I’m pretty awfull tired right now. I had hardly any sleep for three days. Luckily I rarely drink coffee so Black Gold kept me going. Certainly today at work. Now I can finally go to bed but first this post.
There was too much fun going on this weekend… concerts, Fiesta Latina’s, Richie Hawtin, Murga parades and Samba schools were coloring the city streets and nights. I also had the chance to get me some free and fun one-to-one salsa lessons from a dear friend. It turned out to be as hard I thought it would be. It’s difficult for me to stay centered. It still feels like putting a step back. I have to focus on the basic moves when all I long to do is improvise. It's called dancing together and paying attention. It’s clear though that I need lessons if I want to get into it. Or maybe I should take up tango instead but in that case I will probably have to face the same problems.

The Rayees – Hurricane

I raved on about this band just a short while ago and posted 2 video’s and a myspace link. For those who are too lazy, too scared to make it to the other side or want a souvenir to cherish, I post this great song right here.

The Blue Nile – Tinseltown In The Rain
The Blue Nile – Stay

Every once in a while I fall in love with my radio. I heard this fabulous song sleep drunk while driving my car (no go, I know but sometimes I have no other choice). It’s from an great almost forgotten band from the 80’s, The Blue Nile.
The funny thing was that I had the album from which the track was pulled from. It’s one of many records that I took from the library and copied on tape when I was in college but hardly gave a look in the years afterwards. Maybe I was just not ready for it. Hearing it back today it’s incredible how fresh and up to date A Walk Across The Rooftops from 1983 sounds. Tracks like Tinseltown In The Rain and Stay are genuine pop songs but have them haunting dance oriented pulsating minimal rhythms that are just a kin to present day disco and just are craving for a remix by the likes of Lindstrøm, Aeroplane, Low Motion Disco,…

Five Letters – Tha Kee Tha Tha
Alec R. Costandinos – Romeo And Juliet
Ratatat – Shempi
Lützenkirchen – 3 Tage Wach

Marco Carola – Re_Solution

This Italian guy was the side kick for Richie Hawtin in the fuse on Saturday but I missed it this time. You can’t have it all. Well, next year he’ll be back, just like the year before and year before that and the other one before that…
Oh yes, this one's another mediafire upload so it will go dead after a while (just testing how long it lasts).

Machines Don’t Care – On A Roll Man
Mugison – Mugiboogie

Getting into some heavy aural traffic now with these two.

I thought that the following video would fit in just fine with all this 70’s and 80’s stuff hanging around.



Every year they have a festival in Holland called London Calling with the latest Britpop fab’s and hypes from the UK. I didn’t go but I managed to get a hold on a sampler which the Dutch music magazine OOR (ear) put together for the occasion. A couple of nice songs, nothing amazing or a must have. That’s why I uploaded these with Mediafire. Just a testcase to check out their service. It means that these links will die after a while but I’m not sure when.

Pete & the Pirates – Mr. Understanding
Blood Red Shoes – Say Something, Say Anthing
Mystery Jets – Young Love
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – Waiting for the Monster to Drown
The Young knives – Up All Night
Make Model – The LSB (demo version)
Peggy Sue And The Pirates – The New Song
Florence And The Machine – Girl with One Eye
Chrome Hoof – Pronoid

Just Do What You Feel… but Do It With Style

You all might have been wondering what was going on lately with these short messages and second hand links? No worry, I was just running short of up/download credit because I’ve been watching to many South Park episodes over the last few weeks, even months. At the end of the month I’m always short on fiberjuice. But I’m almost there. I’m entering season 10 now from 2006 and the credit counter’s back to zero.
I must say, the joke isn’t still starting to wear thin in contrast with what I expected. I’m as pretty much amused by it as on the first day. There are some weak episodes off course but the general appreciation is still A OK.

So what’s in the bag this time? The usual I’m afraid… I’m still not getting fed up with hearing fine disco music. There’s so much of it and just now I got hold on one of the best but rare and almost forgotten albums of a true master of disco. Webster Lewis is held in high regard by soul, funk and Jazz fans alike, although he never attained the mainstream success he thoroughly deserved. He was born in 1943 but he passed away 6 years ago in 2002 as a result of diabetic complications.
He was a fine pianist, clarinetist and arranger who also toured as a conducter for Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra and worked as a musical director for Herbie Hancock and Gwen McCrea. He’s the one behind the early vintage electro of Welcome Aboard of The Love Unlimited Orchestra.

The album I’ve obtained is one of his amazing late 70's sets for Epic Records called 8 for the 80’s. Lewis and Hancock shared the production credits on this one. It’s full of fabulously orchestrated first rate fusion of funk and disco with a jazzy sensitive edge. Lots of smooth soulful vocals, strings and horns but it never get's cheesy. The up-tempo tracks like Give Me Some Emotion, Fire, Go For It, You Deserve To Dance have sharp edges, rightly cut for the dancefloor. Every track’s a winner even the few ballads like The Love You Give To Me and Heavenly.

I combined the Webster Lewis tracks with a couple of other disco or related songs according to the flow. It would make a nice mix.

