Mr eel
Italo-Disco Music is Cheesy and I Don’t Care
Hooray! Another new music genre, or in this case a re-discovered genre. Some people like to argue about what precisely Italo-Disco is. Most people use it as a broad term to describe synth-centric disco from the early to mid-eighties originating in Europe.
The real pedants like to argue that Italo-Disco is from strictly Italy only, and everything else is Euro-Disco. Who cares really? The term is useful to describe a sound that’s all. Hell there is even some Italo from Canada.
Oh how to describe it? Heavy Disco influence, but focussing more on technology, both in terms of instrumentation and lyrical content — ‘I am a dancing, loving robot’. Anyone listening to it now would easily fit it into their idea of House. Four to the floor beats, repetitive structure, vocoders, synths! Still, Italo is a product of its times. Most Italo wants to be pop-music. In that sense it bears some similarities to electro-pop. I’m falling into the same habit as alot of other punters. I can only describe Italo in terms of other music. Oh well.
Anyhow, its cheesy isn’t it? For sure. Some really cringe-worthy lyrics, bad english, twee melodies and generally bad ideas. That said there are still loads of great Italo tunes. I thought I might just highlight a few that I really dig.
Azoto - Exalt Exalt
I chose this one first because in many ways it typifies an classic Italo tune. That no-nonsense beat, the hi-hats snapping up and down, bleepy synths, vocodered vocals and that crazy chorus. At a running time of nearly eight minutes. Most Italo tracks seem to run for a fair while.
Hypnotic Tango - My Mine
This is cheese. Not completely, but it has some seriously cheesy moments. I love it to bits though, in fact it’s the cheesy bits I like the most. The chorus is pitched up! It’s really cool.
Fun Fun - Give Me Your Love (remix)
I love this track so much. For awhile there I listened to it consistently while walking to work. Once to work, once on the way home. Nearly got me run over a few times. It’s an eighties track for sure. Big Snare Drum. I just love the melody and the washy synths. Can’t go wrong with the lyrics either — ‘you, give me your love, DJ you’re my passion…’.
La Bionda - I Wanna Be Your Lover
This is such a cute song. The lyrics really do it for me. To summarise; our narrator is listening to the radio and ahhh, an inter-stellar transmission! It’s an alien wanting to seduce him. How great is that?
The Immortals - The Ultimate Warlord
This song just kills when you’re driving or walking. The strident drums and that repetitive bass-line. Spoken word lyrics from our warlord, pitched down for extra-ominousness. The chorus is like almost choir. The interplay between the vocals and the synths is really cool in places. This goes on for ten minutes. Yay!
Gary Low - You Are A Danger
This is so twee, it’s like all the tweeness in the world has gathered in one place. Some ohhh eeeeh aaahhhh vocals, some chirpy synths, a bit of piano and yeeeees, a cheery high-pitched chorus. It rules.
That ought to keep you occupied for awhile. If anyone else has got any cool tunes to recommend, please post in the comments. I’ve always got my ears open for new stuff.
Comments
Rene on May 14, 2006
Yes, the ultimate warlord rules!!!