Aldorande is back! The French jazz-funk quartet returns with a strong new EP “Summer Body / Breakfast in Space”.

After their first eponymous LP our explorers strike again with two club-friendly compositions joining the dots between jazz-funk and disco-boogie. Recorded with great care, reflecting a penchant towards the authentic analogue sound, both tracks come with Charles Maurice dub versions.

A-side opens with “Summer Body”, a summery and frivolous boogie jam with magnetic bassline, surrounded by lush synthesizers and catchy backing vocals arranged in the tradition of the best Brazilian songs.

On the B-side comes “Breakfast in Space”, a sort of cosmic opera with maximum flamboyance! The slap bass and drums combo set up a tight P-Funk foundation whilst Aldorande puts psychedelic vocal lines and rampant percussion bursts over the top causing spontaneous eruptions of energy and pleasure all over the mix!

Behind Aldorande, you will find a team of great musicians including bandleader and founder Virgile Raffaëlli on bass (Setenta, Camarão Orkestra), Florian Pellissier on keys (Iggy Pop, Guts, Setenta, Cotonete), Mathieu Edward on drums (Chassol, De La Soul) and Erwan Loeffel on percussion (10LEC6, Camarão Orkestra). For this new EP, always looking for more funk into their groove, they’ve been joined by French guitarist Farid Baha (Cotonete, Camarão Orkestra).

Modern disco and funk doesn’t get much better than this! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Favourite are on a roll at the moment. Releasing brand new funk, boogie and disco that sounds as good as anything from the golden era. This new one by Aldorande is no exception!

TRACK LISTING

A1 Summer Body
A2 Summer Body (Charles Maurice Dub Version)
B1 Breakfast In Space
B2 Breakfast In Space (Charles Maurice Dub Version)

After the recent reissue of their first eponymous album, Favorite Recordings get their licensing paws on “Vegas”, the second LP from Venezuelan band Esperanto. Rare and sought-after for many collectors, it was recorded in between Las Vegas and Caracas and originally released in 1981. Following bandleader Jorge Aguilar in his musical trip to the infamous American city bathing into flashing lights and vivid colors, we're invited to an excursion in disco, boogie and jazz-funk territories.

With great care and attention to details, Esperanto managed to create a very convincing sequel to their debuts. “Vegas” keeps a perfect balance between various influences. Through energic disco beats with intense funky solos, catchy AOR-influenced songs, where Jorge delivers convincing vocal performance, or sunny jazz-funk slow jams, the album still reveals something quite authentic. And this feeling echoes surely the one that could have been felt by Jorge Aguilar while discovering USA on a trip - where it all started for the music he loves. Like sometimes a foreigner's enriching view on some local specialty, he surely brought with the band all his authenticity and young but vibrant experience while convincing at the same time major labels for distribution.

With certain notoriety coming with the release of their first album, Jorge Aguilar and his drummer Pablo Matarazzo planned to go to Los Angeles for a few gigs. But once there, they realized their contact had to leave for Tina Turner's tour in Europe. Before that, he invited them to come along to Las Vegas and eventually meet musicians there. Luckily, the plan worked perfectly: Jorge came back to Los Angeles with a lot of contacts then moved to Boston and NYC before finally coming back to Caracas. He states: ‘I was so impressed with this trip that I told myself that one day I would return to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The first tracks I did them in Los Angeles with Kenny More, James Gadson and other session musicians from that city. Later, I took the tracks to Caracas where the musicians of the band recorded overdubs. After that, I returned to Los Angeles to master with Bernie Grundman who was still working in his small studio at A & M records studios in Hollywood. As can be seen in the title of some of the songs like "Hollywood", "Vegas", "Kenny's Place", were only the translation of my experiences at the time.’

TRACK LISTING

Tell Me This Is Love
Kailua
Love Crusader
Wishful Thinkin'
Hollywood
Kenny's Place
Elle Est Tres Ellegant
Theme From Vegas

New 12" from Magic Source. The all-star group around producer Björn Wagner (known also for his cosmic and tropical-flavoured disco music as Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band and The Mighty Mocambos) creates here a hypnotic four-on-the-floor sound that is both earthy and spaced out and all their own.

Recorded on 16 track analogue tape with inexpensive vintage gear, the crew explores the more unusual facets of disco music off the beaten track in favour of more otherwordly and international stylings. In their music, one could hear echoes from lost tropical disco records, cinematic flavors from library soundtracks and a healthy dose of DIY garage funk rawness.

On A side, "Riviera Drive" is an extended Mediterranean disco groove based on hypnotic percussions and soulful horn themes that alternate with trippy keyboard excursions. The tune is equally at ease on the dancefloor as in a chill-out zone, but of course, prefers to be in its natural habitat in a classic car somewhere between Nice and Monaco.

On the flip, Tom Tom Club's "Genius Of Love" is reimagined as a jazzy yacht soul instrumental with an echoed flute taking the lead. You'll also find a shorter radio edit of "Rivieria Drive".

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: No sooner has the dust settled on Brazilian Disco Boogie and favourite are at it again: bringing us the freshest heat for our all night tropical discotheque! A slow smoochy cover of "Talking Heads" for the lovers and a quick-stepping disco jam for the dancers! Yippeee!

TRACK LISTING

Riviera Drive (Extended Version)
Genius Of Love
Riviera Drive (Radio Edit)

More extended edits from the Brazilian disco archives as Nick The Record, Charles Maurice and Waxist all look to eke out even more joy from these jubilent brances of Brazilian dance music. 

"Relax" is soft, grooving disco; delicate yet subtle driving and perfectly typifying that iconic 'Loft' sound (complete with uplifting key changes and perc sections). It's the very essence of disco executed with Brazilian flair. 

Rabo De Saia's "Ripa Na Xulipa" is pure feel good boogie vibes. I just wish I knew what they were chirping on about! It sounds fun whatever it is and the language barrier certainly won't prevent you from shaking a tail feather or two to this one! 

NTR tames Famks' "Labirinto" into a sultry Sunday session jam. Mid energy, heavily grooving and with that warmth and sentiment you need towards the end of the weekend.

Unmissable stuff here from Favourite and team - highly recommended. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Paul says: This one went straight in my bag! I love Brazilian disco, but in the hands of these sterling remixers, it gets taken to even higher levels!

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Painel De Controle - Relax (extended Waxist Version) (5:54)
Side 2
1. Rabo De Saia - Ripa Na Xulipa (Charles Maurice Extended Version) (5:28)
2. Famks - Labirinto (Nick The Record Extended Version) (6:17)