Mid-last year Argentinian producer Phunktastike delivered his excellent single, Love In The 80s. Now that track is getting a full-on reMix package courtesy of Logical Records and amongst the packed nine track release sits this gem from our friend Silenx. Once again Silenx brings something a little different to the table and washes it in Sci-Fi synths.
Occupying a similar post-Italo territory to the likes of Cinnamon Chasers, Silenx’s mix of Love In The 80s brings an Italo arrangement right up to date with slick production. This is one of Silenx’s best to date, and that’s saying something as the man has an impressive catalogue. It’s got a smooth retro feel, but with enough dancefloor kick to keep Disco lovers happy. Layers with rich, emotional, progressions the song really strikes a chord layering a resonant track with intricate melodies and leads. Beautiful space age noise.
♫ Phunktastike – Love In The 80’s (Silenx reMix)
Phunktastike’s Love In The 80’s: The reMixes is out now.
There is, apparently, a new EP from Dreamwave pioneers and Valerie O.G.s The Outrunners on the way. In the mean time check out this amazing four track EP from Forgotten Illusions. Forgotten Illusions is the new side project from PDLT, on half of The Outrunners, and on the Crystal Contour EP he puts even last drop of his SynthWave credentials to the best use.
The Crystal Contour EP was released as the third volume in Valerie’s Composer Series and it’s four tracks make up some of the best SynthWave we’ve heard in a while. The EP’s title track is a masterclass in emotional Italo. Driving synthetic basslines and powerful retro chords build the tracks core, creating the prefect canvas for some galactic synth sweeps and truly rousing melodies and leads. Twelve, our other favourite of the four, is another example of pure brilliance in the felids of Italo and Dreamwave. The mixture of relentless arpeggiated basslines and beautiful electronic melodies is pitch perfect here. It’s a track that’s equally haunting and groovy, which is all you can ask for really. Forgotten Illusions début EP sees the return of a major talent to the genre, we suggest you pick up all four tracks right now.
♫ Forgotten Illusions – Crystal Contour
♫ Forgotten Illusions – Twelve
Forgotten Illusions’ Crystal Contour EP is out now.
IV (we’re not sure if that’s ‘4’, or ‘Intravenous’) is anew Parisian Horror Disco (their words) duo featuring one half of Kitsuné releasers Logo. They’ve just released their début EP, titled The Place Where We Were Hidden on Mental Groove Records. In the tradition of some great atmospheric movie synth in France right now (think: Pyramid) IV bring beats, synths and a cinematic tension.
The EP is three tracks, two originals and a reMix (which, really, makes it a double A-side single), the originals being Alaska and Doppelganger. These guys create a brooding atmosphere of dread whilst keeping things pretty upbeat. Taking cues from the likes of John Carpenter and grooves from Moroder, IV build undulating waves of vintage synths to fill you with fear whilst making you dance. Alaska combines the best in dark Italo beats and late 70s/early 80s synthesizer soundtrack music, with a compelling rhythm section and haunting melodies it really sets the tone for IV’s work. Doppelganger delivers a more pounding beat and leans slightly more in the direction of what you might expect from French Electro, with one foot in the Ed Banger camp, whist keeping all of it;s eerie Horror soundtrack credentials. Check out something dark and different, that still makes you dance.
♫ IV – Alaska
♫ IV – Doppelganger
IV’s The Place Where We Were Hidden is out now and includes a reMix of Alaska from Japanese outfit Crystal.
I don’t think anyone who knows anything about Italo music could be in any doubt, Manchester’s Kid Machine is one of the top artists, not just in the UK, but in the world, producing records right now. In just a couple of short years, this exponent of a dark retro future has risen to the top of his game, even collaborating with the likes of the Legendary Flemming Dallum.
He’s got a new record out very soon, we’ll be featuring it in the coming weeks, but until them the Kid has dropped a track from his vaults. Prism hails from October 2011, which put’s it around Return To Space time. Prism is an energetic slice of dystopian dancefloor soundtracking. Part hyperactive synthetic groover, part haunting Sci-Fi soundtrack, Prism delivers on both counts. While your feet are moved by the relentless beat and cascading arpeggios, let your mind wander with the evocative leads and intricate, shuffling, little flourishes. Prism is a nice reminder of how good Kid Machine can be, ahead of his new release. Bring it on!
