THE MASS EXODUS

We are moving, leaving our earthly roots at blogger to travel to the outer rings where our transmissions can reach deeper into the depths of deep space. It seems as though it were just yesterday that I was posting for the first time here, but we are on to bigger and better... blog formatting software. Follow us below at the new site. All the old posts will be there, plus new ones from Max, Erik, and myself. We will have an automatic redirect installed soon enough, but for now, follow by clicking below and adding it to your RSS feed!

http://discohorror.com/

SCANDO DISCO WILL NEVR DIE

To reiterate a bit of what Max stated in his last post- we here at Disco Horror LOOOOOOVE music by Scandinavians. Recent posts about artists like Tiedye, Studio, Lindstrom, Prins Thomas and others have likely clued you into this. So to fully establish our love for the area encompassing Denmark, Norway and Sweden (and sometimes Finland or Iceland- if they're lucky) I will provide you with another entree to fill up our veritable Smorgasbord of funky-Scando offerings.



If you know me (or have seen my name in print) you know that I have more than a little Nordic blood runnin' through these veins. I have relatives with names like Per and Thor, my Grandma frequently said things like "Uff Da!", we eat pickled herring at Christmas, I have the beard of a fisherman, I could go on. But instead of wow-ing you any further with my credentials, I will present to you this dark, bubbly double-shot of Scandinavian pop-disco tonic by Swede Jenny Wilson, as remixed by Dane Peter 'Balearic Monster' Visti.

Jenny Wilson - The Wooden Chair (Peter Visti Remix)


I was previously unfamiliar with Jenny Wilson, but some may remember her from previous releases on the Knife's Rabid Records label, or perhaps even from her backing vocals on that group's 'Silent Shout' album. Peter Visti, on the other hand, I was already pretty well-acquainted with, having picked up a couple of his excellent tunes on Eskimo records in previous years. The two make a great pair; Visti adds the perfect amount of nu-disco shimmer to Wilson's sultry, mutated pop vocals. It's all catchy as hell too, with a swaggering chorus that wouldn't sound out of place on top-40 radio if this were a better, kinder world. You can order the vinyl release at the shop on Wilson's website, among other, more European places.



Moving away from Scandinavia and on to the slightly warmer climes of the British Isles, former A Mountain of One contributor Leo Zero has also released another slick slab of edits, the Message Of Love / Just Dance 12" on Glory's. The B-side of the record contains Leo's rather lengthy take on Scandal's "Just Dance," where he squeezes every last drop of this juicy track's forbidden disco fruit into a shiny glass of edit-ade.

Scandal - Just Dance (Leo Zero Rework)


UFF DA!

THE MÆNDÆRTHÆLS FÆT. RUNÆ LINDBÆK ÆND THE IDJUT BOYS

Ayo: so I wonder about a lot of things, like the earth, and trees, and why is there war, and one of the things I wonder about a lot is: why are there so many good Scandinavian musicians? I think one easy explanation for this is "nanny-state" socialism, like the kind espoused by President of All Muslims Barack HUSSEIN O[b/s]ama. For example in Sweden, all drugs are legal, and if they find you doing heroin, they use rich people taxes to buy you a design firm specializing in avant-garde cutlery and just straight-up give you turntables and a Kaos Pad, and in Norway every single person is taxed 6000% from cradle to grave, and the state religion is Muslim Homosexuality, which is taught in every school alongside Ableton 101, funded by the stolen money of Norway's many hardworking professors of architecture, fisherpeople, and Pitchfork Media crush objects.

This explanation works quite well for Britain, too, which is like Scandinavia, but with more racism (also, Scandinavian people are easier to understand). In fact, it works so well that I am sort of tempted to become a socialist, only I am not sure how to do it (for example, do I have to become a vegetarian? Very complicated). Let me be more specific: this new record by the Meanderthals, called Desire Lines, has made me into some kind of godless/Moslem pansexual socialist, such that I am tempted to move to San Francisco (more like Gay Frangaysco), because it is made by pot-smoking foreigners from the UK and Norway: the Idjut Boys and Rune Lindbæk.

It is basically obvious that the Idjuts and Lindbæk would work together someday, being that they are both totally gay/socialist for echo effects, and love to smoke "weed" and "chill" and also they are basically three of the raddest producers/DJs/"figures" in dance music over the last 10+ years. And even though the album isn't really "disco" it is still in keeping with what these guys do: reverb, echo, delay, and tons of bongos. They love bongos. Really, this is just like a perfect album to get, as they say, faded to. I can't even imagine how much weed they all smoked while making this album, but it was probably a lot, and probably funded by the government.

Anyway my point is that I did an email interview with Rune that you can read here on Anthem's website. Rune, it turns out, is a bit of "jokester"; the Idjuts, on the other hand, "don't check their email."

And here's "Collective Fetish" from Desire Lines, plus an earlier collaboration between Rune & the Idjuts (that's Rune on vocals, by the way; he sounds like that over email, too.) I invite you to enjoy this shit now, because at the end of the summer your little sister's boyfriend will be all, "Hey, have you ever heard this band, the Meanderthals?" and you'll be like, "I wish I could shoot myself in the face, now."

Meanderthals - Collective Fetish

Hola! Me llamo 'Erik'...