Webster Lewis & The Love Unlimited Orchestra – Welcome Aboard
Rene & Angela – I'll Be Good
Webster Lewis – Fire
Willie Hutch – Disco Thang
Webster Lewis – You deserve To Dance
Webster Lewis – Do It With Style
Willie Hutch – Midnight Dancer
GQ – Disco Nights (rock freak)
Webster Lewis – The Love You Give To Me
The Pointer Sisters – Automatic
J.M. Tim – Douala By Night
Classe Action – Weekend
Norman Connors – Once I've Been There
South Bronx – Bottom Line
Kaos – Town & Countryman (edit)
The Internationals – 33
Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara – Sanakubay

Chris & Cosey – October Love Song
William Powers – Adventures In Success (dub copy)
Ray Mang – Look Into My Eyes
Starlight Boyz – Machine Disco
The Juan Maclean – Happy House (original version)

I stumbled across this promo video for Save by Kap Bambino just the other day. For one raison or the other I completely forgot all about these guys. I remember finding a copy of this awesome heavily charged bit of high energy on the net and reposted it a long while ago (I think it’s still on in one of those white Boxes on the right) and then I didn’t go after them as I used to do. Stupid me. In the meanwhile I haven’t heard anything about Kap Bambino in the media either. But now I’ve got this to remember me to do so.

Kap Bambino - Save


Another myspace revelation is this soulful bare naked combo called the Rayees. It’s practically a’cappela but that sure doesn’t prevent them from leaving a lasting impression. Just watch and listen.

Lemme take you by the hand Folks. You really have got to hear this! I found a fresh and tiny Suisse Label with some great Cosmic disco and Electro related dance music over at Innocenti Music. I especially like Experimental Cinema with a track called Timex. They offer free downloads to all the tracks and every one's a winner. Enjoy!

I’m going down under this time for a very talented bloke by the name of Goyte. He’s from Melbourne Australia but his real name Wally De Backer makes it sound all too familiar. Turns out that he was born in Bruges, Belgium and moved to Australia at the young age together with his parents. I heard his music for the first time in a radio program a while back. He can still talk Dutch but with a funny fat Australian accent.
He’s releasing an album over here called Like Drawing Blood but in Australia it was already released in 2006 and paved the way of success for him at home in Australia, the UK en the States. Now he’s becoming Big in Belgium too, no pun intended.

His music is very diverse and versatile. He adopts many styles and makes them suit his music and his voice. I especially like Heart’s A Mess which is a brilliantly orchestrated but pretty sad song. Learnalilgivinanlovin’ is straight forward funk and soul.

Over the past 2 years quite a lot of DJ’s and producers have made remixes for songs of the album. Supermayer made a very nice one for Heart’s A Mess.

Heart’s A Mess
Learnalilgivinanlovin’
Heart's A Mess (Supermayer's Supermess remix)
Only Thing I Know

Down Home Final For Bo Diddley 1928-2008

Who Do You Love
Down Home Special
Mumblin’ Guitar
Spanish Guitar
I Love You So
Crackin’ Up
Diddy Wah Diddy

Eu Ainda… Volto Ao brasil

I don’t know if this heading is grammatically correct or not, it’s been almost three years that I’ve been to brasil, so I’m losing the hang of it, you know.
After all the Italo, I’m finally going back to Rio for an update of everything Brazilian. I’ve got some old vintage 70’s stuff but also more recent tracks from various sources and a small Arthur Verocai special. I posted songs from his last (comeback) album Encore a while ago last year but they got lost in the fire. I’ve now added a couple of tracks of his classic self titled album from 1972.

Over the past few years the northern states, with cities like Fortaleza and Recife, have known a musical revival with a lot of new bands recycling or reinventing their past. Some of them move to São Paulo or Rio. Like for instance a band like Cidadão Instigado who picked up the line where the Tropicalia movement and their 70’s offspring left it.

For once I tried to turn all of this into a kind of mix. I used to make mix tapes on cassettes back in the days with special attention for the flow of the music. You know, which song goes well with which other song and should it be before or after the that one... that kind of stuff. Now, I no longer have the time for it, but for this once I made an exception. It all came natural this time so why not make the effort?

Ceguinhas de Campina Grande – Atirei No Mar
Mar Revolto – Contendas de Sincora
Luís Carlos Vinhas – Yé-Me-Le
Erasmo Carlos – Mane João
Novos Baianos – Tinindo Trincando
Novos Baianos – America Tropical
Gilberto Gil – O Canto Da Ema
Gilberto Gil & Gal Costa – Sai Do Sereno
Alceu Valença – Punhal de Prata
Olha o Menino – Caetano Veloso
Gal Costa – Pontos de Luz
Trio Ternura – Filhos De Zambi
Nelson Angelo & Joyce – Sete Cahorros
Jaime Alem and Nair De Candia – Passarã
Ednardo e o Pessoal do Ceará – Ingazeiras

Arthur Verocai – Na Boca Do Sol
Arthur Verocai – Presente Grego
Arthur Verocai – Caboclo
Arthur Verocai – Dedicada A Ela
Arthur Verocai – Bis
Arthur Verocai & Azymuth – Dona Das Meninas
Arthur Verocai & Azymuth – Eu Quero Paz

Troubleman & Nina Miranda – Toda Hora
Cidadão Instigado – Os Urubus Só Pensam Em Te Comer
Cidadão Instigado – O Pobre dos dentes De Ouro
Monjolo – Samba do Sequestro
Instituto feat. Amabis & Pupilo & Roger Man – Na Ladeira
Instituto – Juntando Coco
Beatfanatic – Jogando Capoeira
Funk N Lata feat. Ivo Meirelles – Baile Funk Medley (ao vivo)
Candeia – Sãudãçao A Toca Preto
Ive Mendes – A Beira Mar (São Benitez Mush mix)
Musica Ligeira – Pelo Telefone o Samba começou (ao vivo)
Juca Chaves – Take Me Back To Piaui
Sambaden – Sebastião Tapajos e Pedro do Santos

I've done it folks! I made a whole new page especially devoted to Italo disco, called I Like Italot and you can find it right here. In the following weeks and months I will link the Italo tracks that I've posted before on this blog to the article and add new ones. The final goal is to create a kind of database. I hope you enjoy it and make it the start of a new italo habit.

