There’s not really too much out there on Curtis Vodka. He’s in his mid-20s, he’s from Alaska, pretty sure he lives in NYC now. But other than that, he’s just a guy who makes slow house heaters.

He just thew this edit of Howard Johnson’s “So Fine” up onto his SoundCloud. It’s an edit of the song in its entirety, but the most memorable parts by far are the vocal stabs of “Oooh” and “So Fineee” that punctuate the whole track. The vocals, complemented by sharp drums and a quick-moving bassline, result in a sound that’s both sharp and smooth at the same time.

Worth mentioning that while some newer guys are doing tropical-infused disco, and house that sits below 110 bpm, Curtis beat them all to the punch about 2 years ago with his absurdly amazing remix of Donna Lewis “I Love You Always Forever” which clocks in at ten minutes and forty seconds.

Beautiful Swimmers blends soul music into a mix of influences from around the globe. For years they have been serving up the very best from their stockpiles of vinyl, but have more recently been focusing more on making their own music. Home to Maryland, the two piece gets down with the DC crowd on the reg, having mixed tunes on the U Street Music Hall dance floor multiple times since the club’s opening in 2010.

On 4/20 you can catch Beautiful Swimmers at U Hall again, opening for Blisspop and Red Fridays presents Tiger & Woods alongside Tim Sweeney, host of WNYU radio show “Beats in Space.” Prepare yourself for their set with the following listening tips. Expect fast drumbeats to intro, dive into their edits which hail from their insane, worldly collection of vinyl, and wrap yourself into the universal sound groove that they are still innovating.

Blisspop sat down for a quick chat with Ari, 1/2 of Swimmers, ahead of the party this Friday to chat vinyl hunting, playing U Hall and their summer plans…

Keep reading…

Making re-edits of disco tracks is a pretty simple concept. You take a song that was already great, and you beef it up so it sounds loud sitting next to today’s over-compressed jams. For most producers, that just means adding another drum track, and maybe moving some verses around if they’re feeling…inspired.

But every once in a while you find someone who can (and does) do a bit more with it. Late Nite Tuff Guy seems to be one of those dudes. He’s certainly got a number of tracks that lean closer towards straight re-edits, but for just as many he creates totally bizarre yacht rock/drum machine love children. This guy has a serious fetish for electric cowbell samples, and that’s a good thing.

So it goes with “I’m Hot,” which re-edits and reworks Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” in the most absurd of ways. It’s tinged with nu disco-style filters, and can’t help but feel a little ironic. But at the same time, muy sexy. Almost like having a mustache is required for listening (which is fitting, considering LNTG’s Facebook photo is a 300 pound wrestler with a hell of a handlebar)

For something a little more straight-ahead disco, check “2Nite” – still a healthy amount of cowbell, with a really groovy dance vibe.

It should be weird that someone turned Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go” into a disco track. But it’s not. It should be weird that disco and tropical have become this really crazy hybrid in the last year or so. But it’s not. And it’s not weird because it just works so well. It’s something that French Express, the disco blog-turned-label knows how to do — first with Perseus and now with Moon Boots.

For a long time, disco DJs looking for new slower/vibey tracks have been left…wanting. There are plenty of classics (George Benson’s “Gimme the Night” for starters), but most producers these days just haven’t been making stuff in the 105-115 bpm range. Until recently.

Enter Moon Boots’s “Got Somebody” — a beauty equally at home with an empty dance floor early in the night, and a packed club that needs a little bump-n-grind at 2 am. The tropical drums, punctuated by the occasional run of chimes, wraps perfectly around Wayne Wonder’s a cappella, and the whole track pulses through in the smoothest of ways.

Nearly 50k plays in just a week can’t be wrong, right?

Next listens:

• The Dublin Aunts coincidentally-timed flip of the very same a cappella
• Perseus, also of the French Express family, flipping PM Dawn on “Russian Girlfriends“
• U-Tern, doing his thing on “You Don’t Know Me“

For those of you who missed their first go around back in January, the Chicago-based trio Orchard Lounge have kindly posted their 4 hour set on SoundCloud and it’s just as good as we remembered. Tech house, deep house and disco, oh my!

Refresh your memory or get familiar with their sound as OL prepares for their triumphant return to U Street Music Hall on April 28th for BLISS. Grab your tickets here. And check out our interview with Ben Silver of Orchard Lounge.

Orchard Lounge @ U Street Music Hall (1-11-12)