No diss to Thes but that's kind of a revisionist way of looking at it.
There's no real "commercial vs. underground" disco debate... it's more like good vs. bad
I'm no expert but I've gotta disagree with this. While there isn't a commercial vs. underground debate, it's not simply good and bad - there are so many different flavors of disco records that there's room for some "one man's trash is another's treasure" stuff to happen. There's the sappy string-heavy disco, cheesy euro disco with no swing to it, loft disco with weird effects, percussion-heavy disco breaks ala some UBB tracks. And if you look at what hip-hop DJs were playing in the late 70s/early 80s, they created their own category of disco records purely by selection.
I suspect the folks who think they don't like disco just haven't heard the disco records that click with them. I know it took me awhile to understand this, but it's very true - I really couldn't care less about most disco records but there are some gems I've heard that I'd love to have.
the big advantage this has over the dap tones for me is i like hearing disco when im out dancing, im not too big on funk 45 nights but disco, house, even some italo im not totally tired of ... i think thats what concerns me more than, like, corny people like disco or something is the worry that suddenly one of my favorite going-out-dancing options is gonna turn into a scene i dont really want to be a part of.
dont get me wrong, i love going out w/ a good crowd no matter how hip or whatever if they're really into the music and the DJ, its just that the kind of wallflower hangers on, the sudden nerdiness of record spotters scaring away girls, the guys who go to watch the dj vs. dance to the dj etc.
i mean right now if i go to a disco/house night in chi, chances are it'll be a good mixed crowd w/ a DJ catering to dancers, not dudes looking to hear raers who'll get mad if you drop 'ring my bell'. I like it that way. the wheat to chaff ratio is good.
the kind of wallflower hangers on, the sudden nerdiness of record spotters scaring away girls, the guys who go to watch the dj vs. dance to the dj etc.
Why you gotta put 90% of Soul Strut on blast like that?
disco IS old...what do you think disco is ? its dance music...played in discoteques. sampling disco/ boogie records would make one.....kinda disco right ?
opinions are welcome. but dont get it twisted...it sounds like your one of these kids that has to be spoonfed disco loops with big drums just so it sounds "new " to you. what do you think makes up a daft punk ? youve been tricked. just cuz theres a booming 808 over it dont really make it new to me...i know the formula...and thats what it takes to get the kids to eat it. deconstruct it and what do you end up with ?
all this electro sounding shit is so far from "new".. all the sounds are retro. for the most part its only difference is theres no band..and al kent has got ACTUAL HUMANS playing all the parts..whens the last time you heard an idie project sounding raw with real orchestration ?
since you hate this sound...i take it you dont dance.
This will be my last argumentation/post.
Hi RAW_HAMBURGER,
no I'm not a kid, and you do not answer my main, my only question in fact which is :
"why is Mr Kent producing an album of Disco like back in the days?"
because it's a "challenge", because it's "fun", because "people will dance like it's 1978" or because Joey Negro will say "Al Kent has managed to recreate the modern soul meets backstreet disco sound he loves with amazing authenticity" ... what else?
I hear you say you know the deal, the formula, and you also say that Daft Punk only add a "booming 808" over a sample, there is something here.
the kind of wallflower hangers on, the sudden nerdiness of record spotters scaring away girls, the guys who go to watch the dj vs. dance to the dj etc.
Why you gotta put 90% of Soul Strut on blast like that?
haha theres also a cheese quotient in the other direction to be fair ... i should spread the hate. folks who go to be seen but wouldnt dance because it would mean they might drop the martini glass etc
No diss to Thes but that's kind of a revisionist way of looking at it.
There's no real "commercial vs. underground" disco debate... it's more like good vs. bad
I'm no expert but I've gotta disagree with this. While there isn't a commercial vs. underground debate, it's not simply good and bad - there are so many different flavors of disco records that there's room for some "one man's trash is another's treasure" stuff to happen. There's the sappy string-heavy disco, cheesy euro disco with no swing to it, loft disco with weird effects, percussion-heavy disco breaks ala some UBB tracks.
This is sort-of true.
YES there is crappy euroman disco. But there are even some italo jams I can get with. On my disco mix from WNYU that I put up on my site I played one towards the end. If I suck and you just want to FF you can put the pointer towards the end and catch "Whistle Fantasy" by BB and the Band which is sick.
That said I can't really get behind the "different disco for different folks" argument. If you only like "Dance To The Drummers Beat", "La Pregunta", "Pussyfooter", and the basic hip-hop breaks drawn from disco tunes then you don't really like disco.
A buddy of mine says "if you don't like teh gay then you don't like disco."