I Like Italotrix

FZ once told to a fine specimen of his most beloved creature on earth (a journalist) that progress is not possible in society without policies that leave room for any kind of deviation of the norm. Freaks are the natural way of things. Take for instance this dude on Stones Throw. I leave it in the middle wether this guy's just crazy or a bloody genius.



Third and final part...

I like italoto

This is part 2. Going through my cassettes I found an old favourite of mine that I forgot about. Shame on me. Andreas Dorau is a really great… guy. Swell, I bought this album on cassette a couple of years after its release (1994) on a flea market. It said Neu! So I thought it was an album by the Krautrock band Neu! - the cover should have warned me that it couldn’t have been an album by Neu!, then again they print it so small to fit on a cassette cover – but I was mistaken. Instead it was a nice pop album by Andreas Dorau and this song really got stuck in my head for weeks back then. Now, it bugging me again :-)

Andreas Dorau – Und das Telefon sagt Du 1994

Jeder kennt doch diesen Ton
Die Post schickt ihn durch's Telefon
Dieses Zeichen nennt man frei
Und so fühl ich mich dabei
Warum in die Ferne schweifen
Ich muß nur zum Hörer greifen
Ich heb ab und frage wer ist dieser nette junge Herr?

Refrain:
Und das Telefon sagt Du
Und ich hör ihm weiter zu
Und es sagt nur immer Du , Du

Ich denk nicht immer nur an mich
Sondern gerne auch an Dich
Ich nehm den Hörer und frag schlau
Wer gefällt heut jeder Frau?

Dieseswunderschöne Uuuh
Was für mich klingt wie nur Du
Ich heb ab und bin ganz still
Weil ich's nochmal hören will

I found me a decent version of Pas De Deux’s Rendez-Vous in a big band version just as on the Eurovision song contest and what better moment to share this than right now. Oh yeah, Sébastien Tellier didn’t make a lasting impression apparently. He sort of finished 19th which is still one of the best result for France over the last years so it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Pas De Deux – Rendez-Vous (big band version) 1983

I'm thinking about making an new page for this article and to collect all Italo disco and add the links in that new page.

1978-1981

In late 1978, Black Devil, at the time a very obscure act from France, releases the Disco Club LP, which is now considered one of the greatest electronic pleasures of the late 70's. Beautiful harmonies working solely with a synthesizer in real-time recording sessions make this album still in demand today! (see the post about the more recent re-release on labels like WARP where some people even thought that it was an Aphex Twin/Luke Vibert collaboration instead of an old disco classic).
Disco Fizz by Azoto (working without the Lucrethia syntax) appeared in 1980, alongside Tantra's The Hills Of Katmandu release. Both artists being Italian and leaning further away from the traditional disco beat and more towards a faster drumbeat using a drum machine, would later be known as two more pioneers of what would become Italo Disco. At the same time, on the newly formed Discomagic Records label, Sylvi Foster created Love Dawn and If You Are Master while Delanua makes a masterpiece called Flood - these songs being considered to this day the first true Italo Disco songs.
Kano begins his long career with songs such as I'm Ready and Holly Dolly. In 1980, La Bionda would solidify their position as a major influence of Italo Disco music with their big hit entitled, I Wanna Be Your Lover.

1982

The Italo Disco scene was well under way by the time 1982 rolled in. Discomagic Records and Il Discotto Productions had both surfaced at this point and had started spawning off many sub-labels, each with their own distinguishable sounds.
On Il Discotto, Jo Jo created the masterpiece track entitled Mind Games, which fused R&B, electro, and disco all into one song, and Gary Low released his first single You Are A Danger which took a synthesizer and piano and welded them together into one song.
On the other end of the spectrum, Discomagic was beginning a long catalogue of records. The first big ones seemed to be How Many Fill by Delanua, The Garden and Robot Is Systematic by 'Lectric Workers, and the club smash, Hookey by Sylvi Foster.
ll Discotto Productions has a huge hit with Tequila by Bo Boss.
I Need Love by Capricorn is released and considered a major accomplishment in electro dance. Plastic Doll by Dharma and on Zanza Records, Klein & M.B.O.’s release Dirty Talk become cult classics way ahead of their time!
Pink Project debuts with Disco Project a cover version of Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall. Dirty Talk and Disco project become two of the biggest chart hits in Europe in all of 1982.
Also released in '82 on Zanza Records was Droid by Mito, a song and artist that has developed quite a following since then. Koto, who would go on to become one of the most famous Italo artists ever, debuts with Chinese Revenge, a very spacey disco song. Bob Salton's Starknight becomes a high energy Italo Disco hit. Coda by Amin Peck starts a long list of hits for this man. The Twins debut with Face To Face - Heart To Heart and would be back in 1983 with two more big singles.
The big accomplishment in blending electro with Italo Disco in 1982 would have to be Bad Passion by Steel Mind. Using male, female, and robot vocals all in one song, we hear what is more like a prelude to all future dance music. We won't stress it any further, but this is to be considered one of the fundamental songs of Italo Disco!
Marzio Dance debuts with some promising hits such as The Adventure and the early 1983 follow up release entitled, Rap-O-Hush. One of the most respectable songs of 1982 is Life With You by Expansives, a project by Franco Rago and Giorgio Farina who also produced The Man From Colours by Wanexa, all releases by the aforementioned 'Lectric Workers, and also Batida by Cariocas, which hit the market in the end of 1982.

