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: Space Me Out - Downtown Party Network feat. Egle Sirvydyte

Space Me Out doesn't sound like the sort of thing I expect to hear from artists called Downtown Party Network but it is pretty glorious all the same. Far away from the jump-up party sounds their name suggest this Downtown Party Network track is a spectral and sunny electronic-influenced ballad.

Egle Sirvydyte's delicate vocals create a beautiful centre for this record, delicate as she lays down the verses and breathless and drenched in reverb as she repeats the track's title for the chorus. A warm, round four-four beat provides a little momentum but it is the friction of an electronic bass line and glistening piano that provide the real counter to those vocals. And it's pretty lovely.

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Space Me Out - Downtown Party Newtwork ft. Egle Sirvydyte

Three remixes feature. First up is regular Needwant star Mario Basanov, whose work I have praised in the past even though he occasionally falters. Here he plays it clean - this is a version almost as laid back as the original, and whilst at times he layers in some slightly darker bass it still continues to respect the original. It's very tasteful, but given the quality of the source and Basanov's way with warm Balearic epics it feels a little... tame.

Musk's version is a little more raw, some deep bass and lots of reverb adding a little grit to the mix whilst the vocal is manipulated into a series of percussive cuts. It is clearly more of a club cut but still retains the feel of the original. The final mix comes from Berlin's Hannes Fischer, who gives the track an intelligent tech-house vibe, not far from a Luomo track. It is a considerably tighter version but retains a soulful feel, warm synths and electronic patterns adding some depth and body to the track.

A quality and refined take on electronic soul. Space Me Out is out on Silence Music now soon, and you will be able to buy the MP3 from Amazon.co.uk here [affiliate link]. Listen via Soundcloud below:

www.facebook.com/downtownpartynetwork Downtown Party Network released their first single Days Like These back in 2009, which quickly become an earworm for clubbers in Lithuania, Ibiza, the UK and everywhere else. The mission had to be continued, so summer of 2009 was greeted with the second record on Eskimo.