Michał Urbaniak has passed away today at the age of 82. His work covered everything from jazz and fusion to disco-style numbers like this ditty he recorded with scat singer Urszula Dudziak, which became a worldwide hit. Not exactly happy Christmas news, I’m afraid. Farewell, Michał.
Disco
Various Artists – Ostinato Records: Synthesizing the Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Tatar Jazz from 1980s Soviet Central Asia
I know it must be troublesome to actually click on the link when you can read most of the review from the comfy confines of social media, but this time I implore you to actually click on the link and read the story of how this album came to be. Continue Reading
Various Artists – Light in the Attic Records: Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996
Ukraine has always been a rich vein when it comes to music. Our friends at Light In The Attic Records have put together one of the best introductions to Soviet folk, disco, rock and alternative music to come out of Ukraine during their musical 70’s, 80’s and partially, the 90’s. Continue Reading
Steve Beresford – Dancing the Lines – Gatefold sleeve and 2p Insert (Black Vinyl)
Our friends at Wewantsounds have dug deep for this one, and of course, they have found gold. This album, available from the label as a vinyl-only release, sits in a strange apex of electronic music, soul, pop, jazz and the avant-garde, which is the first genre I would have associated Continue Reading
Marcos Valle & Leon Ware – Feels So Good
Thanks to Marcos Valle doing a bit of cleanup in his home, Far Out Recordings proudly present a 7-inch single of a track Marcos and the late Leon Ware worked on in Los Angeles during the 1980s. Here’s the back story, courtesy of Marcos’ Bandcamp site: “In 1979, together in Continue Reading
Nagat – Eyoun El Alb
Our favorite reissue label, Wewantsounds, offers yet another gem to one of the coolest catalogs around. This album comes from Egyptian diva Nagat, and it’s an example of a type of disco homegrown in Egypt – Disco Arabesquo – which combines the erstwhile dancing style of the 1970s with Arabic Continue Reading
Kofi Ayivor – Adzagli (Jungle Funk)
Though Kofi Ayivor now lives in Amsterdam, there was a time where he was the disco king of Nigeria as well as a conga legend with Osibisa. The music here is what one can call proto-Afrobeat, proto-Nu Jazz, and it sounds so incredibly modern that I thought it was a Continue Reading
Felix Lebarty – Girls For Sale
It’s safe to say that 1976 Nigeria was a somewhat different world from today’s. The Edo-Delta region must have been a rather swinging place if this reissue of Felix Labarty’s classic, Girls For Sale, is any indication. The music is lush, perhaps a little tinny, disco mixed with reggae vibes Continue Reading
Various Artists – Mainstream Disco Funk
Our friends at Wewantsounds have come out with another banger, this time From the label’s Bandcamp site: “In the mid-70s, Bob Shad’s cult New York Jazz label Mainstream Records turned to the burgeoning underground Disco scene and released a handful of great singles produced by the likes of Tommy Stewart, Continue Reading
Tonino Balsamo – Sta Guagliona Mo Ddà
I have something of a love-hate relationship with the city of Naples in Italy, but what always left a big impression on me was the quality of the music coming out of the city of all genres. This particular single is a reissue by Periodica Records of an ultra-rare disco Continue Reading