1983

1983 is without a doubt the best year for Italo Disco music from a true Italo lover's point of view!

I like Italot?!

I was ready this evening to go to a concert of Santogold, here in Antwerp at Trix, but it was cancelled because she has problems with her voice. No voice, no concert. Makes sense. So, that leaves me with some extra time to kill and I decided to roast that little piggy right here at this page.
I had some unfinished business to attend to from the last time. I had planned to make it my last post on Italo disco, at least for a certain while that is, but things turned out differently. I found some interesting written information from various sources on the net about Italo disco and its history and I decided to edit it as an article and insert links to the songs that got mentioned in it. This took me quite a while, too long to add it to the last post. That’s why I’m posting the first bits of it tonight. As time goes by I will add more links but please don’t get to crazy or overexcited right now, because I guess about 20% of the tracks mentioned, will stay without a link. There’s some pretty obscure stuff out there that’s really hard to find. Every once in a while I find such a lost treasure like Fokewulf 190 which is one the holy grails of Italo but you can’t win them all.
The tracks by Fokewulf 190, named after an old airplane, I own are off course not the originals. I’m not that insane (yet) thank you, to pay hundreds of euro’s on ebay to buy those obscure singles (only 400 hundred or so made in 1984). I'm quite happy with a legal download, even if it means that I can’t play them at a party because the mp3 and wav files you can download are still not made for such purposes, which is a pity.

In the next weeks I'll be switching over to other stuff that I like. I noticed that the brasil page has not been updated in a long while, so expect some more brasilian music from the past and the present.

Lalala coming soon…

So here it goes...

Now, what’s Italo? This is a brief outline I edited from a online source that I unfortunately can’t track back

1
Italo disco is a very wide term that refers to various types of European disco and pop-styled electronic dance music, that evolved during the early 1980s in Italy, Germany, Spain and other parts of Europe but mainly Italy and Germany.

2
Italo disco music has a distinct, futuristic and spacey sound which is the result of the dominant use of synthesizers, drum machines and vocoders.

3
During the 1980s, the term Italo-disco was coined in Europe to describe all the non UK-based dance productions, including some Canadian ones (that explains my interest for Canadian disco like for instance Kebekelektrik on this page).
In the UK and the USA, Italo-disco was virtually unknown to the mainstream consumer and existed only underground, except for some later Italian eurobeat productions and very few German hits.

4
The name Italo disco originates from the Italo Boot Mix series - a megamix featuring Italian and German produced disco music - created in 1983 by Bernhard Mikulski, the founder of German-based ZYX Music.
Prior to 1983, the genre was simply referred to as 'disco music' or 'dance music' from Europe, Eurodisco that is. The presenters of the Italian music show Discoring (produced by RAI), usually referred to the Italian productions of what later would became Italo Disco as Rock Electronico and Bailandi Discoteka (disco dance).

5
This first version of Italo Disco sounded like a down tempo version of Space or Cosmic Disco, a short lived Eurodisco instrumental style with futuristic sound effects and lyrics heavily influenced by David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars band and which the Italian DJ Daniele Baldelli made famous in the legendary club Cosmic.

6
Technically speaking, Italo Disco was simply the 80s version of Eurodisco. Today, the term 'Euro Disco' refers to all disco music produced in Europe during the 70s and 80s. But during the 1980s this term was used to describe the 1970s and early 1980s European disco productions, especially those from Germany (Boney M, Eruption, Dschinghis Khan, etc). In the mid 80s, the Stock Aitken & Waterman team created a commercial music genre in the UK labelled as Eurobeat. Those first hits (Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Jason Donovan, Sonia, Kylie Minogue, etc) were heavily based on how Italo Disco sounded to the British public. Once arriving in the USA, Eurobeat helped the evolution of New York's Freestyle. In the USA, Eurobeat was then marketed as Hi-NRG.

7
The term Eurobeat was also used in Japan (around 1987) to describe all Italo Disco and Eurobeat imports. Italo Disco became very successful in Japan and when 80s Eurodisco ended and the music switched to Eurohouse and New Beat, Super Eurobeat saw the light and was especially produced for the Japanese market, as a kind of Japanese successor of Italo Disco (called Eurobeat by Japanese fans). These Super Eurobeat productions frequently had meaningless and sometimes incomprehensible lyrics. During the 90s, another spinoff successor appeared called Eurobeat Flash. Both Super Eurobeat and Eurobeat Flash are virtually unknown outside Japan.

8
During the 90s, disco Polo created in Poland was heavily based on the Italo Disco sound. Italo-Disco (in the German variation of Dieter Bohlen) also continued until the early 00s in Russia.

9
On early Italo disco productions, the vocals were usually in English, performed by non-native English speaking singers. After 1985, other European languages became common, especially Italian, French, Spanish and even Greek. At the same time, most of the German-produced Italo disco hits had both English and German-speaking versions.

10
The German variation of Italo disco, very popular during the 80s, was danced in the so-called discofox style. In the German Speaking European countries, this variation of Italo disco mixed on the dancefloors with the German Schlager style, that around 1988 started to sound very close to the German variation of Italo disco. About that time, older Germans, Austrians and Swiss, started calling both Schlager and the German Italo Disco hits Discofox, because they used to dance them both with the same discofox style. The German variation of Italo Disco, took the nick-name Discofox since then. For the rest of Europe, the term discofox for the German variation of italo-disco, never existed.

