Disco Nouveau is Here and it's Time to Party

Disco fever is back

Sequins, satin, sparkle and glitter balls. Disco nouveau is here and it's time to party

This year will be remembered as the point when it all went a bit wrong, frankly. So it’s odd that for most of the year, the club scene has been dominated by the fingers-in-the-ears, hands-in-the-air decadence of disco.

After years of being relegated to the office party and hen nights, disco has shimmied her way back up to the top of the cool kids’ party playlist. Blanketed in glitzy memories of Studio 54, disco provides the perfect antidote to the all-pervading grimness of the life ahead. “When times are good, you could argue that people get turned on by darker, edgier music, such as drum’n’bass or electro,” says Jim Stanton, who started the iconic Horse Meat Disco in Vauxhall, south London. “As soon as life gets harder, people look for something more uplifting, which is where disco comes in — it’s an escape. The first big-haired disco moments happened in America during the 1970s, when there was a depression caused by an oil crisis.”

Many of the tunes played are comfortingly familiar from the first time around, which makes the trend much more accessible. Whereas “cool” music scenes are often the preserve of kids taking drugs in dark corners, disco is camp and bright and sparkly and opportunist. Anyone can shake a tail feather to the anti-ageist, happy-go-luckiness of a disco tune.

The revival started at Glastonbury, with Horse Meat Disco’s NYC Downlow bar in the Trash City field. The tent, which from the outside looked like a 1970s back-alley dive, had transvestites hanging out of the second-storey windows and commanded a three-hour queue to get in. Once inside, to a soundtrack of sparkly, hip-bumping disco, a giant mirror ball twirled as men, women, boys, girls and everybody in between channelled the spirit of the disco divas of old. Then a truly “Oh, my” moment, as the crowds parted and six trannies — in heels, in the mud — broke into a formation dance known as the electric slide. You don’t get that at your average German techno night.

Horse Meat Disco’s Glasto moment was proof that the glittery disco bandwagon is back in town. Fashion agreed, as the trends stomping down the A/W 2008 and S/S 2009 catwalks proved. Sequins, satin and sparkle, jump suits and hair you could hatch a mirror ball out of — they’re all there. As for the girls in the new Gucci perfume ad — these, ladies, are your dancefloor inspiration. Wear the look at Disco Bloodbath, in London, or Disco Friction, in Manchester, and you’re there.

While we’re all familiar with the works of Abba and the Village People, DJs Todd Hart, of Dalston Oxfam Shop, and Dan Beaumont, of Disco Bloodbath, are digging a little deeper in the record box. “People want something a bit more challenging, to be exposed to music they would never normally hear,” Beaumont says. “That electro sound that seemed so fresh at clubs such as Nag Nag Nag has now moved so far into the mainstream, a lot of people are looking for an alternative.” Enter the sounds of “disco nouveau”.

“Bands such as Glass Candy, Chromatics and Fan Death are seeing a surge in popularity,” Stanton says. “Their sound combines elements of pop and elements of disco — they are uber-cool and appeal to the masses.”

Fan Death are the Canadians Marta Jaciubek-McKeever and Dandilion Wind Opaine. With their music reworked by the producer and DJ Erol Alkan, they are styling it at the front of the disco-nouveau pack. Their debut single, Veronica’s Veil at Chanel’s S/S catwalk show in Paris.

As for the “everybody gets it” appeal of the sound, Andy Butler, from Hercules and Love Affair, the poster band for disco nouveau, explains: “Disco often flirts with other musical styles, so no matter what genre you’re into, there’s a disco song for you. If you rock, there is rock. If you like rap, you’ll find a disco rap track. If you like it a little bit Latin, there are some Latin monsters. And,” he concludes thoughtfully, “the best thing about all disco is that it makes you want to boogie.”

There’s the rub. Or should that be the bump? Despite the doom and gloom, the solution is out there in a nightclub near you this new year. Do a little dance, make a little love and get down tonight.