My very first Disco Horror post! How exciting, amirite? Just want to say thanks to Ash and Max for welcoming me aboard the discohorror.blogspot.com company yacht, even though I already blew that Best Buy giftcard on the new Lionel Richie album (it has Akon on it!). Anyway, I figure I need to introduce myself a bit 'round these parts, but sometimes you can only express yourself through SONG. So allow me to introduce you to my new favorite jam, one that will no doubt end up as the soundtrack to epic summers around the world this year, the Tiedye mix of DJ Kaos' "Love the Night Away".

DJ Kaos - Love The Night Away (Tiedye Mix)

DFA and Rong recently issued the 12" vinyl release, which includes the original- a solid nu-disco banger in its own right, an instrumental version of the original, and this magical yachted-out Tiedye mix. You may remember Tiedye from their "Nothing Else Matters" 12 inch, or their remix of Rubies' "I Feel Electric," both released last year on Italians Do It Better. All of the mixes are good, but the Tiedye remix puts those gruff crooner vocals in their proper context- which happens to be a champagne-drenched balearic beach party. The lyrics are so ridiculous I can't help but smile on each listen and wish that I was actually listening to the tune on a sunrise-lit beach somewhere in the Spanish Riviera.

Another mega-jam of mine this past month or so comes from Beautiful Swimmers, a DC-based outfit with a slammin 12" out on the Future Times label. One side of the vinyl is designated for a theme-song of sorts, "Swimmer's Groove," which I swear samples "Wax the Van" by Lola (feel free to correct me here anyone) and can also be found on their excellent 'Lifeguardians' mix at the Future Times site. However, the side I favor the most holds a tune by the name of "Oh Yea" and features some great slo-mo new-beat drums and fx.

Beautiful Swimmers - Oh Yea

The duo have also prepared an excellent, rather psychedelic, exercise-themed music video for the track, which really drives the whole thing home if you ask me.

Finally, in order to fully introduce myself to Disco Horror readers out there, I have included a recent mix of mine that you all may very well dig. I did it solely with vinyl, and it's veers between EBM, oddball disco, slo-mo edits, and italo- here's the tracklist:

BEARDOBEAT Mix

Unfinished Business – Out of My Hands (Revenge Edit)
James Carmichael + Instant Funk – I Got My Mind Made Up (Instrumental)
Chocolette – Tell Me (That You Like It) (Party Mix)
The Popular People’s Front – My Baby Stays Out All Night
Les Edits du Golem – Eden Rock
The Tribe – Jungle Rock
Mark Shreeve – Legion (Space Mix)
Chris + Cosey – Arkade
Pankow – Girls + Boys (Betty Botox Edit)
Laid Back – White Horse
Severed Heads – Greater Dub (Hardway Bros. Edit + FX)
Tiger + Woods – Come Down
It’s A Fine Line – Woman (A Makhnovschina Reposession)

Celebration/I wanna be DFAmous

First and foremost, an introduction to a new contributor to Disco Horror, Erik (pictured with myself above), a fellow ILMer who we thought he could contribute some great tunes to the mass-media cultural phenomenon taking the country by storm that is Disco Horror! Not really, but he WILL be throwing down some mixes and sharing his latest purchases with Max and myself and he gets access to all the benefits of being a conributor to Disco Horror, like keys to the yacht, VIP-membership to all the hottest clubs, a life of general excess, and a $25 gift-certificate to Best Buy! Don't you wish you were all so lucky! So welcome! and now on to the tunes.

As I blawgged before, DFAmer and former Six Finger Satellite member, The Juan Maclean's new album is making some serious noise and I've been playing it quite a bit, but now it's time for the remixes! The One Day 12" features remixes by the Emperor Machine and Surkin. The Emperor Machine mix churns along like a train dragging you to hell, buzzing with bolts of psychedelic energy and giving you bits and pieces of the original track's vocals along the way. But MY choice of the release is the Surkin mix, which raves harder than those dudes with shirts off and gloves with lights on the ends of the fingertips. I feel like raving has been a theme of my recent posts, but this is a pretty special mix and he adds all these grainy effects, 808 cowbells, and what sounds like an Ozzy Ozbourne sample in a way that makes you want to forget your cares and dance the night away under the lazers and weirdos with elmo backpacks, or maybe a less lame scene, just listen to this and I'll stop writing.

The Juan Maclean - One Day (Surkin Remix)

Also check out Betablog's recent conversation with the man himself just about a week ago, quite a nice little interview AND for those interested he is currently touring and comes to SF on June 6th, I might be camping but if it's anything close to H&LAs performance you won't want to miss it.

Next a little bonus to go with this monster and to give you something different to bounce your head to from late last year. This Clinic 10" Tomorrow came out a while ago, but I've been playing it a lot and felt it might be worth sharing, a buzzy jammy reworking of some charmingly whiny vocals from the psychedelic folky original.

Clinic - Tomorrow (DFA Remix)

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY FROM BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND ST. ETIENNE

NOTE: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, USING HIS EMAIL ADDRES "DCMANOTICE" PERSONALLY CONTACTED US TO ASK US TO TAKE DOWN THIS POST--I THOUGHT THAT WAS PRETTY "GAY" IN THE BAD WAY--BUT HE TOOK IT DOWN ANYWAY. AND NOW I CAN'T FIND THE FINAL VERSION. SO YOU'LL HAVE TO JUST DEAL WITH READING THIS SHITTY FIRST DRAFT. THANKS A LOT "COPYRIGHT LAW."