♫ Kid Machine – Prism
Kid Machine appears on the Space Consortium 12” alongside Casionova and Flemming Dallum, out soon.
Out today is the new EP from one of Greece’s finest exports, Electro producer Embryonik. Titled Nightflight the EP is a six track journey through a synthesized, apparent plane crash. A concept piece of work that tells a story, instrumentally, carrying the listener through optimism to tension and then finally the EP’s finale, and lead track, Heaven.
Heaven is a bright slice of Italo with a sinister undercurrent. With a classic Italo bassline and rich synth tones, Embryonik captures both an emotion and a groove in this piece. Although the track is based around an upbeat vibe and loaded with shimmering synth chimes, there is a certain air of melancholy to it. But like all the best 80s tune, and all the best Italo music, it balances the Mirrorball and the sadness perfectly.
♫ Embryonik – Heaven
Heaven is taken from Embryonik’s Nightflight EP, out today on Binalog Productions.
We posted Glass Candy’s new tune, The Possessed, a few days ago, being another tease of what to expect from Italians Do It Better’s forthcoming After Dark 2 compilation. Now here’s the video.
Directed, once again, by Alberto Rossini, features more footage in grainy video style. His old 8mm style works so well with Glass Candy’s music.
After Dark 2 will be out soon, with tracks from Glass Candy, Mirage, Desire, Farah, Twisted Wires, Appaloosa, Symmetry, and Chromatics.
Here we have another little taste of what come come with Italians Do It Better’s forthcoming, and long awaited, After Dark 2 compilation. This look behind the curtain comes in the form of Glass Candy’s absolutely epic, seven minute, Extended Runway Edit of The Possessed. No doubt an extended runway edit because it soundtracked some high-concept fashion show in recent months, as is Glass Candy tracks wont.
A beautiful, minimal seven minutes of synthetics. The Possessed pairs a stripped down Italo bassline with a slower tempo to a creeping background dread. This plays nicely against the more optimistic, warbling lead lines and sweeping synths. The contradiction is matched in Ida No’s vocals, sounding quite upbeat as she lays down some melancholy lyrics. The Possessed is deserved of it’s seven minute length, it;s a track you just have to go with and enjoy the experience.
Late March sees the 2nd Birthday of Electro superstar Mylo’s Italo-Disco London outings Ecstasy, Passion & Pain. To celebrate in style the man has brought together a crazy good line-up to party at XOYO in the 22nd.
Along for the ride is Morgan Geist in his Storm Queen guise, Daniel Wang, Psychemagik and Gomma’s Moullinex. It’s quite a star-studded line-up and a massive Disco bomb going off in the middle of East London. Be There!
Sally Shapiro first came into our lives way back in 2006. This duo, because Sally Shapiro is a duo, made up of ElectroPop producer extraordinaire Johan Agebjörn and an blissful unnamed singer whom we shall henceforth call Sally (to avoid (or create) confusion), have put out some of the most exciting, listenable, Italo-Disco tinged ElectroPop records in the last decade. Released today is album number three, Somewhere Else, that has already spawned the acclaimed singles What Can I Do? and Starman, the latter featuring a guest turn from Toronto’s Electric Youth.
The album is a thrilling excursion through poppy, dancefloor friendly electronic music with heart. Johan’s beats are always meticulously produced. Clean, shiny and pitch perfect whilst Sally’s sugar sweet, personal vocals tell tails in the most appealing way. This time around the pair have a little help with Anoraak, Le Prix and the aforementioned Electric Youth all doing turns on Somewhere Else.
Sally and Johan too some time out from their album release prep to chat with us about how this unlikely partnership hooked up and what the album holds:
ER: First off, how did you two get together?
S & J: We met in a youth environmental organization back in 2001 where we both worked at the office. But we actually didn’t discover our common interest in 80s disco until 2004!
ER: Did you both come to Sally Shapiro with the same influences, or do you each bring something different with you?
S & J: Johan is more the expert on various genres of electronic music. Sally has a good feel for what is a good and catchy pop song. She can’t really deliver a good vocal performance if she’s not into it. In the beginning, it felt like poppy 80s disco was the only thing that worked for both of us, but we think that we have broadened a bit since the start.
ER: I always feel that there is a 60s British Pop influence to Sally Shapiro songs, in a kind of Saint Etienne way. Is that the case or do you think there is just a 60s Pop influence in classic Swedish Pop in general?
