Purple Disco Machine & Benjamin Ingrosso Featuring Nile Rodgers & Shenseea - Honey Boy (12")

Purple Disco Machine has built a reputation on groove you can set your watch to, so when “Honey Boy” arrived with Benjamin Ingrosso up front and Nile Rodgers and Shenseea in the credits, it felt like a small disco summit. You can hear why it works within the first 30 seconds. The kick is clean and insistent, the bassline bounces with that rubbery snap he loves, and then Rodgers’ rhythm guitar slices through with the kind of clipped sparkle that rewires your shoulders. It is sleek, yes, but it is also playful, which is the secret to why Purple Disco Machine’s best singles stick around.

Ingrosso handles the topline with a light touch. He has a knack for chorus hooks that feel like they were always there, and here he leans into that sugary title without tipping into kitsch. The melody circles back on itself like a mirrorball, the sort of earworm that lodges during a tram ride and won’t budge. Then Shenseea strides in and flips the mood. Her verse is confident and sharp, adding a little dancehall bite to the gloss. It is a savvy bit of casting, because it stops the track from becoming a museum piece and reminds you that disco is meant to be flirtatious and fun.

Production-wise, this is Purple Disco Machine doing what he does best. The drums land with a modern punch, there are handclaps placed just so, and the synths have that shiny, late night sheen he honed across hits like “Hypnotized” and “Fireworks.” You can tell he loves a live element in the mix, and with Rodgers on guitar there is a genuine call back to the source. Rodgers’ tone has that familiar shimmer and syncopation fans know from Chic and his long list of collaborations, and it locks neatly with the bass to create a pocket that DJs will appreciate. If you are cueing it in a set, the intro and breakdown give you clean seams to blend, but the real joy is letting the chorus slam once in a crowded room.

What makes “Honey Boy” more than a genre exercise is the chemistry. Ingrosso brings polished Scandinavian pop smarts, Shenseea brings heat, and Rodgers brings history. Purple Disco Machine ties it together with a feel for arrangement that never gets fussy. He knows when to strip it back to drums and guitar, when to let the strings and synths swell, and when to unleash the chorus again. It is efficient club craft with a grin on its face. No surprise really, given he picked up a Grammy for his “About Damn Time” remix in 2023, and has been a reliable presence on dance floors from Berlin to Brisbane.

Lyrically there is not a lot to unpack, and that is fine. The sweetness is the point. This is music for the end of a long week, for a sticky-floor pub that has somehow upgraded its sound system, for a backyard party that suddenly turns into a dance lesson when those guitar stabs hit. I played it in a Melbourne record store on a sleepy Thursday and watched a couple of browsers look up from the crates, which is as good a test as any.

If you are the kind who still loves a sleeve to hold, there is no official Honey Boy vinyl at the time of writing, but keep an eye out. Purple Disco Machine albums on vinyl tend to fly out, and if this tune lands on a future LP or a 12-inch with extended mixes, it will be one worth grabbing. People who collect Purple Disco Machine vinyl already know how good his pressings sound on a decent setup. If you need to buy Purple Disco Machine records online, there are plenty of local shops doing right by dance music collectors, and the usual vinyl records Australia haunts will be on it. Pop into your favourite Melbourne record store and ask, or set an alert and let the algorithm do its thing.

As a single, “Honey Boy” feels like a small pop event that does not make a fuss about itself. It puts four big talents in the same room and trusts the groove. You can file it alongside those modern disco moments that bridge generations, the ones that make first-timers ask who is on guitar and make long-time fans nod along knowingly. If you love clean, bright production, a chorus that lands every time, and that unmistakable Nile Rodgers shimmer, this is an easy add to the rotation. And if you are building a playlist to test the new speakers, slide it between “Dopamine” and “Substitution” and let the neighbours know you still believe in the dance floor.