SECOND NOTE: MY BEST FRIEND KIERAN SAVED THE POST!! HERE IS THE NOW-INFAMOUS DISCO HORROR MEMORIAL BLOGSPOT DAY POST, REPRODUCED BELOW UNEDITED--SARAH CRACKNELL DONT YOU DARE FUCK WITH US.

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Well, yesterday was my favorite holiday, Memorial Day, which is The Official Start Of The Summer, as decreed by basically everyone, and also The Day When Various Media Personalities Hector Us All About All The Dead Troops, as decreed by Various Media Personalities, who, desperate to be seen as Upstanding, Troop-Loving Types, talk about people making "The Ultimate Sacrifice For Your Country" a.k.a. "Dying In Iraq/Afghanistan Due To The Muslims" basically nonstop, especially on NPR, and really, NPR, who are you fooling, you fucking commies, I just want to listen to Car Talk.

How did you guys celebrate? If I know my reading audience well, I imagine that the Americans among you spent the day slack-jawed, hunched at your Macbooks, playing/masturbating to some kind of World of Warcraft/pornography hybrid, while our two or three British fans had tea on the barbie and saluted the Queen. I personally memorialized the Troops and the September 11ths and the George Washingtons by eating a hamburger made from red meat, helping contribute to my Classic American Impotence and Heart Disease, and listening to R. Kelly. Major League Baseball celebrated the blood sacrifice of thousands of nineteen-year-olds by holding Fred Durst Day, where every ballplayer was forced to wear a red hat, presumably symbolizing the color of Valentine's Day cards, which the troops sent to their "sweethearts."

The real question is: what America-loving music did you listen to? Given that most people who read this blog are dance music fans, and therefore closeted gays, and therefore terrorists making suicide attacks on marriage, you probably spent the day listening to "The Internationale (Osama Remix)" and Elton John. Fear not, though—as part of Disco Horror's service to this country, I'm going to provide you with two truly America-loving songs.

The first is "Born in the U.S.A. (Dub Mix)," by the all-time America-lover Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen wrote this song as a tribute to the fact that God had blessed him by not making him an immigrant, and as a celebration of our country's Greatest War (Vietnam). And I know what you're going to say! "Max, this is some kind of un-American remix! What would the founding fathers think if, for example, you remixed the constitution!" Folks: this is a "dub mix," which is the least gay/unamerican of all mixes, so please don't worry.

Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A. (Dub Mix)

The other track is the terrific capitalist anthem "I Buy American Records," by the band "St. Etienne" (what could be more American than a God-fearing band who names themselves after a religious figure??). This track is all about stimulating the American economy by buying records—a terrific message for a difficult time.

St. Etienne - I Buy American Records

do you want 2 cds?

Today we have a multi-track posting. Haven't done one in a while, so here it is 3 tracks today for your listening pleasure! The only thing they have in common is that they are all shimmering examples of neon synth disco.

First up we have a chirping thumper that makes me feel like I'm wandering down a beach late in the night, following the sound of a distant thumping rhythm when I happen upon a beach cave rave where people covered in flourescent paint are dancing under stalagmites that shimmer as the moonlight reflects off the water. In Flagranti's new album Brash & Vulgar (the title track of which you can find over at 20JFG) begins like most of their awesome erotic italo grinders of before, but then delves off into deeper and darker realms of their dance voodoo. The album features short tastey reworkings of well and lesser known samples, along with longer dreamier sequences that are more reminiscent of the groups alternate identity, Oblio. I would highly recommend the album, and you can purchase it here, but for now here's a little taste to entice the senses.

In Flagranti - I Hadn't Screwed Around Before

Moving on with the hypnotic dark synths, we have an exclusive remix from Bottin, who's release No Static on IDIB is currently receiving much play on my tables (but for some reason I like it pitched down about -6). I'm always confused by tracks that use versus in the artist description, but for now I'll envision Codebreaker and Bottin weilding Juno-6s and Moog Liberations in a battle royale in the Tron arena. And what the fuck is that whirling synth that spirals in and out of the neon blue sonic gridscape, it sounds like a computer playing a trombone or something? I don't know just listen cuz it's rad.

Codebreaker vs. Bottin - Follow Me (Bottin Remix)

Ok now your all hyped up and if you don't drink 2 gallons of water you might dehydrate yourself and ruin the party for everyone! So we'll throw a cool down track in there so that you can mellow for a few minutes before the dancing ensues again. Milky Disco 2: Let's Go Freak Out is a collection of tracks by some of the best workers within nudisco or synthdisco or nubalerica or whatever you want to call it and far surpasses the first volume in quality and quantity. This time you get 2 CDs! 2 see deez nuts!!! No really though you do. Two CDs worth of material by names like Hatchback, Johan Agebjorn, Rune Lindbaek, Soft Rocks and much more! And the best tracks aren't even by them! Hilights in my opinion are Pollyester "You Are Amen", Gatto Fritto "Hungry Ghosts", Soft Circle "Don't Just Stand There (Eric Broucek Mix)" AND you get stuff like Nite Jewel's "What Did He Say" and Ghost Notes' "Pissed And Passed Out" if you missed the 12"s. And then there's this track by Canadian CFCF, a name that I remember first seeing back in the day on discodust. A name that has now come to much deserved prominence in the blogosphere. This track is just fucking beautiful and I'm not going to describe it because the title says it all, Cue montage of all the amazing moments that you've had while reading this lengthy post.

