Enclosed and mixed with love are the newest Italo Disco, Hi-Nrg and even Electro tracks that have been perking my ears within the last few months. A few old songs, like "Living in Japan" by Fun Fun, have also gained new appreciation. I never noticed that "Living in Japan" is so progressive!
Due to the fact that I'm going to be abroad for the rest of summer, I probably won't be posting for the next two months in Kitsch Club. I'm taking a usb drive replete with all-time Italo favorites and a significant dose of cold wave, but life on the road might prove to be too time consuming.
So my new mix comes as if on vinyl, meaning you get two sides of twinkling bells, lovable choruses and Traktor backspins. Side A, "Spaghetti Dancer," contains a few edits I've made in hope of modernizing a sound already hopelessly lost. Nonetheless, I enjoy these guilty pleasures; Italo Disco should be heard with ice cream in hand and full-blown camp theatrics, anyways.
Side B, "Alternative Diamond," includes some unchartered territory: Raz & Kirlian Camera. Raz - Amor Puerto Riqueno has the classic chicago house sound, though I only included a small snippet of it because the latino-rico-suave vocals proved to be too much; what I wanted was its drums. As for Kirlian Camera, the instrumental dub version of "Edges" is great because it's so cold. Peggy & The Pill's "Nobody's Bride" moved the remainder of my mix into progressively darker territories, and the two Kirlian Camera tracks I included ("Edges" and "Communicate") are almost industrial, which is a departure from the warmer melodies I'm accustomed to.
1. Bo Boss - Tequila/ 0:00 - 3:29 2. Doctor's Cat - Feel the Drive (Ferrari Lazer Edit)/ 2:26 - 6:39 3. Mirage - Change Your Life/ 5:44 - 10:04 4. Black Devil - Follow Me (Ferrari Acid Edit)/ 8:46 - 14:18 5. My Mine - Hypnotic Tango (Instrumental)/ 11:40 - 17:44 6. Fun Fun - Living in Japan/ 15:38 - 20:15 7. B. Rose - Hey D.J./ 19:35 - 21:50 8. City Center - Profondo Rosso (Ferrari Girl Thing Edit)/ 21:02 - 25:07 9. Pineapples feat. Douglas Roop - Come on Closer (Ferrari On My Mind Edit)/ 24:20 - 29:21 10. Local Boy - Thriller Medley (Owner of a Lonely Heart)/ 28:02 - 32:06
Side B: "Alternative Diamond"
1.Raylo - Spanish Journey/ 0:00 - 5:36 2. Raylo - Spanish Journey (Casual Instrumental)/ 2:33 - 7:33 3. Scotch - Penguin's Invasion (Ferrari Hotter Edit)/ 6:19 - 9:56 4. Raz - Amor Puerto Riqueno/ 8:34 - 10:41 5. Lily Ann - Goin' Crazy/ 9:57 - 13:26 6. My Mine - Hypnotic Tango (Remix)/ 12:27 - 15:26 7. Deborah Kinley - All For You/ 14:27 - 16:59 8. Peggy & The Pills - Nobody's Bride/ 16:12 - 18:45 9. International Music System - Run Away/ 18:19 - 20:25 10. Kirlian Camera - Communicate (Instrumental)/ 19:31 - 24:26 11. Kirlian Camera - Edges (Instrumental Dub)/ 24:09 - 26:34 12. Klein M.B.O - Dirty Talk/ 25:38 - 28:34 13. Black Devil - Forget the Timing Kerr/ 27:04 - 29:47 14. Max Mix Jingles (Scratches & Boom)/ 29:27 - 29:47
I've been waiting to post my most treasured song, and there is no better time than this unfortunate now, where I find myself without the help of literary device to remind me that, after all, it is device. Damn the seasons and their cycles; their centrifugal force has me spinning circles and going nowhere. Any metaphor is a lost metaphor, so here I go, off to Argentina, without words to speak or a special someone to love. And what does this living experiment offer? Pain: an even better teacher.
I've made a laid-back mix for the slowly creeping day and the never ending night of summer. Now that I'm situated in the Valley—away from Austin and its percolating music scene—my ear's been flooded with Italo Disco, New Wave, NDW, Balearic, and other genres that play from the small speakers in my childhood room; I haven't heard house music banging the bass on 6th street in over a week. That's only one week, but the visceral tone the Valley sets is deeply moving, and I can't help but drop a new groove, strut a new walk, breathe a different air.
If nature does maintain a state of flux, then this mix mirrors that: different genres, all music. The unpaved roads, the humidity you can see above the lip line, the palm trees—the Valley is a world away from the northern cities, and it does not keep its own constant beat; somewhere in this mix, you know you're going to come across a guitar solo, a track you haven't heard, your own personal rhythm.
The mix begins darkly, with the acid-induced insanity of the progressive krautrock of Can, and cuts into minimal wavists League of Nations and Neon. There's a definite tribal influence to my entire mix, and "Jamaica Running" by The Pool and "Pages" by Axxess—choice tracks by the one and only Daniele Baldelli— help keep the motif. Discogs proved extremely useful this time around, because, apparently, The Pool is a one man affair run by Patrick Keel from Austin, Texas! The rest of the mix is new wavey at times, acidic and incredibly orchestrated at others. The last seven minutes or so are pure deserted roads and promises.