The History Of Italo Disco from and another source which is the myspace site of a great Italo disco radio.

1975-1977

Emerging from Val Gardena, Italy, producer and keyboard player Mr. Giorgio Moroder began to experiment on a new toy in the music world: an electronic synthesizer. He started to create loops and synth-hooks using basic equipment from Moog and Korg. His first LP From Here To Eternity, The Chase and the rest of the score for the 1978 film Midnight Express established him as a popular hitmaker and left a permanent mark in the ears of young Italians who would later go on to create their own electronic music, eventually to be known as 'Italo Disco'.
These Italian producers were also influenced by film soundtracks that used new electronic sounds. Just 2 years earlier in 1976, of John Carpenter started his illustrious career as a moviemaker and composer of electronic music using excessive use of droids and drum machines. The original motion picture soundtrack to Assault On Precinct 13 would go on to become a major influence for many Italians who discovered the power of a drum machine, as heard in the opening theme of the movie.
Around the same time, an Italian band by the name of Goblin emerged and began creating electronic-themed soundtracks for all of Dario Argento's Italian horror films, setting up another major influence for early Italo Disco artists. Some of the more memorable and early scores were for the movies Deep Red and Suspiria (1976 and 1978, respectively). Goblin's scores and Argento's style would cause many other Italian movie directors to use electronic elements in their Giallo and horror-styled films - thus starting a new era for electronic music (the first being disco several years earlier). Eventually the dark sound of these scores would fuse with disco music and we'd reach Italo Disco.

But first...

1977-78

... Giorgio Moroder's first full LP was released. From Here To Eternity, featuring the self-titled first single that became an instant success, was what started everything! This would go down as a pioneer album that would forever change electronic music.
Less than a year later, Chase was released, becoming Giorgio's biggest hit ever, once again strenghtening his appeal as a leader in the electronic department.
Nearly simultaneously, Italian producer, Jean-Marc Cerrone released a series of albums - the most famous being, Supernature and Love In C Minor. Simply outstanding works using a synthesizer would make Mr. Cerrone, a native of France become another major influence for all Italo Disco music to follow.

Soon after Moroder and Cerrone hit the airwaves, the rest was history. Lucrethia & The Azoto 14,008 releases the Dance Skinsation LP to help jumpstart the Vedette Records label - leading the way for Italians to produce disco music themselves. In 1978, La Bionda emerges with one of the songs many consider to be Italo Disco's very first song: One For You, One For Me.

à suivre...

Discofox?!

Hey, up until now I haven’t spoken much about politics but this one goes out to all my beloved Italians out there: please don’t ruin my birthday on Sunday! Don’t make me use my puppy eyes.

A while back that cavalieri with the big plastic colgate smile and a bad Danny Devito impersonation looked pretty funny and confirmed us all in the stereotypes we had about Italians but the joke’s wearing thin now. So, instead just go for Veltroni, would you now? I know you can do a lot better, but you have to start somewhere.

Meanwhile in the states …

Don't Kick the Kid



A quick news-flash in between. You can watch all episodes of South Park for free on the site of The South Park Studios. I just saw the very first episode about Cartman’s anal probe again, which goes back all the way to august 1997.
Back then, I was surprised to see and hear Isaac Hayes in a cartoon bringing silly lines about space aliens but now, looking back, it all makes sense given the fact that he’s into Scientology. I never understood how a sci-fi writer’s fan club could get so much out of hand. Maybe those guys of South Park should start their own church. I wonder what that would be like?

No Parking On The Dancefloor

I’ve got some music for ya that I’ve been planning to share for a long time. A lot of great instrumental breaks, melodies and grooves but also Midnight Star, Klein & MBO, The Biddu Orchestra, Shalamar, Whispers and Gaznevada. I had a couple of cheap compilation albums on vinyl but they had some nasty cracks. That’s no problem you might say, it adds to the charm but these were major cuts that skipped more than just a (heart)beat. I found me some digital ones instead and I also found a couple tracks on the net for free. That really made my day.

I simply adore most of this stuff. Just take for instance Midnight Star. You might know them from their hit Midas Touch – covered a couple of times – but their electro output is really somethin’ else. Freak-a-zoid and Electricity are among my most favorite electro tracks while No Parking On The Dancefloor is easily my most favorite party-anthem. Or rather the one I take the most at heart. People who know me can state that I hardly ever use foal language and that I seldom get mad – I don’t see the use of it, it’s like taking poison and wanting someone else to die from it – but there are a few exceptions. After all those years I still haven’t figured out why some people mind going to a dance club or disco in order to spend the night there, drinking highly overprized beer, badly aged wine and cocktails with too much sugar if they hardly make even’t (is this a proper word?) the slightest intention to reproduce something that’s vaguely similar to what is commonly known as dancing. Just a little twist, a temporarily circular or lateral motion to replace ones bud or a simple node of the head, that’s all I’m asking. They just stand there in the middle of the dancefloor acting cool or is it that they’re contemplating on what might be the only true way to eternal enlightment or the final utter consequences of the second law of entropy? Do people think these things through, what kind of moves they should make, who knows? Because if you have to think about it first, you’re lost. Fact is that they often block the way. I’m seriously thinking about making a t-shirt with the line No Parking on the Dancefloor to bring it to them gently, in a funny way. I wonder if that might do the trick and make them see the light.
Anyway, these guys and girls have touched a soft spot and in a just world Midnight Star would be as big as for instance Prince, for that matter.

