Hed Kandi: Disco Kandi the Mix / Various

People often wonder at my choices in music. I am, after all, over 50! Hed Kandi is an amazing selection of fast-paced, clean and very danceable songs that simply remind me of the beloved age of Disco and New Wave! If you love to dance, or (like me) just need a quick beat to keep your heart goin' - this is the music for you! I love it!

Love the mix

This Hed Kandi album raised the bar in regards to off the charts music they release. This is simply an incredible album to listen to. Everything from the music to the covers keep getting better.

Well, if you don't own this and you love disco and house, you're a sad person! Buy it now, it's darned essential!

So this is the Disco Kandi Mix that answers my wonder to where Disco Kandi has ended? No matter, we will still have Disco Kandi and it's stylish sassiness. With our Kandi girls striking up a plain stylish pose in front of a big fat glittering (cute-like-kandi) disco ball, this edition does seem promising by appearance and sleevenotes, of course! First up this Disco Kandi treats serves up a very fine collection of hot funky house music and uplifting US disco garage. But there were moments were some track appears to so very strange and maybe too camp to embrace instantly?Combining many piano pop-ups and breakdowns, big room string emotions, fast-paced congas,sassy horns, cool vocal house, US Garage, funky guitars, electronica, peak-time European disco, electric synths, big shiny bassline grooves and most of all, hands in the air moments.Set into a group of 3 glittering CD sides, Kandi's Glittering, Kandi's Deliciously Stylish & Kandi's More Is Definately More. I think Disc(o) 1 & 2 should swap both their titles and Disc(o) 3 is like a World Series version of Disco Kandi. CD one has Disco Kandi's dirtiest toughest moments to stylish instrumental character to sexy sultry peak time vocal house to funky late night hands-in-the-air moments. CD two captures Disco Kandi's heavy disco hitters to very hyperactive deep disco groove to glittering funk to minimal disco edge. CD three gets Disco Kandi go weird offering strange minimal mid-tempo experiment to uptempo electronica to big giant rolling bassline bruise to melodic rhythms.Kandi's Glittering Mix - The album opens up tough with “Destination Calabria” on Disc(o) one. This is a brilliant opener with crowd roaring and begins dropping crunchy electro rip of the original riff. It then progress to piano and hands-in-the-air moment with Kandi electro undertone and yes, the recognisable Calabria sax riff. Next (from Twisted Disco) is some of “Lollipops” buried dirty undertone pound and bounce with exciting synth and filthy metaphor match from Sandy & Trix. There really isn't much change with the DJ Delicious Remix of “The Creeps” except this one may seem less dirtier but not much difference from the original (from Twisted Disco), however the electro isn't as raw and the beat is a more heavier thrashing pad in a stylish Kandi way but it digs deeper into the skin and vein and the piano will pound the eardrum. Things are still viscious with “I Walk Alone” with an electro disco treatment from Haji & Emanuel, this is a very scratchy synth we're talking with tappy disco beat and zappy laser effect. 4 very fine and raw European side of Disco Kandi examples. “Take Me Higher” lightens the disco down a notch and begins thumps away with groovy rolling bass and carribean-like sounding organ maybe? There's some Hands-In-The-Air moments of Big Room strings filter from “Night In The Big Room” (sorry, for the cheesiness of that - the title of the track says it all). Then female vocals pops in with the sultry vibration of “Feel Together” (This and the next track in my opinion is this year's Kandi pure example of Disco Kandi which cannot be confused for Disco Heaven or Twisted Disco for it's moderate toughness): Attractive lead (Nabiha Bensouda) and background female disco voices, big room beat slam, sexy piano + strings combination and a zig-zaggy electronic dig.. More from “Something Different To Say”: Breathy Antigone Foster vocals, sugar rush strings and playful bass cannot harm anyone to boogie down to this. There's Mister P & Carl Ryden's remix of “Young & Lonely” which features diva Diane Charlemange, this I think is this disc's US Garage with old-skool piano, latin conga percussion and hidden hollow beat under heavy the disco stomp and low velocity level of brusing groove. Speaking of buise groove is a