Alright, steady. You all like it, I don't particularly (though I don't remember saying I despised it), neither can prove the other wrong, so each to their own. I do believe I've already said that.
But, since the point's been raised...
saying it would be a funky house track if you removed the synth, spacey effects and vocoder and replaced them with a bassline and a scratchy guitar is a little ridiculous. since all the track consists of is: synth, spacey effects and vocoder.
If you took the vocoder, the FX and the synth bass out, you'd be left with the groove, the structure, the chord changes and the vocal. If one is thinking like an old school producer, that's the track there, everything else is the production. Dance music blurs the boundaries, but a track is more than just the sounds you use, it's intangibles like energy, groove, atmosphere, soul, whatever. You know this anyway so I won't labour it.
The wider point is that if your going to be influenced by italo, you can either say 'lets try to get that slick, frigid, coked out, neon-sunrise-over-Rimini feel and do something with it', or you can say 'lets get a quarter note synth bassline, a vocoder and some space invader noises'. The latter approach,
in my personal and very humble opinion, is a bit played out, and that's what I'm hearing here. That's a general point about being influenced by anything, I'm not a rabid italo-defender.
i'd say this is fairly indisputably smith n hack's stab at euro disco.
And I'm saying it's a pretty lame stab. If you're still playing it regularly in two years time, I'll come stand outside your house and eat a lifesize cardboard cutout of Georgio Moroder complete with genuine human hair - such is my confidence it's not a keeper. In the meantime get on and enjoy it with my best wishes.
Cos I'm so underemployed today, I upped some old italo (the Ganymed is borderline proper disco really) and some newer stuff that I think uses the influence in an interesting way - not to prove a point, just to make peoples afternoons go a little quicker.
Download here. Two of the tracks are taken from the
CBS Top 100, which is a good place to hear lots of italo in one place, should anyone want to.
it must be with a very different ear that someone of your generation listens to these tunes
Easy tiger,
easy! I'm only 31, still some way off free bus travel. Kids these days, no respect!
have you checked out much stuff on ostgut ton? the klock/dettmann 12 (dawning b/w dead man watches the clock) is superb dusky, brooding techno and the len faki delta remixes (on ostgut) are absolutely storming...worth checking out if you haven't already. ben klock's resident advisor podcast showcases the sound pretty well too
Thanks dogger, I haven't heard those and yes I will check them. I usually check most of the stuff that gets mentioned on this thread, I just wish I liked more of it