Midnight Star – Freak-a-zoid
Midnight Star – Electricity
Midnight Star – No Parking on the Dance Floor
Midnight Star – The Midas Touch (extended version)
Midnight Star – The Midas Touch
Midnight Star – Operator (album version)

I’ve got two albums by The Biddu Orchestra. Rainforest and Eastern Man from the mid seventies. I don’t play them often, hardly ever actually, but when I do, I always remember why I bought them in the first place. I’m really addicted to this type of richly orchestrated symphonic disco music. Does anyone remember the Love Boat, and it’s theme? That type of stuff. The Biddu orchestra is more than just boat soap operas, the albums are more diverse with a couple of excursions to the Caribbean islands, Cuba and Rio. Again, great instrumental tracks with breaks that are craving to be sampled. Anyone for tennis?

The Biddu Orchestra – Rock Me With Your Love
The Biddu Orchestra – Rain Forest
The Biddu Orchestra – Funky Tropical
The Biddu Orchestra – Blue Eyed Soul

Shalamar – This Is For The Lover In You
Shalamar – Over and Over 1983
Shalamar – I Can Make You Feel Good 1982
The Whispers – Keep On Lovin Me
The Whispers – And The Beat Goes On Heavily sampled.

D.D. Sound – Disco Bass 1977
D.D. Sound – Café (long vocal version) 1978
D.D. Sound – Café 1978

Gaznevada is probably my favourite Italian new wave band. I think they still exist and play live. Special Agent Man is a classic but so are the others. Simply a great groove, a real slow jam. I know for sure that the guys from Metro Area have some records of Gaznevada in their collection or they ought to.

Gaznevada – Special Agent Man
Gaznevada – I.C. Love Affair
Gaznevada – Living In The Jungle 1985

The Mike Theodore Orchestra – Moon Trek I already posted this guy a couple of times. I don’t know much about it but I got to learn about it the same way as I did with The Biddu Orchestra, I used to buy anything that featured the two magic words: Orchestra and disco :). You should give it a try just like Caravan. Any record that features the Ellington classic is probably ok. If you like exotica and Incredibly Strange Music that is, off course.

Double Dee – Found Love (maxi version)
Cari Lekebusch – Shaded (Compuphonic and Kolombo dub)
A.I.M. – Thailand Seeds (Maskio Vision 48 Remix)
Confusional Quartet – Guerra In Africa (Scuola Furano Remix)
Roisín Murphy – You Know Me Better (Nightmoves Mix) even more fit for the dance floor than the original
Caroline Crawford – Coming On Slow (Floorman dub) Also heavily sampled and mixed.

Klein & MBO - Dirty Talk (dirty vocal)
Klein & MBO – The MBO Theme 1983
Klein & MBO - I Love You 1983

And their alterego
N.O.I.A. – Night is made for Love
N.O.I.A. – Do You Wanna Dance 1984
N.O.I.A. – Stranger In A Strange Land
N.O.I.A. – True Love 1984

Logic System – Clash Something similar from Japan, early proto techno. YMO was not the only original sound coming from Japan.

Convertion – Let's Do It 1980
Starflight – Dance to the Beat
Gift of Dreams – Mandroid
Gift of Dreams – Moonwalk
I got these from a mix tape someone gave me once. I think it’s pretty rare. I couldn’t find information about any of these after a quick check.

Koxo – Step By Step (maxi version) I thought I posted this one already but apparently I didn’t, so here it is. Don’t ask me. I don’t know anything about this one apart from the fact that it’s great for late night chilling. That chorus line just gets under yer skin… step by step

A lot more Italo Euro trash this time that was lying around but I warn you I’m almost getting to the bottom of this. Who says Italians don’t have a sense of humour? That is, if this bunch are actually Italians or not.

JD Jaber – Don't Stop Loving
Hotline – Fantasy 1982
Dharma – Plastic Doll (extended version 1982)
My Mine – Hypnotic Tango For me this IS Italo. No question it is. It has it all and even a bit of New Beat almost. It's way better than New BEat but just to show the link.
Answering Service – Call Me Mr. Telephone
Cariocas – Batida 1983
Daydream – Crazy
Time – Shaker Shake
Doctor's Cat – Watch Out
Datalife – Disco Connection 1985
Plastic Mode – Mi Amor 1985

Vivien Vee – Destiny
Vicki Benson – Easy Love
Cyndi Phillips – Sacrifice (long version)
Roni Griffith – Desire (extended version 1982)

Back to disco.
Bang Gang – Street Music
Arabesque – Friday Night 1978
Carol Shinnette – Love Cyanide
John Davis & The Monster Orchestra – Bourgie Bourgie 1979
Sister Power – Gimme Back My Love Affair
Frisky – You Got Me Dancing

Former jazz section. A couple of Jazz cats doing something wonderful with popular tunes.
Brian Auger – Night Train
Hank Crawford – I Hear A Symphony
George Duke – A Brazilian Love Affair

Jean Jacques Perrey and Luke Vibert – Analog Generique 1 genius + 1 genius makes…

The Apples – Killing (In The Name Of) I heard this on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show just the other night. It’s a pretty nifty cover of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name Of. I don’t like the original, I acknowledge the fact that it’s a great song but that Zach guy always spoils it for me. I like this version.

