Zaratustra is a young French producer strongly inspired by indie dance, italo disco, EBM, new beat, acid and ethnic music. This track symbolizes the perfect mix of rock, italo and EBM and STOLT strikes the blow with one of his finest vocal performances. Comes with a Lauer rearanging.
A hard one to put in a box when it comes to genre, floating somewhere between italo and synth pop, originally released in Switzerland in 1985. “Underboard” is very cool paced downtempo number that builds up with layers of subtle percussion lusciously adorned by some heavy saxy reedsmanship and mysterious vocal accents with no real message – 100% chill o’clock served on ice. “Cedar Of Lebanon” picks up the tempo a notch, once again setting the scene for the reeds to shine as the catchy melody is presented, beautiful 80’s instrumentalism from a golden age, clearly not made in Ableton. B side features a respectful DJ tool style remix by Anatolian Weapons.
Miss D. used to work as a model in New York. That she ended up in Vienna was sheer coincidence. That she became a recording artist was never planned, either. She moved to the Austrian capital with a well-known commercial producer in the mid-1980s, and soon she found herself recording TV ads for ice cream manufacturers. One day in the recording studio, someone had the brilliant idea of producing a proper record with her. The outcome was the highly sought-after disco oddity “Moving”, which was originally released in 1986, but most copies were destroyed due to a lack of commercial success. Now getting a second chance, “Moving” is as strong as Austrian disco productions from that era come: slow, bouncy, full of personality and consistently surprising.
Cosmica Bandida’s debut studio album “Lagrimas Saladas” is an amalgam of sounds influenced by the diverse backgrounds of the members, who find themselves in Munich a city where the leftovers of cosmic music and 70s disco meet cumbia and tropical vampirism. Dark cumbia and psychedelic music collide with the moods of space disco in an album that engages the body. On the flip side, a group of eight remixers has united to deliver remixes for all the Club enthusiasts out there. Lipelis sets vinyl lovers on fire with his Dubby Disco Remix of “Salsa Bandida”, while MaSpaventi, Volta Cab, Los Pulpitos, and Hektisch Sprengen DJs bring their soulful and dubby trip-hop torch songs to the release. Prepare yourself for Grischerr & Heap’s glitchy and deconstructed industrial reggaeton remix of “Pájaro del desierto”, along with a powerful deconstructed club beatdown by Kobermann. Jacques Satre’s psychedelic stupdep remix adds the perfect finishing touch to the package.
The Berlin-based musical polymath SIRS (Sounds in Real Stereo) returns to his own Sirsounds Records imprint serving up more sumptuous original compositions on the searingly good ‘The East Is Near EP.’ SIRS has elegantly produced and cleverly arranged spicy and exotic cuts for different moments of the dance, however they all have something in common – an Eastern touch.
Tema di Susie’ is one of the main themes from the soundtrack composed by Alessandro Alessandroni for the 1976 Italian noir ‘Sangue di sbirro’, known in English as ‘Blood and Bullets’. At once sweet and sentimental, haunting and melancholic, ‘Tema di Susie’ stands out from the other tracks in the film, which are more action oriented. Like the rest of the score, however, it exemplifies the way in which, during the ’70s, Italian film composers created their own version of the sound of American blaxploitation cinema, with its groovy blend of funk, jazz, and soul. Neapolitan duo Fratelli Malibu have taken Alessandroni’s melodic theme and woven it into a mesmerizing tapestry of rhythmic beats, world percussion and ethereal atmospheres. Drawing inspiration from funk/Afrobeat, synth-pop and Italo-disco, they’ve conjured a psychedelic-tinged, afro-cosmic groove that’s bound to transport you to another dimension. On the B-side we have a vocal retouch version, courtesy of the Italian funk/soul collective Banda Maje. Their vocalists, Chiara Della Monica and Cristina Cafiero, elegantly infuse cinematic and Balearic vibes into the mix, paying a wonderful homage to Fratelli Malibu’s exquisite arrangement.
South African production duo of Emil Zoghby and John Galanakis were responsible for a string of high-quality disco singles in the early 80s, typically cover versions of international hits — Klein & MBO’s ‘The Big Apple’, Sly & the Family Stone’s ‘Family Affair’ & David Joseph’s ‘You Can’t Hide (Your Love From Me)’ — backed with their own compositions. When Starlight hit the market with an album in 1983, it featured only one cover, the local hit ‘Picnic’, along with five of the duo’s original compositions, including their similarly styled response, ‘Picnicing’, which replaces the original’s sax with spaced-out synth stabs. Then there’s ‘Jah Jah Love’, an ecstatic disco sermon of dancefloor dynamite weighing in at over eight and a half minutes. Other tracks on this landmark album — ‘Let’s Go Dancing (Boogie Boogie)’, ‘Keep On Moving’ and an eponymous instrumental — offer a similar fusion of classic disco with newer Italo and proto-house influences: machine music with a human touch. Remastered from the original master tapes and reissued for the first time, Starlight is available on vinyl and digital platforms, 40 years after its initial release, via Afrosynth Records.
