The Heels Of Love – Flight 707

Nu-disco giants Nang come up with the goods once more, this time in the form of a new 12" from Italian duo The Heels Of Love, AKA Milan residents Michele Tessadri and Luca Saponaro.

This is by no means straight-up nu-disco though, sitting somewhere between the nu-disco camp and retrofied house, what with its mix of vintage analogue synths and soaring Balearic pianos. Remix-wise, Billy Bogus serves up a freaky-deaky cosmic disco pass, Jadoo ups the funk factor and Barking Dogs drag us to the deep house dancefloor… but none of the rerubs can compete, for this reviewer, with the sheer langorous luxuriance of Saponaro and Tessadri's original.

Out: This week

About: Here's where to find Nang online

Max Belobrov – Magic Walk EP

And from a label who haven't featured much on here lately, to a label that's had a ton of TIWWD blog love in recent months… Sleazy Deep. This latest from them comes courtesy of young Russian producer Max Belobrov, plus (on a remix tip) No Artificial Colours and Max Chapman.

In its Original form, Magic Walk is quite a spacey, atmospheric cut, somewhere between deep house, techno and nu-disco, sporting some pretty hefty beats and bass to keep the dancefloor moving and coming topped off with a treated "something's weird… is this music real?" vocal sample. Maceo Plex is a fan, apparently, having dropped this as part of his recent Radio 1 Essential Mix.

Max Chapman then takes Magic Walk off in a proggier direction, but the standout mix for me comes from No Artificial Colours, who open the box marked 'acid-y bleeps' and transform the track into a slab of moody, head-noddin' techno. Be warned, this mix will frighten horses and small children! Stick In The Brain carries on in a similar vein, while as for Kronus… if you can imagine John Carpenter somewhat awkwardly strutting his stuff on a dancefloor, well, that's about as clear a picture as I can paint.

All told, it's pretty forward-thinking stuff and what it lacks in instant, accessible disco dolly appeal, it makes up with its big-screen vision, sci-fi analogue wibbles and sheer twisted freakery.

Out: This week

About: Find Sleazy Deep on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Toomy Disco - Always Awake EP

Toomy Disco, I've only just found out, is a mere 22 years old. Which seems incredible, given the huge waves he's managed to make on the nu-disco scene over the past few years. Here he is again with another excellent offering, coming this time on that home of excellent nu-disco offerings, Nang Records.

Always Awake itself is a throbbing, Balearic-tinged affair, with analogue synth sounds and some phat bass giving the track a real sense of urgency. Life Care is in a similar vein overall but this time featuring some spaced-out geetars and even more sense of impending drama – The Time & Space Machine would be proud! – while finally White Clouds veers into Havlicek-esque Italo territory, but with those psychedelic guitars also in full effect.

So, typical Nang fare in a word… but then from my comments above, you can probably guess I'm not seeing that as a bad thing!

Out: This week

About: Here's where to find Nang Records online.

Alexander Robotnick – Robotnick's Archives Vol 3

The Italian disco don serves up three more from the vaults, this time in the form of Serenade from 1986 and, coming more up to date, Sharper Bluesman from 2004 and a cover of Le Freak from 2000.

The electro-funkin' Serenade will delight those with a fetish for squelchy analogue 80s synth-bass, which I suspect might be quite a few TIWWD readers… vocodered vox from Robotnick himself merely add to the track's retro-tastic appeal. Listening to stuff like this, it's very easy to see how we got from disco to house, which I guess is kind of the point of issuing it now (like the rest of the tracks, this is seeing the light of the day for the first time).

Sharper Bluesman is less essential to these ears – as mid-noughties electrohouse goes it's fine, better than most in fact, but I wouldn't rush out and buy the EP for it. But more pleasing is Le Freak – for curio(sity) value alone, but also as a prime example of how/why Robotnick has been such an influence on the current wave of Italo-obsessed nu-disco producers (or was that last year?).

Anyway, never mind the last paragraph… you need this for Serenade alone. The rest is just gravy.

Out: This week

About: This is brought to you – like Vols 1 & 2 (obviously) – by Robotnick's own label, Hot Elephant

2 Million Beats - Deep Fried Northern

Legendary Manchester label Paper Recordings have been putting out leftfield disco since the days when half of today's clubbers were still in bed by 7pm, with a story if they were good and ate all their peas and carrots.

So they ought to know a thing about it by now, really. And they do… here, serving up a nu-disco three-tracker that'll appeal to those with a fondness for glacial Italo and rasping analogue synths. Admittedly I'm more a 'Philly strings, handclaps and cowbells' kinda guy myself, but horses for courses – devotees of this style will lap these cuts up without a doubt.

Of the three, Factories & Pistons would be my pick, as it's the most obviously dancefloor-leaning… for some reason it reminds me a bit of vintage Cabs. Albeit only a bit.

Out: This week

About: Here's where to find Paper online.