No.9 x 2012

It's been a while since you heard from me here, since I've been finishing my bachelor degree (not in disco though). But I have been keeping myself busy on that scene as well, providing the third volume for the very interesting Edits-series by netbased label Diavol.
The Argentinian label is run by local discophiles Premini & Jovan, and they have developed a quite uniqe concept with this project. All volumes are released digital and free of charge, accompanied by cover art from interesting young artists and video trailers in the same vein of musical visualization as In Flagrantis promo films.
The first volume features edits of obscure Brazilian disco, new wave and pop signed by themselves, the second volume had Nassau edit the local flavours of his home country Italy. For this third volume I pitched in with one edit of a Swedish original (Subway At Night) but expanded to an international scope on the following three cuts (spanning three diferent continents - Japan, UK & USA) and also decided to keep the names of the originals to myself - not out of pride, I've just always enjoyed the mysterious side of edits more (it makes the crate digging so much more fun).
The cover art was provided by Los Angeles-based Cleon Peterson, and is one of the pieces of a series called The Practice Of Masters.
All edits are now available for free on Soundcloud but you can also show your love by getting the whole volume for just a dollar at the Diavol site.

No.8 x 2012

As some of you may recall I did an edit some time ago of a track by Richard Schönherz called Between Judgement And Madness, which I released under my own name with the title Habla Taco Marijuana. I gave it away as a christmas present here in 2010 and ever since that it's been living a life of its own (someone even put it on Youtube).

By chance, I was digging through my own collection and stumbled upon the Black Jack record, which I had bought for the wonderfully sleezy Jungleman Jive (as it was re-edited by Loud E). I thought I should give the whole record another chance and when I came to the title track, it turns out it's a semi-cover of that very Schoenherz-track.

It's not so surprising of course, since Peter Hauke who is behind Black Jack also produced the Schönherz record (and they're both in the extended circe surrounding Kurt Hauensteins Supermax). Schönherz is also part of the production team on the Black Jack record, and so is drummer Hartmut Pfanmüller who plays on both those records.

Very much a friendly affair, and a nice reinterpretation which speeds up and tightens the groove from the 1978 version, leaving out the long and spacey interlude which I also cut out on my edit. There's some different synth figures here that are bordering on cheesy, and the harmonica is a wierd touch. All in all it's a bit more stiff and mechanic in it's approach, but with a coked out sleezy charm that complements the rather pretentious aspect of the "original".

BLACK JACK - HOT PASSION

No.3 x 2012

Ah yes, Finland! Too few of our entries here tagged "Scandinavian" can be contributed to our distant neighbour Finland, the black sheep of the family when it come to scandinavian countries - since they have a language that doesn't even remotely bear resemblance to any of the other three. They're only connected to Sweden by landmass way up north in the Same territory, and seems to have adopted the ideal of the strong silent type from the top down (warning, massive stereotype alert). So what a nice surprise to see them pop in their head through the doors of the disco renaissance just to let us know that they're really not into that kind of stuff. Rod Stewart-impersonator and schlager star Ricki Sorsa sure can't stand dancing anyway, and takes a bold stance against the party drugs of the club scene, especially "the coke thats in your nose", as he puts it. And then to match these lyrics with a pumping disco beat and an infectious chorus complete with echo-layered handclaps only further proves that the finns have a dark sense of humor.

RIKI SORSA - CAN'T STAND DANCING

No. 1 x 2012

My buddy Jens Dahl Thomsen is coming over from Copenhagen on saturday to play some quality boogie & sleeze, as the flyer states we’ll be taking it to THE MAX over at Far i Hatten (Folkets Park) from 22:00 to 01:00. Check us OUT!
The flyer/club is a hommage to the electronic funk group Xavier and their hit Do It To The Max from 1983,where in the video this matchbox reveals that they're all actually hanging out at a hip joint called The Max. Very meta!

SATURDAY: 22-00
CITY: MALMÖ FAR I HATTEN: FREE ENTRANCE
MUSIC: YES, PLENTY!

No.22 x 2011

Bagen was a hip MTV-style show on swedish public service TV in the mid-1980's, hosted by the ever so charismatic Cia Berg (front figure in the band Ubangi and later on in the 90's band Whale), check out a collage of some of Cias "looks" during the different shows here.

One of the features of the show except to supply the latest music videos of the time was a segment called Freak Out, where Stockholm B-boy Karl Dyall would give informative examples of breaking, locking and making fun of asians (no kidding, just check out his opening act in thisclip!).

SVT also managed to put out this amazing record of some of the music that was made exclusively for the show, most of it produced by the prolific former prog-rocker Coste Apetrea. There's plenty of good stuff in the way of electro and boogie, and the Mikael Rickfors track is a cool and dark piece that could stand to be compared with some of Angela Werners best stuff.

One noteble track is also the CCC version of Kool Katt, the cheesy rap-boogie hit by the group STOP (there's a nice edit of the original out there by our Norwegian neighbour Rune Lindbaek). This version on the other hand tones down on the cheese and adds more ice in the way of L.A.-electro style drum machines. Oh and the record comes with an instructional poster on how to breakdance and do the electric boogie.

CCC - KOOL KATT

No.20 x 2011

Take a look at this dude. He's all suave and hairy, apparently shirtless and possibly totally nude when this picture was taken. His eyes show a certain determination, located just under that vague uni-brow. Is he handsome? Well no, not really. But somehow he posesses a sleezy charisma that somehow rubbed off on the music this guy laid down back in 1978. The lyrics, which are a bold mix between swedish and english (or "swenglish" as it is called), reads like a compilation list of useful pickup-lines at any bar in Stockholm during the late 1970's.

KENNET GREUZ - LOVE MY BABY LOVE