Thirty-seven beats per minute separate the poles of this closing selection: at the bottom, Crackazat's 'Watchu Say' drags the groove down to 96 BPM in Eb minor for Freerange; at the top, Random Access's 'Melody' pushes the needle to 133. There is no lukewarm middle ground here — the set treats the end of the night as a game of tensions, and every pair of opposites has something to say.
The first tension is one of scale. Al Kent's 'Come Back Home (Again)' with The Disco Love Orchestra runs 8:24, the longest cut of the lot: the Glasgow disco devotee, as Big Love presents him, reworks his most celebrated tune as an orchestral rendition with a Philly-style bed and soulful vocals. In the opposite corner, Cody Currie's 'Cherry' wraps things up in 3:36 on Toy Tonics: the miniature against the fresco.
The second is one of calendar. 'Magic Fly' was born in 1977 at the hands of Space, cosmic disco pioneers, and resurfaces via Because Music with a Toxic Avenger remix that injects punchy bass and a cinematic groove. Orbiting nearby is Dave Lee — founder of Z Records in 1990, known for decades as Joey Negro — stretching 'Tango Hustle' with Foreal People out to 7:11. Veterans on both flanks, with nearly half a century between the raw materials.
The third is one of temperature: orchestra versus machine. RA/NE's 'Lose Control' arrives in its Mutant Orchestra version at 115 BPM, while Alden Tyrell answers with 'Phaze Me', 130 BPM in Ab minor for the Clone West Coast Series — the most mechanical face of the pack. Even the labels play the contrast game: Ben Jamin's remix for Joel Sarakula rolls at 103 BPM on an imprint literally called Too Slow To Disco.
If closing a set were a straight line into silence, you could just lower the tempo and switch off. This selection argues the opposite: a pendulum swinging between 96 and 133, between three and a half minutes and well past eight, between 1977 and now. A proper ending is still something you can dance to.
Sources: Wikipedia · Bandcamp · Big Love
