disco

Rated O

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:24:00 +0000

Brooklyn’s noise rockers Oneida revel in not being able to be pinned down to a definition. They also are enormously motivated, as their newest offering, the triple album Rated O, can attest. While they have been classified as psych rock or krautrock, the influences on Rated O are wide ranging. The record gets started with a clear nod to Nigerian Disco Funk with “Brownout in Lagos,” and goes on to resemble the soundtrack to the soundtrack for a videogame from a dystopian future on “10:30 at the Oasis.”

The record captures Oneida’s hypnotic noisiness with plenty of loops, guitar hum, and feedback melodies. It also features bursts of vocals, though the function more as a layer of noise and atmosphere than singing, especially on “What’s Up Jackal” and “The Human Factor.” The band also reminds listeners they still know how to write a rock song on “I Will Haunt You.” Tracks on the album are long. About a third of them clock in at over ten minutes, and the epic feeling “Folk Wisdom” over 20, but it adds to the hypnotic nature, with one song displaying enough moods for an entire album, yet also carefully building on established melodies and themes.

Oneida certainly are not for the casual listener and Rated O’s triple album length requires commitment. However, the rewards for sticking around are great. Many bands set out to make multi-layered, atmospheric albums that show off their chops, but few succeed as well as Oneida.

Written by: Eleanor Whitney, October 14th 2009

Fabric 39

admin — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:47:00 +0000

By Robert Hood

Fabric Records

Robert “Noise” Hood is one of the original members of the Detroit collective Underground Resistance (UR) and a solo DJ with an incredible discography. His work is informed by militant politics of music as a tool for social chance, and coming out of Reagan-era inner city Detroit, his radical views are personally informed. Solo after leaving UR in 1992, Hood still focuses on minimalist techno and has since also started his own label, M-Print, on which he continues to release collaborations with other UR artists.

On Fabric 39, we find Hood remixing disco samples and focusing on heavy repetition. In terms of this record as part of the ongoing Fabric and FabricLive series, I think it’s safe to say this album falls outside what some have come to expect from the collection. But this departure is in no way a negative thing. It should, instead, push people’s expectations about what a techno or dance album has been and will be in the future.

Hood doesn’t use mainstream samples in heavy rotation, and his music can seem a bit obscure in that sense. You don’t catch a ten second beat you know from your childhood and jump up to dance, but the album grows on you, and its fast repetitive beats, which are not immediately catchy, become mesmerizing the longer you listen. It also reminds me of the DJs on my more youthful days in the Midwestern rave scene, so despite the album’s lack of initial appeal, it holds a soft spot in my former ravergrrrl heart.

Written by: Brittany Shoot, June 12th 2008

Hard Candy

admin — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:57:00 +0000

By Madonna

WEA/Reprise

The great thing about following Madonna’s musical career is to see just exactly what sort of musical guise she’s going to adopt next. She’s always been heralded for her chameleon-like ability to change her image, but she’s equally restless with her musical style, letting her brand of dance-pop change along with her image.

Her latest, her last for long-time label Warner Brothers, before her switch over to the record-breaking deal she inked with Live Nation, Hard Candy _partners Madonna with some of the best urban-pop producers working today. The last time she embraced her R&B roots was 1994’s _Bedtime Stories, where she hooked up with Babyface, Nellee Hooper, and Dallas Austin. This time she’s teaming up with Timbaland, Pharrell Williams, and Justin Timberlake. Like with her last album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, this is a non-stop dance record without any ballads. Also like that chart-topper, this album continues Madonna’s reign as pop queen.

Timbaland’s gaudy, overly-produced sound works very well with Madonna’s pop smarts. She’s never been a genuine musical talent; instead she thrives when the music she’s performing is expensively produced. Timbaland’s patented honking synths, blaring horns, and off-kilter beats are all in display. It’s a testament to Madonna’s star power, musical ability (typical for the singer, she had a hand in crafting all the tracks on the record), and personality that she doesn’t come of merely as a cipher (Timbaland’s productions for Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake tend to blend the performers out).

The album’s opener, “Candy Shop” sets the sonic tone for the album. Pharrell Williams provides catchy beats, purring bass and moaning synths; the lyrics are nonsensical, but then again, Madonna never was Joni Mitchell, and she shone best when she was allowed to sing sound bites. “4 Minutes” is the album’s first single (already a top 5 hit in the US, and a chart-topper in the UK) and is a typical Timberlake-Timbaland collaboration: blaring horns, marching band percussion, Timbaland’s chiming and Timberlake’s nervous, edgy singing. Madonna overshadows Timberlake (not with vocal power, but with attitude); she plays the sexy cougar to Timberlake’s slightly overawed boytoy.

Madonna’s interest in sex has been rather dormant for a bit (she indulged in spirituality), and she kind of revels in the sort of ironic smutty sexuality she was damned for. “Give It 2 Me” is the sort of song she produced in the 1980s that landed her on Tipper Gore’s pop hit list. It’s got a dirty, 1980s porn beat, with a see-saw beat; it’s unashamedly ugly and extremely clever.

Madonna’s fondness for 1980s nostalgia finds its way to other tracks that boast loud, sparkly synths. “Heartbeat” with its swoony chorus and lyrics that celebrate the importance of dancing (she has a history of songs that praise dancing: “Get Into the Groove,” “Vogue,” “Don’t Stop,” “Jump”). “Dance 2Night, which seems to borrow from David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” as well as every Prince song, is another tight-fisted funk number, which like “Give It 2 Me” revels in a sort of dirty, smarmy sex-pot beat.

