THE RETROSPECTIVE ALL STARS VOL 1 (RETROSPECTIVE)

There are those who claim to be disco and those who just are, slowing down a house beat and chucking some strings seems to enough to claim such and accolade these days but for those who don’t immediately come up with ‘Dancing Queen’ when hearing the word disco, it’s not.

London based nu-disco duo Ruben and Ra understand this and through Ra’s Retrospective label they have proved to have a knowledgeable ear towards the more discerning end of the genre. Coming from the same kind of re-edit/sample background as Tigers & Woods, Deviance and The Revenge, they've steadily moved from music blog props and are in the process of becoming a go to name for those searching a high quality dance floor cut.

By the sound of it they have a load of mates who are equally as adept at finding an obscure sample and creating something both retro and contemporary, be it Art Bleek and his fusing of jacking beats and analogue warmth or the emotive strings on ‘Peppermint’ by Toomy Disco. At times they veer a little too close to the coffee table; ‘Caught up’ by Jimmy the Twin is one filter tweak beyond the acid jazz also referenced by the album cover, but it’s swiftly followed by the cheeky Legendry 1979 Orchestra and Mudegg’s top end cheese.

Unlike the hollow house music posturing of Azari and III and other self proclaimed revivers of house music, Retrospective Allstarrs gets to the true essence of house and its many guises with quality tunes and no bullshit.

8/10

 By Chris Todd