Toy Tonics 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Those who pay attention to South American DJ culture may have encountered Barbara Boeing, a genuine rising star who has slowly been easing herself into music production. This is her debut EP, which was co-produced by another scene starlet, Toy Tonics regular Sam Ruffillo. 'Brigada', featuring Phil Mill, is the headline attraction - a brilliant blend of nu-disco colour, mid-90s US house motifs, hip-house breakbeats and sun-splashed melodies aplenty. Esa Williams remixes, keeping the joyousness of the original version whilst giving the track a bit of a post-kwaito, late 1980s/early 90s South African house feel. Elsewhere, 'Brasiliana' sounds like early 90s Pet Shop Boys after a fist full of happy pills, while 'Baille Do Silencio' sees Boeing brilliantly join the dots between Art of Noise, electrofunk and rushing nu-disco.

Review: DJ Sneak is in a great run of form right now, which is all the more impressive given that he has been turning out his signature house sounds for more than 30 years now. The self-declared House Gangster recently impressed on Dam Swindle's Heist Recordings label and now makes this way to the always-assured Toy Toncis outlet. He offers up four cuts that veer away from his loop, filter-heavy house into more edgy and late-night minimal and techno but with the robust sound design and compelling sense of underlying groove that you always expect from the man.

Review: Toy Tonics is a label that has always done house music well - it doesn't follow trends, it doesn't look to reinvent the wheel, it doesn't repeat the same old tricks. What it does is serve up superb good grooves with plenty of character that are always going to get any crowd going no matter the time or place. The label now goes big with this double 12" of Gomma Dancefloor Gems Vol 1. It is, they say, a collection of "Y2K indie dance tracks" that were all originally released on the German Gomma Records label between 2001 and 2010 and were right up there with music on labels like James Murphy's DFA and Trevor Jackson's Output Records as the hottest of the day.

Review: Gomma played a vital role in the popularisation of the indie-dance explosion that happened some 20 years ago now. Best known for being spearheaded by US indie outfit LDC Sound system, it combined dance, disco, wave, post-punk and more into a party-ready sound that found favour with both ravers and guitar heads. This second collection from the German label highlights the best of music they put out back then with names like In Flagranti, label co-founder Munk, Nancy Whang & Bonar Bradberry and many more all present and correct.