Void Vision is a Philadelphia based solo female Minimal Synth / Cold Wave project from Shari Wallin. Already included by Rough Trade in their seminal Synth Wave compilations, the single is anticipating her full lenght ‘Sub Rosa’, out for Mannequin Records later in 2014. Remix by Vanzetti & Sacco aka Jos Van Galen with Otto Kraanen, the boss of the acclaimed Bordello A Parigi from Rotterdam.
Legendary release from Rago & Farina finally remastered and repressed on Fred Ventura’s own imprint. A fantastic Italo-disco bomb with all the ingredients and hallmarks of a true dance floor gem of its era (male vocal, female sensual vocal in foreign language, driving bassline, space aged synth and hard energy).
Serious Italo authenticity from Manchester, Starion (a man who seems to be wholly motivated by sci-fi and synths) lays down a blisteringly slick synthetic serenade in the form of “Hypnoto Roboto”. Reminiscent of the work of Riccardo Cioni but with added automaton frontage, it’s a fine flashback to the early 80s by way of contemporary production oomph. Remix-wise Kid Machine adds a dubbier, almost Chicken Lips style flex. Further on Starion gets his synth boogie on with “Mindbender” while “Moonbase Alpha” is another journey through time and space that touches on classic electro as well as Italo. Laced with heady melodies, you can almost smell the emotion.
Well known in the clubscene a classic italo track from this underground dark wave italo band from Holland. Track played by David Vunk on numerous parties for more than 6 years already, so it took some time but here it is, including a remix made by David Vunk with pumping basskick and super sharp clubby tr-909 hats.
Local Suicide are a Berlin love story. Having met across a set of turntables, DJs, producers and dancefloor all-rounders Brax Moody and Vamparela have connected as a German and Greek soundclash since 2007, and this release rubberstamps their partnership on what is their debut EP. ‘We Can Go Everywhere’, chanting into a Balearic underworld, is in the classic mode of synth-pop, disco-house and indie dance brought back from the future and into a past discotheque philosophy. The future-retro scale is further determined when you have the expertise of In Flagranti to truly quantize the boogie, looping the chorus just behind a mix of digital distress signals and road trip guitars until it becomes so- mething near an incantation of Bananarama. Inigo Vontier trains tracky, fractal-examining synths for a deep tech-disco hustle. Powered by low slung electro- house blips that cram and gang up on the dancefloor so that it needs water cannon fire to disperse it. Last but not least Tom Tom Disco’s Richard Rossa is another bringing sounds back and forward, putting spit and shine on mainframe sequences so a vintage glitterball can spin once more. With the ubiquitous synth shunts and bongo percussion not losing sight of the fact that there’s a still pop-ish party going on.
Dark Entries Editions reissue series continues with a double A-side of the first two Helen maxi singles, “Witch” and “Zanzibar”, as a 4-song EP. Helen was an Italo disco studio project that consisted of various producers, songwriters, and vocalists from Italy in the 1980s. The first line-up included popular Italo producers Piero Cairo and Massimo Noe, known for their work with Joe Yellow, Den Harrow, Pink Project, and Dharma to name a few. They were joined by prolific Italo session vocalist Elena Ferretti. “Witch” was originally released in 1983 on Out Records, a label distributed by Discomagic Records. Signature Linndrum and Simmons drums create the driving rhythm track while Elena’s powerful vocals tell the haunted tale of a witch and her magic. In 1985 the second incarnation of Helen recorded the song “Zanzibar”.
Art Fine was the duo of Fabrice Bellini (electronics, vocals) and Rush Blakemann (guitar, synthesizer) from Tuin, Italy. They recorded their only single “Dark Silence” in November of 1984, which was released by Discomagic in 1985. Fabrice programmed the electronic drums using SCI Drumtraks and added extra tracks on the Simmons SDSV. Rush played electric guitar and the Yamaha piano notes at the start of the song. Guest musicians Silvano Borgatta and Riccardo RosaThe “da da da da da” voice effect was done by engineer Gigi Guerrieri, who cut and spliced a tape rather than using a sampler, which was too expensive at the time. “Dark Silence” tells the love story of beautiful girl who Fabrice saw many times but could not reach. He called her Dark Silence, for her dark hair and eyes and the silence unwanted between them. The B-side features a remixed version with extended breaks and dubbed out bass lines and vocals.
Dark Entries Editions celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Italo Disco club hit “Walking In The Neon”. Peter Richard was the alias first adopted in 1979 by producer and vocalist Walter Beinat. His best known song was “Walking In The Neon”, released as a maxi-single on Italian label Good Vibes in 1985. For this single Richard teamed up with the production duo of Gigi Farina and Franco Rago, best known for their projects ‘Lectric Workers, Decadance, Expansives, and Wanexa. “Walking In The Neon” was written by Rago & Farina with help from Chuck Rolando, member of Italian disco group Passengers.The track’s arrangement was done by Italian disco pioneer Celso Valli who wrote club classics for Macho, Azoto, Passengers and Tantra, to name a few.
The first installment of a quarterly series takes its cues from the Italian disco scene of the early 80s, reworking Cyber Peoples Void Vision into a Hi-NRG burner fit for the early hours at a former power plant, and JM Bands Computer Monkey into a loopy tool with frills.
Hot on the heels of the last release from Francisco in Slow Motions’s new soundtrack series comes this stunning four track release from Marco Antonio Spaventi. While recalling influences as diverse as Jan Hammer, John Carpenter, Goblin, Giorgio Moroder, Daniele Patucchi, the De Angelis brothers and many other legendary (mainly Italian) composers from the soundtrack side, these tracks are just as comfortable on the electronic dancefloor and provide a dancing experience every bit as engaging as a listening one. Synth-heads, soundtrack afficonados, space-freaks and dance fiends are all set to enjoy this one in equal measure.
After the immediate sold-out success of Hot Girls of Italo Disco, Bordello A Parigi and Mothball Record have returned with another strictly limited collaboration. Sure to be in high demand with collectors and DJs alike, this is a selection of previously impossible to find cuts, extended for your dancing pleasure by Flemming Dalum and Hysteric. Boasting no less than five different tracks, you can dance from the impossibly funky bassline and sweet vocals of Flavia Fortunato’s – “Se Tu Vuoi” to the dark and haunting hymn “La Notte” by the mysterious Taigher.
Neud is a trio from NYC and Zagreb consisting of Nico Nightingale (Neud Photo), Iva Viskovic (Croatian chanteuse), and Pierre Klein (MOX). They’ve been producing their own brand of Italo/Space Disco the ‘old skool’ way since last summer. Ranging from sexy, groovin dizko to deep, dark and dancey trax.
Sixth release by Disco Modernism Records, Milan. “Don’t Give Up” is a brand new collaboration between Fred Ventura and dutch maestro Alden Tyrell featuring Original version, Italo Connection and Flemming Dalum remixes.
Lux Rec continue their endless research at the margins of music, what is underground, at every latitude, to find rough gems and bring them to light. After a series of releases which explore Techno in various ways, they turned their attention to another field. That of the Cold Electronics and New Wave movement, and French musical existentialism. Cold Colors comes from Bordeaux, France. To Lux Rec he is the best expression of and a new take on that type of music. A sense of solitude is the first reaction to his music. Melodic longings for something that is not there, unreachable. Four songs to depict a hopeless stare into emptiness. Shadows of a love long gone.
The Hipodrome Of Music 