Compilation Review: ‘Mighty Mouse – Disco Circus Volume 4’ (Bears Eats Fish)

Disco Circus Volume 4

★★★★☆

Mighty Mouse’s disco ball keeps on spinning, increasingly open to interpretation and moving further from the flares and chest hair dictionary definition. To those saying he’s losing sight of the goal, it’s all about finding likeminded bedfellows that may not be disco by design but grab the space between the lines, opportune reminders of this push and pull revealed by the ilk of Drop Out Orchestra and Baunzz!

Hence why there are bunches of rave pianos stumbling into the wrong room but making new friends, and “Electric Moonshine” going Balearic. There’s electro-pop whose age you can’t tell, punk funk looking at itself in the glitterball’s mirrors, psych-funk throwdowns, acid awakenings, pure house… all chugging away ‘til dawn with enough glitter and gold about them to fit the bill. Egged on by its cosmic cousin (including Lindstrøm’s supreme voyager “I Feel Space”), a dot-joining lovability rubs off so you’re hugging strangers, as sought by the open invitation to informal, unprejudiced partying from either someone’s living room, a convenient patch of land no-one’s using, or a basement full of old or old-sounding vinyl (Barrabas, Prins Thomas remixing Surahn). Meanwhile the purists/snobs might wanna head to Auxiliary Tha Masterfader or Rainer Weichhold to satisfy their terms and classifications.

More about the solace found in the physical auditorium/big top, than the stereotype in platform shoes, it’s an all-in welcome with some disco in it, going the distance while the true colors don’t run.

File under: Horsemeat Disco; Psychemagik; Secretsundaze

Compilation Review: ‘Disco Circus Vol. 3, Compiled & Mixed by Mighty Mouse’ (Bears Eat Fish)

★★★★☆

The old maxim says that hardcore will never die, but disco is not giving in easily either. From fantastic in plastic to true school grooving, Mighty Mouses soundclash ensures the original sound won’t date by being take under its wing by upfront interpreters. With the record-roving rodent going back and forth in time, the merger is unashamed about leaving the joins in, between disco re-ups of Duane Eddy, shows of ’70s/’80s pride and fresh takes on the Giorgio Moroder standard, next to works from Todd Terje, Blackstrobe, Oliver and Shake Alletti.

Mighty Mouse allows for a sound that is more straight-up house, with cosmic starship trooping from Worship, and more understated, less flamboyant strands that don’t mean any less entertainment (a couple of Mighty Mouse’s own beginning disc two). Let’s not argue what disco is really meant to sound like, ‘cos with traditional circus clowns and trapezists, you’re gonna get some contortionists and firebreathers as well. There’s a lot fun to be had; utterly groovesome, and in places it will make your heart soar: RAC’s mix of Gigamesh features a space-synth reaching an impossible high. Be prepared to have a spare pair of dancing shoes with you, and watch Mighty Mouse come and save the day for a third time.
File under: Nytowl, Only Children, The Magician