National Bank

I’ve been to a live show a couple of weeks ago by an all-star band from Norway. The National Bank has a line-up feat. Thomas Dybdahl, Lars & Martin Horntveth from Jagga Jazzist, Morten Qvelild from Suzanna & The magical orchestra, Nikolai Eilertsen from Big Bang.
They brought with them a singer songwriter called Erlend Ropstad who delivered the pre program. A nice introspective fella with a good sense of humour and above all a great voice. He sold CD’s but I didn’t have enough money to buy one. I tend to buy CD’s and records at live gigs but sometimes it doesn’t work out that well. When hearing a former unknown band that gives a great liveshow it’s usually not a good idea to buy the CD because there’s much chance that the studio versions lack the live spirit you just witnessed. It recently bought a CD by The Willowz after a great live performance with groovy Southern AOR Rock just before the show of The Sons & Daughters. Hearing it back at home the CD’s just stinks, big time. It’s hard to hear those tunes in the same way as on that night because of the lousy sound and production. A real piety because they have potential.

But back to the National Bank. I loved this band from the first moment I heard them. I didn’t realize right away that the singer was Thomas Dybdahl even though I have practically all his records. It sounded familiar but slightly different. To me The National Bank sounds like a wonderful marriage between Dybdahl’s voice and songs and the Jagga sound, especially a song like Styrofoam. It’s very sophisticated pop music as it should sound today.
Before the show I wondered how they would reproduce it live? Everything was there. Every sound, every twist, note, accent. It only grooved more than on record. The drums were very prominent, at your face, but that was not a problem. I wonder now if anyone has made any remixes of their songs because they’re really up to it.

The National Bank – Home
The National Bank – Family
The National Bank – Styrofoam
The National Bank – Tolerate


Goldfrapp - Hapiness

Goldfrapp's back with a new album. Hapiness is finaly Felt Mountain revisited and that's pretty fine by me.

But you might as wel check out an alternative Muppet version of this tune over at Meckermeckermecker starring an edgy Miss Allison Piggly Wiggly and Rexxie the dog.

Electrofolly

picture by Masha

It was a surprising weekend, this one. I found out that Sébastien Tellier is going to represent France at the coming Eurovision song contest. Well I be damned!
I’m curious what will happen. Coincidently I’m going to see and hear him play live in the middle of May. Eurovision can use a bit of hip and cool. I take this at heart right now because I started to reflect on what my very first musical experiences were, after someone asked me how I got to have such a diverse even odd musical taste. After a painful mental exercise it struck me that it all started back in the mid 70’s with children programs, ads, classical music, my big sis’ disco music and this event that today is known as a mekka of mediocrity and circus of cheap taste. But in the past it was all much better, wasn’t it? Many people are nostalgic for the days when the final winner, second and third lasted a bit longer than one could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious…

So as a result I’ll be spending some time recollecting old soundbites and wiping off dirt, to document my coming of age, music wise. The music that made me who I am. That’ll be interesting.

I’m also currently facing some problems with my computer again. Bluescreens a gogo seems to be the case. I’m a victim of a Trojan horse of some sort even though I’m protected by mister Norton himself. This is the last time that guy sets a foot in my house. All sorts of ads pop up for spyware software and bogus reports about illegal or pornographic content on my computer. I knew it was bunny time right now, with Easter and everything, but I didn’t know that this year it’s playboy bunnies that fall from the sky. As a result I’m at this very moment not enjoying myself on the dancefloor over at Petrol, as I intended to do, but instead shifting data from my computer to external hard disks, just to make sure I’m not losing anything when that final crash occurs. I hope not too soon.

I already had my share of body movements on Friday. James Holden came to Petrol and brought with him Fairmont who gave a live set. Maybe it’s a strange coincidence that at my last computer problem, in January, I downloaded Fairmont over at Bleep. They were so kind to give me back my downloads after I contacted them and explained that my computer had crashed and I lost those files. They were the only ones; I did not receive any news from Juno and Beatport up until now after sending similar mails.

The Walkmen – Lemon Hill
Jaga Jazzist – Reminders (Dat Politics remix)
Lalalover – Step Out of the Dark
Fairmont – I Need Medicine (original mix)
Deise Tigrona – Injecão – Slum Dunk presents Funk Carioca
Be Your Own Pet – Super Soaked

I also went shopping for music on Saturday. I found some really great samplers of early electro hiphop on the Enjoy Records and Celluloid label. And I finally purchased me at Beatport a version of Chateau Flight’s seminal Baroque EP from 2006 on Innervisions. I’ve been looking for a vinyl copy but I couldn’t find any, so I gave up. There’s probably a copy somewhere on the internet, but I still have a principal problem with that. Anything is for sale on the net nowadays so there is no longer a natural barrier for spending lots of money on whatever one’s heart desires. I only buy something first hand and not something that has to be shipped off or worse, flown in on my request.

Chateau Flight – Baroque (original mix)
Chateau flight – Baltringue
Chateau flight – Baccula

I’m really happy with the electro tracks. Some were familiar but others are brand new to me and really great. If my memory serves me right – which is not that easy considering a certain amount of alcohol that was involved – one of the Manu Dibango cuts got played by Alex Barck from Jazzanova at the Mack-Up club a while ago. That gig was without any doubt one of my favourite club nights.

Manu Dibango – Pata Piya (original 12 version)
Manu Dibango – Makossa Rock (original 12 version)
Manu Dibango – Abele Dance (original 12 version)
Tony Allen – Home Cooking

Tribe 2 – What I Like (original 12 French dub version)
Timezone – Wildstyle original 12 version (Francois Kevorkian & Paul Groucho Smykle RMX)
Bill Laswell feat. Afrika Bambaataa & John Lydon – World Destruction (original 12 version - Bill Laswell RMX)
Grandmixer DST – Cuts It Up (original 12 version)

As a bizarre side effect of my malfunctioning computer and the long filenames that Box doesn’t seem to be handling well, some of these tracks don’t have the proper extension (mp3). No worry, just download them as you like and change the extension.