THE BEST DISCOS TO BRING IN THE NEW YEAR

London

- Horse Meat Disco at Cargo. Jonny Woo guests. cargo-london.com

- Good Times Live at the Forum. With disco-nouveau pioneers Crazy P. normanjay.com

- Wig Out! at the Royal Court. Cabaret with DJ Boogaloo Stu. royalcourttheatre.com

- Elton John at the O2 — 17,000 join Elt for this one-off. theo2.co.uk

Brighton

- Murderdisco at the Hope. Tiny venue, bumping and grinding obligatory. myspace.com/murderdisco

Manchester

- Disco Friction at Joshua Brooks. A disco DJ-off. joshuabrooks.co.uk

Liverpool

- Chibuku at the Barfly. Fancy dress and 1980s disco. chibuku.com

Nottingham

- Basement Boogaloo at the Canal House. Disco jock extraordinaire Greg Wilson graces this shindig. myspace.com/ basementboogaloo

[TimesOnline]

Top 10 Influential Artists in Electronic Music

This is a really decent list put together by the guys over at List Universe. I might have a couple of changes if I were to have created this same list myself. Other DJ's/artists I would consider for inclusion would be Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel-Jarre, Robert Moog, Art Of Noise, Walter Gibbons, Tom Moulton, Larry Levan, etc.

This is a list of the most influential DJ’s and artists in electronic music. If it were the best artist or DJ list, it would have been very different. Narrowing down the selections was difficult and I’m sure many will dispute the results, but it would be hard to envision the scene how it is today, if these guys weren’t involved. This list includes DJs and performers.

10

Aphex Twin

Richard David James, aka Aphex Twin, is an electronic musician who has been described as “the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music. His unique production style and arrangment has popularised a then small genre of music (gabba). In 1992 Rolling Stone magazine wrote of the album: “Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines.” He has been credited for creating the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer.” Aphex’s “alternative” sound is at the forfront of todays multi-genre, IPod listening culture.

9

The Prodigy

The Prodigy is an electronic music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990, in Braintree, Essex, England. They have sold over 16 million records worldwide which is unequalled in dance music history. Their music consists of various styles ranging from rave, hardcore, industrial and, breakbeat in the early 1990s to alternative rock and big beat with punk vocal elements in later times. The Prodigy first emerged on the underground rave scene in the early 1990s, and has since then achieved immense popularity and worldwide renown. Prodigy’s success is a tribute to their sound, bringing in listeners who did not “enjoy” electronic music, until they heard The Prodigy.

8

Daft Punk

Daft Punk is an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. The duo is considered one of the most successful electronic music collaborations of all time, both in album sales and in critical acclaim. Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France, Daft Punk is also credited with producing songs that were considered essential in the French house scene. With their iconic appearence they have molded and shaped an imaginative career and have worked with massive artists such as Kanye West and have even stepped into directing and writing films to branch out their creative stem.

7

Pete Tong

Peter “Pete” Tong is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is known worldwide by fans as the ground-breaking voice of electronic music for hosting programmes such as Essential Mix and Essential Selection on the world’s largest Radio station. Pete is a house hold name and superstar, club filling DJ who consistently has his finger on the electronic music button. Tong has the ability to create or deflate an artist and has no intention of changing his position in the electronic music scene.

6

Frankie Knuckles

Frankie Knuckles is an American DJ, record producer and remix artist. He played an important role in developing house music (an electronic, disco-influenced dance music) as a Chicago DJ in the 1980s and he helped to popularize house music in the 1990s, with his work as a producer and remixer. In 2005, Knuckles was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievements as a DJ. As his productions and remixes were becoming more popular, and he was also breaking new ground. When Junior Vasquez took a sabbatical from Manhattan’s The Sound Factory, he took over and launched a successful run as resident DJ until Vasquez made his return, at which point Knuckles became the resident DJ at The Sound Factory Bar. Knuckles remained part of the underground scene. In 1992, Billboard’s Larry Flick commented “He’s probably the best dance music producer we have in America. He understands the groove, but he understands songs, and the whole picture.” Knuckles won the 1997 Grammy Award for Remixer of the Year, Non-Classical.

5

King Tubby

King Tubby (born Osbourne Ruddock) was a Jamaican electronics and sound engineer, known primarily for his influence on the development of Dub music in the 1960s and 1970s. Tubby’s innovative studio work, which saw him elevate the role of the mixing engineer to a creative fame previously only reserved for composers and musicians, would prove to be highly influential across many genres of popular music. He is often cited as the inventor of the concept of the remix, and so may be seen as a direct antecedent of much dance and electronic music production.

