Davide Squillace - Once Upon a Time In Napoli (2018)

While Davide Squillace has been churning out underground hits for the best part of 20 years, his only previous full-length excursion was a compilation of remixes back in 2011. Once Upon a Time in Napoli, then, is a landmark release for the storied Italian producer. For the most part, the material sits somewhere between deep house and tech-house, with a range of intriguing influences – Balearica, synth disco, dub house, Afro-house and, most surprisingly, punk-funk – stirred in to add extra spice to Squillace’s percussive and peak-time-friendly productions. Highlights come thick and fast, from the woozy brilliance of vocal opener “The Boogie Man” and deliciously wild and sweaty “Vostok”, to the breezy deep house positivity of “Holy Motors” and low-slung “Napoli Texas’, which is arguably the album’s moodiest cut