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.

She's Gone Away (instrumental)

This song is brutal. Driven by repetitive bass synth arpeggios and chunky layers of guitar and bass. The female female vocals on the hook are infectious and their hints throughout the verse are seductive. Jimy's metallic vocoder voice is a delightful interjection of Italo goodness.

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.

Sparber - Cosmic Mix

Here is another mix that came my way. This one comes from Sparber of New York City.

Sparber - Cosmic Mix
1. A Love Again (special remix) - Savage
2. Crash - Doctor's Cat
3. Sermon (Serotonin edit) - Mark Seven
4. Magic Carillon - Rose
5. Feeling Without Touching - Glass Candy
6. Just Be Good to Me - The Revenge (feat. Danielle Moore)
7. In The Summer (Picture House's 'Summer In The Balearics' Mix) - Crystal Fighters
8. Flower (Sparber mix) - Liz Phair
9. I Gotta Little Love - Angela
10. Guinea (Andy Blake's Edit) - Discodromo
11. Little Fluffy Clouds - The Orb
12. What Is Love (Holographic Goatee Mix) - Deee-Lite

Muselmix Vol 1 - Speelycaptor

I get an occasional email from readers submitting their tracks and mixes. I have been meaning to feature a lot of them here but my lazy ass hasn't made it happen. Let me reconcile this today with a megamix from Speelycaptor of Denmark.

Speelycaptor - Muselmix1: Italo Disco Megamix

Intro: Sun Ra (movie quote from Space is the place)
1.) X-Ray Connection - Get ready (museledit)
(Boytronic- Luna square /synthhook)
2.) Mike Cannon - Going crazy
3.) Kano - Another Life
4.) Q - the Voice of Q vs
5.) Bamboo -Spaceship crashing
6.) FrédéricMercier - Spirit
7.) Imortals - Ultimate Warlord (museledit) vs
8.) Sex Band - I've got the answer
9.) B.W.H - "Stop" (museledit)
10.) Telex - "Diskow Moskow"
(Yello - i love u)
11.) Valerie Dore - "Get Closer"
12.) Tantra - "Hills of Katmandu" (Museledit) vs
13.) Cat Gang - "Locomotive breath"
14.) Ivan - "Fotonovela"
15.) Danny Keith - "Keep on music"
16.) Lama - Nineteen Ninety three
17.) Soif de la vie - "Goddess of love" (instrumental)
18.) Ken Laszlo - "Hey hey guy" (museledit)
19.) X-Ray Connection - "Replay" (museledit)
20.) Telex - "L'amour toujors" (museledit)
(Ofra Haza - "Im 'nin alu)
21.) Koto - "Chinese Revenge" vs
22.) Fake - "Donna Rouge" (Loops) vs Jamiroquai - "Cosmic Girl" (accapella)
23.) Creatures - "Believe in yourself"
24.) Hot Cold - "I can hear your voice"
25.) Laserdance - Humanoid Invasion
26.) Doctor's Cat - "Feel the drive"
Estelle & Kanye West - "American Boy" (accapella)
27.) Cyber People - "Void Vision"
28.) Digital Emotion - "Get up"
Jackson Five: "I want you back" (accapella)
29.) Fun Fun - "Living in Japan" vs
Lipps Inc - "Funkytown"
30.) Azul y Negro - "The Night"
31.) Trans X - "Living on video"

Spaced Out

Driven by a gravelly bass line and soft girl vocals you can hear a throw back to Parliament's pitched up Sir Nose between verses. This song is airy and full of funk. Its hard not to start nodding your head or shrugging your shoulders when this one is bumping. Pure Energy put this out in 1983 for Prism Records. Check out their funky catalog.

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.

Nicolai - Rock Your Baby

This fun cover of George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" is a fun soft groove. I have been unable to find any information about Nickolai or this track. Any info at all would be appreciated. Otherwise sit back and enjoy the crooning.

Lucky Guy

Yikes! My last post was nearly a month ago so let me dust the cobwebs off of the feed and try to play catch up. I just bought a house that is in need of some tender love and care so that has consumed a lot of my mental energy as of late. Looking forward to a fresh start, reconfiguring the studio and harnessing a new feng shui for my life. I consider myself a pretty lucky guy so how better to celebrate than Ryan Simmons' song of the same name.

'Lucky Guy' is just fun Italo pop from German pop sensation Dieter Bohlen of Modern Talking and Blue System. Despite featuring the ubiquitous group chant of 'oh ee ohh' this songs has some unique qualities including the spacious synth pad and percussive guitar strums. I featured this on podcast 06, check it out in that context.

Koto

Koto's (Alex Cundari, Anfrando Maiola, Roberto Bisca, Stefano Cundari) sound can typify what people conjure up when they think of Italo Disco. The repetitive synth leads and percussive bass arpeggios became almost cliche and typify the sound of Italo in the 1985 and 1986. But on their own these are fun tracks with playful melodies that play counterpoint off of each other. Both tracks have contemplative bridges that emerge from the main theme that should not be missed. The use of vocal samples and dialog give these a character that is so indicative if the era. Memory Records released both of these tracks in 1985 and 1986 respectively. Check out Koto's catalog for more synthesizer goodness.

Raf Coney

The production on Raf Coney's "She's Mine" is pretty epic. The opening saxophone and piano set the stage for an elaborate production. The vocals are understated and an acquired taste but after a few listens this track rapidly becomes an ear worm. The piano refrain with the sax will have you craving another listen. Hiss Records released this one in 1983, they have a small catalog but there are some great tracks in there.

Joe Ericson - Take Your Time

"Take Your Time" is a full bodied, live production that stretches beyond the normal sequenced drums and synthesizers. The delayed female vocals, synth stabs and slap bass keep the energy rolling through this number. Layered by imporvised synth leads and rapid drum pattern changes "Take Your Time" is a drawn-out dance jam. Fun and funky!

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.

Giani Velcreaux - Blubbermouth

I have always meant for Italobot to be a platform for sharing music, from the past and today. I have had a lot of great track submissions and plan on featuring many of them here in the near future.

That being said I have also intended to use Italobot as to showcase my own musical adventures. At the risk of turning this space into a tool for self-promotion I have decided to start uploading my own tracks (on the rare occasion that I think they are done or at least as finished as they are going to get). I am sure many of the musicians and artists who visit this site can sympathize with the difficulty an artist/musician has in letting go of a project, saying "That's enough!" Being a perfectionist I would as soon let all these tracks stay in obscurity, digitally festering on hard-drives and soon to be unreadable CD-Rs.

Perfectionism aside its good to let go of a project eventually and let it prosper or fail in the interwebs. "Blubbermouth" is both relaxing, cerebral, and anxious, inspired by many of the sounds you hear on Italobot. In the near future I will be releasing this along with a few other tracks on an EP. Stay tuned.

Giani Velcreaux - Blubbermouth

Quando Quango - Love Tempo

Manchester's Factory put out this synth pop number in 1983 by Quando Quango. Its a bubbly track that grooves on and on.

Quando Quango - Love Tempo