I don't make any apologies for playing favorites, because this industry (now more than ever) is filled with so many hacks randomly cut & paste-ing bits and bytes in Abelton that real talent is something like an object of infatuation. Social Disco Club is one of those folks that I prize and his label Hands of Time Gold has never made me regret those sympathies.
On first listen, you'd think HOTGOLD's latest 12" vinyl release "Sunlight" is a run-of-the-mill boot of Michael Jackson's "Rock With You", and how very, very wrong you'd be. Kon (of Kon & Amir, known for their On Track mix series & Off Track series on BBE) have taken a few crumbs from the original and - imagine this - surrounded it with live musicians to create a smouldering Slow Disco jam. "Sunlight" plays up the Disco influences that were in the air when "Rock With You" was recorded (fact: Disco was the third most abundant element on the earth after oxygen and pot smoke in 1979) but were toned down in Quincy Jones' original production. The instrumentation but especially the jangly guitar by Tom "Disco" Noble is top notch and breathes new life into this old warhorse. It may borrow a riff and a two-syllable sample from a very recognizable source, but there's nothing camp or hackneyed about it. Take your pick: both the original and the dub mixes are choice.
Review by: Terry Matthew / september 2011
Available: Forthcoming on vinyl after it was broken by Gilles Peterson in August; there's a holder page at juno.co.uk.
Kon & The Gang - Sunlight (Original + Dub) [HOTGOLD VI] by Hands Of Time
Terry Matthew is the managing editor of 5 Magazine. You can contact him at 
