Delta Funktionen @ The Last Weekender, Trouw (Amsterdam) 28.12.2014
italo-disco
Hipodrome Podcast 018 – Hysteric
At the end of the year 2014, Hipodrome brings you a special Christmas present!
VA – Red Laser Disco: Hits From The Manctalo Diskoteque [RL012]
A double vinyl 8 track selection of Red Laser Disco favourites. Compiled by Il Bosco it shows the variety of early 80s Italian dance music & the Italo scene with disco styling through to boogie, new romantic flavours through to electro.
Amin Peck – Suicidal [BRDR001]
1st outstanding release for Archivio Fonografico’s sub label Borderline Editions. Remastered official reissue of the original version dated 1983 on Best Records ”Suicidal” by Amin Peck is one of the most intense italo disco songs ever.
Karl Lukas Pettersson – Paradise Island [ACIDO019]
Karl Lukas Petterson aka Luke Eargoggle took a turn into a different direction and the outcome is on Dynamo Dreesen’s imprint Acido. Some crafty 1980s Wave / Electro / Disco leaning tunes.
Zaltan – Quartier Choc [GRVTS002]
Second limited releases from Low Jack’s Editions Gravats label. Gold ink printed on white cassette Antinote boss Quentin Vandewalle aka Zaltan delivers a killer psychedelic boogie and ’80s motocross funk’ mix for Low Jack and Jean Carval’s Editions Gravats.
4M International – Space Operator [PM12006]
Spaced out disco electro. The mysteriously named 4M International was a side project of the production team behind short lived Italo group Trilogy (”Not Love”, ”Black Devil” etc). ”Space Operator” is the only record the outfit recorded and is an ultra spacey, pitched down, cosmic anthem based around fellow Italian band Traks’ ”Drums Power” record, taking the rhythm track and adding a wealth of killer sound FX, synth washes and sinister vocoded voices inviting us to join them in some intergalactic space travel. Released in 1982 on Full Time records off-shoot Good Vibes.
Ubre Blanca – Terminal Island EP [CDR12011]
Ubre Blanca return with their second release for Clan Destine. Continuing with their obsessions of 70’s and 80’s horror and B movie soundtracks, fat synth sounds and live drums, Joel Stone and Andy Brown bring us a more evolved sound with the Terminal Island EP. A heady mix of full on synth and live drums, mixed with some more atmospheric pieces this time around. Terminal Island takes us straight to some tropical island where some horrifying shit is going down. Bringing to mind old cinematic masterpieces like Cannibal Holocaust mixed with Miami Vice.
Kid Machine – Red Planet EP [RL013]
Four tracks of atom crushing slo-mo disco darkness, creating hazy semi real dreams of isolation and paranoia on the red planets vast emptiness. The first track alone ‘Invasion’ is a dance floor soundsmash to rival any recent disco chug. The story continues with the quicker pace and acerbic tones of ‘Rulers of the Red Planet’. ‘Martian Emotion’ drifts more towards ‘beautiful space ballad’ and finally the grand finale to the story of this EP is the dark and foreboding John Carpenteresque ‘Last Day On Mars’. The track completes a journey in sound so well accomplished it will have you feeling like you just watched a 3 hour sci-fi epic inside your mind.
The Hunt – Revengers Of The Darkness [GD007]
Stylishly blending a powerhouse mix of EBM Machismo, New Beat Sleaze and Space Disco’s hot synth solos, ‘Revengers Of The Darkness’ throbs like a robot post-the singularity on a quest for alien sewer sex. Giallo Disco are more than honored to present the debut EP from this fantastic group. Five cinematic dancefloor bombs for the discerning listener.
Machinegewehr – Carradine [BAP034]
This new Bordello A Parigi 12″ sees Machinegewehr on a solo tip with two killer Italo numbers, with the title cut “Carradine” seemingly positioned to look skywards throughout such is the soaring synth work at play. Complementing this, “Guarding The Frontiers” is a more supple and dare we say subtle affair that really highlights the artist’s talent for intricate melodies.
International Music System – Dancing Therapy [DE078]
When Dark Entries reissue Italo-disco records, they tend to be slept-on or long-forgotten gems. That’s certainly the case with International Music Therapy’s “Dancing Therapy”, something of a break dance-era anthem that was popular in underground clubs around its’ 1984 release. The version included here – the ‘Special Remix’ – is undoubtedly the definitive version of the track, and interestingly sits somewhere between New York freestyle and throbbing, arpeggio-heavy Italo-disco. On the flip you’ll find “Love Games”, a track from the I.M.S album not included on the 1984 single.
Charlie – Spacer Woman [DE077]
It would be fair to say that Charlie’s “Spacer Woman” is one of the better-known Italo-disco anthems, which makes it all the more surprising that Dark Entries has chosen to reissue it. This is not a criticism, though; they’ve given Maurice Cavalieri and Giorgio Stefani’s original the remaster treatment, and it sounds even more alien, exciting and oddball as it did back in 1983. The original vocal version – all woozy synths, throbbing arpeggios, wonky beats and typically eccentric vocals – is backed by the Instrumental version, which is the preferred mix of choice for many Italo DJs. If it’s not in your collection already, it should be.
VA – Royal Athlete Vol. 1 [RAD001]
Royal Athlete is a new venture from Berlin’s Hot Pony party, a well-loved excuse to play camp Italo, boogie and ’80s electro from former Bristol residents Vexkiddy and Antoni Maiovvi. Both offer up tracks on this debut 12″, with Vexkiddy’s bouncy synth funk throw-down “Robotic Understanding” – all squidgy melodies and darting rhythms – just edging out Maovvi’s italo-revivalism in the highlight stakes. Elsewhere, UK Italo royalty Bill Ambrose and Marika Gauchi join forces as The Dreamers’ for the deliciously camp “He’s My Man”, before Berlin newcomer Dimitri SoEmotional delivers “Unconditionally”, a chunk of deep modern boogie.
Hysteric – Halloween A Parigi 2014
Francisco – Lineabeat [SLOMO015]
Linea Beat is Slow Motion’s latest offshoot, focusing strictly on the whacked out sounds of mid-eighties electronic disco. Long term label partner Francisco has turned his drum machines up to 11 and set lazers stun on this jacking disco 12”. Side A sees Cosmo joining the fun bringing along with him the ghost of cult Italo favourites Fun Fun for a throbbing excursion into sunrise elettro. Hands will be in the air for this one for sure. On the flip side things are sleazy, breezy and pulsating with the swagger of Rimini in 1986
Kid Machine Live @ Magic Waves, Loftus Hall (Berlin) 20.07.14
East Wall – Silence [ED001]
The ultra rare LP “Silence” by East Wall sees Fabrizio Chiari and Wilma Notari traverse through a variety of styles with a number of standout tracks.
East Wall – Eyes Of Glass [NC011]
Band of Fabrizio Chiari (ex keyboardist of Kirlian Camera) and produced by Charlie Mallozzi (already involved in Kirlian Camera), Angelo Bergamini collaborated to the 12″ Eyes Of Glass.
The Hipodrome Of Music 