There’s more where this came from, so stay tuned.

Hysteric Housewives with Kitchen Knives

Doesn't this look like a dancefloor... or am I going nuts?

Before you people out there, start to think that I must be disco crazy, dancing all day and all night, I’m posting something else right now. I like disco music but there’s something that I like even more and that’s classical music. Early renaissance, polyphonic, Baroque, the classics,… you name it, the works.
I heard an incredible powerful piece of music on the radio just the other day. It was Arvo Pärt’s Credo for piano, choir and orchestra. It’s from 1968 but it still sounds incredibly fresh. What struck me was that certain parts of it, the shock effects and contrasts between ‘Klankmassen’ sound like stuff Frank Zappa did in his orchestral works years later. Who would have thought that?

Hélène Grimaud on piano with The Swedish Radio Choir and The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the supervision of Esa-Pekka Salonen in Arvo Pärt’s Credo from 1968

I must say, I’ve been often pleasantly surprised by radio. Only yesterday I heard another breathtaking tune in Gilles Peterson’s World Wide radio show. If I understood it correctly it was a Ron Trent production with a former unknown rapper called Yaw. Only this tune wasn’t exactly hiphop. This rapper Yaw turned out to be an ace singer delivering the gospel in a very sincere and heartwarming soulful manner. An incredible performance. It was kinda creepy listening to it at such an untimely late hour. Judge for yourself.

By the way, he’s giving away this song for free at his myspace page.

Yaw – Where Will U Be

It was a while since I heard something from Ron Trent. I remember him best as one of the pioneers of house and techno. I should check out what he did all those years since his seminal classic Altered States.

Ron Trent – Altered States (original mix)

Gilles Peterson also had some pleasant news: a new Eryka Badu album! The first in 5 years I guess, although I seem to remember that there was a kind of bootleg last year called simply Badu, but I’m not sure. Something new from Eryka Badu is always great news certainly if it’s that good. I only have an illegal download for now to see what it’s like before they release it over here. The album is called New Amerykha and it’s about the state of affairs in the States right now so it’s highly political. If I’m right there’s going to be a second release because it’s called Part 1 so there has to be a part two as well. Maybe after the coming elections, which are turning into a kind of a bummer for Obama, if I’m correctly, after recent exposure of his godfather’s opinions on certain delicate state matters. Let’s all see how this turns out.

Erika Badu – Soldier
Erika Badu – Twinkle
Erika Badu – Telephone

There’s more fun coming this year. A new album from Jamie Lidell that is. This is the first really smashin’ single.

Jamie Lidell – figured Me Out

Lazy Sunday

It’s finally a lazy Sunday evening again, back at my place. I just finished drawing and colouring a card for the coming birth of some friend’s baby. They asked me to draw something for them that they could send to all their relatives and friends, so I gladly did. They asked me to do something in the vein of Dickie or Boerke (peassant) as we call it. A comic that I like reading or rather watching because there usually isn’t much text involved.
It reminded me how much fun it is to draw something freely instead of the stuff I have to do for work. I like the work I do but I should do this stuff more often. If I only had more time. I could stop doing this, but blogging is also fun.

The soundtrack to all of this is a bit more quietly than the previous posts. More relaxed and lush and with a melancholic rainy backdrop.

The Alan Rankine post and a NME cassette compilation over at The Dalston Oxfam Shop made me listen to The Associates again, a Scottish new wave band, basically a duo from the early 80’s. The central figure was Billy Mackenzie who died a couple of years ago but Rankine provided most of the tunes. Aggressive and Ninety Pounds is an early version of Thirteen Feelings that ended up on Perhaps from 1985. This version is from that NME cassette compilation. A very beautiful haunting song and a good reminder of what a great band they were.

The Associates feat. Billy Mackenzie – Aggressive and Ninety Pounds 1982

On that same cassette compilation Mad Mix II was another song that I liked, called Living On The Front Line by David Sylvian with Sandii & the Sunsetz. I didn’t know anything about this collaboration but it turns out to be something he did in between his Japan days and his first solo release. He made an entire album with this band which I’m going to check out, because I’m quite fond of this track.

Sandii & the Sunsetz with David Sylvian – Living On The Front Line

Now that Antony from Antony & the Johnsons is enjoying a disco break with Hercules & Love Affair from his normal line of work, it’s always nice to bring back to mind what his former output sounded like.

Anthony & the Johnsons – Cripple and the Starfish 2000

A recent discovery of a similar kind (which means it’s not disco) is a band called Fleet foxes. They only just released one EP but it’s already gaining them a lot of support on the net.

Fleet Foxes – Mykonos

Elbow has a new album and this is a track from it. That’s it, what more do you want? Great lyrics inside.

Elbow – Grounds For Divorce

Counting the days, only 44 days to go before I leave for…

The Hong Kong Dong – Berlin

And now, for something completely different. I can’t help it but I have to squeeze these in. A house classic and some stars on 45.

Jomanda – Make My Body Rock (basic version)
Urban All Stars – It Began In Africa

To finish things off, back on the right track. One of the most anticipated albums of the last years is going to be released pretty soon. The Devil, You + Me is the follow up of Neon Golden by The Notwist which is definitely one of my all time favourite albums. I only heard this one song which sounds promising and very familiar.

The Notwist – Good Lies

That's it for this Duyster session now it's 12 '0 clock so it's time for Gilles Peterson's world wide radio show.