Stephen Encinas - Disco Illusion (ICE 004)

Disco Invisible City Editions Island Reissue Soca & Calypso

For many this is the ultimate Disco Illusion; a record that should have been epoch making in its day, something that would have been a staple for David Mancuso, Larry Levan & Ron Hardy had it ever gotten distribution when it was originally released 34 years ago. Somehow time passed it by and it was only re-discovered in a warehouse in Trinidad last year. Since then it has been gaining momentum fast, with DJ support from Moodymann, MCDE, Floating Points & Kon, as well as original copies selling for four-digit sums. Part of the illusion is in the structure of the record. The A-side begins with a beautiful hazy disco song, but suddenly an Egyptian sounding bridge turns things inside out and the song opens up into stripped back proto-house jam complete with bubbling Sun Ra synths and Black Ark tape delay action. Then there’s the b-side, which sounds like Bob James after he had a taste of callaloo, with deep electronics and a mind-melting steel pan solo.

Artwork by Todd Westendorp & Gary Abugan
©℗ Invisible City Editions
ICE 004