“Miles Away” is one of the few spots on the album that Madonna tries for some lyrical depth – writing about her husband, British director Guy Richie. Far from being sappy and sacharine, it’s a great song about how their love endures, despite travel demands that separate the two. It’s a gentle nod to the new romantic synth pop bands of the 1980s like New Order, Depeche Mode, and Duran Duran, who crooned about the pitfalls of love over swirling synthesizers and drum machines. Despite her musical limitations, Madonna has always been able to write humane and touching records and this song just confirms that fact.

“Beat Goes On” (not a cover of the Sonny & Cher hit) is a great disco number with a great dance beat and twirling chimes, and maintains its excellence despite a tired cameo by Kanye West who simply rehashes his self-congradulatory theme. “Spanish Lesson” is another nod toward Madonna’s mild obsession with all things Latin (“La Isla Bonita”), and it’s really the only the song on the record that doesn’t pass the musterd.

The record ends on two moody notes: “Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You” and “Voices.” The former is a dark, dramatic pop number that casts Madonna in a very credible performance as an R&B chanteause, spitting her breakneck paced lyrics over a 2-step beat. “Voices” another Timberlake/Madonna collaboration isn’t as fun as “4 Minutes” but still maintains the fresh sound Timberlake and (mostly) Timbaland has created for her.

Hard Candy is probably the best dance-pop record of the year, so far. Both Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey released decent albums as well, though Madonna’s is far more ambitious sonically. While her peers play it safe, Madonna has always been ready to risk (this sort of confidence also comes from years of selling millions of records). This isn’t the best Madonna record (Like a Prayer, Ray of Light, and Music vie for that title); the lyrics – the singer’s weakest point – are still trite; and though the record’s crammed with dance beats, it would’ve been nice for Madonna to record a nice, classy ballad. Still a veteran like Madonna would be forgiven if she lolled about on her laurels. The fact that she’s still making great, exciting music is thrilling.

Written by: Peter Piatkowski, May 12th 2008

Fabriclive.36

admin — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:37:00 +0000

By James Murphy, Pat Mahoney

Fabric Records

If you want to get the party started, here is the album to get the job done. Fabriclive.36 features James Murphy and Pat Mahoney on this release of electronic disco to minimal disco. The Fabriclive.X repetoire features a new artist release on a regular (if not monthly) basis out of the Fabric night club in London. These works are compliations of artists spun up for the night club dance crowd. Fabric is the brainchild of founders Keith Reilly and Cameron Leslie—featuring three separate rooms totaling over 25,000 square feet, independent sound systems, and a body sonic dance floor.

Murphy and Mahoney are a couple of American born and bread boys from Wonder Breadland America who learned at tender ages what music was all about. Moving through the “my dad wanted me to play sax” and the garage bands, these two guys now share a spot on the DJ listing at Fabriclive. The music is dance, dance, dance, and more dance. That’s not a bad thing when you really need a great dance disc to get folks moving. The high energy mix was well received by everyone in the house; these guys do a great job of generating sonic energy and moving it right through. And it sure made Saturday morning chores go a heckuva lot faster too!

Written by: Mary O'Hara, January 20th 2008

Perceptions of Pacha

admin — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:41:00 +0000

By Kiko Navarro

Swank Recordings

The most important thing to DJ Kiko Navarro is that “people must never stop dancing!” Although I’m not a consistent fan of house, and perfer hip hop when I feel the need to get down, Perceptions of Pacha definitely moved me.

Kiko Navarro is a producer and remixer who started working as a DJ in 1990 in Mallorca, Spain and released his first CD compilation titled The Latin Sound of Pacha in a collaboration with Tommy Boy UK and Pacha Group in 2001. He plays venues all over Europe and has a solid history of making great music in Spain, the UK, the U.S. and Japan. Perceptions of Pacha is his 2007 release with thirteen tracks of musical fun stemming out of his longtime residency at Club Pacha in Ibiza. Navarro’s Perceptions can be listened to online at Ibiza Global Radio every Saturday.

Perceptions of Pacha samples different musical styles and soulful vocals into this seamless album, where moments of funk, slices of neo-soul, raw percussion and beautiful instrumentals live next door to synthsized intros, a vocal scat session and horn solo, a piano/violin duet, a short hip hop-esque flow and references to disco and jazz. I loved his mix of piano and afro-cuban beats in “Ache pa Ti" and fell head over heels for "More," a soulful groove with soaring vocals and lovely lyrics. Next time I have a dinner party that wants to become a dance party, Perceptions of Pacha is on the decks!

Written by: Jessmaya Morales, May 31st 2007

Cinescope

admin — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 13:40:00 +0000

By Thunderball

ESL Music

Thunderball is an arty, urban collaboration of DJs that is comparable to a modern version of Dee-Lite. Cinescope is their latest offering to the tripped out gods of the discothèque. You could liken this 46-minute disc to Ali Baba and his forty thieves getting down with Shaft in Africa. Melding elements of Latin jazz, funk, reggae, disco, break beat and Indian strings, Cinescope takes listeners on a twelve-song magic carpet ride that is vibrant and worldly. The songs are catchy and flow nicely as they hover around the four-minute mark – long enough to develop character, but not so long that they become monotonous. Though the concoction might be a little too pompous for more grounded listeners, the sort of sexploitation doing lines in the bathroom with blaxploitation, Indian hipster funk set to the vibe of a Charlie’s Angels marathon vibe might appeal to the jet setting dilettante crowd.

Written by: Patricia Valery, January 22nd 2007