VA: Future Disco Vol 9: A Disco Love Affair
Needwant

Anyone still suffering the lingering effects of New Year's or mired in the winter doldrums can instantly right such wrongs thanks to Needwant's latest Future Disco compilation. The ninth chapter is subtitled A Disco Love Affair, and though it is that it's also a wormhole capable of transporting you to the center of the most carefree summer. Think of it as a fast-acting panacea for all that could possibly ail you.

At first celebrated, then derided, disco soldiered on and eventually prevailed, its indomitable spirit alive today in multiple strands of house and dance music. Needwant's release pays homage to disco's origins by opening with a snippet of Nicky Siano, an original resident of New York's Studio 54, but it's no retrograde project. A number of artists included are contemporary talents (I Robots, HNNY), whilst the long-standing connection betwixt disco and dance music is referenced by a Tom Trago remix of New Order's “Tutti Frutti” (from 2015's Music Complete).

Goosed with a funky synth earworm, Fatima Yamaha's sultry “What's a Girl to Do” eases the listener into a mix whose smooth, laid-back vibe often makes it feel like one designed with the after-hours party in mind. The inclusion of Hess Is More (“Youarenotaprimate”), Boxed In (“All My Love”), Native Riddim (“COEO”), Ashworth (“Cork”), and PBR Streetgang (“Page One”) and remixers Tuff City Kids and Joshua James means, of course, that there's jump aplenty, too, and with disco bass lines, melodic sparkle, handclaps, and ever-percolating mirror-ball grooves in plentiful supply the likelihood of anyone nodding off during the mix's multi-scenic trip is slim indeed.

Aptly issued on Valentine's Day, the breezy set has been made available in mixed and unmixed versions, with the latter featuring seventeen tracks and the former containing slightly fewer tracks but still weighing in at a healthy seventy-four minutes.

February 2016