Recorded live at Hell on Earth (Winter Dance II), in Adelaide on 12th August 2023
Antoni Maiovvi has made a name for himself for 15 years with a multitude of releases on Tusk Wax, Vivod, Omnidisc, Giallo Disco, Italo Moderni or even Bordello a Parigi. Emeritus producer, influenced by obscure disco, synth disco or italo disco, his sound is definitely analog. His magnificent EP is a concentrate of all his influences and more. This is his debut for Skylax’ sub-label dedicated to this specific genre, Cosmic Club.
Alan Strani returns to Bordello with a remix package of his album title track ‘Apocalypso’ featuring I:Cube, Lauer, In Flagranti and himself on remix duties.
First 7” release from Dressel Amorosi, the duo of Federico Amorosi (bass) and Valerio Lombardozzi (keys, synth & programming). Halfway between cosmic-funk and Italo-disco, the two tracks on this release are infused with the fusion- and electronic-oriented spirit of late ’70s and early ’80s Italian soundtracks and library music. “Synthporn”, on side A, is a midtempo instrumental with a voluptuous electronic feel, a mixture of glamour and retrofuturism driven by Amorosi’s pulsating bass and Lombardozzi’s elegant oscillators. “Cargo”, on the flip side, brings infectious ’80s dance vibes to the table with a warm slice of synth-pop that can fit any scenario and filmic mood, from action to comedy.
MEGABREAKZ is the brainchild of the collaboration between Oráculo Records, M.U.S.A. and Ombra Festival. It’s born to be a tribute to the iconic Valencia sound of the late 80s, when the city was a global epicenter of dance music, avant-garde exploration and cutting-edge creativity. First part comes from Robert Cosmic, 80% Baul, Eddie Gotelé and Synths Versus Me.
NYC Records presents “Percussion in Space, Part 2” from Kozmik Funk, a fresh trio of drum-focused rollers that keep the beats front and centre and weave subtle threads of synth around them for a heads-down experience that will delight DJs and dancers alike. Space Disco/Nu Disco/Deep House heaven.
‘Fog’ is one of most obscure and dark italo instrumental works done in 1984 late at night in Riccardo Cioni’s garage/studio by his trusty Stephen Head experimenting on PPG Wave 2.2, Linn 9000 and Phophet 5. Mondo Groove release this 12″ 45rpm involving 4 key figures of analog electro: Morgan Geist, Tiger & Woods, N.O.I.A. and Daniele Baldelli & Marco Dionigi.
Slow Motion Records long-standing member and renowned, Italian Dance Wave selector Giulia Gutterer compiles a collection of tracks illustrating her distinctive taste. With Iconic releases from label heads Fabrizio Mammarella and Franz Scala, along with genre-solidifying productions from the likes of Ma Spaventi, Altieri, Francisco and Tjor.
The musical cosmos is set to bestow upon us a celestial gem that shall set dancefloors ablaze and hearts aflutter. It is none other than the enigmatic Marco Passarani aka David Woods of Tiger & Woods, the sonic alchemist who has been tantalizing our senses with his kaleidoscopic grooves. Imagine a voyage through a wormhole that transcends time and space, landing you smack dab in the midst of a euphoric dancefloor utopia. This upcoming opus, yet to be bestowed upon the masses, promises to be a magnum opus of cosmic proportions. David Woods has summoned their sonic forces to curate a soundscape that defies convention, much like a comet hurtling through the night sky, leaving trails of sonic stardust in its wake.
This compilation brings together for the first time diverse Peruvian musical groups that immersed themselves in dance music following the codes brought by the disco revolution. As a phenomenon of a new culture, the global dissemination of disco music had various variations and reformulations. The way it took root in Peru constitutes a fascinating yet underexplored history, despite the numerous recordings that came to light, mainly in the 1980s, running parallel to the boom of Peruvian tropical music, the emergence of a new pop rock scene, and the widespread use of synthesizers and electronic drums. And even though the groups were eclectic and moved across various musical genres, their dance music hits have now become cult pieces.
Mondo Groove is one of the leading purveys or disco, Italo and nu-disco and it has been for ages. This new and limited 12″ is packed with four hard to find gems from between the years of 1983 and 1988. They have all been taken from the original master tapes for this special reissue. Camomilla’s chugging and snappy ‘Queen Of The Night’ opens up with a squelchy arp and heavenly melodies, Noa-Noa gets more cosmic and De Dion offers the drama and neon colour of ‘Sexy Cola’ with a fine extended version while Sandy Samuel’s ‘I Like Sado Music’ is a loose limbed percussive workout.
The Hipodrome Of Music 