January 04, 2004
Euro Disco.
Frequent readers might remember a feverish craving I had for Italo Disco. Actually the mission to put out forgotten classics from this period is well under way. Beyond recent, official, releases of music of the era on the "The Secret History" comp, there are avilable semi-legal things like the boot of Scotch's "Penguin Invasion" on Dig-It International, shadier records like the Automan bootlegs (which feature stuff like Kebekelektik's "War Dance" and disco edits like "Preaches and Prunes", rumoured to be a Ron Hardy-style cut-up executed by K. Alexei back in the 80s). Furthermore there are the Music Box series of bootlegs (dedicated somewhat spuriously to reviving tracks played at the legendary club of the same name), quite a number of which I picked up early last year.
I did a little more research and tracked down this earlier series of reissues put out in the mid-to-late eighties by the ZXY label. From 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 right up to 15. That's a hell of alot of music, and surely just the tip of the iceberg. Scary really. The thing is, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that what I've heard through recent forays "in the field" (ya dig?) doesn't really put parmesan on my fusili. There is a slight emptiness to the sound. That's never really upset me in Detroit Techno but somehow the emptiness in THAT music conveyed an ontology, a philosophy; it's a thrilling void that one finds in those records. Italo on the other hand seems a little gormless, a bit bland. I'm still hoping that the tracks (ahem) I've been promised by my esteemed colleague Dan Selzer change this perspective. I'd MUCH rather it was a goldmine of inspiring tunes. It might be worth mentioning that Optimo's DJ Twitch was sharing his own lukewarm feelings towards the genre with me the other night in Glasgow. Maybe this is one point where the retro impulse might run aground; likewise it's rumoured that Belgian New-Beat (which is currently garnering support) is also not all it's cracked up to be. How can one make such broad generalisations about Genres? Easy really.
One of the reasons I was disappointed to find Italo Disco not living up to my hopes for it was that I had finally worked out a way of getting to grips with Micro-House through it. Micro-House, I flashed, at it's best and most proper is the living extension of Italo Disco. Not a tributary of Techno as had been previously thought. Micro-House is an urbane, cosmopolitan, existential, sexy dance music. The same attributes characterised the colder European end of Disco. Just picture the Italo Disco fantasy of glitterball discos in exclusive ski resorts, of fur and yaucts, of upwardly mobile philosophy graduates from the Sorbonne dancing clutching champagne bottles; and map that onto Micro-House. Makes perfik sense dunnit. OK sure this generation of mainland Europeans are cautiosly camoflagued in combat gear, but the accoutrements of "the street" are a millimetre thin veneer. I guess it's an apposite symmetry, because I struggle to get any pleasure from Micro-House too. We'll see.
Posted by Woebot at January 4, 2004 10:01 PMooh i love the photo!
Hi-NRG next! Roll on the Hazell Dean revival, coming to a style-mag near you soon.
Tim
re: hi nrg - seen in the recent club descriptions sleaze nation - a record by the flirts- passion (produced by bobby o who later informed and produced the pet shop boys) as one of the anthems of certain fashionable clubs - along with tracks like easy going's fear etc . the hi- nrg/italo thing is very much here.
jockey slut did a piece on new beat about 2 years agono one believed them then as well.
A hell of alot of new beat came from canada and bobby o - who was a very straight man is now a real estate lawyer.
Geets-cheers m'dear.
Tim-yeah there are some quite iffy things about Italo, Spagna, Sinnita et al. Of course there's an underground element, but also (and this surprises me) Italo is quite the "camp" option for a number of very austere heads (including William Bennet from Whitehouse!!!). Kind of like an acceptable release valve; just that little more acceptable than Dannii Minogue. I can dig that, though "camp" i've always had problems with.
goathead-mmm that flirts records is in the recent issue of mojo too innit. with the pet shop boys pawing it. i have a bobby o record ("from a whisper to a scream") which is crap, then there's that one "the bobby o melody" which peter shapiro* rates and figures in that 2 Many DJs thing and is pretty good as it goes. actually the hi-NRG I've heard (we call it "meatrack") i fucking HATE, and that goes for the Sylvester stuff too. count me out
nice talking to you doods.
*(hey pete drop me a line, your email address doesnae work)
Posted by: Matt at January 5, 2004 09:24 PMi didn't realise that it was on the new mojo cover cd - what's going on when bobby o is on one of those kind of cannonic rock history mags eh?
It's coincidentally one of my girlfriends absolute favorites.
William Bennet wrote an article in some magazine recently about italo - the kind of sweaty amyl sexyness of it - openly sleazy and cheaply glamourous -
Sinnita was one of simon callows first stars and also an ex girlfriend - i think alot of that mid 80's italo/hi nrg stuff - sinnita, spagna, taffy and sabrina has alot to answer for in paving the way for stock aitken and watermelon really - and esp te pet shop boys of course who's early stuff was produced by bobby o - but then so was divine :)
hi nrg and bobby o have their own little section upstairs in the very serious collectors bit of nottinghill exchange too.
Posted by: ghoathead at January 5, 2004 09:43 PMi share twitchos reservations about italo disco - for me, it all just sounds too flat. whereas so-called micro-house, at its best, sounds super FAT.
Posted by: dick at January 6, 2004 02:13 PMI see what you're getting at with italo sounding a bit "flat" but if you're picking up those zyx comps - thats only going to intensify the flatness with their lousy pressings and +/-6 songs per vinyl side.
Try some of the singles for a bit fuller sound - I think Mr.Flagio's "Take a Chance" single on zyx sounds pretty rich compared to a lot other italo tracks..
Also some of the Kano singles - theres one called "Dont Try to Stop Me"- rather mediocre compared to some of his hits, but it sounds better playing from the single than some of his hits do when played from the album if you know what I mean.
