BnB Review: Horse Meat Disco III

Written by Manu Ekanayake

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Yes, the Horse Meat Disco juggernaut keeps rolling along – and this time James Hillard, Jim Stanton, Severino and Filthy Luka have got 2 CDs of disco panic for you to enjoy. Werk!

There’s been no stopping the Horse Meat Disco boys over the last few years; now they’re as well known for their regular residencies at Tape club (Berlin) and Lux (Lisbon) as for their flagship party every Sunday at The Eagle in Vauxhall. So it’s only right and proper that they’re spreading their love over two CDs instead of one this time, to better showcase the diversity of their beloved disco. CD 1 is all about reflecting HMD’s love of the Salsoul classics, while also paying tribute to the disco scene’s love of a good re-edit.

This mixture of new gems and old masters is central to what the club is about; take the pure 70s funkiness of Claudja Barry’s Sweet Dynamite (via a Todd Terje re-edit) and then consider the next track, DJ Harvey’s remix of Born Under Punches (by Fuzz Against Junk) which takes a more strident 90s tone for the dancefloor. Other gems include Suzy Q’s I Can’t Give You More (DC edit), a fine example of the power of good vocal disco, which backs onto Severino’s heavy dub of Billie Ray Martin’s Sweet Suburban Disco… now that’s a serious rave couplet if ever I heard one.

There is a slightly different focus to CD 2 – to pay tribute to the likes of classic NYC disco clubs like The Saint, the press release tells us – and things take a more vintage disco turn, as we luxuriate in the funky horns of Sylvester’s Give It Up, the sublime vocals of the late, great Loleatta Holloway on the Salsoul Orchestra’s Seconds and the slick 80s boogie of Basier’s Summer Breeze. This CD features more light and shade than the first, but the varying tempos work well as a contrast to CD 1’s more direct approach. And what better note to end on than Two Tons Of Fun’s Just Us? Orchestral funky disco of the highest order… and the perfect end to yet another amazing HMD comp.