4

Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa (aka Kevin Donovan) is an American DJ from the South Bronx, who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three main originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the “Grandfather” and “Godfather” and The Amen Ra of Universal Hip Hop Culture as well as The Father of The Electro Funk Sound. Through his co-opting of the street gang the Black Spades into the music and culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation, he is responsible for spreading rap and hip hop culture throughout the world and helping create a multi-million pound giant of a music genre. Many artists owe a lot to Africka Bambaataa and his peers.

3

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk are a German musical group that were influential in the evolution of modern electronic music. The signature Kraftwerk sound combines driving, repetitive rhythms with catchy melodies, mainly following a Western classical style of harmony, with a minimalistic one. They were the first group to strictly use electronic instrumentation only in their production. The group’s simplified lyrics are at times sung through a vocoder or generated by computer-speech software. In the early to late 1970s and the early 1980s, Kraftwerk’s distinctive sound was revolutionary for its time, and it has had a lasting impact across many genres of modern popular music. One of the first major recording artists to claim a direct influence from Kraftwerk’s music was David Bowie. Part of this can be heard in a series of albums that start with Station To Station and continue with the Berlin Trilogy—Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger. Iggy Pop’s association with Bowie during this period would result in the classic albums Lust For Life and The Idiot. Kraftwerk’s members were mutual fans of both artists, name-dropping them in the lyrics of its 1977 single “Trans-Europe Express. Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock (1982) was a major defining hit for hip-hop and the birth of electro music, which contains elements of ‘”Trans-Europe Express” and “Numbers.” Legal action was pursued against Bambaataa and won for the blatant use of these particular sounds and melodies without giving proper credit to the group. Since the lawsuit, proper credit is now given on the song’s writing credits. Numerous artists have continued to sample and pilfer various elements from Kraftwerk’s catalogue.

2

David Mancuso

David Mancuso is arguably the single most influential individual in the development of the Dance music DJ. He is the creator of the famous “by invitation only” parties in New York City which have come to be known as “The Loft”. The first such party was held in 1970 and was called “Love Saves The Day”. Prior to that, he was playing records for his friends on a semi-regular basis as early as 1966, and these parties became so popular that by 1971 he and Steve Abramowitz, who worked the door, decided to do this on a weekly basis. His parties have the free-wheeling feel and intimacy found in the classic rent party or house party. Mancuso is a pioneer in that he carefully thought out and refined his concept of “private party”, as distinct from the more overtly commercial business model of the nightclub. This change of direction in club promotion goes hand in hand with the world of electronic music.

1

Francis Grasso

Francis Grasso was one of the many unsung heroes in the DJ world! He was the first DJ to perfect how to slip-cue a record and release it on beat in order to create a non-stop mix of music in the nightclub scene. Yes, radio DJs had used this technique previously, but not to create a continuous mix of music; furthermore Francis started paying attention to the energy and feeling of each song and began putting the songs together into sets that corresponded with the energy he was getting from the dancers on the floor. The more they gave off, the more he gave back. More importantly, he was the first DJ to segue (or overlay) 2 records together in order to maintain a consistent flow of energy throughout the night while matching the beats of the music. Though these things seem simple by today’s standards, in the late 60’s and early 70’s these techniques, along with his progressive and innovative programming style, were quite revolutionary and provided the basis for the rest of us who followed.

[List Universe]

I Got A Fever ... and the Only Prescription is ...

A spin artist whose medium is vinyl

It is, perhaps, a fitting indication of the artistic and commercial bond between Harold Gold and his wife, Max I. Million, that they hit on the idea for a new product line together.

It was early 2005, and the couple had just closed their landmark Plastic Fantastic record store in Ardmore and moved to smaller quarters up Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr. They had already trucked up more than 1,000 U-Haul boxes of LPs, CDs and magazines, and they no longer had the space to display them all.

"And people were starting to say, 'We like the album covers, but we're not buying records anymore,' " Harold recalls. Many no longer even had turntables.

So Harold the promoter looked at Max the artist/interior designer, and the notion of turning records and album covers into art objects was born.

They started with a Jimmy Durante album cover featuring a life-size drawing of the comedian's face and its Nebraska-sized nose. Max remembers it like this:

"So Harold says, 'Look at that honker. How do you think it would look on a tissue box?' The whole concept of turning a two-dimensional object into a three-dimensional object was an amazing thing."

