them along with an anthology of his best work (don't call it a greatest hits, there were none) and an album of the mixes later this year.

Romanthony and McKay were long-time collaborators following McKay's pursuit of an interview with the illusive start when he worked was writing for the long-since departed Muzik magazine... The interview didn't happen for a few more years, but they did strike up a friendship. McKay ended up setting up Glasgow Underground and released a string of singles and three albums, including the seminal R. Hide In Plain Site.

Romanthony ended up featuring on two tracks on Daft Punk's 2001 opus Discovery, and it's lead single, 'One More Time'. The latter was such a massive hit that Romanthony had no real financial need to record anything, and was having too good a time to worry about doing so. However, a legal case was launched against Daft Punk in 2006 from an unknown disco artist called Eddie Johns, who claimed 'One More Time' sampled his song 'More Spell On You' (you can see this here). The result being that payments to Romanthony, as one of the writers of the song, were put on hold.

Romanthony's celebrity lifestyle had to go on hold and he recorded new material, but whilst McKay tried to find a home for it no label was interested, despite the pedigree of Romanthony's back catalogue. McKay also tried to pair him up with some other producers but they innevitably ended up just trying to get him to do vocals on their own tracks, rather than let Romanthony record his own material. Understandably he wasn't prepared to compromise.

The final option was to revisit the back catalogue, which is how we ended up with 'Bring U Up' being remixed and featured on Poolside Sounds Vol. II.  Following his death there was much soul searching, but the remixes are now being released to provide a legacy from the artist's children.

 'Ministry of Love' is one of Romanthony's older tracks and therefore one I'm less familiar with. There's a real nineties vibe to this, particularly to the high pitched vocal chant that features, and the remixes all, to a greater or lesser extent, play up to that. 

Kevin McKay has got three mixes on this release - one straight-up, a 90s re-edit and one versus Mirrors. The straight up mix is more modern and both that and the 90s re-edit are highlights on this broad package, retaining the soul of the original but giving it a twist. The main McKay mix has a loose bassline with a touch of acid and a subtly funky drum set. 

EJECA's busy creating nostalgic 90s influenced rave at the best of time and so his mix is deliberately backwards looking, with an old school garage baseline and plenty of piano. Andrés' mix is swinging, full of a subtly crackling vinyl sound and a fair amount of soul. Andy Crom's mix also uses 90s garage bass patterns and pairs it with some tight drums.

As a remix package it's generous and has it's moments, but as a tribute to the artist this feels a little lacking. Romanthony produced a number of fantastic records and but I'm not convinced this was his best, so it seems a shame to lead with it. It is also a shame not to include the original so people can get an understanding of what made him such a great producer. We can only hope that these releases do something to raise some awareness for what a talent Anthony Moore was regardless.

Ministry of Love is out now on Glasgow Underground. 

EP Review: Horizon EP - EJECA

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

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EJECA - Horizon​

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

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

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