Five Tracks: Vinny Villbass

Hailing from the Norwegian capital of Oslo, DJ, producer, and record label boss Vinny Villbass has been an essential piece of his cities vibrant club circuit for several decades.

Alongside his own badabing diskos imprint, Vinny’s music has previously come via labels such as Eskimo, Beatservice, and Trunkfunk – and his latest brings a brand new 8-track long player titled ‘Windows’.

His contribution to our Five Tracks series finds him shine a light on music from names like Henriku, M-High, and Oceanic, via record labels like Salty Nuts, Twisted, and Det Gobe Selskab. Get the full list of picks from Vinny Villbass below.

Oceanic – Sunshine Dear
Label: Nous’klaer Audio

“This is the definite summer hit for me this year, from the amazing album Choral Feeling. Perfectly chopped vocal harmonies that just build and build. Fascinating with those hi energy tracks totally without kick drum. The perfect track to take the floor to another level. I found Dutch-German producer Oceanic randomly on bandcamp this winter, and have been a big fan since. Great to see interesting artists like this actually reaching a crowd with their quality in these times where the audience is overflooded with music. Quality wins this time!”

LAFT – Maple (House Version)
Label: badabing diskos

“This is my own side project LAFT, which I have together with Tomas Järmyr. We just released an album. It’s percussive house music played live with myself on synths and guitar, and Tomas on percussion. I love playing concerts live on stage, it’s a very different kind of energy compared to DJ sets, more risk more fun, I guess. And the fact that Tomas has been drumming in everything from legendary rock band Motorpsycho to The Bell Laboratory with Pantha Du Prince makes it extra interesting as to what improvisation can happen live. This track is a special house version I made of our single ‘Maple’, meant for the later hours.”

M-High – The Answer
Label: Salty Nuts

“We all need a bit of happy house vibes in our bag, and this little treat from M-High is going to make any dancefloor turn crazy. This Amsterdam producer is kinda new to the scene, but has released a lot of goodies since his debut a few years ago. 90’s UK sound, but still fresh somehow. I had people jumping to this track last weekend in Oslo. The new high I guess.”

Henriku – I Do
Label: Det Gode Selskab

“Lots of great stuff coming out of Norway. My personal current favorite is the Berlin-based newcomer Henriku. He is releasing on Alexander Skanckes’ label Quirk, but recently released this magic number on the Oslo collective DetGodeSelskab label. Henriku’s laid back vocals mixed with funky house beats is playful yet underground. The track ‘I Do’ has been in my bag all summer. Oh, and I just heard his upcoming release on Quirk, it’s equally trippy and cool. Watch out for leather vests on the dance floors next year!”

Funky Green Dogs – Fired Up (Twilo Edit)
Label: Twisted

“And last but not least, an old classic, ‘Fired Up’ by the funky green dogs. I bought the double 12″ on the legendary Twisted label in the late 90’s, and this Twilo edit is my favourite. I was actually just made aware that this track was played in Tony Soprano’s strip club Badabing, in the first season of The Sopranos. I used to play the **** out of this track 25 years ago when I started DJing, and have quite a few versions of it on vinyl. Good reference to our badabing diskos label I would say, class act that Soprano fella, well…”