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Alex Andrikopolous AKA Lex (Athens) released his brilliant debut album Waving in 2022 on Leng and he now returns with an EP combining fine remixes of tracks from Waving alongside two new previously unheard cuts.

The remixes are undeniably special. Fittingly, the EP begins with the first of these, a sensationally sun-soaked revision of one of Andrikopolous’s most Balearic moments – previous single ‘Punta Allen’ – by former Nuphonic fusionists and FAR label founders Faze Action. The Lee brothers’ take is one of those sunset-friendly workouts that wraps glistening guitar licks, steel pan style motifs, Lex’s gorgeous lead lines, hazy electric piano solos and life-affirming keyboard riffs around rolling nu-disco beats and a new rubbery bassline courtesy of Robin Lee himself. It has the feel of a pool-side anthem in the making.

Just as potent is the typically quirky and hard-to-pigeonhole revision of ‘Prezend’ by Manchester maverick Ruf Dug. Here he offers up a genuinely revolutionary rework, re-imaging the track as a sparse-but-colourful fusion of vintage acid house bass, saucer-eyed piano riffs, dubbed-out synth sounds, jacking lo-fi drum machine beats and squelchy TB-303 tweaks. While fresh and undeniably contemporary, the remix has an alluringly nostalgic, retro-futurist vibe.

Clustered around these two top-notch revisions is a pair of previously unreleased Lex originals. He joins forces with regular collaborator Locke once more on ‘Libre De Amor’, an infectious chunk of, low-slung dub disco marked out by weighty bass, jammed-out electric piano motifs, spacey pads, intergalactic effects and mazy synth solos. Dotted with additional percussion hits and echoing female vocal snippets, it’s one of the pair’s most potent dancefloor workouts of recent times.

To round off a rock-solid EP, the Athens-based veteran blurs the boundaries between stripped-back, late-80s house nostalgia and nu-disco. ‘Super Awake’ boasts cowbell-sporting Chicago house beats and acid house inspired bass, on to which he’s layered all manner of colourful synth sounds, jangly piano stabs and spacey electronics. Throw in some typically immersive chords and progressively more psychedelic TB-303 motifs, and you have a genuinely triumphant conclusion to a formidably floor-focused EP.


TRACK LISTING

A1. Punta Allen (Faze Action Remix)
A2. Libre De Amor (w/Locke)
B1. Prezend (Ruf Dug Remix)
B2. Super Awake

Payfone & Kyd Nereida

I Feel You (Inc Mudd Remix & Instrumental) - 2024 Reissue

    Since emerging on Golf Channel Recordings a decade ago, Payfone has built up a strong catalogue of singles that effortlessly blur the boundaries between slow-motion electronic disco, seductive songs and sun-splashed Balearic beats. While the project has appeared on a number of different labels, some of the best material – including the superb ‘Last Night In Sant Celoni’ and atmospheric ‘Sofian’ – has appeared on Leng.

    ‘I Feel You’, Payfone’s first outing on the long-serving label for two years, is another high-class mid-tempo offering tailor-made for loved-up dancefloors and intoxicated, sofa-bound listening sessions. Produced by Phil Passera and Jimmy Day in collaboration with Dominican Republic-born lyricist and vocalist Kyd Nereida, who also appears on the cover artwork, the song is a typically atmospheric, mid-tempo treat marked out by immersive chords, squelchy synth-bass, eyes-closed jazz guitar motifs (courtesy of guests J Felix and Royce Wood Jr.) and smoky sax (provided by Jordi Blanch). Add some bonus percussion hits and Nereida’s sassy lead vocal, and you have another superb, stirring and spine-tingling treat.

    The accompanying remixes come from label co-founder Paul Murphy under his now familiar Mudd alias, marking the first time that he’s provided reworks for the imprint since 2015. His vocal and instrumental wrap Passera and Day’s original mix in layers of tactile, evocative musical goodness for a heady and intoxicating atmospheric excursion.

    Opting for a warming, soul-enriching vibe, Murphy adds slowly shifting synth sounds, flanged guitars, sun-soaked chords, simmering synth-strings and spacey electronics. By the time guest keyboardist Michele Chiavarini’s solos make their way into the sound space to – taking things up a notch emotionally in the process – you’ll be lost in Murphy and Payfone’s loved-up aural world. As remixes go, they’re as stunning as Payfone’s superb original mix.

    TRACK LISTING

    A1. I Feel You
    B1. I Feel You (Mudd Remix)
    B2. I Feel You (Mudd Instrumental Remix) 

    Setting out to create a future Balearic anthem while doffing a cap to street soul and synth-heavy Italo-disco B-sides of the early 1980s, Orbs of Light’s debut single, ‘Billion Days’ lands on Leng after a tip-off from Mind Fair duo Dean Meredith and Ben Shenton, who booked the duo to play live at their Rotation festival last summer.

    Orbs of Light’s Baz Bradley and A Girl Called Kate have been friends for decades and have collaborated musically in the past, though it was only a couple of years ago that they dreamed up this project. It was first trialled via a 2021 remix for Andres y Xavi on Hollis Recordings (‘Perfect Timing’) on which Kate added new vocals to Bradley’s interpretation of the track. Since then, regular recording sessions have taken place, with the duo first crafting tight instrumental tracks before – in Bradley’s words – “dream up the best songs we can” with “melodies that will hopefully stay in your head all day”.

