Albums

Mighty Mouse - Disco Circus (Volume 2)

Dominic Valvona 02/10/2010

Rating: 3.5/5

Steadily gaining a momentum as choice producers and remixers on the nu-disco scene, the superhero moniker duo Mighty Mouse now release part two of their highly acclaimed Disco Circus compilations - the first in the series saw Mixmag declare it one of last year's top ten best mixes.

As mixtapes go, this is an especially sophisticated one. It's also a sedated affair, with 34-tracks spread out evenly over two discs, with a running time of nearly three hours - 2 Many DJs this sure ain't! The featured tracks are usually quite suave and subtle, made up of both 70s/80s smooth club classics and Miami Sound Machine-esque Latin grooves, with an added sprinkling of updated choice cuts to create a cinematic disco escapists dream.

They open up proceedings with the ethereal and gently swept atmospherics of Smith & Mudd's Balearic 'My Hill', that nicely seeps into the Ladytron evoking tune 'Blue Street', by Bo'tox. There's a vast improvised remix by the duo themselves of Gorillaz's 'Superfast Jellyfish', with added arpeggiators and bubbling basslines, though they have there work cut-out as the original always sounded a mess to me.

Halfway through the tact changes with Chapter & The Verse and Breakestra both rapping over jazz beats, taking a break from the enunciated disco for short excursion. Normal service is soon resumed when Beth Ditto swoons like a Casablanca Records era diva titan on Simian Mobile Disco's 'Cruel Intentions', the featured Maurice Fulton remix wrapping her up in more breathless swathes.

The second disc has a more 80s feel starting with Jinder's vampirism obsessed prowlers ditty 'Youth Blood', a slinky and highly stylised tune. What follows is a catalogue of similar sounding cuts, which tend to drift and lose its drive, becoming more of an uninterrupted radio show then a mix. Fortunately the last half picks up with Shy Child's 'Open Up The Sky' - another selective remix by the duo. This minimal gospel house track is one of the highlights, which brings in a pretty stirring section that features the equally moving epic lo-fi and Human League-esque 'Holiday Romance' by Detachments. Finally the last push goes all space age nostalgia and Italo-disco, the Fenech-Soler 'Stop & Stare' especially retro and soaring into the stratosphere. The climatic ending goes on a funky odyssey, sending Performance's 'The Living' into celestial realms.

Throughout the compilation, Mighty Mouse include some of their own original cosmopolitan sleek disco house, a taste of what's to come when they drop the debut album in March of 2011. Disco Circus (Volume 2) is a relaxed listen, full of indolent assiduous and concatenate linked tunes, both perfect for cool aloof gatherings and laidback club environments.