Pitchfork

For a few years around the turn of the millennium, the UK-based Strut imprint was a beat-digger's golden goose, churning out choice comps packed with rare and classic tracks covering everything from disco to early hip-hop to afrobeat. Then, in 2003, Strut closed up shop. The people wept, and the genres of disco, afrobeat, and hip-hop were soon forgotten.

Now the people can rejoice once more, as dance/electronic mavens !K7 have revived the Strut imprint, with designs on some ace releases in 2008.

Tops on the agenda is the first studio album in ten years from recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash. Flash began recording this one just last month and promises (via a press release) "the emphasis [placed] firmly on jump-up party anthems...[and] a mouth-watering line-up of guests." Just be sure to wipe your mouths before the jumping up and partying.

The as-yet-untitled Grandmaster Flash LP is due next year and will be a joint release between Strut and Flash's Adrenaline City Entertainment.

After that, stay tuned for another installment in the excellent Disco Not Disco series, a collection from mustachioed disco godfather Giorgio Moroder titled Evolution, and a set of Eddy Grant's disco work.

Strut's founder Quinton Scott will serve as A&R guy for Strut 2.0.