CFCF - Raining Patterns

I ONLY WANT TO SEE U RVNG IN THE PURPLE BRAIN

Hey guys—do you think the "joke" I make about how Jimmy & I are "famous" "rich" "good-looking" "bloggers" is "over"? Have I used it "too much"? Ha ha, of course not. "Irony"!

Jimmy & I were tandem windsurfing yesterday off the coast of the island from "Lost" (it's real, and we get to go to it) when two golden-feathered doves landed on our respective shoulders and whispered in our ears: "RVNG is releasing a new mix, curated by Andre Bumrocks and Jason Evans from Hey Convict!, and it will be released simultaneously with a 7" featuring some highlights from the mix, on purple vinyl.)" And then the birds, which were actually clockwork creations made in the distant past by unknown master Persian craftsmen, turned into MP3 players, and we listened to the mix, and then went back to the shore and made out, with babes.

"Irony"! Actually we got an email from a guy named "Josh," and because we are a) big RVNG fans and b) suckers for people who make the mistake of thinking this website has any readers besides my girlfriend (hi Ari!), we decided to post a track off the 7" (it's a seven-inch because this is the seventh release in the series—also because Andre Bumrock's favorite band is Avenged Sevenfold).

The mix itself (called "Purple Brain," a reference to the great 70s rock band Deep Purple and the Steven Martin film The Man with Two Brains; that's the cover up top) consists of what sounds like three dozen nameless brain-erasing parallel-universe beardo classics; it's a little all-over-the-place, but if you've got a problem with all-over-the-place, you're reading the wrong blog. Really, the problem is that an hour is way too short to actually get a grip on the ridiculous number of things going on in this mix, and more than once tracks get cut off just when you're ready for more. Still: better to have listening to thirty seconds, and lost, than to never have listened to even thirty seconds, of a song, at all, right?

I didn't recognize any of the tracks on my first couple listens, but I was able to recognize many instruments, including:

• The guitar

• The drums

• The flute

• The bass guitar

Bottom line: if you like any of those instruments, I feel confident you'll enjoy this mix.

"Josh," who is very nice, asked that we let you know when you can pre-order the fine merchandise listen above, so, please be aware, you can pre-order both Purple Brain and the Purple Brain 7" on May 26.

The track I'm leaving you with is the B-side to the seven-inch, a happy, apolitical, message-less little ditty by the apartheid-era South African troupe the Bahumutsi Drama Group (founded by activist and playwright Maishe Maponya). I feel confident that when the Drama Group recorded this "joint," they were hoping it would someday be played in a Bushwick loft to a bunch of drunk, mostly white, out-of-work "artists"/web designers! Enjoy!

Bahumutsi Drama Group - To the Comrades (Purple Brain Edit)

a lesson in literature

I see your italo Max, and I raise you one italo. You see the difference between Max and I, is that Max is clearly much less accomplished in the academic subject we like to refer to as "reading". While his song choice illuminates the struggles of players and nuclear disarmarment blah blah blah, I chose a lovely piece of italo that deals with the classics, fine literature from a finer era of art. Like Max already mentioned yo hablo español, so I chose the French Magazine 60's "Don Quichote", which skillfully brings a post-modern twist to the famous tale of the Spanish hero who ended the Spanish civil war, abolished slavery and brought order to the realm. People are calling upon the esteemed Don, but no está aquí, the hero never answers.

Magazine 60 - Don Quichote


Here's the video too, feel free to dance along.

Vamos a la Playa, Hater

HEY!

Y'all: summer is here. Basically. I mean, it's been a little rainy, a little chilly, but it's summer where it counts—in my heart. Right? I went back to Jersey this weekend, and, guys, I packed shorts. I didn't end up wearing them, partly because it was cold, and also because I didn't end up leaving the house. Also: some of my friends went to the beach. The beach! Obviously, I wasn't invited. But I bet they had fun!

And as I was sitting in my house on Friday night, re-watching episodes of How I Met Your Mother while my parents had a party, I couldn't help but think of my friends, at the beach, and wonder what music they were listening to. Probably Lady Gaga! But if I had been there, I would have made sure they were listening to something far more appropriate--something like "Vamos a la Playa" by Righeira.

Here's the video, starring a young Jake Gyllenhaal:

Now, as I'm sure you know, one of the great things about this blog is that we're very smart, and we like to teach people. It should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn that Disco Horror is in many ways a "bilingual" blog (or, "el blog"): both Jimmy and I passed Spanish 102; Jimmy lives in San Francisco, which is a city with a Spanish name; my girlfriend's last name is sort of vaguely "Latin," insofar as it ends in a vowel, and has a "z" in it. So we're eminently qualified to translate the song, which turns out to be kind of a bummer:

We go to the beach
The bomb exploded
The radiation toasts
And blend with blue
We go to the beach
Everyone with hats
The radioactive wind
Dishevels our hair
We go to the beach
At the end the sea is clean
No more dirty fish
Or fluorescent water.

Jeez, Righeira, way to bum everyone out! Still, it's better than the Notorious B.I.G.'s song about disliking beaches, "Playa Hata"—plus, how many people actually speak Spanish. Can't be that many, right? Please enjoy!

Righeira - Vamos a la Playa

Here lies the Black Disco

So it's been about a year since I moved out of LA and one of the things I miss most about living down there was the Blackdisco parties thrown by Nitedog and Lovefingers. Seriously well-orchestrated fun that lit up the Mountain Bar in Chinatown or random warehouses in downtown where DJs like Prins Thomas played deep into the night, not to mention having the raddest flyers west of anywhere. While Lovefingers has relocated to NY, Nitedog still holds down the scene in LA and you can follow Blackdisco at their site here.

