Another year of glitterball genius compiled into one

The Disco Express is one of the most reliable and consistent forces in the nu disco scene today, bringing the sound of classic disco bang up to date via the latest house beats and filling dancefloors everywhere.

One of the highlights in The Disco Express diary is always their annual restrospective compilation, and 2023’s Best Of… is another barnstormer, with label regulars rubbing shoulders with household names like Barbara Tucker, Dave Lee and others. Naturally enough for such a corker of a collection, it’s coming on gold vinyl too.

So join us as the cream of The Disco Express roster tells us about their contributions to Best Of 2023, track by track

A1. Luke Delite & Michelle Weeks – Give Me Your Love (Dave Lee Edit)

LD: Give Me Your Love is a contemporary disco collaboration between myself, house diva Michelle Weeks and remix royalty Dave Lee. We layered hypnotic guitar grooves with seductive bass lines, drums and a phenomenal live string orchestra. Michelle’s sensual lyrics and Dave’s exceptional edit make GMYL a high-energy disco production.

A2. Sam Karlson & Barbara Tucker – Be Yourself (Michael Gray Dub Mix)

SK: Summer 2022 and Barbara is on European tour, I brought her to Paris to lay down top lines and lyrics on two instrumentals that I had just finished. We had already worked together in 2021, we have since become very close and I really wanted her energy and soul on these new productions.

Be yourself was born after a conversation one evening in her suite, we were talking about Elvis Presley’s song “If I can dream” and this notion of being free, free to dream, free to be able to fully assume what we are at home, deeper within one’s self. The next day Barbara arrives at the studio and in one take she poses and creates Be Yourself. Linda Rudy and DJ Q do the backing vocals.

This track is particularly close to my heart because it marks the beginning of my collaboration with The Disco Express, a label for which I have a lot of admiration, particularly for Tom’s work which defends an image of House Music.

A3. Sparkling Attitude Ft. Dyanna Fearon – Giving Nothing (Art of Tones Remix)

SA: ‘Giving Nothing’ is a funny story really. The first version of the tune was made in early 2022 and had a completely different arrangement. When we teamed up with Dyanna Fearon, she delivered such a great vocal and were so satisfied about our tune.

Once we approached The Disco Express, we had a constructive discussion on where to go with the track and we decided to write up a completely new arrangement. It was a challenge, but we already had a great vocal and top lines so it wasn’t too hard to find new chords and original sounds for the tune.

So when we finished the new version of Giving Nothing we were so sure that we had a banger on our hands and Tom (of The Disco Express) knew that!

But it wasn’t enough for us, and we constantly thought about a remixer for the track… that was the time to welcome, Art of Tones.

Ever-present on The Disco Express, Ludovic has made consistently excellent productions. We were so happy with the final result and for his remix to be featured on the Best of 2023 vinyl.

B1. Magnolia – Believe In L (Ft. Mani Hoffman & Million Miles)

M: Believe In L was first conceived in Brittany, France, in a rented holiday home with the Parisian crew Fabass, Robin and Samy.

We began by recording a disco loop then laying down a Moog bass line. Once we had this groovy bass, we took so much pleasure in building the track, using funky guitar riffs, strings and 80s FX that were inspired by artists I love: Glenn Jones, The Ritchie Family and Dabeull.

Once the full structure of the instrumental was complete, together we listened to it with The Disco Express and we all loved it! The label put me in touch with Mani Hoffman and Million Miles who delivered magnificent vocals.

My song Believe In L is for lovers of 70s Disco, Funk and Soul.

B2. Generoco – Disco Jazzin’

G: I always wanted to make a 70’s infused record in a modern-day jacket, so when The Disco Express approached me to work on an EP, I immediately started on the first track with this scene in mind. Disco Jazzin’ grew organically and became my ode to the musical elements of that era, with a driving bassline, jazzy rhodes piano, disco congas and Philly strings, written and played by myself for today’s dance floors.

B3. Alastair Lane – Disco Maléfico

AL: When I first started working on Disco Maléfico, I wanted to create an original Disco track, with zero samples, in the style of Cerrone or Black Devil Disco Club. As an absolute fan of this cosmic disco era, it was a real challenge to try and recreate this exact sound, without sounding too modern. So I went searching through records, and discovered bands like Space Art, Telex and Araxis which completely influenced the making of Disco Maléfico.

While trying to emulate their sound as much as possible, and giving it my own twist, this is what I came up with; and I hope you’ll enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed producing it.

B4. Georges – Love’s Away

G: I originally wrote this song for my live show in 2022, which explains this kind of odd structure with its two solos (a keyboard solo in the middle and a guitar solo at the end). When I was composing this track, I quickly knew it was going to be played live.

That’s why I made it quite energetic, with a big bass line, epic strings buildups and, of course, a huge distorted guitar solo at the end. This track was so thrilling to play and the response of the crowd as always been amazing, I had no choice but to put it out there and The Disco Express was the perfect label to do that ! ????

Buy your gold vinyl copy of The Disco Express: Best Of 2023 here