I'm happy to announce Stereo Delay's inauguration of guest writer Jay Ziegler. Ziegler, one of the founding writers for Consequence of Sound, is the ripping soloist in Top Shelf Lickers and also fellow mellow axe wielder in Wooden Wing. Here's his take on the elusive electric music that soundtracked the motion of hips at the height of the pill popping era. I think because it ushered in the birth of my favorite console music, Italo Disco will always have an unfair advantage when fighting for king of the mountain in my ears. Take her away Mr. Ziegler:
T.Ark - Under Cover Lover (Germany)
Throughout the cosmos of time, music has always possessed the amazing ability to crossbreed and assimilate multiple genres, in essence creating newer ones. One genre that came out as a sense of discovery during my final year of college at Florida State was the long lost form known as Italo Disco. Found by sheer accident one day during a routine trip to and from the campus, Italo Disco struck a raw nerve deep within me. Split between my classical training, my love for rock music and keeping up with the college Joneses in regards to the newer breeds of music, Italo Disco had that rare combination of approachable dance rhythms, pulsating electronic basslines and an over-the-top 80s sense of not taking itself too seriously. More and more I listened, this specific genre held more than meets the ears.
After finding about ten Italo Disco "Best Of" compilations on numerous websites, it was definitely apparent by this point that there was a whole world stuck in the underground. Even the term itself, "Italo Disco" referred to the European landscape as well as alluding to the off-putting nature of the music. Throughout the 70's and up until the early 80's, most popular dance music came from the U.S., UK and Australia. Bear with me as I'm paraphrasing. The term Italo Disco, while it started as an Italian phrase, came to encompass all dance music and early house/disco music that was purely not from the UK or the US (which later proved to have some exceptions from these nations respectfully). In the midst of all this craze, you have changing time periods from the 70's to the 80's. As a result, nations such as Poland, Italy, Germany, Russia, Canada, France and even the Scandinavian countries came together and created their own musical subterranean metropolis.
The elements of Italo Disco are purely 80's, purely tongue-in-cheek, and purely science fiction. Put it to you this way, Rick Deckard in "Blade Runner" could pop this in his car while looking for "replicants" and you'd think nothing of it. So sleek and natural, yet highly refined. What makes the elements of this particular brand of dance music lie in the arrangements. While most disco employed a good amount of horn sections (Santa Esmerelda, The Trammps) as well as string sections via synthesizer (Donna Summer, The Bee Gees), Italo Disco contained a much more minimalist approach. Artists such as Chris Luis, who's 1983 single "The Heart Of The City" employed a thick drum & bass straight beat with heavy saw synthesizers. No guitars, a minimal bassline and dueling synth and keys set the stage for Luis' soulful and controlled vocals. What makes this song tick is not just in Luis' limited vocal range, but the synthesizers give the song much more dynamic and allude to imagery of a lonely single man looking for love in the heart of a gigantic city (think from Chicago to Cairo).
Chris Luis - The Heart Of The City (Italy)
Another example of Italo Disco's enigmatic mastery of genre mashups is "Man To Man" by Italy based band Scotch. Implying multiple poly-rhythmic electronic percussion, Scotch also use the futuristic synthesized wave sounds to create an upbeat and almost impossible beat to escape from. The robotic quality of the drumming as well as the vocoders used by the singers add more drips of eastern Europe's influence over the genre. By taking the spacy elements found in rock, dabbling much more rhythmic inflection and adding dashes of quality synthesizer, Scotch also have a great knack for creating intense loops of bass driven riffs. In "Man To Man", the bass takes over and has it's own quarrel war with the keys while the drumming picks up and chugs away like a Sherman tank. I don't want to give the whole thing away, but needless to say, it's a treat you'll loop for the next twenty minutes.
Scotch - Man To Man (Italy)
There are literally hundreds of these similar artists that make the whole treasure hunting experience so worthwhile. Some recommended artists to check out include:
Ken Laszlo - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 (Italy)
Linda Jo Rizzo - Heartflash (Tonight) (Germany)
Chester - Hold The Line (Italy)
Dust Man - King Of The Ghetto (Italy)
Cleo - Go Go Dynamo (Italy)
Fake - Frogs In Spain (Sweden)
Laserdance - Humanoid Devotion (Netherlands)
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