Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from January, 2026

What I've Been Listening To: January 2026

Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque! To switch things up a bit - for today's post, I've decided to shine a light on all of the great things I've been listening to this month - there's a whole bunch of stuff, ranging from disco, to classic French house cuts, and some interesting bits thrown in there for good measure. Let's get started! Askine - Black Lips To kick this post off - I wanted to talk about one of my favourite French house singles of the blog-era, which was released by French House Club and VCH in 2008 - Askine's Black Lips. While there's nothing particularly genius about this track, it's a personal favourite of mine due to the excellent sampling techniques, jittery (yet upbeat) production and above all - it's super stylish and very summery. Also, it's built off of a sweet Diana Ross track, which is super dope! Askine - Black Lips The Phantom's Revenge - I Can't Stop Bullets Also released sometime in 2008 - the first ...

Review: S/T by Phonat

Released through legendary independent label MofoHifi in late 2009 - Italian producer and DJ Phonat's self titled debut is an insane record - and likely one of the most quirky, strange yet hyperactive records I'll likely ever review. Across the album's 12 tracks - Phonat juggles between a massive range of genres, just to name a few - electro-house, French house, drum and bass, rock and nu disco - making it a perfect mix of everything I love, and a damn fine listen, if you ask me. There's a lot to unpack here - so I'll start with the first half of the record - which sets the listener up rather nicely with half a dozen of plunderphonic-esque tracks full of fantastic sampling techniques, upbeat tonality and above all - they're extremely fun.  While  Phonat opens with several nods to hip hop - such as A Warm Welcome - which reminds me of Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa (but if it was more epic!) and breakbeat excursions (looking at you, Get Down My Dirty Street !) ...

New Drops and News: January 3rd - 16th

Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque. It's been around two weeks since the last promotion post here on the blog - and since then, there's been a massive amount of new releases that have dropped - alongside some pretty awesome announcements and news - and I hope to cover them in today's post in the best way I can! So, without further ado - let's get started! Nickster - Mosaica To kick this post off - I wanted to shine a light on the brilliant debut album from Nickster - the Miani-based producer who came in hot with Mosaica - a stunning collection of French touch influenced, sample heavy jams which ooze with quality. Released on Business Casual yesterday - this album is versatile, fun and extremely awesome - it's ridiculously punchy - mirroring some of the seminal work that came out on Ed Banger in the late 2000s - and although we're only a few weeks into the year - I have a feeling that this will stand among some of the year's best releases. There...

Interview: SHPESHFTR

Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque! It's been a little while since the last post - and to make up for it - today, in the virtual ATD hot seat is someone very, very special - Ontario based electro-house / bloghouse producer SHPESHFTR, who is making waves on the scene right now for his incredible original productions and daring, fantastic remixes. Without further ado, let's get to the interview! For those who don’t know you – who are you, and what music do you make? I'm Josh! I make electro house music under the moniker SHPESHFTR. Let’s start this off well – when did you start making music, and who inspires you the most in your work overall? I started in 2012 when I was in 5th grade - Skrillex, deadmau5, Knife Party and Monstercat were major influences on me and I got started trying to make dubstep and any other sub-genre of EDM without knowing how to use FL Studio.  I didn’t have much patience for watching tutorials and learning things manually, I always took mor...

Late December / early January drops!

Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque! It's been around two weeks since the last promotion post on the blog - and as 2025 drew to a close, we were treated to so many fantastic releases from so many awesome people - and as we enter 2026, I have nothing but hope for all of these scenes! So without further ado - let's start 2026 off well, and get into some of the best releases over the last two weeks! Moe Shop - HARDCODED To kick this post off, I wanted to talk about Tokyo-based producer and DJ Moe Shop's incredible new single - which was released independently on December 27th. Hardcoded feels like a welcome continuation of the stuff present on their latest EP - Evo Evo - it's an incredibly energetic, daring single with fantastic production which is punchy, effortlessly bright, jittery and crystal clear at the same time, making this an excellent track to light up parties and clubs as we go into 2026.  If I had to give this single a definition - it's electro h...