post-disco

Imagination: Night Dubbing (1983)

2017/05/12

“Forget your sorrow let’s start livin’ for today” those are the sublime spliced verses that kick off this monumental piece of house music. Before such a word “house music” even existed only a few people were hip to the possibilities inherent somewhere deep in the mind of English soul band Imagination. Night Dubbing was the sound of Imagination stretching to…
Peter Richard: Frozen Red (1983)

2017/02/27

imeless Italo-disco featuring an album cover its designer could only love, it’s Walter Beinat’s (aka Peter Richard) Frozen Red. The album’s main hook is the unsung club banger “Walking In the Neon.” Nearly seven minutes long, the audacious electronic mix of Hi-NRG, post-punk, and post-disco still gives rise to a constant DJ request: what the hell was that? Quite atmospheric for such…
Melon: Do You Like Japan? (1982)

2017/02/10

assively influenced by American R&B, Do You Like Japan? holds that rare thing for us as listeners: it’s a question posed in the title. Was ex-Plastics frontman Toshio Nakanishi asking us if we liked Japan or was he asking himself that same question? The answer would be hard to tell after you listen to the album. Created after his breakup…
Mario Acquaviva: Mario Acquaviva EP (1983)

2017/02/01

ven in the dead of the winter, this sunlit EP of Italian Pop can break through any forecast. One of my favorite finds of the year was this brief, but spectacular, EP by Bolognese musician Mario Acquaviva. What’s in Mario Acquaviva? Its eighteen masterful minutes of ruminative springtime Mediterranean piano pop mixed with all sorts of found…
Tony Esposito: Il Grande Esploratore (1984)

2017/01/06

If ever you’re in Naples, bring up Tony Esposito, and thank me later. Part of the new Neapolitan Power scene envisioned by Tullio de Piscopo, James Senese, and Pino Daniele, Tony proved to be the one closest to bringing that sound out of the Mediterranean and onto the world. A rhythm master all his life, Tony Esposito’s Il Grande Esploratore remains one of the pinnacles of…
Teena Marie: Behind the Groove (1980)

2014/09/29

Teena Marie My track of the day by Teena Marie was long overdue some examination. Supremely underrated in her time, except by black audiences, and still completely underrated in the grand scope of music. This California born white girl stunned most who heard her the first time by having a voice belying her background and…
Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Annie (I’m Not Your Daddy) (1983)

2014/09/28

Kid Creole and his Coconuts My short musical sojourn outside of the US returns back to where I started, Brooklyn. Its this New York that we all know off, the great multi-cultural polyglot city where I continue some kind of theme I’ve been thinking about this month, unique grooves (unjustly forgotten or downright ignored). My…
Steaua de Mare: Babadag (2013)

2014/09/13

Steaua de Mare Fast forwarding to the present, its always interesting to see how that spirit of ingenuity and experimentation applies for current bands. In Romania there are bands like the one I’ll highlight today, Steaua de Mare (Big Star), that recognize the importance of looking into one’s own lineage to pull up different directions and…
Chrisma: “U” (I Dig You) (1977)

2014/07/21

Now here, is where we start to see Christina and Maurizio discover the role their music can project. Remember that track by Vangelis called “Who”? If you don’t, head on over here first, and check it out again. Back then, in 1974, no one was quite ready for what this sound was asking for. No…
Odyssey: Who (1974)

2014/07/17

Vangelis’ Nemo Studio in the early ’70s. Time for another teaser, this track “Who” is actually a song by one of Greece’s most well known musical exports: Vangelis. Vangelis has always been a super prolific musician. Up to that time he had done a lot of regular musical work with Aphrodite’s Child, some soundtrack work…