The reason I mention them is that they have a new release, volume 3 on their label. The first sports two great edits "Mars" and "Mexico", the latter a supreme edit of Sammy Barbot's "New Mexico". The second is a series of edits by Lee Douglas. This one doesn't feature Lovefingers, but adds Julien Love to the cast (who supposedly has a release on Internasjonal due out soon - see more about him here). Both Love and Douglas' edits are nice but Nitedog takes the prize here with his collaboration with Ryan Edwards, an edit that comes at you from every possible musical direction you could imagine. Is it soulful disco, is it chicago house, is it fuzzy beardo rock? You decide, enjoy.

Bionic Boogie - Chains (Nitedog Anonstop Edit)

STUDIO/WINDSURFsolve the economic crisis!

My titles more and more are sounding tabloidesque... Well it's not entirely true, but if five years ago people had been listening to more Studio and Windsurf, I think this whole problem might have been solved. All the greedy dickwads with their heads so far up each others asses trying to make a higher percentage or commission off a deal might have been dreaming about escaping it all to a beach where they could forget their cares and listen to the waves lapping against the shore. I guess I'm making Studio sound like the Greatful Dead of the new millenia, but seriously this music takes my cares away without fail so that's why I'm sharing it with you all today.

The new release by Windsurf "Bird Of Paradise" on Prins Thomas' Internasjonal is another chapter in the book of Studio are production gods and masters of the balearic universe. It seems the perfect marriage of artists as well, because Windsurf (the collaboration of San Francisco's own Hatchback and Sorcerer) are also princes of the beach-inspired kingdom of electronic music. Their original is a dreamy little piece with vocals that suit a sunrise by the shoreside. Studio take the song and spin it into over 13 minutes blissful minutes of magic. The Beat Broker also features a dub of Windsurf's "Light As Day" which is also worth mentioning. Corny as it may sound, this music has made my week, I hope it makes yours.

Windsurf - Bird Of Paradise (Version By Studio)


Also big live news!

Robots In Heat and I will be DJing another night at Laszlo in the Mission and guess what, it's on the WEEKEND! Saturday May 23rd, (that's Memorial Day weekend). So you have no excuse not to come out. We will be playing our usual mix of beardo disco with whatever else we fancy at the moment! It will be great fun if any of you can make it, join the Facebook group/event, or we started a Going event just to see how that might work out. Tell your friends and we hope to see you there!

SHAOLIN

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes.

Like many people newly arrived in New York, I have questions about Staten Island. Questions like, "Why?" And, "How?" And, "Really?" Sometimes, I think we should all call it, preferably in some kind of "spooky" voice, "The Mysterious Island." Or maybe some kind of "fantasy" "middle-earth" name like "Gathaladriel." Really, I don't know anything about Staten Island, except that (apparently) the only way to get there is via ferry, which is a kind of boat. I didn't even know we had boats anymore! But we do—and we take them to get to Staten Island.

So: the reason I bring this up is that last weekend Jimmy and I got an email from a band called Paragraph, a band from, of all places, Staten Island. And as shocked as I was that there were "musicians" from "Staten Island," I was probably even more shocked that they have email. Technology! And in this Staten Island email, this band, Paragraph, was an MP3.

Now—as famous, wealthy bloggers, we get a lot of emails, many from doctors offering us experimental sex procedures or jewelers who, recognizing our wealth, offer us Rolex watches. Also, publicists, and, sometimes, Nigerians, many of whom have lost their family fortunes. And because we are often having "sex" with "models," we're not always able to check our jewel-encrusted jPhones (next-gen iPhones) to see what emails we get. But when bands send us MP3s, and those MP3s end up being pretty good, well, we don't do much but post 'em.

So here it is: an MP3 from noted Staten Island band Paragraph. I've only heard four songs from these guys, I think, and this one is the best—less like a short-pocketed Gang of Four tribute band, the way their MySpace YouTube videos sound (not bad but, uh, it's not 2003 anymore, let alone 1983) and more like a tightly-wound R&B group with a very, very serious talent for grooves (the track is basically begging to be edited/remixed for the floor). The only hesitation is this weird little autotune bit at the end, which sounds kind of out of place, if not from an entirely different planet (it sort of reminds me of rap-rock favorites Crazytown); everything else I fully endorse (Jimmy hates the autotune part, deeply, with what I can sense is every fiber of his body). The song on their MySpace isn't quite as good as this, but its own WTF element (a sweet summery guest rap from a young lady named "Star's Da Limit") sounds way more natural (and good). And you know—I kind of can't be down on a band that's putting weird little bits of other planets in their songs. Especially because, you know, what else are you going to do on Staten Island?

Paragraph - VS.

Jisco disco, dub your friday

In my opinion, Jiscomusic is the best label putting out disco edits right now, and by best I mean consistently fucking amazing. There are plenty of one-off edit labels that may come out strong with a first release and then ride on it's success to impart upon us several releases of a lower caliber that really should never have touched vinyl to begin with. But if it wasn't telling that the third release of the label (I still have yet to track down the first two) introduced us all to Mark E (the new king of dubby disco, who has carved himself a serious corner in the 100-115bpm dance community), the label has consistently been releasing dance floor monsters since, introducing us to such names as The Revenge and 6th Borough Project.

