Mix 002
Talking Drums Radio deux is here for your listening pleasure 🌴 Follow the links for the sounds. Take a trip
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After indulging in a little free movement over the first two releases, Vol. 3 sees us back in blighty, hanging loose with a hometown hero!
Way before our bongos had really begun to beat, Neil Diablo was slaying the hand-stamped edit scene with razor sharp disco reworks on his To Rack & Ruin imprint.
His energetic and effervescent sets at El Diablo's Social Club were the stuff of legend and his occasional appearances behind the Piccadilly Records counter helped pack the TD racks with some of our favourite floor fuel. Here, our newest Drum Chum digs extra deep with a triple threat of balmy Afro-disco, comic book funk and disco uplift.
Loose-limbed and laid back, 'High Emotion' stretches out across the whole of the A side leading the kind of slow motion dance we can't get enough of.
Potent polyrhythms underpin scratchy rhythm guitar and slick slap bass while that echo-laden vocal just keeps lifting us higher and higher.
The B side bounces into being with the synthed-up strut of 'Sex-N-Drugz', a portal into a parallel universe where Prince painted the Compass Point Paisley and the tempo never exceeded 100bpm - it's tropical pop served cooler than Kia-Ora.
The finale comes with the misty eyed magic of 'We Can', a triumph of snapping Italo snares and boogie optimism which shifts into bliss via a totally tops off chorus.
Keep the cowbell ringing folks!
Mix 001
First of the month seems like a good time to launch Talking Drums Radio 🎶 - a monthly mix series where we and guests can provide you with listening pleasure. Follow the link in bio to mixes and give it a blast.
TD-CHUMS002
After some inaugural heat from Hamburg, we catch up with our man from Saint-Ouen for Drum Chums Vol. 2!
As far as Percussion Pals go, Plastic Bamboo has the highest credentials.
Not only did he spend a decade behind the drum kit, but he was my flatmate for a few happy years in Manchester. Since relocating to Paris in 2012, he's played sets all over Europe, worked the scalpel with the Good Plus crew and secured a second dan black belt in digging.
Let's see what the prince of Les Puces has in store for us...
On the A1, Plastic Bamboo double doses an unknown new beat 7" extending the Arabic acid delight for a six minute soak. Properly peaking and packed with Middle Eastern flava, 'Ra Beat' is primed for dance floor demolition.
The Frenchman swaps the Arabic coffee for an Italian cocktail on the A2's 'Bertini', sticking an extra large umbrella in the frothiest of disco winners.
'Kamboja' offers a chance to catch your breath on the B1, bringing Balearic boogie with the upmost emotion and a melody you'll never forget.
We end the set in a peak time mode via the mysterious 'Forest Dance', a witches brew of dark disco and new beat stomp with just a hint of that techno-tropical flavour the Talking Drums love.
Bon soir et bisous.
TD004
Back with a bang for 2021 the TD team tame another couple of unclassics, offering end of night emotion and druggy chug on this wavey wax.
The A side looks skywards from the Mediterranean shore, waves of delay lapping its toes as Italo melancholy and Balearic sincerity go straight to its head. A lovelorn ragazza finds comfort in kalimba and 'Wicked Game' sobs softly from a nearby tabaccheria, signing off a postcard of this holiday romance.
Things take a turn for the trippy on the flip as 'Close Orbit' shifts gears on a synth-pop standard in favour for a zero gravity throb. Packed with slap bass, slanky percussion and the faint hint of new beat, this Afro-cosmic stomper is a slow tempo, high energy heater.
Limited Press - Numbered Insert - Drum Fun Guaranteed.
Bon soir et bisous.
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New mutant offshoot from the Talking Drums crew...
You know how it goes at the after party, over indulge and you end up hogging the conversation. So, in the interest of better dancefloor discourse allow us to present Drum Chums, a new series of edits by percussion pals from across the globe.
This inaugural edition comes from our good buddy Basso, a Hamburg homie whose digging expertise is rivalled only by his scalpel skills and superb silliness. Dipping into the darkest corners of his ever-Growing Bins, Basso shines up a quartet of rediscovered delights for an edit EP which oozes grooves and off balance moves.
On an uptempo A-side, the German luxuriates in the spectral arps, glistening licks and uplifting chords of fusion boogie winner 'Do Stay For Breakfast', before serving the steamy, sultry and seductive vampire disco jam 'Soft Choppers'
Things take a turn for the Balearic on the B-side thanks to the Afro-tropical pop of 'Simple Stroll', all electroid bass, chugging percussion and playful guitar, and finally the cosmic cool of 'Breaking Bread', a spaced out bossa for heads and feet.
TD003
After a global trek we're back at base camp with a pair of thrillers from the chiller for your next rumble in the jungle...
Prepare to take a cosmic cruise on the A side with 'Dromedary', a masterclass in daft drum-breaks, Saharan strings and syrupy synth-lines perfect for Arabian nights and disco daze. This one's been a TD sure shot since their first parties, so it's high time they shared the love boat.
Move to the flip for an interdimensional trip, as TD Transport welcomes you aboard the 'Super Express', a lysergic locomotive burning up the mainline from Mos Eisley to Mumbai. Linn drum lasers lock into a lurching groove, fuelling the furnace as we blast past Bollywood, take a detour into the Metro Area and arrive right on schedule to save your party.
100% Drum fun guaranteed.
Limited pressing inc. hand numbered insert...
TD002
Keep your ear to the sound and your feet on the ground, everyone's favourite disco misfits are back, armed to the teeth with chatter and clatter. That's right folks, the Talking Drums crew bring you 'Vol. 2', another blast of edit ecstasy and different disco.
'Disco Danube' snaps, crackles and pops off the A-side, humming like a Soviet-era satellite broadcasting a lost Bollywood gem. Stomping disco riffs and wild funk guitar show serious swagger, overdriven vocals shimmer and shudder and the thrusters head way into the red. Slap on your lurex spacesuit and meet us on the dance floor.
Flipside flyer 'Space Talk' cuts the engines and coasts through the asteroid belt, turning a Teutonic also-ran into an intergalactic groove mission. Knocking the spots off a neu wave B-side, the Talking Drums crew serve you hydraulic percussion, zero gravity bass chug and ice-cold vocals, soaked in synth sauce and finished with a tape echo garnish.
Fuel up your ship and take the trip amigos, the Drums are Talking...
TD001
Sprechen sie rhythm? It's time for a new dance...
Welcome to the wonderful weird of Talking Drums - a home for poorly executed dance moves, misjudged vibes and narcotic bravery. Semi-Cosmic, way wonky and oozing grooves, this is music for the fringe class.
The party starts with a tripped out tribute to an Italian inspiration. 'C60 Lato A' sees the crew pluck a couple of killers off a well worn Cosmic tape, leave them out in the sun a little too long then stick them back together with an experimental blend of UHU and fufu. Springy bass, spangled brass and mangled electronics make for a motherload of funk, fried just long enough to make the walls melt. Bendy....
Over on the B-side the crew come through with a little bathsalt boogie, pitched down and loved up for all the slow dancers and romancers out there. Strutting like a stoned fox, 'Get Serious' wraps rubber-limbed bass around propulsive percussion, gets hooky with the horns then slaps you silly with its x-rated synth-smut. Pinched from the pound bin and taped over a CH 5 classic, this disco drooler will loosen up even the stickiest floors.
Freshly dressed and pressed to impress, the Drums are talking....