pal joey (aka joseph longo) came up in the heady days of new york street culture, amidst b-boying, boom boxes and an unusually entrepreneurial spirit of beat-making. beginning with crude “pause tapes”, he was soon making tracks with drum machines and sampled vocals, all painstakingly assembled with razors and reel-to-reel. working at vinylmania, where larry levan might be found shopping for records in his pajamas, helped joey’s entrance into the city’s nascent house music scene, and he was soon working with everyone from krs-one to sade to the orb, whose “little fluffy clouds” he tweaked for stateside tastes.
true to his city’s inclusive spirit, pal joey consistently blurs the lines between disco, house and hip-hop, dropping scraps of old soul and recent rap alike over his skipping drum patterns and head-nodding keyboard lines. joey’s records (under his principal moniker and also aliases like earth people and soho) have appeared on jive, epic, talkin loud, wave and coco machete. he also has run three labels of his own - loop d’ loop, cabaret and footstompin records.
limited pressing, be quick!

a much in demand reissue of two of nyc born-and-bred, pal joeys, classics from his joint label with reynald deschamps, loop dloop. first up, party time which harnesses that 90s nyc underground house energy with a rawness that was to emanate through many of pal joeys subsequent productions. scalpel in hand, joey expertly crafted this sample laden groover, his trademark stuttering, off-kilter rhythms, loops and fills keeping listeners on their toes throughout, never knowing how the next phrase might unfold. on the flip, raw love utilises a seminal disco classic as its main sample source, looping it in a way only pal joeys mind knows how, adding percussive hits and extra effects to create an innovative, animated and exhilaratingly rhythmic dancefloor bomb. both tracks are perfect examples of the simplicity and seeming effortlessness that pal joey maintains in his productions, adhering to the mantra that less is more but with a resonating rawness that touches deep down in the soul.

25 year anniversary - re-issue from ny house legend