Album Review by EDF
It’s that time of the year when the nights are getting longer and to keep the chill from the bones, those good people at Hed Kandi warm up those cold nights with some hot tunes, courtesy of the Disco Kandi crew. This collection starts with two funky house tunes ‘The Night’ by WHO DA FUNK and ‘Ghetto Funk’ by MIRABEAU. The Artful Dodger Mix of PARA BEATS’ ‘U Got Me’ is one of their most accessible and danceable mixes from this remix crew.
Some house tunes can sound a bit tired and repetitive. These include AXWELL’s ‘Feel The Vibe’ and COPYRIGHTS’ ‘Essence Of Life’, with both tracks managing to expand one minute of music to six and ten minutes respectively. On the other end of the quality line is DAJAE’s ‘Brighter Days’ and NATE JAMES’ uplifting ‘The Message’, both tracks being the highlight of this collection. The somewhat jazzy ‘Rosa Nova’ by HANNA HAIS is a bit on the slow side getting a groove going but when it does, it is simply infectious.
There are a number of instrumental tracks throughout and of those that appear, there are two that stand out from the others. GRANT NELSON’s ‘Life’ is one that will stay in your head for a while and BLANCO & MOTO’s jazzy, funk ‘Black Sugar’ sounds like a great party that you missed. DEUX’s ‘Sun Rising Up’ is one of the most intense House tunes you will ever come across thanks to a chord hook line that is textured on the track. The outstanding track here is FREEMASONS’ ‘Free On My Mind’ Philly Mix. You can only imagine that this is what the classic Philadelphia sound would be like in the 21st century.
Of course there is the odd track here that has crossed over to the mainstream. This comes in the form of SOULSEARCHER’s ‘Feelin Love’ and a complete remix of the classic ROCKERS REVENGE’s tune ‘Walking On Sunshine’, which admittedly sounds like a bad idea but somehow it works. Overall, this year’s DISCO KANDI is another quality release.
