Various Artists: Hibernation Volume 1
Various Artists: Hibernation Volume 1
Also In The News
|
Defending champion Rafael Nadal has announced he will not be playing at Wimbledon this year after failing to recover from an ongoing knee injury. |  |
Saturday, 20, Jun 2009 12:53
Bear Funk,out now.
In a nutshell...
Disco, disco and yet more lovely disco.
What's it all about?
Collection of nu-disco gems from one of the main players in the capital's basement electronic scene, Steve Kotey. Despite an ill-fitting moniker (Hibernation? In summer? What were they thinking?) it's a fine sift through the best bits of from his Bear Funk label past, present and future. The most notable are the Kotey Extra Band's collaboration with Norwegian disco macdaddy Lindstrom and a Greg Wilson edit of Social Disco Club & Maia's The Way You Move.
Who's it by?
Bear Funk is the brainchild of sometime Chicken Lips collaborator and tape-op Steve Kotey. Such is the demand for the Lips, they entrusted a chunk of their djing duties to Kotey who jumped on the opportunity with both hands and carved himself a pretty large rep as a party starter in his own right. He's played records with plenty of big names including the likes of Harvey and Francois K and put together the Disco Italia compilation for Strut records. It's obvious that Kotey has this disco business running through his veins.
Likelihood of winning a trip to the Grammys?
If there were awards for services to funk, house and underground disco stylings, then the big bear's mantel piece would be creaking under the weight of accolades. It hasn't happened just yet...
What the others say
"Every song is fantastic and keeps to the Bear Funk disco stylings. I've chosen Greg Wilso''s version of Social Disco Club & Maia (I also recently posted some Rui Maia originals) and Japan's Altz remix of Lordy, but I could of easily picked any of the songs. No fillers here." - Big Stereo blog
So is it any good?
If you associate the concept of disco with 70s wigs, the Village People and inebriated stag dos lurching around in flares necking alcopops, then you should set your preconceptions right and get your ears round this.
The roots of all good things electronic lie within the disco vibe, something that this Hibernation compilation manages to nail down with a series of strong looks and slap bass pinned down by a fresh backbone of groove. Altz's Orympia Rocks manages to balance a bassline made from utter filth with a suitably ridiculous surf guitar twang while Lindstrom and Kotey's cross breeding doesn't disappoint either, getting an afro-cosmic peacock-esque strut on. If you know your Disco Bloodbath from your Horse Meat Disco, then Hibernation will be right up your dirty alleyway...
7/10
Jim Ottewill