Following on from the new EP from regular collaborator Kim Ann Foxman, disco house revivalists Hercules & Love Affair have dropped an unreleased cut of their own.

‘Release Me’ is taken from Andy Butler’s forthcoming DJ Kicks mix CD. If last year’s Blue Songs LP was a tad demure for some, the new track is a bright and upfront piece of honky-tonk house. Like the best parts of 2008’s Hercules & Love Affair, ‘Release’ is a charmingly innocent affair, full of primitive orchestral stabs and Casio cowbells. It’s not big, and it’s definitely not clever – but ‘Release’ gets two thumbs up for exuberance.

The track comes with some background notes from Butler: “I wrote this song with my friend DJ Whitney Fierce. She is a great dj, and very knowledgable about dance music from many cultures. She also rocks food coloring for hair dye, which makes her very tasty in my book because it makes me think of Mink Stole, a great actress from Baltimore in some of John Water’s [sic] films. This song lies somewhere between Stock Aitken and Waterman and Manchester’s Hacienda sound, while Whitney sounds very Bananarama on it. Mark Pistel busted out his E- Max on this recording with some original samples he compiled in 91, so that made us all dance in the studio.”

The DJ Kicks session features tracks from the likes of In Flagranti, Cultural Vibe, The Solution and DJ Duke. The album arrives on !K7 on October 29.