Salphunk

Salphunk is the disco-focused alias of Joseph Salvador, a Lisbon-based producer and the founder of the record label Universo Positivo, which he launched in 2024 with a Lisbon-Amsterdam footprint. Salvador's own history goes back to the early '90s Dutch club scene, where he ran the label TINK! Records and later with his twin sons "Tomorrow is Now Kid!" that helped shape Amsterdam's nightlife at the time.

Salphunk works nowadays out of his own studio in Lisbon, writing and producing most of his material there while bringing in local musicians to fill out the sound with live guitar, percussion, and vocals. That approach has produced a fairly quick run of releases: the "Live On" EP in October, the "How Do You Like It" single in March, and the "Give It To Me" package and more recently the ”Nights In The Haze” EP most arriving with several mixes and dub versions built for different points in a DJ set.

The music itself sits in nu-disco and cosmic-boogie territory — elastic basslines, warm analogue synths and Moog solos, clavinet and horn parts pulled from '70s funk, and vocals that lean sultry rather than showy. Tracks move between slow-burning, late-night grooves and faster club-oriented cuts, often built around a specific mood or setting, whether that's a smoky downtown club, a taxi ride home at dawn, or a basement party that runs until sunrise.

Salphunk is one of the clearer expressions of what Universo Positivo is going for: disco's original warmth and musicianship, updated just enough for a current dancefloor.