    It would be fair to say that they’ve achieved that goal on ‘Billion Days’, a hooky and addictive affair whose vocal hooks and strong chorus could well inspire Balearic sing-alongs in the months ahead. Their original mix (B1 on the vinyl version of the EP, track 2 on the digital EP) is joyous, cheery and kaleidoscopic, with steel pan style melodies, bouncy synth stabs, jaunty lead lines and Kate’s wonderful lead vocal riding a shuffling, post street soul beat and a bubbly bassline.

    The accompanying remix package is naturally very strong too. San Francisco crew 40 Thieves, fresh from dropping a killer single of their own on Leng (‘The Gift’, with disco legends Gary Davis and Cinnamon Jones), step up first with a take that stretches out and builds on Orbs of Light’s original mix – think wobbly nu-disco synth bass, fresh flute sounds, dubbed-out vocal snippets and a locked-in groove that’s just perfect for sun-soaked alfresco dancing.

    Fittingly, the second and final revision comes from Mind Fair, whose email to Leng HQ about Orbs of Light got the ball rolling. Opting for a rubbery, body-popping beat inspired by vintage electro, they deliver a joyful, effects-laden Balearic dancefloor ‘Dub Mix’ that somehow makes a genuinely life-affirming record even more loved-up and saucer-eyed – despite the presence of only a fraction of Kate’s addictive lead vocal. 

    TRACK LISTING

    A1. Billion Days (40 Thieves Version)
    B1. Billion Days
    B2. Billion Days (Mind Fair Dub)

    Takovoi

    Perfect Match

    Back in 2019, Leng Records offered a debut to a previously unheralded producer, Takovoi. Three years on, the Russian nu-disco specialist returns to the label with a five-track EP that displays the depth and quality of his rapidly evolving trademark sound.

    The Perfect Match EP delivers a range of grooves and stylistic approaches while showcasing the producer’s love of dreamy Balearic chords, soft-touch synth sounds and colourful melodies.

    He sets the tone with the EP-opening title track, ‘Perfect Match’ where sustained, sun-down chords, yearning lead lines, cascading piano motifs and twinkling electronics ride a shuffling, post-electro beat and a warm, undulating bassline. ‘Homesickness’ sees Takovoi wrap waves of rising and falling synth sounds and melancholic melodies around a deep, hypnotic nu-disco groove, while the slow-motion sensation that is ‘Dreams’ brings throbbing analogue bass, sustained piano chords, sparkling electronics and the gentlest of beats.

    Takovoi’s dancefloor credentials come to the fore with ‘Bubbles’, a slowly building Balearic nu-disco gem that layers up echo-laden percussion hits, eyes-closed melodies, and drowsy synth sounds over a bustling beat that sits somewhere between deep house and TR-808-driven broken beat.

    This off-kilter approach to beat programming continues on the EP’s inspired closing cut, ‘Another The Same’, where hazy female vocal samples, immersive chords and reverb-heavy musical motifs gingerly dance on a bouncy and densely layered 4/4 beat. When the main melody makes its presence felt midway through, the track is elevated to a whole new level altogether. It’s a fittingly impressive end to Takovoi’s new EP for Leng.


    TRACK LISTING

    1. Perfect Match
    2. Homesickness
    3. Dreams
    4. Bubbles
    5. Another The Same

    There’s much to be said for chance meetings. Vitruvians – in their words, “a meeting of minds, cultures, styles and experiences, powered by music, and designed by faith” – owe their very existence to once such random encounter. In the summer of 2014, producers Frankie Valentine and Thomas “T-Ash” Sciurpa bumped into each other in a London shoe shop. Over a fine selection of brogues and loafers, the conversation drifted onto music. The duo quickly realized they had much in common, and a plan began to form: they would get together and make music as Vitruvians, using the alias as a vehicle for their collaborative work. Some 18 months and numerous recording sessions in England and Italy later, the first Vitruvians record is ready for release. Dropping on Paul Murphy and Simon Purnell’s Leng Records imprint, “Spaghetti Saloon” is a banjo-pickin’ hoedown at the last drinking hole in the Milky Way. Propelled forwards by a restless drum machine rhythm, the duo’s original version expertly combines winding synthesizer melodies, wild honky-tonk piano solos, clanging ‘closing time’ bells, and the most loved-up banjo player in the galaxy. Ennio Morricone, eat your heart out.
    The flipside of the 12” features a pair of tasty, DJ-friendly revisions. There’s the chugging Banjo Dub, where delay-laden bells and undulating banjo lines rub shoulders with a throbbing, space disco groove, and the even more psychedelic and alluring Piano Dub. As the title suggests, this pushes the duo’s distinctive keys work to the fore, stretching out the life affirming solos in a bid to incite even greater dancefloor abandon. Down a glass of bourbon, grab a partner, and get dancin’.


    TRACK LISTING

    A. Spaghetti Saloon
    B. Spaghetti Saloon (Banjo Dub)
    B. Spaghetti Saloon (Piano Dub)


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