Well now there's a new member to the family and his name is Eddie C. So far the artists on Jisco have all been from the UK, but Eddie C hails from Canada! Woot North America! Anyways, he has supplied three top quality edits to Jisco for it's 9th release, You're Welcome, and I decided to be nice enough to share the BEST ONE with you all instead of being selfish and keeping it for myself and for my mixes. This track sneaks up on you with a hypnotic loopy hum and a lovely guitar riff that lulls you into an unconscious head bob that has you thinkin' "you know house music is pretty rad", and then BOOM that fucking breakdown! DANCE TO THE DISCO BEAT! C'MON! DANCE TO THE DISCO BEAT! And that's when you realize you're having a legitimate freakout at your desk and your coworkers are starting to stare. Be careful with this one as it may set your mind free.

Eddie C - Let Your Mind Be Free

Why stop there? 6th Borough Project's second release on Instruments of Rapture, the aptly named Part Two contains the track I first heard when The Revenge guested on BIS a month or so ago (listen to that mix here). This track is for the beginning of the night when the DJ opening for you hasn't really got the place moving, so you jump on the tables and throw this one on. Before you know it people start to find their way to the dance floor, there's just something about those deep vocals that make you want to get down, and plus this has a record stop built into it! So you can look like a real DJ without even trying! No seriously, the record stop is that little nudge that catches your attention. Use this one wisely.

6th Borough Project - Do It To The Max

Last minute reminder too, Harvey is tonight at Project One, party starts at 10 and I couldn't be more excited so come on out and dance your cares away!

Dance disorder!!!

Besides listening to the new L&PT album on consistent repeat, I've been turning to a name that has been consistently on the rise for the past half year or so, Croatian Ilija Rudman. His music is what you might find if you looked up nudisco in a dictionary. It lacks the endearingly organic imperfections of disco from the 70s, but retains a supremely thick funkiness in the bass and guitar while applying a smooth layer of electric sheen cut with lasers. A lot of people have been buzzing about bouncey "In Motion" which you can still score over at 20JFG, but I picked up this release and have been quite content with how it moves me, plus it features a nice Faze Action remix. He's releasing more and more with each passing day so keep an eye out for him to make it big in the near future.

Ilija Rudman - Dance Disorder (Faze Action Remix)

beard logic/you can call me starlight

Harvey is coming on Friday! 

-> Harvey is in Map Of Africa (very rad) 

-> Thomas Bullock is in MOA (very rad)

-> Thomas Bullock is in Rub N Tug (also very rad) 

-> Eric Duncan is in Rub N Tug 

-> C.O.M.B.I. is supposedly a label of edits released by Eric?

What better than to follow a Harvey post with an edit by the mysterious label from Japan who most forums believe Eric Duncan is behind?  I mean you can follow beard logic.  This is edit H from the fourth installment in the series and this track is not for the lighthearted.  This track is for late in the night when rolling tom fills and strung out dirty Sanatanaesque guitar solos echo through the smokey red light of the warehouse, or maybe for a cloudy afternoon on the bayou after you've consumed a lot of cough syrup.  Epic discopsychedelia, enjoy.

C.O.M.B.I. - Still Water

Also these guys have been rocking my world the last few days and I have been sharing them as much as I can.  This video is dope, but the video for "The Top" is realllllly good too.  You can DL all their music for FREE here.

A Modern Promise from Francis and the Lights on Vimeo.

it's the SECOND COMING!!!

Well not really, Harvey's just coming to town, but it might as well be cuz he's practically playing in my back yard at Project One in the Mission/SOMA/Portrero area this Friday, and......... it goes til 4 so you can dance properly deep into the morning. Not so deep as at the Sarcastic parties, but this will most certainly suffice to make your weekend more awesome than it would have been sans Harvey. And even though it's outrageously famous among disco nerds and has been re-released on 160 gram vinyl (along with a lot of the Black Cock records), here is his epic edit that samples Jimmy "Bo" Horne's "Is It In" to prepare you for this disco adventure. Be there.

Mystic Slot - Disco Adventure

Twnkl twnkl lttl nrds

A quick post from the road in NZ. I have been listening to this release for a little while and I feel guilty for not posting it a little earlier because the rad dudes over at RVNG were kind enough to send me a copy. As you are hopefully already aware, RVNG Intl. has been releasing gold edits consistently for the last couple years and have featured a stunning lineup, including Lovefingers, Wade Nichols (Todd Terje), Mock & Toof, Jacques Renault, Betty Botox and Greg Wilson in addition to releasing regular mixes by Tim Sweeney and JD Twitch. Not to turn this into a name dropping post, but hopefully you get the point. I also regularly check the playlists they post monthly on their site.

Their releases to date have been consistently incredible and the latest, volume 8, features New York's nu-italo erotic masters In Flagranti, who also have a new album due out Brash & Vulgar. Unfortunately, there's no nudey cover for this release but it features two serious rock reworkings of Kiss' "I Was Made For Lovin You" and Slade's "Run Runaway"! Today I have chosen the charming disco lullaby titled "Stahl Rig", which as discogs informs us, is combined with the artist name on the release Petite Storm to clue us in on the original. I have yet to work it out, but maybe you can help? Here is the track, let it lull you sleep as the night drifts into the wee hours of the morning. The release is sold out on their site, but it is still available at Juno and a few other sites so go get it if you like!

