Under The Influence

Hey, it's Chromeo but cooler! Far cooler. To be fair I've only ever listened to Needy Girl but somehow this feels slicker. I guess the Chromeo comparison really comes from the over the top use of vocoderesk sounds. No, actually, the synth sounds are pretty similar too. This is much lighter and much funkier. It's pure dance goodness.

Where to start? It seems that every track is a disco-pop masterpiece. There are downbeat numbers but it's the dancer tracks that tickle my fancy. Arcade Love and Sturdy are the ones that are really doing it for me presently.

Oh yes, and it's called IV because every single song is exactly 4 minutes long. Go figure.

In my mind these guys are another Nextmen or Unabombers; a DJing duo that put great lesser known tunes that make you want to dance before everything else. I accidently caught them at The Big Chill in 2005 and really loved what I heard. I think they Manchester based too.

They definitely swing more towards the soul / funky / disco side of the dance floor. The mixing is really simple - in fact, it's not really mixing at all, blending would be a better term. It's primarily a showcase of good tunes.

I've only heard a couple (consistently showing my ignorance, eh?) of the songs on here before (Word Up and Low Rider), though not these versions. Of course they're all killer. The music itself sounds like good old funk/soul stuff - but it can't possibly be. I need to do a bit of digging but I think some of these songs must be from the last couple of years (Lindstrom & Prins Thomas' Ballerina for example).

Yes yes, I have some friends that are about to find out they've been missing this all their lives.

We were having a dinner party the other night and I had a mix on that I've been wanting one of my very well educated electro mates to hear for years. This track came on and those of us who had heard the mix before all agreed that it's one of the great moments of the mix. Said well educated Person identified it instantly as Hale Bopp (something of an old track as it turns out).

There are a number of phases that build and build during the track. It's the moment right at 1:43 where everything pulls together and it really kicks off. It's interesting how subtle the changes are throughout but somehow they give the whole thing a great momentum. Thanks to Gabriel and Dresden for throwing this on to their essential mix a few years back (and top work to the man that identified it). The rest of their album is downloading right at this moment.

You get a wonderful cover of George McCrae's I Get Lifted. Jesus, that's enough really, isn't it? Well, it's even better than that. Sweet funk licks, great breaks and real horns. Real horns!

Do Your Thing must be a hidden tribute to 90% Of Me Is You (Gwen McCrae). Oh my, look at that - Gwen and George McCrae used to be married. Who'd have thought (I'm not being sarcastic, this connection only just occurred to me).

Anyways, I know some folks that are going to be very very excited when I show this to them.

No, Harris isn't some deluded 23 year-old who really thinks he created disco, but he has done a damn fine job of redressing it in slinky electro.

It's like Riton, but disco! Instant pop appeal. Merrymaking At My Place is such a loveable bit of drug taking music.

Acceptable In The 80's is the breakthrough track on here - apparently it did some time on the charts recently. Killer groove. Stuff like this makes me want to get off my ass and do some DJing again.

I get the feeling there's not much to explore here, oh well - just soak up the sexy fun dance vibe in the meantime.

I found this one when searching for Cut Copy - that much I do know about it. Just happens there's a Cut Copy remix dangling off the end of the cd, hence the discovery. I guess it's progressive house - sounds like silky electro disco pop to me. Too dark to be called pop really. I keep thinking the chorus of the title track is going to break into NIN (The Perfect Drug).

It's very cool. Got a modern 80s edge to it. Kind of like LCD Soundsystem in a way - but far less rocky, and much slicker. The remix of Girl and the Sea is probably the most upbeat track on here. Electro Disco. Love it.

There are 5 tracks on here and they're all winners. I'll definitely be looking to buy more of this.

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.

I downloaded this album (from EM) because of a segment on 2manydjs pt 2 featuring the vocals from their track Keine Melodien over something (Felix The Housecat's Silverscreen I think). Imagine my surprise when I found it jam packed full of acoustic guitars. It's a funny little beast, gradually becoming more and more electronic as the album goes on. By the time you hit Latialla Taas it has turned into a bit of a dance album.

It never reaches the high that I was expecting after their appearance on 2manydjs - of course - but once I got over that I found it to be an enjoyable work. At its peak (around Latialla Taas) it's fun, playful, danceable and worthy of further listens.