Various Artsts - Sonic Wax singles - 2010 - Sonic Wax

Sonic Wax are about to unleash a number of 7-Inch singles onto the collector's market, all of which are welcome releases. We're talking about a wide and refreshing variety of styles here ranging from 60s soul (I hate to use the term Northern Soul - it's one of the biggest and misleading pigeon-holes I know) through today's soulful house / dance to crossover soul and pop. As a set of singles these really display a care of and knowledge for the music we all know and love, and as such it's a mighty fine pleasure to highlight these as I do today. The first release is from Tyrone Davis' uncle, L.T. Davis and a fine unreleased 60s crossover-appeal release it is too! Although, from what I hear it wasn't funky enough for young Tyrone! Whatever the case, it is still mighty fine. Limited - as are all singles - to 500 copies, "Love Recipe" has some very solid ingredients - a floating dancer with nice warm bass, belting guitar and should definitely see liberal sprinklings of talcum powder over a few dancefloors this summer. Johnny Moore's superb late 70s effort "Don't Let It Blow Your Mind" is truly superb and follows on from the great work he gave us throughout the 1960s. This is a great summer stepper and follows in the 60s tradition very much as the Drifters' "Pour Your Little Heart Out" did too.

A new song is our next highlight - "Come Back With Me" contains all the great elements of a modern room smash...a hint of southern grit, a booming beat and some funky slap bass and keys...fans of the new Floyd Taylor album should find this equally as essential. catchy, bubbly and pervasive, this is a real modern monster. The unissued 90s dancer "Set Your Sights" by Janice James would fit perfectly onto any new Togetherness set, in the flavour of late 70s steppers such as Richard Stepp's "Caught Up In A Whirlwind" and also has flavours of, say, modern garage or UK flavours. This is superb and deserves to be a smash. If you own the debut set by the brilliant Tortured Soul then you will already know the opening cut, "Home To You" which has been lifted here for release. Today's yester-now sound is strong here with a funky 70s groove but a modern garage / club gait. This, to me, is a great sound and the more material released like this the better!

From the 90s comes Lisa Stansfield's "8, 3, 1" - this song has done the business for well over a decade and should still be keeping feet moving well beyond 2010. What a gorgeous Lady anyway! I'm biased! Who cares?! LOL. The real show-stopper for me is Mousse T's German soul effort "Brother On The Run" - a song I have not heard before...one of the finest soul dancers i have heard in a long time! Again, the modern club sound of disco house meets 70s soul and funk head on...this is a MONSTER! When I spoke with Cool Million they sang the praises of a group called Ferry Ultra...odd name, but there you go! their collaboration with the mighty Gwen McCrae is BLINDING. Uptempo soul with a yester-now vibe, this is going to pack the dancefloor as if someone has thrown £20 notes onto the floor! The final song is the modern Gospel groove of Lay Lemmons and "Glory" - as you know I can't swallow a non-secular groove but here the solid groove, strings and funky bass make this a top-draw tune and one hell of a floor-filler. Sonic Wax have really deserved a pat on the back for this release. Hopefully we will see some of these appear on good old-fashioned CD soon as well as limited edition singles - although I have to say top marks on the label designs, lads. Great stuff!

Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe