Al Kent
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- Glasgow's answer to Walter Gibbons. Million Dollar Disco DJ, BBE Records compiler, re-edit producer. Likes records. Especially disco ones.When Al Kent launched the Million Dollar Disco label back in the '90s "Disco House" was all the rage. A life spent hoarding rare soul and disco records, a keen ear for a sample and a few years of DJing already under his belt stood him in good stead when it came to making music. Inspired by labels like Azuli with their Chocolate Fudge and Disco Elements EPs he made a load of tracks by sticking house drums on top of disco samples and released somewhere in the region of twenty 12" singles, many of which found their way into top DJs' charts. Despite encouraging signs with tracks being signed to high profile labels like Z Records, Defected Hed Kandi and even his beloved Azuli, the Disco House formula soon ran its course and Al looked for a fresh challenge. So he recorded an orchestra instead. "Better Days" by the Million Dollar Orchestra was released as a double album by BBE in 2008, having taken the best part of two years to make. Not many producers would have the flair to go from cutting up samples to recording a 26 piece band, but Al did it with aplomb. It was when he abandoned the style Million Dollar Disco had become known for that his DJ career really took off. Ditching house music in favour of disco saw him first emulating his hero Walter Gibbons; cutting between two copies of each record, until he discovered he could save the hassle (and money spent on doubles) and make re-edits instead. Soon his sets were made up entirely of his own exclusive reworks. He's released a ton of those edits over the years on Million Dollar Disco as well as a slew of labels like Jisco, Kat, Real Thing, Edit, Stilove4music, People Must Jam, Kalakuta Soul, Kojak Giant Sounds and All Out War. He's been round the world a few times too, playing in Australia, Canada, France, Poland, United Arab Emerates, Italy, Germany, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Holland, Croatia - pretty much every country in Europe, every city in the UK and many locations in between. Al has had the honour of playing Southport weekender four times (more than any other "Connoisseur's Corner" guest) as well as headlining at prestigious events like Z Records' first (and, to this date, only) party in London and Ete D'Amour's boat party on the Seine, at the invitation of Dimitri From Paris. He was co-promoter and resident DJ at Manchester's legendary Northern Disco and regularly throws crowd pleasing parties in his home town of Glasgow. His relationship with BBE gave him the opportunity to release the Disco Love volumes (three so far), a series of hard to find disco tracks, a self produced follow up to the Million Dollar Orchestra "Secret Sounds" and the Best of Disco Demands.. a 5x CD/2x double vinyl set made up of more hard to find tracks, originally released in very limited quantities on Million Dollar Disco. At the time of writing Al's putting the finishing touches to an album that has again taken some time to produce, featuring an army of musicians and vocalists. It's no surprise it's taken so long though with his busy DJ schedule and remixes for Tommy Stewart, Stanton Davis, Sandy Barber, The Sunburst Band, Tom Noble, The Bank and Odyssey all completed in the last year. Despite his reputation as a digger and his background in rare soul and disco, Al is no musical snob when it comes to DJing. He knows how to move a dance-floor with music that ranges from the most obscure disco to bona-fide classics. It's his edits that elevate him beyond the normal conception of a "disco DJ" though. If you thought disco was music for the back room, think again.. Al's sound is big and bad, perfectly mixed in a way Ron Hardy would be proud of. His style has earned him serious praise from many of his peers like Sadar Bahar, Mike Huckaby, Theo Parrish, Rahaan, Red Rack'em, Joey Negro (who once famously called him Scotland's answer to Walter Gibbons), Dimitri From Paris andHorse Meat Disco.̸MDD1001 AL KENT - THE FIRST FLOOR EP MDD1002 AL KENT - THE OTHER SIDE EP MDD1003 AL KENT - THE LOWER EAST EP MDD1004 AL KENT - THE MUSIC MACHINE EP MDD1005 AL KENT - THE AFTER MIDNIGHT EP MDD1006 AL KENT - THE LIQUID SMOKE EP MDD1007 AL KENT - THE NINTH CIRCLE EP MDD1008 AL KENT - THE SOHO PLACE EP MDD1009 AL KENT - THE RASPBERRY FREEZE EP MDDCD01 OH SO FAMILIAR: PART ONE MDDCD02 DISCO DEMANDS VOLUME ONE MDDCD03 DISCO DEMANDS PART 2 MDDCD04 DISCO DEMANDS PART 3 MDDCD05 NORTHERN DISCO MDDCD06 THE BROWN BROTHERS - THE SECRET DISCO SESSIONS MDDCD07 DISCO DEMANDS VOLUME FOUR MDDCD08 DISCO DEMANDS PART FIVE MDDCD09 THE BROWN BROTHERS - THE SECRET DISCO SESSIONS PT2 BBE144 DISCO LOVE BBE172 DISCO LOVE 2 BBE173 THE BEST OF DISCO DEMANDS BBE224 DISCO LOVE VOL 3
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