I wrote about Cerrone's early band, Kongas, last time, but failed to really talk up his band made Don Ray. Ray (born Raymond Donnez) wasn't involved with a whole lot outside of Kongas, but he did do some interesting stuff without Cerrone's involvement ... namely Sumeria. Sumeria was Ray and Alec R. Costandinos, one of the most notorious and prolific disco artists of the 1970s. The duo only put out one 7", one 12", and LP (linear logic, right?), but covered a whole mess of bases with the handful of tracks they dropped. [...]
I wrote about Cerrone's early band, Kongas, last time, but failed to really talk up his band made Don Ray. Ray (born Raymond Donnez) wasn't involved with a whole lot outside of Kongas, but he did do some interesting stuff without Cerrone's involvement ... namely Sumeria. Sumeria was Ray and Alec R. Costandinos, one of the most notorious and prolific disco artists of the 1970s. The duo only put out one 7", one 12", and LP (linear logic, right?), but covered a whole mess of bases with the handful of tracks they dropped. [...]
The original Valerie Dore team in disguise, once again... Anyway, whatever the moniker they use their style is easily recognizable. Mike Rogers - Just A Story (1984) Tags: 80s , italo disco
Digital Emotion - Go Go Yellow Screen (1984) Yaputhma Sound System - Go Go Yellow Screen (1996) Cliff Wedge - Go Go Yellow Screen (2007) Tags: 00s , 80s , 90s , cover , italo disco
Den Harrow - Broken Radio (1985) Worthless trivia: this track recycles a lot of musical phrases already heard in other productions (such as this one .) Tags: 80s , italo disco
B. Rose - Hey D.J. (Give Me A Lot Of Music) (Vox) B. Rose - Hey D.J. (Give Me A Lot Of Music) (Instrumental) Produced by David Zambelli & Walter Verdi - who are also responsible for most of Scotch , S. Pozzoli and P. Lion 's titles - in 1983. Tags: 80s , italo disco
Now we're going to the Netherlands for a super quick visit. In 1983, Bas Fortgens, Hans De Witt, and Paul Vrieling came together to form Modern Danceable Music Company, or M.D.M.C. The trio released three singles and a triple-disc vinyl LP, and then all but vanished. (Literally, none of them have done any "real" work since the band split.) The debut single, "How About It" first appeared as a 12" on High Fashion Music, Benelux's biggest and most prolific Italo-disco label. The song represents a sort of hybridization of the Tom Tom Club [...]
Now we're going to the Netherlands for a super quick visit. In 1983, Bas Fortgens, Hans De Witt, and Paul Vrieling came together to form Modern Danceable Music Company, or M.D.M.C. The trio released three singles and a triple-disc vinyl LP, and then all but vanished. (Literally, none of them have done any "real" work since the band split.) The debut single, "How About It" first appeared as a 12" on High Fashion Music, Benelux's biggest and most prolific Italo-disco label. The song represents a sort of hybridization of the Tom Tom Club [...]
J.Agebjörn & Sally Shapiro - Spacer Woman From Mars This is the last release from Sally Shapiro and Johan Agebjörn on LoEB (sub-label of Lo Rec. ). A bomb of track! IMHO And 2 excellent remixes by Rude 66 and Elitechnique : Rude 66 - Deeper Space Woman Elitechnique - Outer Space Woman Tags: 00s , disco , electronic , [...]
The mini-set played a few hours ago on the radio ripped and available for download. Maybe we will try to repeat those improvised sessions on a regular basis... Various Artists - Back From Flea Market 15/08/08 (right click to save) The small playlist follows: Tags: 70s , 80s , disco , italo disco , mix , pop
Wow, I could go on and on about today's selections, but I'll try and keep it short -- too many long days. When I began my Italo-disco Journey, I was perhaps a little overly enthusiastic. Like I've said before, a lot of the material from the loose genre is ... junk. Fortunately, there are gems -- and many of them, the deeper you dig -- and that's what makes the entire disco genre still relevant and something to look back upon in admiration. Giorgio Moroder and Jean-Marc Cerrone are often [...]