very deeply U.S. Garage disco sugar rush cover of Whitney Houston's fiesty disciplining “It's Not Right But It's OK”. Disco Kandi begins to pick that notch of toughness up as Eddie Thoneick shakes and slams “Without You” grooviness up back and forth a bit in a pretty trippy and intoxicating cycle and take-on sample of Sister Sledge's seduction,“Thinking Of You”, this is like the previous 2 track in 1: “Young & Lonely”'s congas and old-skool piano intensity, “It's Not Right”'s deep electro disco groove and both tracks US Garage guitar scratch for example. Then there's a nice little Triple Dee's Rebuild of “Every Word”: late night electronic synth splash and intoxicating electro zap, disco moments and old-skool piano popping in. The Electro begins to get shocky, high voltage power, very tough, twichy, hard, twisty and raw beat slam from “Someday” (which has found a place in Twisted Disco in future release e.g. Twisted Disco 2008 download and The Summer Mix: USA 2008). Disco Kandi glitters out some US Garage guitars, big room strings and disco synth – an electropop disco treatment from T&F Vs Moltosugo to Mary J Blige cover “Be Without You” covered by fine, fiesty and fun darlings from Kandi, Booty Luv.Kandi's Deliciously Stylish Mix – If anyone has ever find the original Junior Jack's “Dare Me” take on of the Pointer Sisters repetitive (from The Summer Mix 2004's Twisted Disco side) then this updated cover with Shena might be needed. Disco Kandi second disc(o) pounds very heavily with this one and features US Garage guitar, guitar synth and intoxicating electro pop-ups. A very pure Disco Kandi production cover of Kathy Brown's + Praxis “Turn Me On” and 3 Degrees' “Dirty Ol' Man” sample goes full electrodisco bruise, diva sexiness, sexual moans, US guitar and rhythmic keyboards, this is joined by the one of the same man from the Freemasons and here with the original version of “Rain Down Love” which features a blast of a dirty 2 minutes undertone scratch till overshadowing the dirtiness velocity with old-skool piano, disco diva Seidah Garrett, heavy beats and rushy siren effects. Next up, is soft Kandi anthem “Guilty”: Horn stabs, String swirl, Hi-hat with beats, sexy vocals from Shena (again) and soft electro groove stroke and there's a nice moment of Kandi dirtiness with “Won't Do It Again (Sunrise)”, the second toughest Kandi of this disc maybe by an Out Of Character treament from the Funkagendas – it's pure global moment feel, of warm hypnotic synth string, stylish dribbling electronic, sexy intergalatic electro, big room strings sweep, 80s synth effects and vocals with choir – this is a very awesome non-filler track! We have reached a lighter, heavenly and deeper side of disco by the time it's the Soulsearcher's “Can't Get Enough” with a big fat Fish & Chips signature slam with added Claves click, bass guitar (I reckon) in a very round swirling groove, it gets even more Disco Heaven in the very weird “Lift Up! (Your Soul & Your Spirit)”. It feels so weird because this sounds like a 2000 or 2001 disco track blended unevenly with a 2007 house production but it works well and it becomes an addictive grower to disco jumps and boogie to me as the grooves gets more drilling, Linda Jackson's fantastic vocals and cute disco synths gets more uplifting and the beat gets hitting and becomes very splatty – an absolute boogi-licious triumph! “My Melody” (next track) provides a very minimalistic disco feel with zig-zaggy bom-bom-bom male voices, piano and strings, diva octave, US Guitar scratch and beat rip. Disco Kandi then nicks a US Disco Heaven track, “Love Is On My Mind”, the strange funk drilling sound effect this track carries kinda matches the weirdness of this Disco Kandi Mix. Another Booty Luv, another remix and another cover from another: “Shine: Moto Blanco: Luther Vandross”, a plainly groovy Disco Kandi remix sensation indeed: brusing disco groove rub, US Garage guitar and string sample from Chic's “Forbidden Lover” and tingling disco effects. “Someday” become this disc's toughest (it has also been featured in the Tokyo Project: The Collection & Es Vive/Base Bar Ibiza's late night side), it's loops into a minimal hands-in-the-air piano power one half and a high Octave of Electro rise for the other. “Spellbound” is also a raw piano power staber too but triple that amount as an instrumental with a 90s synth heat, gospel background chant and ooohs and dark electronica drench. Then its diving into a very heavenly Disco Heaven