If you like your Italo-disco bright, full-throttle and peak-time ready, Thomas Blanckaert’s occasional work as Palermo Disco Squad (he’s better known for his rave-ready techno jams as Innershades) should be on your radar. It’s been four years since he last used the alias, but the project’s belated return to Bordello a Parigi is predictably triumphant. He sets his stall out with the freestyle and Bobby Orlando-influenced shimmer of ‘After All These Tears’, before opting for more chugging sequenced synth-bass and undulating lead lines on the slower ‘L’amice Geniale (theme)’. ‘Loupara’ sounds like a shinier, more sun-splashed ‘Please’-era Pet Shop Boys instrumental, while ‘The Return’ is a rushing, feel-good slab of freestyle/post-Italo fusion that’s as sunny and joyous as they come.
The Hipodrome Of Music 