- Before they were releasing euphoric mixes of lost disco classics, Horse Meat Disco were an alternative queer club night run by a foursome of DJs. Now on their fourth compilation for retro-minded label Strut, James Hillard, Jim Stanton, Luke Howard and Severino have become an in-demand touring outfit, started their own imprint for 12-inch re-edits and earned a weekly radio show on Rinse FM.
As their profile has risen, their mixes have become synonymous with crate-digging at its most idealistic. In its most basic form, Horse Meat Disco aims to recreate the experience of dancing at a club during the peak of disco, and the mixes do a good job of translating that aim into a packaged form, at their best conveying nostalgia for a bygone era alongside the euphoria of discovery. On their last three releases, they've unearthed such forgotten classics as Marcel King's "Reach For Love," a one-time club mainstay from Factory Records, and Gregg Diamond's lavishly euphoric "This Side Of Midnight."
On Horse Meat Disco IV, they successfully create the illusion of a subculture-within-a-subculture through a rougher, electro-funk-influenced sound and selections that plumb the kitschy side of commercial disco. This is their most focused mix yet, and even though they're ostensibly working with a finite number of resources, the well of obscure disco cuts seems far from dried up. Here that well includes a dusky afterhours number from singer Valery Allington ("Stop") and a funky King Sporty & The Root Rockers single from legendary boutique label T.K. Disco ("Get On Down".)
Though HMD's delivery is mostly the result of astute selections and efficient mixing, their force of personality plays a role as well. The track sequencing alone winks at disco's broad thematic gestures ("Stop," for instance, is mixed into Ish's "Don't Stop"). And it's hard to imagine a more self-aware example of polyester-clad kitsch than Rena's chintzy "I Love Your Beat," which declares devotion to the DJ in a voice that sounds like a suburban housewife vacuuming her apartment with martini in hand. Then there are the angular, repetitive harmonies of "Let's Make Love Tonight," a tart number credited to L'Amour featuring Krystal, which sound like a warehouse of preening fembots. Together with Laura Taylor's sweet, climactic "Some Love," these cuts do what disco does best: blur the lines between manufactured sexuality and genuine physical and emotional abandon.
Lista de sequência de músicasCD 1: Mixed by Horse Meat Disco
01. Opal – Ain't No Way (Special Club Mix)
02. K.S.B. - Misaluba
03. The Sunburst Band – Taste The Groove (Hot Toddy Remix)
04. Valery Allington - Stop (Original Version)
05. Ish – Don't Stop
06. King Sporty & The Root Rockers – Get On Down
07. Cleavage – Barah (Sampled Version)
08. L'amour feat. Krystal – Let’s Make Love Tonight
09. Phreek Plus One – La Spirale (J's Loveboat Mix)
10. Shahid Mustaf MC – Getting To Know MC (Funked Over Mix)
11. J. Boogie's Dubtronic Science feat. The Pimps Of Joytime – Go To Work (Hot Toddy Mix)
12. Winners – Get Ready For The Future
13. Rena – I Love Your Beat (Play It Again Sam)
14. Laura Taylor – Some Love
15. Joey Negro vs. Horse Meat Disco – Candidate For Love (Horse Meat Disco Mix)
16. Camouflage – Bee Sting
CD 2: Unmixed
01. Opal – Ain’t No Way (Special Club Mix)
02. K.S.B. – Misaluba
03. Valery Allington - Stop (Original Version)
04. Shahid Mustaf MC – Getting To Know MC (Funked Over Mix)
05. King Sporty & The Root Rockers – Get On Down
06. L'amour feat. Krystal – Let's Make Love Tonight
07. Ish – Don’t Stop
08. Joey Negro Vs. Horse Meat Disco – Candidate For Love (Horse Meat Disco Mix)
09. Cleavage - Barah (Sampled Version)
10. Rena – I Love Your Beat (Play It Again Sam)
11. Laura Taylor – Some Love
12. Camouflage – Bee Sting