sounding Disco Kandi track since “Lift Up!”, “My Sun Will Get You”- there's a lot in this track: drums, candy coated disco beats, lush disco strings, spinning deep grooves, fast congas, high diva range from Jocelyn Brown and no but not least, a very funky chicken scratched guitars and solo – another addictive spectacular funk. Lastly, (another appearance of Shena – uncredited!) “Altered State Of Mind” has the Sunfreakz dubbing us with a laidback lean but not mean electronic background, fresh to death piano synth, figitty and swirly disco synth and 4 on the floor beat stick.Kandi's More Is Definately More Mix – Here we have a mid-tempo start of Dennis Ferrer's minimalistic version or original of Fish Go Deep (love the name) “The Cure & The Cause” - a very minimal pack of congas, shady synth, strings sweep, beepin electro, rattling synth and peachy vocals from Tracey Killiher. “More” mid-tempo pace from Martin Solveig's strange electro stab, bleep, cathedral-like organ, horn sweep and hot breathy and high range from Jay Sebag. Blending even weirder is the tropically carribean “Give In” picks up a bit pace with some lush tropical instruments, drums, congas, organs, strings, male chant and female harmonies. Blending unusually is the raw “Nobody” after the pushy minimal electronic, small mid-tempobeat clap, string swirl and pissed off diva Michelle Weeks has its fill the tempo has risen as “Miami Sun” kicks in with its big room trick of strings and keys, deep and heavy (hungry-stomach) Disco Kandi bass programming groove, littering percussion and US Garage guitar. Heavy on the male bom-bom-bom voices like “My Melody”, “One Love, One Word” is heavy on the Jamaican vocals and call outs, beat bump, piano, guitar, hidden electro, Hi-Hat and percussion. Popping into the old-skool 2006 production vibe is the cover of Turntable Orchestra's“Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone” which collects 90s synth, string stab, piano stab, tribal electronica and disco chanteuse Belle Erksin. Then comes a dark cornered synth stab, small grand piano and synth and smooth vocal of Gaelle's Grant Nelson remix of “Give It Back” - a bit of a plan result to me. Next is the blazing cover of Lisa Lisa's “Let The Beat Hit 'Em” transforming the old-skool freestyle to a dark turn-on (quite like “When I'm Gone”) of 90s organs, mouldy electronic percussion and acid bassline, filter vocals and electronica loop, slamming beat pad, piano jab, string sweep and Katherine Ellis' powerhouse. Toning down in Pure Disco Kandi is the juicy vocals of Jackie Wilson, keys, horns, washable splashing beat slab and loopy spinning bass rubbing disco groove of “Funky Love” followed by Pure Disco Kandi Heaven “Why U Wanna Do Me Wrong?” as Fish & Chips loops Cafe Groove into a heavy washable production of deep swirling disco loop like “Can't Get Enough” & “Lift Up!”, demanding vocals, deeply hidden horns, filtered bass and Fish & Chips signature slam with added Claves click. Then comes the electronic bass rubbing groove and filter piano keys and breakdown of Pure Disco Kandi grooves with Shena for one more time! (Hed Kandi is really showing her appearance for real and for the 4th and final time for this Disco Kandi departure!). After this, two more tracks that pulls a Disco Heaven & Twisted Disco element twist are “Love What You Feel” & “Lost In Ibiza” both excellent disco that's so easy to be drawn to without the urge to skip the track and close this disc nicely and peacefully. “Love What You Feel” has a cool smooth US Disco flavour with alluring organ and piano, funky guitar, soft summer disco beat, rauchy horns, soft gripping electro slant and lovely diva range of Joy Malcolm and then onto the final tougher edge of a lollipop tune of “Lost In Ibiza” by the electronic duo of Hoxton Whores. It's so melodic with its piano, raw electronic slab, hynotising sweep-you-right-of-your-feet string riff, raw fast paced house beat, freeze framed string synth moment of cool and a whooo of paradise – Disco Kandi's best tune of Disc 3 and on the album.

DISCO HEAVEN! Well thought through tracks and well mixed in the best order. Personally, I couldn't have done any better even If I think I have some great nu-disco tunes this will get your party started. Uplifting, energetic and colourful exciting sounds. I agree that cd 3 is the best one but they are all pretty darn cool. One of the better hed Kandi efforts I think.

Great value great tracks. Party on

Uplifting tunes!

fine