Spanky Wilson – Sunshine Of Your Love

As funk, soul and disco Saturday rolls on again we once again celebrate all that’s great from the past 40 years. To not have featured Spanky Wilson up until now may be a bit of a crime but that mistake has now been put right.

Performing since the late 60s she has shared a stage with many of the great soul, funk and jazz artists. She has many songs that I could have chosen from and of course has performed with the Quantic Soul Orchestra on numerous occasions throughout the 2000s but “Sunshine Of Your Love” always hits the spot.

Cubic 22 – Night In Motion

Another Friday, another trip back to the early 90s golden era of XL Recordings.

Licensed from Belgian label Big Time International in 1991, “Night In Motion” is an absolute classic with its chunky breaks, quality rave riff and a piano line to die for (later sampled by Strike for that horrendous “U Sure Do” tune).

Fire it up and get the desk disco on the go.

Cubic 22 – Night In Motion

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Jon Convex ft dBridge – Lied To Be Loved

Jon Convex returns once again with another solo outing away from Instra:Mental and for this three track monster he gets old pal dBridge involved on vocal duties.

Opening track “Lied To Be Loved” is a dirty bass driven techy affair. “Zero” goes for a more 4/4 vibe with some funk thrown in, while “Stay” is all about the synths and the soul.

This marks another quality release of the 3024 label which continues its policy of multi genre producers laying down the best quality tracks. Released on May 23rd.

Illum Sphere Remixed

Hoya Hoya resident and one of Manchester’s finest exponents of electronic music, Illum Sphere has a small but impressive back catalogue of beats taking in a multitude of genres. While we’re eagerly awaiting new material, Fat City have decided to open up some of his most notable outings for remix.

Om Unit’s stunning rework of “Never Lie Twice” is our pick of the bunch with its spacey electro atmospherics and hefty sub bass assault rumbling along underneath.

There’s also a classy old skool jungle style rework from Kidkanevil, a downtempo slab of funk from Dabyre, a chunky bass driven house rework from Ikonika and last but not least an edgey remix from Scumbag that manages to feel broken and jittery but calm and serene simultaneously.

Preview the other remixes below and you can pick the EP up from the 21st of May at Boomkat.

Kamikaze Space Programme – Aqua – Free Download

With the first two EPs from Kamikaze Space Programme still popping up in our playlists here at the Labs, anticipation is building for the “Factory Floor EP”, set to arrive soon.

To keep the impatient masses at bay, this freebie has been unleashed via the KSP Soundcloud.

For the price of a click you get an amazing piece of tribal tinged dark definition defying music with ridiculously brilliant percussion and its toes dipped in techno waters.

As an added bonus, you can grab this chunky techno rework of “Lawn” from the “Algus EP” for free courtesy of Simon Heartfield.

Fracture – Lately / Tunnel Track

First things first, if you’ve never heard Fracture & Neptune’s “Colemanism” then your life is all the poorer for it and I recommend you rectify this quickly. One of the finest examples of an amen workout that you’re ever likely to hear.

Anyway, Fracture has recently launched out on a solo tip and this latest 12 for Warm Communications is set to push his stock skywards.

Lead track “Lately” features the vocals of Ella Jones and is a lovely slab of atmospheric dnb with a bassline to die for and breaks that make your ribcage rattle.

“Tunnel Track” on the flip perfectly recaptures the spirit of late 90s techstep before it all got a bit too noisy and the crowds became 90% male.

You can pick this up on 12″ vinyl and digital download from May 14th at the Warm Communications Surus shop.

Cari Lekebusch – You Are A Hybrid Too

With nineteen albums already under his belt under various aliases and his own name, Swedish techno producer Cari Lekebusch is no stranger to the studio.

He’s been deeply ingrained in the world of techno since the mid 90s and his latest album “You Are A Hybrid Too” sees him deliver fourteen tracks that don’t stray too far from the dancefloor.

The long player’s finest moments for me however are when an element of space is squeezed in between the 4/4 and driving bass with “Ghost Notes” and “Black Diamond” standing out in particular.

While those tracks and most of the others work well as standalone pieces, they really come to life in the mix (check “Ghost Notes” in our latest Session mix) and most of these tracks would find a place in the sets of DJs with a taste for classy techno meanderings.

You can get your grubby mits on this from the 14th of May and to send you off to get your pre-order on the go, here’s the dubby goodness of closer “Vanishing Act”.

Daniel Avery – Movement EP

Daniel Avery is a man on a mission. Having gained some notoriety last year with some quality releases and remixes under his StopMakingMe guise he now ventures out under his Sunday name with a release on Throne Of Blood. Beefed up house beats and slimmed down techno all with a dark edge make for a sweet package.

There’s also a quality Andrew Weatherall to get your teeth into when this drops at the end of May.

Watch out 2012, Daniel Avery is coming to get you.

Lazy Sundays: Massive Attack – Blue Lines

If you haven’t heard of Massive Attack or indeed listened to their debut album “Blue Lines” you are either from Mars, under 14 years old or are on the wrong website. This album is a stone cold classic which spawned a whole genre in trip hop coming out of the Bristol scene.

Born form a fusion of hip hop, dub, soul, reggee and electronica the whole things is a joy to listen to using samples, breaks beat and effects over vocalists such as Horace Andy, Tricky and Shara Nelson.

Enough of the chat though, time to listen

Lee Collins (Soul In The Hole) – Disco Mix, Chicago – 1986

Saturdays are all about funk, soul and disco so not only are we picking our favourite tunes we are also keeping an ear out for some tasty mixes to make Saturday afternoon groove along.

We found this gem of a mix from Lee Collins who is part of the Soul In The Hole collective. He has been doing his disco thing in Chicago since the early 80s and knows how to lay down the disco beats.