Petite Storm - Stahl Rig

FYI NERDS: WE HAVE A TWEET

Wellllll—I wrote a poem.

A Poem About Twitter

What if: the internet
was communication
and communication
was the internet?

What if: our thoughts
could talk?

In the future, someday our
children will live
without poverty
without prejudice
without pain
with networking
with messaging.

What is the bible?

Isn't it just a blog?

What is Jesus?

Isn't it just Facebook? (Love your neighbor)

What is the second coming?

Isn't it just 140 characters of judgement?

I lie awake and think of my grandfather:
How did he communicate?

I think of my grandmother:
How did she let people know
what she had for lunch?

The paradox of Twitter:
how can this technology
make us more like humans
and less like robots?

###

U can follow us here at http://twitter.com/discohorror.

MORE LIKE, LINDSTRØM & PRINS ANASTASIO, AM I RIGHT

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes

Well, we are basically just, like, best friends with Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas, and when we’re not going out on double dates and playing Settlers of Catan together sometimes they’ll just, like, send us some music that they’re working on, because that’s the kind of relationship we have. Well—I mean—their publicist sends us the music. And, I guess, it’s not really, like, a lot of music. Just one edit. But: it’s a good edit! Straight from their new record, II, we’ve got the “Groove Edit” of “Rothaus,” which is track 2 on the album and a highlight for me.

The thing about II that you need to be warned about, going in, is that it’s, um, a jam record. Not Phish, haters, but, you know, second cousins. And—and this is hard for me to say—I’m OK with that. Really. On first listen, this edit doesn't do much: tightens the track a little bit, makes it easier to take in—and probably easier to dance to, in a sort of obtuse way—but it's hard to take something this "jammy" and straighten it out. So what you get is a lot of cautiously sloppy live instrumentation and synth noodling, which is what we in the biz call "rad." Perfect to listen to while cooking, jogging, throwing a coke-fueled week-long orgy, going to space (literally), going to space (figuratively), cleaning your house, etc.

And, you know, there was a time in my life when "jammy" shit like this would have received a derisive sneer and possibly an exaggerated roll of the eyes. I am no longer that small-minded person. In my old age, I think I can say—I think we all should say: I welcome the jam. And: guys: "Rothaus" is the jam. Enjoy.

Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas - Rothaus (Groove Edit)

NOTE: Founding partner Ash Williams is on a trip to THE FOURTH DIMENSION for the next couple weeks—he's going to try and post some from the road, but till then it's all me. Expect some Steely Dan, Pat Metheny, MP3s of me making fart noises, etc.

I INTERVIEWED NITE JEWEL, OR, 'FREESTYLE FRIDAY'

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes

As I like to remind people who I know or meet on busses, my alma mater—Occidental College—was at one point home to literally thousands of important celebrities, including Barack Obama, Ben Affleck, Luke Wilson, The Guy From The Scissor Sisters, Jack Kemp, Terry Gilliam, and Jimmy’s Cousin. None of them seem to have actually graduated from Oxy, except for Jimmy’s cousin, but, you know, who cares. Here’s a question—how many current Presidents of the United States went to “Yale”? None. How many went to Oxy? All of them.

Anyway I’m just BRAGGIN to bring up Los Angeles recording artist NITE JEWEL, aka Ramona Gonzalez, Oxy class of ’09. I had a chance to talk with Ramona a couple weeks ago when she was in New York—she’s really nice and working on a thesis about HEIDEGGER, who is a famous “philosopher”—and wrote it up for Anthem (it's not up yet, but I'll link when it's live).

I think Jimmy & I discovered Nite Jewel via our ongoing Italians Do It Better standom (Ramona's put out a couple 12”s there after getting in touch with Johnny Jewel on MySpace), and she’s definitely got that IDIB bedroom disco feel—late-night music, a little woozy, a little dark. But even more than disco what I hear in her music is Freestyle, or "Latin Hip Hop," the disco-electro-rap-whatever that was all over urban radio for a few years in the mid-80s. Obviously not exactly (she's not, like, a Lisa Lisa)—but maybe her music bears the same relationship to Freestyle that Johnny Jewel’s does to Italo—a dusty shadow of a once-popular sound, now consigned to budget bins and collectors’ crates and hard drives and sad little blogs. It’s a terrific, evocative sound, and Ramona does an incredible job of maintaining that sort of bittersweet nostalgia across the entire album.

I was going to say that today (in New York, where it's raining), is the perfect kind of day to listen to Nite Jewel, but I'm not sure that's quite right—there's something specifically and intensely sort of Angeleno about her music, something I'm not sure I can put my finger on, but something that means despite its dusty memory-geared wistfulness, it's not a rainy-day album: I would argue, instead, that it's a smoggy-day album, music for carbon monoxide haze.

In any event, I’m not a freestyle expert by any means (for that you should check out this great blog, which is where I probably got the tracks I’m posting!), but I am going to declare today “Freestyle Friday” on Disco Horror, and leave you with a couple jams to help you greet the weekend. I don’t know enough about the acts or the music to properly introduce them to you—and yet somehow I think they’ll speak for themselves.

Janice - Bye-Bye (Extended Mix)

Elan & the Power Machine - Here's Your Hat (Power Mix)

PiaNO? PiaYES!!!

