Concorde - Prophet of Life

Prophet of Life is another amazing release from Il Discotto Productions and the team of Vincenzo Giufrè and Massimo Monti. Their work includes Jo Jo's Mind Games, From Halley and more. Prophet of Life  marches, meanders, and plods in a jungle of playful synthesizer squeeks and strings. Its great!

Wanexa - The Man from Colours

One of the best productions from the camp of Gianluigi Farina , Francesco Rago, and Monneret De Villard Xenia Olga Anastasia, the crew that produced 'Lectric Workers' 'Robot Is Systematic' and many others. The Psychadelic female vocals and simple synth refrain are driven by droning flanged drums and a dreamy sensibility. The break in this track is a perfect example of how Italo Disco influenced the early pioneers of Techno.

Kasso - Dig It

Kasso had a string of classic dance cuts in the late 70s and early 80s including "Brazilian Dancer" and "Dig It." According to liner notes Claudio Simonetti and Giancarlo Meo had a strong hand in the production and writing with these songs (along with Linda Wesley who lent her vocal talents to the productions). Both tracks are very soulful dance tracks with full bodied vocals and percussive, funk-forward production. Brazilian born Simonetti has had a long career in music starting with his role in Italian Rock group Goblin, Capricorn, various disco productions and movie soundtracks. Check out this interview with him from DJhistory.com and his current website here. Giancarlo Meo has also had a long illustrious career in music production with a string of great tracks under his belt from his work with Simonetti in 'Easy Going' to dance numbers in the 90s.

Marzio Dance and the Xenon empire

Marzio Dance had his hands in a lot of amazing projects in the early eighties Italian scene. 'You Can Do It' and 'Rap-O-Hush' have had a lot of play in the resurgence of electro and Italo Disco  (I recently featured the electro instrumental 'Adventure' in podcast 10). You can see and hear why he has had so much internet air time when you check out this amazing performance of 'You Can Do It' at Xenon Disco, the legendary discotheque of Firenze.



His work with Xenon (named after the legendary club) produced a few tracks including 'Symphony.' This ambitious arrangement conjures a sonic landscape of imposing laser towers, circuit board cities, and space ship battles. This song is a bold undertaking.

"A new adventure and a new sensation for your mind. 

come to the world of color, music, and lights and ...

Xenon empire and you can hear the ... sound storm"

Xenon attempts to push the genre beyond the dance floor and into a theatrical imagery that is larger than life. 'Symphony' does manage to tackle its own lofty title through a combination of arranged synthesizer strings and chorale vocals. But this song more importantly serves as a time machine to an analog era.

Jo Jo - Mind Games

Here is a classic cut from 1982. Underground, rare and lo-fi "Mind Games" is another gem from Italy's Il Discotto Productions. Not too much info about this one but the vocals and instrumental are top notch.

Valery Allington and Sangy

This track is a classic, embodying the best mix of electronic disco and soulful R&B crooning. Vallery Allington's "Stop" sees Sangy behind the console, crafting what could be called, italo, disco or proto-House, but the vocals and sparse arrangement on this track make it fit easily into a mix of any of the above genres and more. Maybe that's why its so popular. In 1986 she cut a track called "Let's Make It," a rocking, industrial number (also produced by Sangy) that is a departure from the early 80s funk.

Musix Records featured a lot of Maurizio Sangineto's (aka Sangy) work with Armed Gang, James Kahn, and more. He teamed up with Maurice Cavalieri to release a few tracks as 'Firefly' that will forver grace disco mixes. These two were monsters in the late 70s and early 80s putting out some of the most sought after and precious tracks of the genre. I profiled both of their work earlier on italobot. Check it out if you don't know.

I'm a Vocoder

What would electronic music be without the robotic timbre of vocoded vocals? Now that auto-tune and a renewal of interest in vocoder use are prevailing in popular music it is always important to take a look back at how the vocoder was used in the 1970s and early 80s. To hear it in these earlier tracks is to see how an innovative technology was used to define genres that at their foundation enforced a science fiction element within the music. Today our daily life is the stuff of science fiction and thus the sound of the vocoder no longer represents the same elements of space and the future that it once did. Not only has the unique nature of the vocoder changed over the years but its harder to get the body and volume out of today's digital vocoders and software emulators that you had with the old analog devices.

Check out Gay Cat Park's homage to this wonderful instrument, circa 1982.

Slow Flight

Digging has been slow going lately but I'm trying to keep on top of things. So to celebrate the pace of my posts here is Trophy's "Slow Flight." Trophy put this stripped down electro-disco number together for Fuzz Dance in 1982. The vocals are murky and there is some vocoder in there with the same tone as Bambaataa's 'Planet Rock.' Its has a real loose feel and the mix is pretty rugged...lots of space in there.

Pink Project

Pink Project was Luciano Ninzatti and Stefano Pulga and they liked to do covers of Pink Floyd, Space, and more. "Amama" is a space disco track with some blocky synthesizers thrown in for good measure. You can tell from their sound selection that they were inspired by France's Space. Released in 1982 on the album Domino for Baby Records. Produced by Salvatore Annunziata and R. Fraschini. Check out Pink Project performing "Disco Project" back in the day. Those outfits are kind of freaky. Browse youtube for some of the other covers on the album.


