EarPIPE

Le Le – Disco Vraiment | Single Review

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Single Review | 1 Comment

I can’t seem to find much about Le Le. All I know is that they’re a French/German pop outfit with an indie edge, or maybe that’s the other way round. Either way their latest release bypasses most of that to take a big hit of Disco influence which sees them take on a bit of an In Flagranti guise. On this release there is only one track called Disco Vraiment and it is quite simply an infectious combination of disco loops over a big beat. It’s simple and it works. The up beat rhythm makes it highly danceable whilst the disco loops inject plenty of funk. This is sure to go down well with the recent influx of italo and cosmic disco out there. There is a radio and long version, but the only difference is one is longer than the other. And that’s about all that can be said on the matter.

Tracklist:
1. Disco Vraiment (Radio Edit)
2. Disco Vraiment (Original Mix)

Tags: Disco, Le Le

In Flagranti – Brash and Vulgar | Album Review

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Album Review, Music | No Comments

What do you get when you have an image of 70s porn and wipe it all over house, disco, punk, funk and glam rock? A crusty white tissue and tight glitter trousers? Probably. With In Flagranti the result is Brash and Vulgar, their follow up to 2006’s Wronger Than Anyone Else.

You may ask what 70s porn crossed with music sounds like. Well it’s quite infectious and definitely a bit quirky. The Italo Disco influenced “I Can Thrill & Delight” completely embodies this. The smutty vocals from Tatiana Ilinas gives the track a minxy attitude whilst the off key chimes and horse claps give it that quirky wonkiness. Odd but undeniably catchy.

In the same catchy category is the funk strutting “A Piece of False Morality”. It’s pumped up disco lines and funk rhythms give it such a hook for the insect life spanning two minutes it has you bouncing off the walls. Then you have title track Brash and Vulgar. Its Giorgio Moroder styled synth and disco samples has a great vintage quality yet sounds quite modern in the nu rave house realm.But its not just all disco and funk. The boys throw a curve ball with Svelte Blonde, a sultry glam rock track which has smoking Goldfrapp style vocals.

However the itchy energy of the first part of the album soon fizzles out however with the later half flagging with a series of tracks made up of monotonous cosmic loops. Which is a shame to end an album with such a promising start with its humour, energy and cheekiness which made it blushingly charming.

Buy In Flagranti – Brash and Vulgar on Mp3 or CD

Tracklist:
1. She bend each leg alternatly
2. Brash & Vulgar
3. A little something “Extra”
4. I can thrill & delight
5. A piece of false morality
6. Black & grey stripped trousers
7. Svelte blonde
8. Pick a trick
9. It was like nothing before or since
10. I hadn’t screwd around before
11. Ohh, i’ll have to loose weight luv
12. How did the affair end?

Tags: Codek Records, Disco, Glam Rock, In Flagranti

EarPipe Has an Even Hazier Look Back at the Music Through 2008

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 | Music, News | 1 Comment

I normally struggle to think what tunes have been and gone in the last month, so trying to remember what I was listening to back in January is a mountainous mission in itself, which is probably why I’m going to write this avoiding any specifics and will talk around the subject pretending I know what I’m talking about like any good politician would do. But from what I can recollect “minimal” became housier (or maybe I became housier?), Dubstep collided with Techno and Disco has undergone a massive revival

So lets start with the shift towards the housier sounds. We noticed a lot of DJs ditching the repetitive and bland “minimal” sounds that were starting to stagnate and instead nudging more towards the house end of the spectrum. This meant a bit more funk and soul embedded into tracks, more vocals and jazzier samples. It may sound like we’re harking back to the funky house days circa 2000-02, but this was slightly different, it was more an amalgamation of what came out of the “minimal-tech” sounds which dominated ’05-’07 with older house music sensibilities as seen from the Chicago deep house days. A perfect example of this is probably My My, their remix of Djuma Soundsytem’s Les Dijnns ’s typifies where the sound was during 2007 whilst their latest release Everybody’s Talkin’ is a glimpse into the house sound doing the rounds at the moment. The same goes for Josh Wink’s Stay Out All Night and Matthew Styles We Said Nothing, both distinctly Chi-town influenced numbers which bebop’s to a fun and funked up skipping rhythm. In a similar vein who could forget Johnny D who’s had a fantastic year. His track Orbitallife was causing raucous everywhere through the summer not to mention all his other releases.

But then it wasn’t all fun funked up house, this year saw a lot of dub style house and techno music with heavy basslines at a relaxed pace. Tracks like Trus’me’s W.A.R Dub particularly stood out as did a lot of the output from Gedde’s new label MurMur which had artists like Bearweasel pumping out deep and hypnotic house. One of the best tracks of the year for me was the highly elusive Wax1001. There was no artist or label, just this white label containing the rawest house track ever. A simple track with clunky beats, classic hi hat patterns and a dark raw bassline made Wax1001 show how less is definitely more.

