I have loved a lot of this Austrian man’s output over the years, mainly because he confidently hops between modern jazz, funk, panel beating techno and slow mo electronics and as executed in such a timeless fashion, a lot of his releases (esp from the nineties) still make perfect sense today. He seems to have slowed down a touch in more recent years (haven’t we all) but here are five from Patrick Pulsinger’s extensive back catalogue that in my opinion are still good to go.

1 Plus 1, Barbie & The Kens, Beachfront, Bobby “O” & His Banana Republic, Bubba & The Jack Attack, Charlene Davis, Claus V., Condo, Darlene Down, Dressed To Kill, Fascination (3), Focus 1, Free Enterprise, Gangsters Of House (2), Gina Desire, Girls Have Fun, Girly, Gomez Presley, Gringo Lopez, Hippies With Haircuts, Hotline (2), House Of ‘O’, Ian Darby, Johnny Bankcheck, Joy Toy, Lifestyle, Lilly & the Pink, Lola (31), M.C. Fritz & The P-Rockers, Malibu (2), Mandarine, Miss Tammi Dee, Nancy Dean, New Breed, Oh Romeo, One & Two Teenies, One-Two-Three, Patty Phillipe, Sandra Ford, Something Anything, Spooge Boy, Teen-Rock, The Beat Box Boys, The Boyd Brothers, The College Boys, The Fem-Spies, The Flirts, The I-Spies, The New York Models, Vision 1, Waterfront Home, Wow, Zwei Maenner

HiNRG doesn’t get the love or recognition that disco or italo does, but for me it should. At the heart of it was Bobby ‘O’ – an incredibly strange man — a complete contradiction on a lot of levels. He’s a hyper-macho homophobic ex-boxer who made gay disco. He once backed out of a lease because he found out the previous tenant was gay, yet he produced legendary drag queen Divine, and worked with the Pet Shop Boys. Most of his songs are brazen odes to sex and partying, and yet he’s a fundamentalist Christian who penned a (still unpublished) book on creationism. Make of that what you will.

There is a definite art to using the correct amount of ingredients and not spoiling the dish by adding a touch too much. Mathew Jonson has this approach down to a fine art on his musical compositions and various side projects. In DJ sets Dump Truck by Cobblestone Jazz in particular is a track that I always seem to return to, every time sounding fresher than the last outing with a hypnotic build that connects with the dancefloor every single time!

Here are five MJ essentials…

Dark Entries is a label that is hard to keep track of. They have released and re-issued over two hundred records in a relatively short period of time. Their sounds range from primitive house to post punk and all that lies in between the darker recesses of the dance floor. Basically all the good stuff.

Below are five must have classics picked from their extensive re-issue back cat.