I like disco. But I'm not talking cheesy disco. When you think of disco now, you probably have a mental image of a double-disc CD sitting at the back of a dusty shelf in your parent's living room called '...And The Beat Goes On!! 40 Groovy Dance Hits of the 70's!' with a crappy tie-dye effect cover that they got for christmas in 1991.
The type of disco that I'm trying to articulate isn't the sort of disco played in clubs with psuedo-70s 'retro' knick knaks, a light-up dancefloor and leery old gay men lurking in the shadows luring eighteen-year-olds to do bumps of rohypnol under the guise that it's ketamine, either.
It's the stuff where the low pulse of the beat sends you into a narcotic trance. Where the synths and electronic frequencies have unprotected phonic sex with your eardrums. Where dirty, dark, and deep oscillations in the atmospheric pressure surrounding our ears cause a certain kind of pleasure in us, a sadistic pleasure at repressed fantasies.
Cerrone is a certified old-school disco maestro. He first appeared in my mum's record collection, and he's my favourite of all disco maestros. His new stuff isn't great. fact. But Cocomotion and Supernature are pretty sick disco tunes. Supernature in particular has been popping up in blogworld recently.
Giorgio Moroder is unfortunately largely played in faggy electro bars where if you took a picture of the people there they would look like the best anti-MDMA advert ever. Despite all of this, his soundtrack to Midnight Express is pretty sick. 'Chase' (circa 1978) sounds like a tractor beam from a mothership from outer space pulsating beats with a smooth electronic lazer show enticing you into a disco-induced reverie.
Jan Hammer wears jackets that make the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air look like he should just give up and get a job in Woolworths. This is the realist shit. He also made the theme tune to a rather famous show. You know. That one, Miami Vice (which Craze put on his (fairly) recent Fabric mix). I was suprised when I heard Crockett's Theme whacked out by a DJ in PUSH a couple of Saturdays ago. The gliding synths over the soft electronic beats helped to create a soundsystem that you just wanted to shake your ass to. It starts as an ominous, lonely beat, gradually building up to a synth laid like a delicate tablecloth over gentle, rocking electronica, like that perfect virginity-losing fantasy you had before it was probably lost in an alleyway round the back of The End, when Erol's night was still his.
It's all pretty much UNASHAMEDLY 80s. Forever Tonight has everything in there. Just listen to those synths. And the drums! Holy fucking fuck. And there are about a billion other instruments I can pick out but don't actually possess the musical knowledge to name them (shameful, as I am actually writing a music blog), but I swear they're recognisable from most 80s TV shows about the zany antics of 80's America's young kids in big cities. I've thrown the extended mix of Forever Tonight because it has the most 80's beginning ever. And it's also almost minimal. In a way. Just listen to it:
Ok, now the new stuff. My favouritist noveau disco artists have to be Glass Candy and Bogdan Irkuk. Bogdan is hot shit. He's from Bulgaria. And that's all I know.
The Distant Message is the track I put on when I've been out and come back and can't go to sleep. Smooth-as-fuck electronica with beats to make love to your lady to, while the synthesised voices whisper hot messages of love in your ear. It appears here next to some other hidden gems.
Glass Candy, of course, have to be included in this post. Digital Versicolor is the track being played in the clubs at the moment, but I think Computer Love is more accessible. B/e/a/t/b/o/x/ is an awesome album. It's also one of Pure Groove's favourite albums (and that's pretty damn special, considering they only stock their 100 favourites at any one time). Pretty fucking special.
If you're a fan of italo-disco/death disco and want to be taken to synthesiser and drum machine heaven, put a slice of this in your mp3 sandwich. Computer Love is slick, and full of glittery, sexy electronic beat showers. Give it a listen then go buy the album.
Events
Events you should check out in LANDAN town:
9 August - Field Day
11 August - No Age, Dan Deacon and Health
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