Wow, I could go on and on about today's selections, but I'll try and keep it short -- too many long days. When I began my Italo-disco Journey, I was perhaps a little overly enthusiastic. Like I've said before, a lot of the material from the loose genre is ... junk. Fortunately, there are gems -- and many of them, the deeper you dig -- and that's what makes the entire disco genre still relevant and something to look back upon in admiration. Giorgio Moroder and Jean-Marc Cerrone are often [...]
Bo Boss = Trilogy , author of the excellent Not Love . Bo Boss - Tequila (1982) Tags: 80s , italo disco
Disco can kill you! (especially italo...) Stargo - Capsicum (1983) Roberto Zanetti aka Robyx (most known with Savage ) is at the controls for this sweet music trip. X Ray Connection - Get Ready (1983) This cosmic NRG-tic tune was produced by Adams & Fleisner from Digital Emotion , Gazuzu in between... Xenon - Xenon Galaxy (Theme Version) (1983) This odyssey is a [...]
I've never really been able to go past a Joakim edit or remix before, he always seems to keep producing these epic pieces of music that captivate you over and over again, from his creeping rendition of Cut Copy's 'Hearts On Fire' to the italo disco remix of 'A Mountain for President' . Here are two more masterpieces; the first Joakim edit you might recognise from such mixtapes as Hoodrat's Finger Prince part 2 , it makes a sneaky appearance at the beginning. The second remix, for Max Berlin , [...]
Clive Stevens & Brainchild - Mystery Man (1984) Tags: 80s , italo disco , synthpop
We're getting weirder and weirder here (and a little newer). Starting in 1986, the Dutch label, Taurus Records has been releasing a whole bunch of primarily 12" singles. Most of them are pretty out there and totally underground -- and I suspect that a bunch of them completely blow -- but there're a few gems that stand out, particularly Radiorama's "Fire" 12" from 1988. Radiorama was Mauro Farina on lead vocals, Simona Zanini on female vocals, and Mauro Farina and Giuliano Crivellente on arrangement, composition, and conduction. The Italo-disco act (which eventually [...]
Today, I've a couple strange ones for you all. First is Danny Keith's "Keep On Music." The 12" was released via Time Records in 1984 and is a pretty strange one. Imagine Depeche Mode with a slightly less eerie and morbid vibe and less intelligible lyrics. "Keep On Music" is the Italo-disco response to "Enjoy the Silence" (or rather, "Enjoy the Silence" is the post-punk response to "Keep On Music"). The track was "executive" produced by Gianni Corraini (a.k.a. Danny Keith while on Time Records) and produced by Giuliano Crivellente, one of the most prolific of [...]
Cesarez - Si Tu Sais Compter... (1983) There is an alternative version of this Québecois tune and this time sung in English (the main chorus that goes like "Si tu sais compter ne compte pas sur moi" is now replaced by "If you can count don't count on me boy"). The radio database contains both versions, the English one is courtesy of Blackberrie. Tags: 80s , france , italo disco , synthpop
As with most "scenes" -- especially those tight and condensed enough -- certain labels, producers, and names pop up with surprising frequency. In a lot of situations, this is a good thing. Listeners and distributors are generally smart enough to latch on to stuff that's at least decent , so whether you're in heavy metal or rap, if you're for some reason both sought after by consumers and producers alike, you're in a good place. American Disco was a "big" label in the 1980s, releasing approximately thirty 12"s. I'll admit some [...]
BiBaBiDi
Overfitting Disco
Waves at Night
![Divine - You Think You're A Man [www.italo-disco.net]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/0gn1u93gJdI_130.jpg)
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
Antony and the Johnsons - "Rise"
Video: Dreamers - "Appaloosa"
