#176 – Escort

This the band Escort, originally a production duo that has grown into a seventeen piece live band, who make some awesome ‘nu-disco’. Except it’s all done live, by such a large group that their tour bus is probably a double-decker bendy bus. And I can imagine that booking them isn’t all that easy, as it means finding a backstage area enough to hold them all as well as putting them all on stage at the same time.

However, if we stop concentrating on the minutiae, you’ll see/hear that they are really bloody good. I stumbled across them on my iTunes library, while listening to some Errors and spotting the song ‘Cocaine Blues’, which I got about two years ago from RCRD LBL. One listen and I was kicking myself for having missed it first time ’round. This song is a cover of Dillinger’s 1976 song ‘Cocaine In My Brain’, only instead of being a chilled reggae song it’s been turned into a funky slice of disco that sounds like it’s from the 70’s itself.

Escort – Cocaine Blues [Buy]

#172 – Chilling

It’s two slices of Groove Armarda for you today, although they’re both remixes. The first is by my favourite camp disco producers The Twelves. This is a more sedate slice from them, but it’s got all the ingredients that make a fantastic Twelves production. It’s still funky, dance-worthy but if it’s on a little quieter then this would go down a treat for a chill.

Groove Armarda – Drop The Tough (The Twelves Remix)

#160 – Ben Browning – ‘I Can’t Stay’

Not an awful lot to say here. I will content myself with wiggling my hips vigourously.

Ben Browning – I Can’t Stay [Buy]

#87 – Sorry It Was So Quiet

Hello all. Sorry about the hiatus but I’ve been up to all sorts, don’t you know. Here are 3 songs I’ve been listening to on my travels and three songs from my (rather backed up) inbox.

This old Bedouin Soundclash song is a classic in my book. Dancy yet rootsy, it is immensely listenable. And I listened to it a lot.

Bedouin Soundclash – Natural Right (Rude Bwoy)

Next is a disco classic. Which isn’t necessarily a great thing… That said, this song is (or should be) on everyone’s guilty pleasure list. If I ever hear this on a night out I think I will try and kiss the DJ, irrespective of gender and the subsequent fallout with my girlfriend. We also imaginatively changed the lyric “Baby give it up / Give it up, baby give it up” to “Ollie Ollie Hope / Ollie Hope… etc”. Sung in a Mancunian accent, there really is no better way to let a good friend know we’re thinking about him. Although I’m not sure he appreciates it as much as we all do.

KC & The Sunshine Band – Give It Up [Buy]

My final choice from the songs I’ve had on rotation the past six weeks is from German minimal duo Booka Shade.