Now, they have literally bent and twisted the concept into such directions as Santana and Billie Holiday album-cover clock faces; Beatles jewelry boxes; Easy Rider cigar boxes; Jimi Hendrix tissue boxes; a Madonna handbag; and records shaped into bowls and desk caddies.

The items are available only at their Gold Million Records store, 851 Lancaster Ave., and their Web site, www.goldmillionrecords.com, although Max says, "If Neiman-Marcus wanted to pick us up on an exclusive, I wouldn't object."

Prices range from $5 for the smallest bowls made from 45-r.p.m. records, to about $100 for the most elaborate wine carriers and desk caddies.

The first prototypes were made at the couple's Villanova home before they converted part of the store's upstairs to a workshop and added a window sign that reads "Cool Stuff Made from Records."

"We had no vision for this part of the place," says Harold as he and Max stand in the upstairs kitchen, where Max crafts the line. "But we knew that we wanted it."

Harold, a tall, bearded man "in my 50s," is dressed all in black, topped by a "Titanic" baseball cap. Max, who is in her 40s, is wearing a black jumpsuit and a necklace crafted from 45-r.p.m. record spindles, rhinestones, and Swarovski crystals. They finish many of each other's sentences.

He is a native of Great Neck, N.Y., who had been sales manager for Polygram Records in Philadelphia when he founded Plastic Fantastic in 1976, buying and selling LPs.

Max grew up in Spring Lake, N.J., and, yes, her real name is Max I. Million, which is one reason she thinks her father is so cool. Irving Million was a career Army man, a reconnaissance photographer in World War II who set up one of the earliest mobile photo labs in the Pacific theater. Her mother was a model and a legal secretary.

Max got a degree in architecture and fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and decided one day in 1992 to come into Philadelphia to check out a graduate program at Drexel University.

She stopped in at Harold's store to buy a Steely Dan cassette tape to smooth the ride home. "And the rest," says Harold, not even attempting originality, "is history."

They were married two years later. Max helped him run the store, and when their lease expired, they decided to move and stop selling space-gobbling magazines, DVDs and CDs.

Instead, they remodeled the new store back into the past, turning what had been a traditional gift shop for decades into a place where hip and nostalgia meet - and perhaps even form a seamless web.

They removed the drop ceilings to reveal the original tin, pulled up the carpets to bare the hardwood floors, and stripped the drywall from the brick walls. Out front sit two replicas of the RCA Victor trademark terrier, Nipper. Zebra-pattern rugs bring the black-and-white color scheme inside.

In addition to LPs - some newly minted, as vinyl makes a comeback of sorts - the couple sell memorabilia unrelated to their own product line. "It's not just the music, it's the lifestyle," Max says.

Although Harold facetiously refers to the company as Gold Million International, even their online sales are mostly national. Most of the buyers are what Max describes as "baby boomers looking back."

There have been some notable exceptions, though.

A woman from Nashville, Kathleen Cash-Tittle, recently bought a Rocky Horror Picture Show tissue box. Harold asked her if she was related to Johnny Cash. Turned out, she was his daughter, "and she ended up buying every Johnny Cash thing we had in our line - 13 pieces."

Max takes photos of almost everything she makes, so she can duplicate what sells out. And the couple are always looking for suggestions about new objects to make.

Sometimes, however, they let tradition speak for itself.

Recently, an estate sale yielded some turn-of-the-century Edison cylinders, perhaps the oldest form of recording known. What about converting them into new art objects?

"No," Max says firmly. "These, we'll leave alone."


[Philly]

allRGB - cool graphics geek stuff

The objective of allRGB is simple: To create images with one pixel for every RGB-color (16,777,216 to be exact); not one color missing, and not one color twice.

Each image is 4096 by 4096 pixels, so they are large images, so allow time for them to load. But it's incredible that each pixel is a unique color not duplicated within the entire image. COOL.

Here's a couple of examples below. There's currently 15 entries on their website. Click to enlarge for full-size image:





[Growabrain]

R.I.P. Eartha Kitt - very sad day

This is a very sad holiday. One of my favorite entertainers has passed away. I'm happy to have seen her perform a couple of times and to have met her.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eartha Kitt, a sensual singer, dancer and actress who rose from modest rural roots to captivate international audiences with her sultry voice and style, died Thursday at the age of 81.

