This Saturday, 31st March, we at Love Come Down are embarking on the first in a new series of events we're calling 'El Verano del Disco'. With five parties taking place across the summer in Barcelona, it'll be the first time we've ever held a regular residency at one single venue – the wonderful rooftop of The Gallery Hotel.
Taking place from 5pm - 10pm, each event will take you from a more chilled, poolside vibe, building things up through sunset until darkness falls, when you can expect the usual Love Come Down party atmosphere to be let loose. Check the Facebook event here for full details of all the dates and how you can join us.
Meanwhile, to celebrate our impending summer of alfresco disco, we thought we'd compile 5 of our favourite records to play outdoors, next to the pool, in the sun, cocktail in hand... you get the picture. (P.S. there's a link to a YouTube playlist of all 5 tracks at the button at the bottom of the page).
1. Ron Basejam 'Kag'
Officially, every time we play outdoors, we start our set with this track. Is it fair to say that the slap bass alone elevates it above 95% of all other music ever made? According to our (admittedly brief) online research, the track is a complete original and isn't sample-based, which just makes its rubbery, summery, funky, dreamy vibes even more rubbery, summery, funky and dreamy. If that's possible.
2. JM Edits #1 'That's The Way Love Is'
This track is simply gorgeous. When German soul singer Xavier Naidoo covered this stone-cold house classic by Ten City, the decision probably raised a few eyebrows amongst his fans and at his record label. Little did he know that a few years down the line, KAT Records' edit maestro Jonny Miller – aka JM Edits – would jump onto his version, gently giving the percussion a bit of oomph whilst retaining the original's lush instrumentation. It's probably our favourite track to play during an epic sunset. Just don't judge us if we play the Ten City version later in the night.
3. Cerrone 'Hooked On You' (Kon's Nite Time Remix)
Cerrone x Jocelyn Brown x Kon = sunset disco heaven. The key to Kon's edits/remixes is always his arrangements, and this one's potentially one of his best. Removing the majority of the (admittedly slightly cheesy) elements of the original and leaving only fragments of Jocelyn Brown's vocals, the stripped back nature of his version reveals what's underneath – a gorgeous, sun-drenched, dancefloor love-in.
4. The Cuban Brothers 'Ain't No Need'
Respect has to be given here to Australian DJ CC: Disco, whose excellent Boiler Room set introduced us to this track. Her motto: "less chin stroking, more dancing" immediately won us over. Like many others we thought The Cuban Brothers were little more than a comedy act, but apparently they released an album in 2013 that contains this little-known gem. Those horns! That chorus! Those overlapping vocals! This track was quite clearly designed for sunnier climes, so that is exactly where we'll be deploying it.
5. Double Exposure 'My Love Is Free' (Love Come Down Combination Edit)
OK. So we've played this in the club at Love Come Down before. But it's undeniably suited to the outdoors – big horns, incredible male harmonies and those organ stabs – the inherent warmth of this all-time disco classic works wonders alfresco. Plus, listen out for the special combination edit we've made recently that combines two different versions of the song into one devastating organ-heavy 10 minute freak-out... (but for now we'll leave you with David Morales Remix).