Props to Kitsch Club: Two bands that I've posted about, League of Nations and La Mode, are represented in the mix.
1. Neu! - Negativland 2. League of Nations - Systematic Eyes 3. Neu! - Negativland 4. Neon - Drivin 5. Culture Club feat. Capt. Crucial - Murder Trap Rap 6. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft - Der Rauber Und Der Prinz 7. Axxess - Pages 8. The Pool - Jamaica Running 9. Talk Talk - Such a Shame (Dub Mix) 10. Clara Mondshine - Metasamba 11. Helen - Zanzibar - (Afro Mix) 12. Cosmic Disco - Cosmic Sprint 13. Code 61 - Drop the Deal (Acid Mix) 14. La Mode - Aquella Chica 15. Madonna - Into the Groove (Pettibone Dub Mix) 16. John Carpenter - The End (Disco Version) 17. Julia Keen and Pin Up Stick - In a Gadda da Vida
My Wave presents a very special album coming from Madrid, Spain circa 1982: La Mode - El Eterno Femenino.
Besides watching some Youtube videos and running a few Google searches that come up with Spanish blogs, I have not found much on this band. La Mode (The Fashion?) sound as if The Cars lost their street-greaser-blue-jean-American style and put on ties featuring the angular representations of Bauhaus style (but only the ties!). The future, as the 80s foresaw it, is properly represented, and if the cover—with its red lips, abstract paint splatters, geometric design, and space creatures—doesn't clue you in toward what their sound and aesthetic is, the first track on "El Eterno Femenino" will. There are so many highlights to this album that I do not know where to start or what to mention. The lead singer, Fernando Márquez aka "El Zurdo", has a wonderful voice that flirts with the pop sensibilities of nasality. Of course, he also only sings in Spanish, which is a plus, right?
A quick list of other highlights includes:
Synthesized Effects (Wobbles, Bleeps, and Blips) A Medley Performance of Three Songs Saxophone A Song About Girls Howling/Crooning Synthesizer Bass + Bass Guitar
Given La Mode's poppiness, they are not all "sunshine and sock hops," though. This band definitely has dark undertones that are most prominently exposed by their production techniques: reverb-driven instruments and voice creates space and a sense of "room size," bass drums lack bass and sound hollow while deep tom tom rolls do all the work, keyboards go off like lazerguns and space ship takeoffs.
Retro Música, a Spanish blog, describes La Mode (and other similar bands of the Movida Madrileña):
Las influencias de todos estos grupos eran claras: bastante glam, un tecno-pop más tranquilo en el caso de La Mode, donde prefieren apostar más por el sonido de Roxy Music y evitar bases tan marcada, y todo bajo los parámetros de grabación de la época, con producciones más oscuras.
I haven't had time to write in Kitsch Club, but I'm making this post worth your wait with a new mini/mega mix I've made. At ten minutes, its all Savage and pure spaghetti dance. I came upon the idea of making a mega mix from the amazing Max Mix series, a series that started out making mega mixes of the hottest italo tunes before house music became popular. Max Mix then stepped it up a notch and started producing amazing italo house mega mixes with the likes of 49ers, F.P.I. Project, Raul Orellana and so on. I have Max Mix 10, and it never fails to impress any company I have over at my apartment.
Mega Mixes are different from regular dj mixes because they tend to be shorter, featuring faster song cuts and sudden rhythm changes. Samples are usually added to mega mixes, making them "engineered." The main idea is to produce 5-15 minutes of non-stop banging dance.
The Max Mixes became so technical in the 80s that djs started editing the music on their computers, messing with early programs Ableton junkies probably wouldn't recognize. I don't have any amazing computer programs, unfortunately, and instead created this Savage mega mix entirely on Traktor 3. I made edits of the songs I wanted to use before I mixed the songs together. I then rerecorded the mix, adding samples and effects.
I've always been in love with Savage. Roberto Zanetti is so ridiculous and yet somehow unavoidably cool.
Savage - Radio (Ferrari Jungle Rough Edit) 0 - 0:59 Savage - Don't Cry Tonight (Ferrari Cradle Beat Edit) 1:00 - 3:09 Savage - A Love Again (Remix) 2:23 - 4:16 Savage - Tonight 4:07 - 4:44 Savage - Radio (Ferrari Jungle Rough Edit) 4:45 - 6:32 Savage - Tonight 6:32 - 8:32 Savage - Only You 7:40 - 10:06
Samples by:
Savage - Goodbye Mix Savage - Don't Cry Tonight (Rap Mix) M A R R S - Pump up the Volume Lucia - Marinero (Remix) Lucia feat. Project 2 - La Isla Bonita Rap Rose - Magic Carillon Scotch - Delirio Mind
Effects:
FX #7 from a Garage House pack (backspin) FX from an Industrial pack (tool fall)
Enclosed and mixed with love are the newest Italo Disco, Hi-Nrg and even Electro tracks that have been perking my ears within the last few months. A few old songs, like "Living in Japan" by Fun Fun, have also gained new appreciation. I never noticed that "Living in Japan" is so progressive!
