Crazy Penis / ‘A Nice Hot Edit With’
CD / Vinyl
Paper Recordings / Released March 21st 2011
When this album was announced people were understandably pretty excited. Not only do Crazy Penis sport the best possible name for a band, their debut LP, A Nice Hot Bath With, was tantamount to 1997 UK house perfection. So, now the introductions are over, let’s look at the alternative readings offered up on this celebratory re-working.
Balearic-leaning disco fans will no doubt have already been chomping at the bit for a morsel of Greg Wilson action, and his style saturates Starwar in a glamorous, sexy light. Think Bora Bora, and lots of it, in the middle of a Mediterranean afternoon. Not a bad way to open the scoring really, though some will be glad to know things do toughen up significantly. Not before Crazy P’s own remix of Do It Good mind, a track that sounds like Prince is in the studio, complete with 80s funk-step rhythm.
We promised things would become more solid, and Ray Mang’s the man to serve it up. Smoovin’ Groovin‘s guttural bass guitar gets a rolling, warehousey retouch. Glittering crystals can be heard in a sparse distance, while synth and bassline makes stomping wholly advisable. Electro that’s less for the kids, and more aimed at adults is a pleasure we’re too often denied, thankfully not so here, making for some welcome grit amidst this smooth package.
Closing track Drop Your Weapon, here given the Faze Action treatment, summarises the whole idea really. Good times, great grooves and the kind of vibe that reeks of Bacardi mixers in the sunshine, though God knows why, as the source material comes from the north of England. Still, despite geography, anyone can tell this is the thing dancefloors have, and always will be made for, regardless of what chin stroking sub genre has been labelled flavour of the month.
