Hed Kandi
Twisted Disco (Hed Kandi Records)

HED Kandi presents its darker side to the world for the first time this year with this electronic feast.
Kandi's edgier 2008 twin CD compilation is seriously not for the faint hearted!
The tracks are in their original full length unmixed format, so you get to hear the tunes beginning to end.
Twisted Disco borrows various dance tracks or vocals, strips them down, twists them up and drops in a banging beat. The result is a fusion of retro sounds, heady tech house and fresh, sometimes surprising tunes for 2008. Electrifying! Disc One kicks off with an unusual combination of soulful vocals and electro - the CD's pace picks up somewhat chaotically from there onwards.
Twisted versions of old familiars are thrown in for good measure and I couldn't help wonder at one point if my ears were deceiving me.
The reworking of the Utah Saints classic Something Good stands out as being on the harder edge of house music - a surprising listen.
Disc Two is nothing less than a roller coaster ride, with its dips, twists and turns - this is edgy, even scary.
The disc progresses into a much tougher set of tracks that combine interesting lyrics, for example the classic words from Jay Men and an unexpected version of Dizzee Rascal's Flex.
The final tune is reminisant of the end of the night in a club - Gui Boratto's Beautiful Life is both strange and beautiful.
If you are looking for blissed out moods this CD is definitely not for you.
But if you want to experience Hed Kandi's mischievious and "harder" sound then Twisted is well worth a listen.
Very much an after hours compilation - this will either shake you up or propel you Kandi style on an "intergalactic journey into the twisted side of house!"

7/10