After hours grooving…
1. Paolo Conte – Aguaplano
Paolo Conte has created a world of own mixing nostalgic jazz moods, exoticism and down-to-earth Northern-Italian realism. This album has it all. The title song is about flying over Rio De Janeiro in a small seaplane, noticing a grand piano floating in the middle of the ocean and imagining what crazy story may have brought it there.
2. Change – The End
Perhaps the best space disco track ever. Written by Change’s guitar player Paolo Gianolio and produced by Mauro Malavasi. Great melody, in my book it trumps any other space disco classic.
3. Azoto – Exalt Exalt
I’m found of all disco records produced by Celso Valli. This is a personal favourite. Perhaps one of Valli’s simpler and straighter arrangements. Timeless. A few months ago I mentioned his works in an interview I did for an Italian magazine. He contacted the magazine and asked for my phone number to thank me. I nearly had a seizure when he did.
4. Steely Dan – Glamour Profession
I’m a big fan of everything Steely Dan. I learnt a lot about music by listening to Donald Fagen records, trying to figure out their complex yet soothing harmonies and arrangements.
5. Lucio Battisti – Cosa Succederà alla Ragazza
The last few albums by Battisti were all electronic and the songs didn’t have the traditional verse/chorus structure. People thought he had gone crazy. I love that stuff. Not only was he ahead of his time, I don’t think there is anything similar to what he did. Although these records they can only be fully enjoyed if you know Italian well. Panella’s lyrics are really what stitches everything together.
6. Duran Duran – Arena
OK this is the very first LP I ever bought. I was 7 years old. I still have it and listen to it. My favourite songs was New Religion, of which I did a cover version with Oy (Joy Frempong) for our Tinpong collaboration.
7. Electra feat. Tara Butler – Feels Good (Carrots & Beats)
Classic Italian disco production. The bass and drums of this were used by Frankie Knuckles’ for Your Love. As seminal as that.
8. Ernest Rangling – Surfin’
I was never a big fan of reggae. Although this record is a personal favourite. It’s one of the first records I played out when I started DJing and I sometimes play it out in the club now!
9. FPI Project – Everybody (All Over The World)
I was a kid when this was playing on small Italian radio stations (big networks were not common back then). I wasn’t interested in house music and DJing until I heard this. This song bought me into dance music.
10. The Whitest Boy Alive – Island
Fond of both their albums, but this songs stands out. I used to close my DJ sets with it a few years back. I think this is music that will remain and will be re-discovered many times in the future.
Bottin – Punica Fides (Bearfunk)
Almost 5 years after his previous album ‘Horror Disco’ (which was a concept album drawing connections between Italian ‘70s and ‘80s giallo and horror movies soundtracks and disco music) Bottin is back with a stunning new full length opus. Entitled ‘Punica Fides’ the album was made during sessions in Venice, Rome, Berlin and Ibiza.
Releasing on labels like Italians Do It better, Nang and Z records, Bottin has made a reputation for himself as a fine craftsmen who really knows his musical history and has a true passion for soundtracks. This new album, his third in a career that dates back more than a decade, was made using a ton of synthesisers, guitars, FX machines and with the help of some standout vocal collaborators.
According to the artist, “Punica Fides is a Roman expression that means “treachery”. The concept behind the album (made clear in the song titles) is manipulation, falsehood, seduction (and the will to be seduced knowing it’s a lie), propaganda but also parody and satire. I think music (and especially dance music) is always also a parody. A dance track is a parody of itself and of other tracks that came before it. The album is not as soundtrack and nostalgic as Horror Disco was, I think this is a musically diverse album which ranges from synth-house, dark electronica, neo-new-wave dystopian landscapes, space disco and Italo disco. I suppose it’s more of a dance record, which reflect the past 5-6 year touring the world as a DJ, as well as the will of creating my own musical bubble.”
The album opens in spiky fashion with the raw drums and serrated synths of ‘Lies’ coming over like a shimmering deep disco jam. Many styles are explored from there on in with ‘Flow Of Persuasion’ being a fast paced, melodically rich house cut that is stuff with analogue lines and oozes psychedelic charm. Next up is the fantastic ‘Poison’ with Steve Strange (lead singer of Visage and co-founder of the Blitz Club which set the New Romantic template for the music and style of the 80s) which cuts a fine form with its squelchy synthesized basslines, pop leaning vocals and brightly coloured keys. Mid way through the album comes the frazzled synths and steel drum charm of ‘Lust for Deception’, a raucous and ravey disco cut of sheer pleasure.
‘All For One’ is another dazzling jam shot through with laser synths, arpeggiated lines and robotic vocals that sound like Kraftwerk on acid. Every new track seems even more fun and colourful that the last and the album as a whole leaves you feeling hugely energised, happy and very much alive. The closer is a reprise of ‘Lies’ with vocals from Lavinia Claws that comes straight from some intergalactic disco party it’s so spangled and sugary. Fans of Todd Terje, Pachanga Boys and all Bottin’s previous work will no doubt fall madly in love with this beautifully crafted and sensuously shiny electronic album.
Bottin – Punica Fides (Bearfunk) is out May 19th 2014 (Cat. No.: BFKCD031, BFKLP031)