I love stuff like the afore-mentioned "Draggin My Heels", "Can You Get Down" by Universe City is one of my favorites, down to your basic West Ends which can vary from a loft workout like "When You Touch Me" (I dare anyone to front) to weird shit like "Serious Sirius Space Party". That's not even to mention club classics like D-Train "You're The One For Me", surely a lot of that is lumped into something string driven or "cheesy".
Bottom line is that disco = 70s and early 80s dance music if you can't get with that then I understand... but there's no sense in trying to like disco without going all the way in. I mean get with "I love you, I live you" by Chaka Khan or "Upside Down" by Donna Summer. If you front on that then there's no hope...
No diss to Thes but that's kind of a revisionist way of looking at it.
There's no real "commercial vs. underground" disco debate... it's more like good vs. bad
I'm no expert but I've gotta disagree with this. While there isn't a commercial vs. underground debate, it's not simply good and bad - there are so many different flavors of disco records that there's room for some "one man's trash is another's treasure" stuff to happen. There's the sappy string-heavy disco, cheesy euro disco with no swing to it, loft disco with weird effects, percussion-heavy disco breaks ala some UBB tracks.
This is sort-of true.
YES there is crappy euroman disco. But there are even some italo jams I can get with. On my disco mix from WNYU that I put up on my site I played one towards the end. If I suck and you just want to FF you can put the pointer towards the end and catch "Whistle Fantasy" by BB and the Band which is sick.
That said I can't really get behind the "different disco for different folks" argument. If you only like "Dance To The Drummers Beat", "La Pregunta", "Pussyfooter", and the basic hip-hop breaks drawn from disco tunes then you don't really like disco.
A buddy of mine says "if you don't like teh gay then you don't like disco."
I love stuff like the afore-mentioned "Draggin My Heels", "Can You Get Down" by Universe City is one of my favorites, down to your basic West Ends which can vary from a loft workout like "When You Touch Me" (I dare anyone to front) to weird shit like "Serious Sirius Space Party". That's not even to mention club classics like D-Train "You're The One For Me", surely a lot of that is lumped into something string driven or "cheesy".
Bottom line is that disco = 70s and early 80s dance music if you can't get with that then I understand... but there's no sense in trying to like disco without going all the way in. I mean get with "I love you, I live you" by Chaka Khan or "Upside Down" by Donna Summer. If you front on that then there's no hope...
Agree completely with your essentialist argument. There's good from every subgenre of disco, and, like you said, if you can't get down with the good from any subgenre, you have no hope.
A buddy of mine says "if you don't like teh gay then you don't like disco."
Haha yeah this is probably true.
And I see your point, makes a lot more sense now. I know I have a disco breaks mentality, which usually means I only like part of any given track, or disco that sounds decidedly non-typical. But that only has to do with what I collect and play - I don't dislike the other stuff, I just don't really find it worth owning.
i.e. - Maybe I'm not a huge fan of disco in general but I still find room to pick and choose.
looking at a larry levan tracklist now and marveling at it! he's got chilites, munich machine ('cheesy euro'), cher, jermaine jackson, crown heights affair, stephanie mills, shalamar, john gibbs and the u.s. steel band ... and its one of his more trad sets, too! he would mix in talking heads and shit like that all the time.
A buddy of mine says "if you don't like teh gay then you don't like disco."
Haha yeah this is probably true.
And I see your point, makes a lot more sense now. I know I have a disco breaks mentality, which usually means I only like part of any given track, or disco that sounds decidedly non-typical. But that only has to do with what I collect and play - I don't dislike the other stuff, I just don't really find it worth owning.
i.e. - Maybe I'm not a huge fan of disco in general but I still find room to pick and choose.
Well let it be said that I am a huge fan.... but I do not collect 12"s.
Hollies... SOLD Vance & Suzanne... SOLD Le Cop... SOLD
I love disco because I love listening to good mixing, and disco mixes really well - maybe not as easily as techno, but in the most danceable way, in my opinion.
the fact is, disco mixes that seem to revolves around one 'style' are often the most boring
If you're saying what I think you're saying, then that is not a fact. I love listening to mixes full of nothing but string heavy man-diva gayness without the boogie. I guess I could be in the minority with this one though.
looking at a larry levan tracklist now and marveling at it! he's got chilites, munich machine ('cheesy euro'), cher, jermaine jackson, crown heights affair, stephanie mills, shalamar, john gibbs and the u.s. steel band ... and its one of his more trad sets, too! he would mix in talking heads and shit like that all the time.
Which is why there is only one Larry Levan. And he dead.
Who else can do that? Nobody else has convinced me that this can sound good.
OK, this is Disco recorded today with an authentic 70's feel. I remember finding out about this through the Million Dollar Disco website. Putting this on my 'want list'.
Comments
versace had her looken like a plucked turkey!
Then again I like the Dap Tones.