S & J: We don’t think that the 60s are a conscious influence, but we listen to British pop like Saint Etienne and Belle & Sebastian for example. “What Can I Do” was very inspired by Belle & Sebastian.
ER: With so many good ElectroPop artists coming out of Sweden, and the music seeming to be the more dominant form of Pop there, do you think there is a reason for ElectroPop finding it’s spiritual home in Sweden?
S & J: We don’t know. When we grew up it was not like that, Sweden was a guitar country and far behind the UK when it came to appreciating electronic music. But Sweden was also early a very computerized country so maybe that’s a reason.
♫ Sally Shapiro – What Can I Do?
ER: Where does the name Sally Shapiro come from? Are we right in thinking Johan chose it? Is it named after anyone?
S & J: It was Johan’s suggestion to use a pseudonym in the tradition of Italo disco stars like Valerie Dore and Katy Gray. It’s not named after anyone, but we wanted a name that sounded English, with a surname that was not too common and not too uncommon. And then the first name should begin with the same letter as the surname, and it’s beautiful with names that end with a y, isn’t it?
ER: Sally’s said she has no interest in being a Pop star. When you originally wrote songs together was it with the intention of the public hearing them, or just for fun?
J: Well the goal was to make a track for fun and hopefully that someone wanted to release on a 12″ record. But we never thought it would reach out to more than the Italo disco fans and vinyl collectors to be found on various forums on the internet.
ER: Were you surprised with the reception Disco Romance received, and how fast it became a hyped record?
J: Yes, though it actually didn’t become hyped that quickly. At the very beginning, the distributor complained that it didn’t sell so well. Then Pitchfork rated it “best new music” and everything changed, it got re-released twice and licensed to different countries. But the whole process of re-releases and finally two remix albums based on the tracks took one and a half year.
ER: And now, three albums later. How would you say your sound has changed since the first record?
S & J: It’s a bit more varied, we’d say, but still grounded in 80s disco, which is still the ultimate genre of music. But these days we take influences also from trance, euro dance, IDM, jazz, electronic funk, indie pop etc.
ER: Is there a theme that runs through Somewhere Else?
S: There’s a theme in all our music, we think, about melancholic longing and hope. Hoping that something will be better, maybe in a different place, somewhere else.
ER: How did the collaborations on the new album come about?
S & J: Johan released the album “Casablanca Nights” in 2001 with a lot of collaborations, so he’s got quite used to working with other producers and he likes it. He works with Le Prix a lot, sometimes they meet in Stockholm but mostly via the internet as we live in Lund in Southern Sweden. The collaboration with Anoraak was originally Anoraak’s idea and a different version of that track appeared on his album a few years ago, we’re really happy with the track and wanted to release this version too. The collaboration with Electric Youth was our idea as we really like them. Both those collaborations were carried out through the internet, we’ve never met them…but it would be nice! Apart from the collaborations mentioned here, there are also lyricists, co-writers (frequently Roger Gunnarsson) and guest musicians involved on the album.
ER: How does the writing and recording process work for Sally Shapiro? Is Johan allowed in when Sally’s recording now?
S & J: No, Johan is still not allowed in. Johan is the composer and producer, sometimes together with other songwriters and producers. When he has something almost finished he plays it to Sally and gets some feedback. We then write the lyrics together, and the vocals are almost always the last things that are recorded before finally mixing the track.
ER: Is there a favourite synth or bit of studio kit.
J: Not really, it shifts. Yamaha DX-7 wasn’t used before this album, it can sound really smooth. Earlier there were a lot of sounds from the Roland Juno-60 and Jupiter-4.
ER: If money was no object, what synth would you love to own?
J: Elka Synthex.
♫ Sally Shapiro – Lives Together (Johan Agebjörn Dub)
ER: Are there plans for Sally Shapiro beyond Somewhere Else?
S & J: Not which are official right now.
ER: Are Sally Shapiro more of a full cooked breakfast, or bowl of cereal kind of duo?
S & J: Bowl of cereal probably. Sally drinks coffee, Johan drinks tea.
Many thanks to Sally and Johan for speaking with us.
Sally Shapiro’s Somewhere Else is released today in the UK and tomorrow in the rest of the world. It comes highly recommended.
Tomorrow, Sally and Johan will be hosting on online release party where you can chat with them and ask them stuff we was too lazy to ask, details here.
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