Andrew Freedman, a long-time friend and publicist, said Kitt died of colon cancer for which she was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

The cancer was detected about two years ago and treated but recurred after a period of remission.

"She came back strongly. She had been performing until two months ago," Freedman told Reuters by telephone from Los Angles. "We had dates booked through 2009."

Slinky and cat-like, Kitt described herself as a "sex kitten" and used her seductive purr to charm audiences across the world.

"She loved cabaret performances," Freedman said. "If there was ever an opportunity to do a small intimate venue with about 150 people, that was always her preference."

Kitt picked up a string of awards during her long career, winning two Emmys and being nominated for a third, as well as a Grammy. She also had two Tony nominations.

Kitt's hit songs included "C'est Si Bon," "Let's Do It" and "Just an Old Fashioned Girl." She also was widely associated with Christmas because of her hit "Santa Baby." The song went gold this year and she received the gold record before she died, Freedman said.

Blackballed in America for speaking out against the Vietnam War in the 1960s, Kitt began performing in Europe and rose to fame before returning to her native land to great acclaim.

"She was never one to look back on her life," Freedman said. "She was a true individual who believed that if you had a true belief in yourself, your talent was authentic."

"My greatest challenge was to be able to survive in the business and to be able to survive according to what I was doing. Not what other people were doing," Kitt told Reuters in a 2005 television interview at the Newport, Rhode Island jazz festival.

"I just stuck to my own guns and I think that was one of the way's I have survived. I didn't follow the herd. I stuck to my own path," she said. "The audience is not supposed to know that I'm scared, the shyest person in the world."

Born Eartha Mae Kitt on a cotton plantation in South Carolina in 1927, she spoke in many interviews of her tough childhood in the impoverished South before she was sent to live with an aunt in New York City.

Kitt got her start as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company and made her film debut in "Casbah" in 1948. On television she was perhaps best known for her role as the sexy Catwoman in the 1960s U.S. TV series "Batman."

[Reuters]

"Santa Baby"


with Bronski Beat "Cha Cha Heels"


"I Love Men"

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album Cover Parodies

One of the most influential album covers of all time. AmIRight shows over 50 parody covers of the Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.

Various Artists
"Golden Throats: The Great Celebrity Sing-Off!"
From the Rhino series with all the awful celebrities doing covers of better songs.


Various Artists
"The Simpsons: The Yellow Album"
Top notch parody by the masters of parody.

Udo Lindenberg
"Hut ab! Hommage an Udo Lindenberg"
A Tribute-Album for a german musician, Udo Lindenberg, issued in the 90s, featuring different german pop-artists interpreting his songs.


Sonny Vincent
"The Good, the Bad, the Ugly"

The Rutles
"Sgt. Rutter's Only Darts Club Band"


The Mothers of Invention
"We're Only in It for the Money"
One of the first parody album covers released. A landmark album.

Jun Fukamachi
"Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band"
An electronic version of Sgt. Pepper's by a Japanese artist.


Celiz Cruz and friends
"Tropical Tribute to the Beatles"


AWESOME COVER (CLICK TO ENLARGE FOR DETAILS): ccc - ill chemist, Go Home Productions, Voicedude, other various Mash-Uppers
"Sgt. Pepper's Mid Life Crisis"
One of the best Pepper-parodies, and a fantastic album !


The Beachles
"Sgt. Petsound's"
Great cover art mashup!

Blotter Barn gives me flashbacks

Artist and LSD blotter art archivist Mark McCloud, in collaboration with digital artist/publisher Dana Smith present Blotter Barn, a series of archival, fine art digital prints derived from Mark McCloud's infamous blotter art collection called the Institute of Illegal Images. Each image is a photographic enlargement of a selected item from the collection, and depicts that item in forensic detail, revealing tiny elements that are normally invisible to the human eye. All images are issued as a Blotter Barn exclusive limited edition of 50 prints, signed and numbered by artist, Mark McCloud, and further authenticated by the presence of the 'Blotter Barn' and 'Dana Dana Dana' embossed impressions on either lower corner.

Each photo will cost you at least $1000 (smaller "personal" versions are available for $120 each).

Do not attempt to lick your photo... or your computer monitor.

Check out Blotter Barn for many more images.

Howdy Doody Christmas

We Wish You A Mavericky Christmas

You Betcha!