I'm no expert but I've gotta disagree with this. While there isn't a commercial vs. underground debate, it's not simply good and bad - there are so many different flavors of disco records that there's room for some "one man's trash is another's treasure" stuff to happen. There's the sappy string-heavy disco, cheesy euro disco with no swing to it, loft disco with weird effects, percussion-heavy disco breaks ala some UBB tracks. And if you look at what hip-hop DJs were playing in the late 70s/early 80s, they created their own category of disco records purely by selection.
I suspect the folks who think they don't like disco just haven't heard the disco records that click with them. I know it took me awhile to understand this, but it's very true - I really couldn't care less about most disco records but there are some gems I've heard that I'd love to have.
dont get me wrong, i love going out w/ a good crowd no matter how hip or whatever if they're really into the music and the DJ, its just that the kind of wallflower hangers on, the sudden nerdiness of record spotters scaring away girls, the guys who go to watch the dj vs. dance to the dj etc.
i mean right now if i go to a disco/house night in chi, chances are it'll be a good mixed crowd w/ a DJ catering to dancers, not dudes looking to hear raers who'll get mad if you drop 'ring my bell'. I like it that way. the wheat to chaff ratio is good.
i am feeling 'doncha wanna get down'
Why you gotta put 90% of Soul Strut on blast like that?
This will be my last argumentation/post.
Hi RAW_HAMBURGER,
no I'm not a kid, and you do not answer my main, my only question in fact which is :
"why is Mr Kent producing an album of Disco like back in the days?"
because it's a "challenge", because it's "fun", because "people will dance like it's 1978" or because Joey Negro will say "Al Kent has managed to recreate the modern soul meets backstreet disco sound he loves with amazing authenticity" ... what else?
I hear you say you know the deal, the formula, and you also say that Daft Punk only add a "booming 808" over a sample, there is something
So you mean Electro is older than Disco...
And yes I dance, I'm a boogie man. ;-)
So much disco would be so much better without strings.
haha theres also a cheese quotient in the other direction to be fair ... i should spread the hate. folks who go to be seen but wouldnt dance because it would mean they might drop the martini glass etc
This is sort-of true.
YES there is crappy euroman disco. But there are even some italo jams I can get with. On my disco mix from WNYU that I put up on my site I played one towards the end. If I suck and you just want to FF you can put the pointer towards the end and catch "Whistle Fantasy" by BB and the Band which is sick.
That said I can't really get behind the "different disco for different folks" argument. If you only like "Dance To The Drummers Beat", "La Pregunta", "Pussyfooter", and the basic hip-hop breaks drawn from disco tunes then you don't really like disco.
A buddy of mine says "if you don't like teh gay then you don't like disco."
I love stuff like the afore-mentioned "Draggin My Heels", "Can You Get Down" by Universe City is one of my favorites, down to your basic West Ends which can vary from a loft workout like "When You Touch Me" (I dare anyone to front) to weird shit like "Serious Sirius Space Party". That's not even to mention club classics like D-Train "You're The One For Me", surely a lot of that is lumped into something string driven or "cheesy".
Bottom line is that disco = 70s and early 80s dance music if you can't get with that then I understand... but there's no sense in trying to like disco without going all the way in. I mean get with "I love you, I live you" by Chaka Khan or "Upside Down" by Donna Summer. If you front on that then there's no hope...
Same here.
From what I understand, disco crowds eventually became boogie crowds. One camp.
When I play boogie tracks and disco tracks for people, there are usually two camps.
Yeah so much of non-classical music would be better without the strings, save for a few songs where they are done very very well.
Agree completely with your essentialist argument. There's good from every subgenre of disco, and, like you said, if you can't get down with the good from any subgenre, you have no hope.
Haha yeah this is probably true.
And I see your point, makes a lot more sense now. I know I have a disco breaks mentality, which usually means I only like part of any given track, or disco that sounds decidedly non-typical. But that only has to do with what I collect and play - I don't dislike the other stuff, I just don't really find it worth owning.
i.e. - Maybe I'm not a huge fan of disco in general but I still find room to pick and choose.
I don't like mixes that criss-cross from '77 to '84.
Well let it be said that I am a huge fan.... but I do not collect 12"s.
Hollies... SOLD
Vance & Suzanne... SOLD
Le Cop... SOLD
that last one
really well - maybe not as easily as techno, but in the most danceable
way, in my opinion.
If you're saying what I think you're saying, then that is not a fact. I love listening to mixes full of nothing but string heavy man-diva gayness without the boogie. I guess I could be in the minority with this one though.
Which is why there is only one Larry Levan. And he dead.
Who else can do that? Nobody else has convinced me that this can sound good.
Hot damn Jonny...
what if u like the gay but dont like the disco?
Do you really like disco? The strings are one of the best parts!
Oh, haha.
I remember finding out about this through the Million Dollar Disco website.
Putting this on my 'want list'.