Pink Project - 'Disco Project Medley

Trust in Me

I'm riding high on a beautiful day in the Bay Area so I thought I would get a little boogie up here since the taste of Spring is nearly on my lips. L.J. Reynolds was in The Dramatics from 1973 to 1981. This one appeared on his album Travelin.

Lemonsweet

"Lemonsweet" by Bagarre is post punk, no-wave, Italo, or whatever you want it to be. A rebellious night out to seedy clubs with a mind careening from tabs of acid. The guitar is chorused out and it punches through the trance of percolating arpeggio. She sings with youthful arrogance willingly descending into madness and ecstasy. Its like... so psychedelic man.

Bagarre - Lemonsweet

Selection

The term Italo Disco is often derided as a lazy way to describe a wide range of music from the late 70s to the 90s that came from Italy and Western Europe. While I agree that its hard to reconcile Firefly and David Lyme as belonging to the same genre, sometimes its nice to lump stuff together in a generalized package for the sake of ease. Thus is the case with today's post which highlights the disco-funk outfit Selection.

Selection is a little bit Parliament, a little bit Larry Graham and more. The first release in 1980 on Full Time Records, Madly, sounds like they got the keys to the Mothership from Bootsy. But I really have been a fan of "Ride the Beam" lately. It has some great breaks, bridges, and chorus that keep this extended play enjoyable. Selection is Roberto Negroni, aka Naylon. This is the Italo Disco sound before it was called Italo Disco.

Selection - Ride the Beam
Selection - Madly

Gino Palatino

"Vendetta a Parigi" is wonderfully sleazy track from 1982 by Jean Soullier (aka Gino Palatino), a Frenchman singing in Italian. The lyrics grace the back of the cover and here is a rough English translation of a French translation that I had google do for me. Just scroll down to the comments to get a gist of the lyrics. This one was also featured in podcast 2.



Gino Palatino - Vendetta a Parigi

Agostino Presta

Agostina Presta was a DJ and producer in the early 80s who hailed from Italy. Though he became more famous for his song "Computer (in My Mind)" Ago had a string of near perfect Italo Boogie tracks in 1981-1982 that were compiled together in an album for Full Time Records in 1982.




Ago - For You (download)
Ago - Stop Your Life (download)
Ago - Trying Over (download)

Blackway and Helene

Another dreamy classic from the team of Stefano Zito and Carlo Favilli from 1982. The verses have an atonality that lends a lot of charm to this piece, from the offset it may seem to be a distraction but the harmonies in the chorus pull it all together.


Blackway and Helene - Music for Us
Between the verses and chorus the pulse of this production invites you into a sensuous groove. For a little more information on the Roman DJ scene and Zito's foray into music production check out this interview with Stefano Zito(I can't validate its authenticity but it has some classic pics).

Blackway and Helene - Music for Us (download)

Maurizio Sangineto, James Otis White Jr. and The Armed Gang

James Otis White Jr- Baby Come On

Such a funky track! This one is from James Otis White Jr. I have to admit, I heard this on Intergalactic FM 2 today and had to get it up here. 1983, Italy, serious funk. Produced by Maurizio Sangineto (aka Sangy) for Musix Records. They also collaborated as The Armed Gang. Sangy hooked up with US soldiers stationed in his hometown of Vicenza to produce these funky Italo-R&B crossover slammers. This is that boogie sound of early 80s that is so fresh I just cannot get sick of it.



James Otis White Jr. - Baby Come On(download)

Detroit, Shari Vari, and The Scene

Before Detroit techno there was Shari Vari. 'A Number of Names,' a group of friends from Detroit in the early 80s made the track that had tremendous influence on the growth of Detroit techno. Italo Disco was pretty popular in Detroit at the time and a lot of house parties revolved around DJs spinning Italo while the youngsters got glammed up in Gucci, Prada, Dolce Gabbana. The synth part in Shari Vari comes from Kraftwerk's 'Its more fun to compute."

Here is a cool article on the birth of Detroit techno by Jon Savage. The song was also the inspiration for the Happy Boys tune "In a Limo."

Italo Dance Dance Dance

ItaloBot, home to the cosmic disco Euro. I have been all about Italo Disco for the past few years. Every now and then I put it down only to pick it up again with a new artist or new song that keeps the neon in my blood stream.


Our maiden voyage takes us to one of my personal favorites, Gary Low. The Spanish born Luis Romero Perez Belmonte (aka Gary Low) is best known for his hits You Are a Danger (1982), I Want You (1983), Forever Together and All My Life (1984), How Much (1985), La Colegiala (1987). His English wasn't great and some of the lyrics to his songs are lost in translation, but that is the charm and appeal of Gary Low and almost all Italo Dance. He has an air of mystery to me considering it is so difficult to find info on him. Check out Arawa for a free download of the You Are a Danger instrumental and complete song.



The most info I've found on him turns up when I search google in Spanish, and even then its tough to find details. Hopefully his website is up and running soon (am I thinking comeback tour?). Anyone with more biography information please send it to me.