Sare Havlicek - Toscana Nights (2010)

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Sare Havlicek - Toscana Nights (2010)

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While currently best known to these shores for being the one footballing nation we're able to beat in a major international competition, Slovenia is also the homeland of producer Sare Havicek. This album is a showcase for Havlicek's mastery of '70s and '80s cosmic disco stylings, calling upon a prodigious arsenal of analogue synthesizers for its every oscillation. The press release reassures that Toscana Nights was fully realised without the assistance of samples or loops, and it sounds quite splendid as a result. At every turn you'll encounter potent dancefloor munitions, from the opening title track through to the immense 'Dancing In Val D'Isere 1979', with one or two vocally-assisted excursions thrown in along the way such as the guitar-twanging Euro-raunch of 'White Russian' and the ace 'Pleasure Storm', fronted by Hannah Mancini. Toscana Nights is a lot of fun, but it's also a very finely produced affair, comparable to the sort of sounds emanating from the studios of Nordic maestros like Prins Thomas and Diskjokke, but with a more purely retro sound that belies an even greater reverence for disco's bygone heyday.

Slovenian based Sare Havlicek is a bit of a hoarder. A hoarder of old synthesizers, drum machines and most of all 70s and early 80s Euro / cosmic disco sounds. A trip around his luxurious studio is a bit like a day at the synthesizer museum. Throw in some liberal doses of Adriatic-disco and early 80s Shalamar Vs Shakatak vibe. Then add a sprinkling of Magic Fly and long, lazy, girl-on-arm coastlined days. Bake for a year or so and "Toscana Nights" - the album - pops right out.

Title track "Toscana Nights" opens up proceedings with a killer lead line and Sare's trademark pulsating 1/8 note synth-bass groove. Studio 54 would have loved this track. Next up is the sunshine anthem "Lazy Summer", dripping with kitsch, sweetening strings, cocktails and sunglasses in equal measures. Then its onto "UFO's Are Real". The album features the catchy vocals and snappy lyrics from US Import, Hannah Mancini. You can hear her add her slinky sheen to the vocal tracks "Dreams In Light" , "In Out" and "Pleasure Storm". Tracks such as "Dancing In Val D'Isere 1979", "Attack Of The Vowels" and "Song" mine deep into Sare's analog synthesizer collection. If you want to hear 70s oscillators doing there thing, then this is the place for you. No samples or loops are aloud past the door here boss.