Soft Rocks has been tearing up recently. Actually, the Brighton-based group have been releasing funky music for a few years now. I have several of their records and while some are off the wall to the point that you probably wouldn't play them unless you were DJing and odd art gallery, others are incredibly inventive dancefloor-friendly monsters. I put "Slow Down" on my last mix from Umut 2000 because it was an amazing storm of acoustic guitars that made you feel like you were caught in the center of a virtuoso flamenco guitarist pissing competition. Other tracks are much more mellow, see the hypnotic african gospel of "Black Magic" and "Is This The Best Step For Father Africa" from Disco Power Play III, actually just see that whole release because it's rad. OR just check out some of their remixes of late for MGMT's "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters" or their remix collaboration with Kathy Diamond for Low Motion Disco's "Love Love Love", that for me was overshadowed unjustly by the Aeroplane remix that came out at the same time.

Their tracks are really all over the place so maybe it's no surprise that their new release heads in an entirely different direction. I can't really place where this lies genrewise but who cares, I think it's a beautiful track and the piano has been run through so many chorus, reverb, flanger and delay effects that it's ghostly repetition propels the whirring of percussion guitars and synthesizers that surround it to create the best nighttime, top-down, driving-in-your-convertible-on-an-LA-summer-night-contemplating-life-and-love music I've heard in a while. Enjoy this masterpiece and check out the rest of the release, it's called Essra.

Soft Rocks - Essra (Instrumental)

GENE CLARK / SÉBASTIEN TELLIER

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes

I listened to the Byrds a lot growing up ‘cause my dad was a huge fan. Like the Beatles or U2 or whatever I think I internalized a lot of it without ever really processing it; the music of the Byrds such a normal part of my life growing up that I sort of didn’t even realize I had heard all of their albums (another thing like this, that I still fuck with to this day: the soundtrack to Until the End of the World, the Wim Wenders flick).

Anyway, my dad was always a Gram Parsons partisan (Gram was a member in a later permutation of the group, and died of an OD at age 26, with all the accompanying mythmaking)—so in addition to The Notorious Byrd Brothers there was a lot of Burrito Brothers and Grievous Angel and that kind of stuff. And, shit, I still love Gram and “$1000 Wedding.” But discovering Gene (who left the Byrds before Gram even joined) a couple years ago made me do a complete 180. I’ll never give up GP, but Gene is, like… next-level.

I spoke with Sébastien Tellier on the phone last week (read it here), and we talked for a minute about Clark, who he loves (in fact, Tellier’s all over that 70s Cali-country-psych-rock ‘scene,’ as it were, name-checking Dennis Wilson and the Mamas and Papas). It’s sort of weird that this white-suited bushy-bearded French lothario loves a Missouri-born wannabe cowboy, but I have some theories, ranging from the cynical (cokehead perfectionism) to the charitable (a shared love of excess).

Sébastien, whose music/persona/image I love, is of the opinion that Gene is more or less at the apex of some sort of grand pyramid of music—like, about as advanced as you can get—and while on the one hand I think that’s sort of bullshit, on the other hand I think it’s totally true. I’m going to see Tellier tonight and wanted to drop some Gene up in this bitch to help psych myself up.

Gene Clark - Silver Raven (Alternate Take)

Dillard & Clark - Polly

Aerobic endorphins

So for those of you who don't know I'm taking three weeks off work to travel New Zealand with my girlfriend and basically unplug from my web-based city life to get back to nature, smoke a lot of weed, and all sorts of other hippie shit.  Before I go though, I'll try to up a few posts and share with you some of the choice records that I have been purchasing over the past few weeks.

First up is a track by Erobique which is probably French for aerobic because it looks like a French person wrote it aerobic as they said it in their nasal French voice, which to be honest I wish I had (or at least the ability to speak French).  But ACTUALLY Erobique is from Germany and he makes some wonderfully poppy electro tracks that have a wonderful minimal structure that you would expect from the German scene, but sparkle with disco bits and pretty little synths. Tom Croose dropped this last Tuesday and so I figured I might as well post it for everyone to enjoy!  The track is "Endorphinmachine" from this release and contains a lovely disco sample that he fleshes out into loopy madness while chopping it up with some serious breaks and stops along the way.  I will be following more and more of this guys' stuff in the days to come, but also check out his "Yournopussymyspaceedit" on his myspace.

Erobique - Endorphinmachine

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Cross-posted at Mind Grapes

Hey y’all—apologies for not posting for a month! Been busy—but OMG have I got some shit for you.

I livetweeted the first five joints on Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas’s new album, imaginatively titled II, but I didn’t get a chance to give my 140-character reviews of the rest of the tracks—luckily my reaction to those tracks, and the album as a whole, can basically be summed up with this picture:

Yes, it’s that good. I’ve only had it for about 48 hours now but I’ve listened to it a dozen times and I’m sort of floored. I don’t expect everyone to love it like me (though I do expect people to love it)—it’s just that, it’s like they made it for me: everything I’ve ever liked about the two Scandos packaged together in a beautiful little box.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to write about it later. But what is killin me—and I mean, really, killin me, like, I am dead from this fuckin song, is the first track, “Cisco,” and if I can be more specific, the synths that roll in at around 3:00. The whole thing is a really beautiful example of the power of layering, and it spends a lot of time building itself up—bass line, congas, guitar here, guitar there—but that synth drop (so quiet! So sinister! Like gathering clouds! Landing spaceships!) is like +1000XP—level up.

Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas - Cisco