VARIOUS – Mr Bongo Edits Volume 2: Luke Una – 12” – Vinyl

12” – Limited Edition Black Vinyl.

Soul Cultura captain, originator of Manchesters legendary Electric Chair and definitive peoples champion, Luke Una taps into a lifetimes worth of musical discovery for the second volume in our Mr Bongo Edits series. A cosmic coming together that sees two of Lukes secret weapons, re-edited and re-contextualised by the man himself to provide optimal dancefloor euphoria.

A stalwart of the underground for nearly 40 years, Luke has become an appointed leader of the late night disenfranchised, with an unquestionable ability to pick records that make minds tick. Not least through his two Soul Cultura compilations released on Mr Bongo over the past two years.

A taste that traverses genres as much as it does emotions and decades, who better to give an insight into the tracks he has chosen to edit, than the man himself. I’ve been an avid collector of afro-beat house, techno and underground black heart disco since before the basement soul days of Electric Chair 30 years ago. Both these bombs were very much holy grail finds, plucked from the last four decades of digging in random crates of dusty vinyl all over the world.

First up, Thandi Zulu & The Young Fives interpretation of Pure Energys early 80s disco power play Love Game. With a distinctive South African synth bass and killer keys combo, Luke explains the original has this bonkers alchemy of heavy machine soul, uptempo rawness and a majestic disco evangelism, making it ripe for a re-edit.

On the B side, Lionel Pillays Jazz dancer Plum. The original was a relentless 18-minute raw jam, Luke states, which despite its late 70s South African origin kinda reminded me of a 1986 Chicago piano House record.

These edits strip the tracks back and rebuild them, giving them more sonic weight with that looped up drum jacking militancy from the days of Chicago, combined with a boosted sense of transcendental, psychedelic, cosmic disco. They have always had such an explosive reaction on so many dancefloors including the heavier electronic club, so it felt only right to reshare them.

Tracklist:

A. Thandi Zulu & The Young Five Love Games (Luke Una Edit)

B. Lionel Pillay – Plum (Luke Una Edit)