Under The Influence

Frontwoman Santi White has taken on the face of Santigold for Master of My Make-Believe, as depicted in the album's artwork, which finds her portraying all four characters (even the mustached man that sits front and center). John Hill continues to co-write, but with White gaining pop star status, he takes the back seat, as they enlist the help of A-list producers Diplo, Switch, Boyz Noise, Buraka Som Sistema, TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek, Ricky Blaze, and Q-Tip. Multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin (Beck, Flaming Lips) and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs also make a huge impact on the sound of the record, with Karen O contributing vocals on the leadoff "Go!" and Nick Zinner scattering delicious guitar texture across the tracks.

When not dabbling in reggae (like on the Beastie Boys album cameo "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win"), White -- whose favourite band is appropriately the Smiths -- continues to be masterful at appropriating sparkling '80s arrangements, as seen in "The Keepers," (featured here), a slick song that swipes a melody line from "Little Red Corvette" and incorporates a theme once explored by Talking Heads ("While we sleep, our house is burning down").

While that's no guarantee that the sophomore outing will be as huge a hit as Santigold's breakout, at least it's proof positive that Santi White is settling in for a long ride.

Even though Moroder (who, like Kraftwerk's members, is German) didn't invent electronic dance music single-handedly, he was among the first people to recognize its possibilities. In 1979, Moroder showed us some of those possibilities on E=MC2, a programmed, entirely electronic recording he produced with Harold Faltermeyer. As the album cover states with pride "First Electronic Live-to-Digital Album".

"In My Wildest Dreams," "I Wanna Rock You," (featured here) and "What a Night" are average disco tunes -- it's the computerized digital production that made them so fresh-sounding and risk-taking for their time.

To fully appreciate how forward-thinking this album was, you have to remember that in 1979 R&B and dance-pop hadn't gone completely high-tech and were still relying on a lot of studio musicians. This is the electronic dance music that preceded the rise of techno, house, and industrial noise, and it came at a time when hip-hop was in its infancy and the rave subculture had yet to be invented.

Nice 'tache Giorgio...

Looking for an album devoted to Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines ?? You've come to the right place.

With a lineup of guests including Florence & the Machine's Florence Welch, Tori Amos, Steve Earle and Santigold, the 22-track tribute features a diverse mix of thoughtful ballads and disco-influenced dance numbers.

“Here Lies Love” begins with an opening disco number with Imelda at a disco in the late 1970s, where she spent time with all the “beautiful people—Christina Ford, George Hamilton and Henry Kissinger. “Here Lies Love” is what she was quoted as wanting inscribed on her tombstone.

The disco opera ends with Imelda and her maid contemplating the sacrifices they have made. As the Marcoses are airlifted out of the country during the People Power Revolution, Imelda says she doesn’t understand why the people don’t love her anymore, and she looks forward to her vindication and a triumphant return.

Cyndi Lauper's giddy vocals on "Eleven Days" and Róisín Murphy's horn-driven "Dont' You Agree?" offer the most lasting thrills on the album.

And winning duets include Candie Payne and St. Vincent on the breezy "Every Drop of Rain" and Byrne's emotional collaboration with My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden on "Seven Years."

At times, "Here Lies Love" wobbles as a concept album, and listeners unfamiliar with Marcos' story may not initially understand the lyrical conceits. But it contains enough solid material to justify repeated listens.

Regular visitors to this site will understand how much we LOVE Goldfrapp. This latest album does nothing to change that opinion.

Alison & Will take us back to the 80s with a heady blend of hi-NRG basslines, fat synth sounds and feathery vocals. It's easy to see the influences here: Giorgio Moroder, ABBA, ELO, even the Van Halen synths are all present and correct.

The featured cut, 'Believer', sounds instantly familiar, but not tired or obvious.

If the album seems somewhat slight, it’s purposefully so: Head First is a love letter to the frothy, fleeting, but very vital joys of pop music.

The UK's new kings of production. Everyone wants these guys to go to work remixing their tracks - and with good reason. They know how to sculpt a poptastic dance hit. Not like the cheesy hits we normally get bombarded with at this time of year.

Super high energy dance goodness. I believe the album was created on analogue synths, hence the Attack Decay Sustain Release.

I feel in love with these guys back when they were an indie rock band and I'm falling in love with them all over again. Just as well, no doubt we're going to be hearing this a lot over the next few months.

Alex Schmidt is a dj... I think. I can't really figure out anything much about this guy. It's a random dance set I picked up from somewhere and it's bloody good. I'm very busy at work at the moment (computer geek by day) so I've made good use of this mix. I find that dj mixes (the more housey/electro ones) are great when I'm try to get things done in a hurry.

Mostly you get lots of deep dirty bass built on house/electro foundations. There's a song on here (track 9) that I know I know (it's a classic) but I have no idea what it is. Bugging the hell out of me.

Since I couldn't find anything out about this stuff online... hence the muntovision picture.

One of the albums I picked up in my hunt for random eastern block music a couple of months back. I think it's actually a guy who lives in Amsterdam now but the influence still shines through.

It's an interesting blend of sounds. Half of it is modern disco - lots and lots of those beow beow things they like to do so much. Fun, light housey beats (which makes sense given that House was basically squeezed out of disco in the first place). Flips it over and the other half is dub.

Many of the songs sway over towards the eastern side - hectic pumping accordion based numbers. Drunk n Space is a good example - though it drops away into a dub vibe halfway through which is pretty cool. The following song, Orbital Hora, is a dub track for that matter (though with more western eurpoean sounding accordion work).

Lots of different influences coming into play. I suspect the man may be well travelled.

Wow. I like this. Already I'm pretty sure I'm going to be playing this at every party this summer. The original version is definitely the pick of the disc. I was actually looking for other covers of Wired For Sound after hearing the B(if)tek version the other day. This isn't a cover of the song I was thinking of at all (at least I don't think it is) but a great track nonetheless.

Mmmm... dirty electro beats.

[Just grabbed a couple more tracks off their album (via Juno) and they're really good too. Why isn't this album on EM?]

Another one of those bands that I could see coming when !!! dropped back in the day. I've always thought of the sound as being a push towards an updated version of The Clash. These guys do a pretty good job of it. Cool danceable grooves. The Van She Tech remix of Ice Cream is probably my favourite in terms of DJ material.