Hercules & Love Affair have really set shit off, diva-ish vocals, the spirit of 80s NY loft parties and endless handclaps over cosmic pads are once again rolling over England's more decadent dancefloors. H&LA may have pricked the conscience, but it's Eskimo Records' Aeroplane who are surely set to swallow it with two huge tunes recently laid to wax. Their own 12, Whispers, is powerful enough but the real sucker punch comes from their sublime remix of Low Motion Disco's 'Love Love Love'. Aeroplane gradually whip up a disco frenzy before the track completely unloads half way through with a relentless, euphoric synth line driving it to an ecstatic climax. You can see them unleash this monster and the disco takeover in action on the 7th June at East Village in Shoreditch.

Low Motion Disco - Love Love Love (Aeroplane Remix)


Eskimo providing one of this year's most stunning remixes finally puts a dent in Honest Jon's' monopoly in that field. Their stunning series of Tony Allen remix 12"s seems to have drawn to a close but to celebrate they have compiled them all on one CD, Lagos Shake: A Tony Allen Chop Up. My personal highlight is Salah Ragab's magical Cairo edit of Olé, but nearly all the other remixers (including Carl Craig, Hypnotic Brass Band, Bonde De Role and Moritz Von Oswald) contributions are also sensational, making Lagos Shake utterly essential, not to mention worthy of celebration, which you can do on the 5th of July at the Barbican.

Tony Allen - Olé (Salah Ragab Cairo Edit)


Lagos Shake isn't the only stunner from Honest Jons this month though, their re-release of Steel An' Skin's 'Afro Punk Reggae Dub' EP is an absolute killer 12". Their dizzying mix of hyperactive riddims, steel drums and blissed out reggae vocals make me wonder if El Guincho has some distant relatives who were exploding with the same joy in 70s Jamaica, busting out of all types of Jamaican musical sterotypes in the process.

Steel An' Skin - Reggae Is Here Once Again


Another man determined to smash musical pre-conceptions is Flying Lotus, who's LP 'Los Angeles' establishes a place for instrumental hip-hop on the hallowed Warp Records. 'Parisian Goldfish' highlights all of the record's idiosyncracies; the dusty cracks of the beats mixed with futuristic synth and the eccentric use of glitch especially. The LP drops in June and Lotus will be playing live in the same month at Venn Festival (Bristol) on the 8th, his own Brainfeeder festival (London) on the 14th and at Massive Attack's Meltdown Festival (London) on the 19th.

Flying Lotus - Parisian Goldfish


I'm pretty certain Flying Lotus didn't produce Susan Christie's Paint a Lady LP but his fingerprints still seem to be all over it. Her romantic old folk songs would sit nicely alongside Nina Nastasia or Vashti Bunyan were it not for their sporadic bursts into sweeping choruses with the kind of insistent and funked out drum and bass sections that only the most skilled of hip hop producers can normally coax out. This record's been out on Finders Keepers for a while now, but I love it so much I wanted to plug it again.

Susan Christie - For The Love of a Soldier