Purple Disco Machine Featuring Mind Enterprises - Exotica (12") - 45RPM

Purple Disco Machine’s Exotica is one of those rare second albums that feels both bigger and sharper, like the sound of an artist who knows exactly where the dancefloor’s sweet spot sits. Tino Piontek has always worn his Italo disco heart on his sleeve, but here he leans all the way into it, polishing the chrome until it’s gleaming and then letting the basslines do the talking. Released in 2021, it arrived already trailing a string of hits, and the full record connects those singles with deeper cuts that reward a proper front to back listen.

The singles are the obvious entry point, and they hold up. Hypnotized with Sophie and the Giants is still the calling card, all shimmering keys and a hook that sneaks up on you rather than shouts. In a year when so many club tracks chased maximal drops, this one breathed. Fireworks, with Moss Kena and New York duo The Knocks, brings a brighter palette, a little sunshine in the chords and a rhythm guitar part that could have walked out of a late 70s loft party. Dopamine with Eyelar goes the other way, a neat hit of melancholy sugar that still makes you move. These songs were radio fixtures across Europe for good reason, but they make even more sense sequenced together, each shifting the temperature by a few degrees without breaking the spell.

What gives the album its spine, though, are the tracks that dig into Piontek’s crate-digger brain. The title cut Exotica, featuring Mind Enterprises, rides a rubbery bassline and toms that sound like they were flown in from a long-lost Italo 12-inch. It’s a sly nod to his influences, but it never tips into pastiche. Playbox does that sleek vocoder strut so well you can almost see the neon grid underneath, while Opposite of Crazy with Bloom Twins twists a pop melody around a chunky synth riff. The production is immaculate throughout, yet there’s grit in the pocket, a human push and pull that comes from someone who knows clubs as more than just a streaming category.

You can hear the care in the small choices. The clap placement on Fireworks snaps just ahead of the beat, which gives the whole thing lift. The bass on Hypnotized is mixed to hug the low mids rather than boom, so it translates beautifully from headphones to a system. A lot of nu disco tries to spray-paint a vintage finish over modern software sounds. Exotica feels different. It respects the source material and then updates the ergonomics. If you grew up with Moroder, Cerrone or Kano in your parents’ stack, you’ll clock the references. If you didn’t, you’ll still get the point in your legs.

As a complete statement, Exotica walks a neat line between pop precision and club utility. It’s easy to imagine Piontek road testing these arrangements in his Dresden studio, shaving a bar here, tightening a pre-chorus there, all with the dancer in mind. The collaborations are smartly cast, too. Sophie and the Giants bring a kind of cool, straight-ahead delivery that suits his clean production. Moss Kena’s falsetto is a dart, and The Knocks know exactly how to sit inside a groove like this. Mind Enterprises on the title track is the clincher, because his own Italo sensibilities dovetail with the album’s thesis.

If you’re the type who cares about format, the Exotica vinyl is worth the shelf space. The low end breathes, the highs aren’t brittle, and those synth stabs punch through without turning harsh. It is the kind of record you want to cue up on a lazy Sunday and then forget to turn off because you’ve slipped into an easy shuffle around the living room. For anyone hunting Purple Disco Machine vinyl, this is the one to grab first, and it sits nicely alongside earlier 12-inches if you’ve been building a little nu disco corner at home. Plenty of Melbourne record store staff still nudge customers toward it when they ask for something upbeat but not obvious, and you’ll see why after a spin.

Exotica also helped cement Purple Disco Machine’s run as a reliable hitmaker who still cares about album craft. The songs work as singles, sure, but they also tell a story about taste and touch, and about the enduring pull of Italo colours in modern dance music. If you buy Purple Disco Machine records online, make room for this one. It is one of the strongest Purple Disco Machine albums on vinyl so far, stacked with fan favourites and deep cuts that keep giving. For anyone crate-digging through vinyl records Australia wide, Exotica is a bright, glossy sign that this sound still has plenty of places left to go.