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Tags: Afefe Iku, Ame, Appleblim, Bearwesel, Disco, Disco Bloodbath, Dixon, Djuma Soundsystem, Dubfire, Dubstep, Fabric, Geddes, Henrik Schwarz, Hercules and Love Affair, Horse Meat Disco, house, Innervisions, Italo Boyz, James Murphy, Johnny D, Josh Wink, Laurent Garnier, LCD Soundsystem, Lindstrom, Metro Area, Minimal, Mulletover, Murmur, My My, Mymy, Osborne, Pat Mahoney, Prins Thomas, Quiet Village, Radioslave, Ricardo Villalobos, Secretsundaze, Shackleton, SiS, Skull Disco, Smalltown Supersound, Stimming, techno, Trus'me, Villalobos, Wax1001

Metro Area – Fabric 43 Review

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 | Album Review, Music | 1 Comment

Disco in London seems to be making a bit of a come back these days with nights like Disco Bloodbath and Horse Meat Disco popping up in packed backrooms and main rooms all over the capital, it really seems to be down with the kids these days. You might think that there is little room for disco down at Fabric in amongst the basslines and electronic noises. Well you’d be wrong. Tucked away upstairs in the little room 3 you’ll find the playground for the leftfield and more often not you’ll hear those classic NY disco sounds pumping out its speakers. So it makes sense for Fabric to explore the flowery side of dance music. We got a taste from James Murphy and Pat Mahoney’s efforts on FabricLive 36 and I have to say it might have been the best Fabric release this year.

For Fabric 43, Metro Area has the fortunate or unfortunate task of following the LCD Soundsystem duo in the disco stakes. Hailing from Brooklyn, Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani should know a thing or two. They’ve been producing and DJ’ing since the 90s and were affectively ahead of the curve with their seminal release Metro Area 1 fusing the delights of early Detroit and Chicago music with their native Harlem disco.

On this CD they set out themselves the task of doing a mid 80s mix with emphasis on the not so obvious disco. And true to their word they have, about 90% of the tracklisting is circa 1985 and I don’t recognise a single record. The closest I come is knowing who Devo and that said I don’t even know any of their music.

So what can I tell you about this mix from my obviously lacking knowledge of disco music? Probably not that much. But I can tell you that this mix is crafted quite beautifully from start to end. They explore organic and synthesised sounds, they ooze funk, groove with a great sense of urgency and they get inside your mind with so many different hooks.

They effortlessly glide between the laidback grooves of Disco Four’s Move to the Groove and the luscious RnB infused You Should Have Known Better through to the urgent funk of italo disco I love with tracks like Swede’s Scandal’s Atmosphere and Mascara’s Baja. If the hooks don’t get you the percussion sure will.

But its not just pure disco throughout, tracks like Ray Martinez’ The Natives Are Restless provides a great tribal interlude before being followed by the Chicago and Detroit influences through Dreamhouse’s I Can Feel It and Plez’ I Can’t Stop. There’s even a head nod to French synthpop’s Poupee Flash. They’re completely different genres but one thing that unites them all is that they have this groove flowing through them.

There are some real gems on this CD, but then there are some tracks which stray into the dubiously cheesy disco territory. Souvenier’s Voyage stands out in particular. It has a strange resemblance to the theme tune of Love Boat a 70s TV show which aired 14 odd years before I was born. The way the funk bass jogs along before a crescendo into a flurry of clichéd strings and horns. As clichéd as it is however, it does just work, like the rest of this CD.

It’s great to see Fabric taking the series in a completely different direction and I think with Metro Area it’s paid off. For those not wholly into disco this is great journey through some of the great music that came from that era. It’s well put together and has great progression. However for me this still doesn’t top the FabricLive:36 effort from the LCD SoundSystem boys.

Buy Metro Area – Fabric 43 on (CD)

Tracklisting:
01. Babla’s Disco Sensation – Ghar Aya Mera Pardesi (Intro)
02. World Premiere – Share the Night (Breakdown Mix)
03. Ministry – Work for Love (Dub Mix)
04. The Disco Four – Move to the Groove (Instrumental)
05. Skratch – You Should Have Known Better (Instrumental)
06. Barbara Norris – Heavy Hitter (Dub Version)
07. Gary’s Gang – Makin’ Music (Dub Mix)
08. Voyage – Souvenirs
09. Five Special – Why Leave Us Alone (Long Version)
10. Ray Martinez – The Natives are Restless
11. Dreamhouse – I Can Feel It
12. Mascara – Baja (Instrumental Dub Version)
13. Play by Numbers – Cloud Nine (Ready Mix)
14. Midway – Set it Out (Funky Breakdown Mix)
15. Heaven 17 – Penthouse and Pavement
16. Data – Blow (Remix)
17. Atmosphere – Swede’s Scandal
18. Wiretap – X-Rated Man
19. Plez – I Can’t Stop (Acid Rainforest Mix)
20. Baby Oliver – Feelings2
21. Jean Luc Ponty – Open Mind (Special Dance Mix )
22. Premiere Class – Poupée Flash
23. Devo – Freedom of Choice

Tags: Disco, Fabric, Fabric 43, Metro Area