SAADA BONAIRE レコード& CD

Review: For the unaware, Saada Bonaire's 1984 gem 'You Could Be More As You Are' is the very definition of a cult classic. Known for offering a chugging blend of new wave, leftfield synth-pop and post-disco dancefloor nous, it was produced by an obscure German DJ and fronted by two female vocalists. Those singers have now joined forces with producers Jens Mahlstedt and Ralph 'von' Richthoven to deliver a 2025 remake. It's presented in two distinctively different forms. On the A-side, we get the 'Super Disco Mix', a driving, bass guitar-driven affair that mixes replayed elements of the 1984 original (including some of the spellbinding synths) with clipped disco guitars and freshly recorded vocals. The flipside 'Bleep Mix' is not an early Warp style re-build, but in fact a slightly more electronic-sounding dub disco version.

Review: Saada Bonaire was a German disco and world music project from the unlikely town of Bremen. Formed in 1982 by DJ Ralf Behrendt, the unique concept band was based around the super seductive vocal sounds of Stefanie Lange and Claudia Hossfeld. The musicians in the band were from local immigration centres and they signed to EMI to put out one single only, 'You Could Be More As You Are.' Dennis Bovell produced it in Kraftwerk's studio and it fused dub, African sounds, drum machines and synths into something special. The band was cancelled soon after but not before they realised a load of the tunes that had already written on this essential album.