PS - Saw your Discogs reference above, in the Discogs Forum theres a thread of italo favorites going on this week, although I'm sure there have been many such discussions in recent years which I am too lazy to look up. Also, heres a mix of italo & nrg that was posted in the forums last month (tracklist further down the thread, mostly obvoius stuff but worth a mention).
Posted by: pete at January 6, 2004 07:01 PMPete think i should clarify a bit. i wasnt referring to italo's audiophile properties per se. some of the productions i've heard ("real" basslines and strings) have been pretty "impressive" and "rich", but just the content itself which I find a bit unmotivated.
theres nothing wrong with utilitarian music as such, often the most hard-working dance music packs a hefty semiotic charge, but in that instance it's usually cos an agenda seeps into the proceedings. for example (stop me if youve heard this before); ardkore's black market background (illegal sample collages for people on illegal drugs at illegal parties) produces a music, that while aimed solely at detonating the dancefloor, ends up carrying over a message of cultural autonymy, of anti-social independence and boundary-breaking unfettered abandon.
Posted by: Matt at January 7, 2004 04:13 PMMatt, thanks for clarification and I probably should have picked up on that.. I see what you mean about italo in this sense and I don't think you're going to find much deeper meaning in most italo. But I think thats also some of the appeal, the naivety of the approach. Most of the songs were either half-serious sci-fi fetishes or just about fun and dancing (even one of the groups was called "fun fun"). It stylistically resembeled some of the new wave stuff, but was devoid of any strong aesthetic statements such as "apathy is fashionable" or whatever those new-wavers were getting at..
But occasionally, some of the italo acts accidentally ended up offering deeper social commentary. Your ardkore example for some reason reminded me of this italo single : Baby's Gang - Challenger (Memory) from '84. A shame theres no picture on the link - a nice glossy gatefold sleeve for a 2 track single. Anyhow, Baby's Gang was a weird project that had better-than-average italo production, but the vocals were delivered by a bunch of kids, mostly girls, aging maybe from 6 to 15. This single is about the Challenger space shuttle that would cause one of the biggest tragedies of space exploration shortly thereafter. Strange listening to it now, especially with "happy birthday (to my mammy)" on the flip side...
Anyways, thanks for the always entertaining reads. Nice chatting too..
Posted by: pete at January 8, 2004 04:43 PMThe thing about Italo and Hi-NRG is that most of it, really 99.9% of it is crap. I guarantee I could play you stuff on a good system and get you feeling at least half of what I like. There's some good stuff on those ZYX comps, but we've already discussed this, Euro Italo fans are not to be trusted! I mean, it's cool that it has Max-Him's Japanese Girl, a song I like and play, but that's a fun new wave song. I wouldn't try to sell someone on the beauty of italo-disco with it. The cream of the crop is not on those comps but will continue to show up on various bootlegs and things like the Secret History. Likewise, Whisper to a Scream doesn't do anything for me, but the 9 minute version of Passion by the Flirts is heaven on earth. Love On Video by the NY Models, Bobby O's own I'm So Hot For You, Divine's Native Love are all excellent and there's a lot more Bobb O stuff that's very funky and cool. Same w/ Patrick Cowley and the San Fran stuff. Have you heard Sylvester's I Need Someone to Love Tonight? Amazing.
I mean, I'm willing to accept that perhaps you won't like my version of italo-disco and hi-nrg. If you've heard Mr. Flagio's Take A Chance, Charlie's Spacer Woman etc, and don't even feel those, I wouldn't bother digging any deeper, though there are other facets of italo that even those ZYX comps don't touch, early stuff like Macho's I'm A Man (the break!) And I don't know how popular this opinion is, but to hear it loud, on a good system, being played by a good DJ, while dancing...it's bound to change things.
But to me, that stuff is VERY sexy and warm, and for that reason I have yet to be impressed with any New Beat or EBM revival. That stuff leaves me cold...
Soon, I'll try to send stuff, I swear, been very busy. 10 hour days at the job, Acute Records, DJing etc.
anyway, I-F's mixes are back online, go to:
http://www.cybernetic-broadcasting.net/
and click on mixage and listen to Mixed Up at the Hague. Also, http://www.deephousepage.com of all the millions of mixes, the mid 80s chicago WBMX mixes of Mickey Mixin Oliver have the most New Wave and Italo mixed with early house and 80s club classics.
-dan
Posted by: dan selzer at January 9, 2004 06:05 AMhi dan,
my problem seems to be in isolating that elusive 0.1% I'm panning for lead right now.
>bobby o
hot indeed. tickled to know he was behind The Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls" too.
>wont like my version of italo/hi-nrg
well i reckon i would, however i think it must be an artfully and craftily selected vision. i'm afraid i'm disappointed there isn't more quality stuff.
>busy
too busy to send cds to a woebot! i think you'd better examine your priorities mr selzer ;-)
Posted by: matt at January 9, 2004 08:23 AMbut his original version of Pet Shop Boys is pretty sad sounding. There's like this raw almost demo version on the Best of "O" Records comps. All in all, a rather odd, strange figure. Apparently abusive AND homophobic, writing songs like "Calling All Boys" like an electronic-disco Phil Spector master-minding the Ronettes. Working with Divine who he apparently hated. What's amazing is how distinct his sound is, he uses some of the same melodic tricks and programming in dozens and dozens of songs to varying degrees of sucess. I have so many of them, even deeper into the 80s when he went digital, "Fairlight mixes" on Memo records of something. And some of that is still pretty hot...
Posted by: dan selzer at January 10, 2004 04:31 AModd you mention phil spector - he covered one of his songs - a ronettes song i think on a 12" my girlfriend has .:)
Posted by: marcus at January 11, 2004 08:54 PM