With two deeply cherished compilations already in the bag,Luke Una steps up for the third volume in hisÉ Soul Culturaseries on Mr Bongo. A love letter to the dancefloor and its power to unite people from all corners of society amid growing division and extremist politics. Genre-spanning in nature, the 15 tracks travel between cosmic soul, boogie, proto-house, slo-mo technoid grooves, drum machine afro, astral bass-bugging futurism, jazz funk, dance, and disco. Each having the ability to move the body as much as the heart.
From his formative years in Sheffield to co-founding Manchester’s much-fabled Electric Chair with Justin Crawford, through to helming the iconic LGBTQ institutions ofHomoelectric / Homobloc, Luke has spent40 years immersed in dance music. His latest outlet, É Soul Cultura, has grown from a label to aglobe-spanning events series with Luke holding residencies and embarking on tours across the world from Japan and Australia to America and Europe.
“For me, the dancefloor was never about a one-dimensional, thudding, 130 BPM beat only. It's a muchmore dynamic, broader vision than that. I cut my teeth in an era where a 100 BPM record had as much impact, excitement, and energy as a 134 BPM dancefloor jazz funk or techno record”, Luke mentions. É Soul Cultura Volume 3 is the perfect embodiment of that notion: “It’s about four decades in the trenches playing dance music, the late-night afters, the shebeens, the basements, warehouse parties, the eight-hour journeys in East London, through to festival sets at Houghton and We Out Here. It’smusic unconstrained by genre or tempo and more about making your body move”.
But this isn’t simply a collection of disparate dance tracks; theycarry meaning and soul. “It’s less about escapism,more about reconnection. My experience of post-covid has been the coming together of all the clans in various clubs and gatherings. A reaction to a very toxic world out there, where the aggro rhythms of division have sought to divide us, and people don't meet as often. The coming back together face-to-face in clubs has encouraged a real love in the air, there's areal togetherness and collective spirit”.
Opening up the compilation is a track that channels that very message, the transcendental, soul-rousingHarris & OrrSpread Love. Joining the dots from there, to the low-slung deep house closer ofFatdogRemember, you’ll find electronic drum machineNigerian funk, sitting side by side with dancefloorCape Verdean brilliance, a post-punkcover of Fela Kuti, rubbing shoulders with cosmic electro, and an Una-championed, 8-minute, kicklessDJ Harvey remix. There’sjazz funk in various guises moving from boogie synth to astral travelling,slo-mo acidic raw techno, and a ‘79soul stepper, alongside swirling percussiveItalo disco andtribal-charged house. All infused with an innate ability to bring people together.
As society becomes increasingly fractured, É Soul Cultura Volume 3’s message is more than movement. It’s aboutdance music’s power to unify people from all walks of life and break down the barriers that divide us.
Tracklist:
1. Harris & Orr - Spread Love
2. Terry And Deep South - Trying To Get By
3. Toshiyuki Honda - Burnin' Waves
4. Igna Igwebuike - Disco Bomp
5. Janette Renee - What's On Your Mind (Super Club Remix)
Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura Vol.3 (Vinyl 2LP) has a scheduled release date of.
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