Disco Horror

Friday rolls around and I feel like posting what I had planned on posting a few weeks ago, so today’s the day.  I’ve been feeling particularly tropical lately, listening to a ton of Herb Alpert and Tullio de Piscopo and dressing like Dr. Jacoby from Twin Peaks.  Also, my monthly night at Laszlo is drawing near (next Tuesday) and I will be DJing with none other than Dan Judd aka Sorcerer, master of analog tropical vibes.  Dan will be sharing the best of his beach boogie collection as well as some of the footage he has scoured countless thrift shop VHS bins for that you commonly see in his most radical self-made music videos.  So come by cause it’s FREE and the best thing I know of to do on a Tuesday night!

The video to Sorcerer’s “Push to Freeze”.

I picked up the Versus EP a month or two ago because of the Stallions (Lovefingers and Lee Douglas) track on it, but was pleasantly surprised to find this B-side jam that I have been playing out nonstop.  It’s a Findlay Brown (indie/folk rocker who I know nothing about) track produced by Lynchmob (this dude Brendan Lynch who has been around forevskis but about whom I know nothing).  But it jams man, and takes me back in time and space to a cabana in the Caribbean circa 1978.

Findlay Brown – Nobody Cared (Lynchmob Version)

Then there’s this dude that Erik found on DJ History and turned me onto Zarrylade.  This dude channels Sting without sounding like a gimmick and brings me back to the days when I first heard the Police.  Seriously amazing jam that I have been playing on repeat.  The release also features a fleshed out remix by Leo Zero.  A tropical electronic dance session in order.

Zarrylade – Eyes Above Your Head Part II (Leo Zero Version)

Changing pace a bit I have been listening to Quiet Village’s remix of Jonathan Jeremiah’s “Happiness” quite a bit lately.  RCRDLBL posted this track last year and it was a jaw-dropper in my opinion.  A tribute to the lush string ballad production of days past, truly the sound of paradise.  It sounds to me like the soundtrack to the most beautiful sunrise.  One of the best things Quiet Village have done in my opinion, and that’s saying a lot.  Enjoy happiness.

Jonathan Jeremiah – Happiness (Quiet Village Remix)

More beachin tunes to come.

I know it may seem like we have an unhealthy obsession with the region, but here at Disco Horror we actually have a strictly enforced quota to fulfill regarding Scandinavian music. I’m a little afraid to say this publicly, but if we don’t post about it 25% of the time or more some large, post-ironic dude with rugged features comes and breaks Ash’s legs. Having said that, to further appease the Scando mafia we present to you a double dose of musical offerings from Swedish songwriter Victoria Bergsman, aka Taken by Trees.

I hope it doesn’t matter that Bergsman recorded her new album ‘East of Eden’ in Pakistan, along with a film crew from National Geographic (as documented here) and a very 80s-like intention to directly incorporate local Sufi musicians into the project. As if the deal needed to get any sweeter, Dan Lissvik himself lends his Studio mastery and beach-disco vibes to the album- something guaranteed to get people around here worked up into little tizzy fits. The first single, “Watch the Waves,” is a pretty nice encapsulation of why this album works so well; opening with a mean flute solo, the song quickly emerges with a loping, Eastern bass-like rhythm and it starts to sound like the logical extension of what Lissvik began to explore on ’7 Trx + Intermission’. Also in this groovy Sufi-balearic vein is the much less circulated album opener “To Lose Someone,” which explores similar textures but leaves a little more space for Bergsman’s trademark melancholy to seep in. Her earnest vocals somehow sit pretty comfortably in the mix among such eclectic elements, a familiar voice guiding you through foreign surroundings. If you haven’t already read about this album elsewhere, I suspect we’ll all be hearing plenty more about it come September 9th when it officially drops so you better check it…

Taken by Trees – Watch the Waves

Taken by Trees – To Lose Someone

If you’ve followed us with any regularity, you’ve probably been inundated with enough Scandanavian tropical escapist music to make you start wearing linens and a wicker hat, but here at Disco Horror we are trying to exacerbate your dependence on this music to the point that we can recruit you on a cultish mass migration to an abandoned island in the Maldives where we can start a colony dedicated to making and appreciating rad music.  While weather here in San Francisco is never really hot or humid or “tropical”, the last week had some of the best weather the city has had since I relocated from LA.  It was warm and it was sunny and it was glorious, and it’s weather like this that makes me want to put away my Suicide albums, wash off my goth make-up and dance barefoot in the park to some unfettered beach pop.  Now some of you, namely from the Eastern (and lesser) coast, might be confused at this point.  I’m not talking about soda or carbonated beverages of any sort, but rather unabashed music meant to please the ears and appeal to the masses.  The kind of music that some nerds are ashamed to listen to, but here we embrace all types of pop and cheese and so today I will share with you two of my current jamz.

Information has been stirring lately with a plethora of new material that Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg have been involved with at various levels.  You alread heard a sample of the krauty Fontan album Hägg supervised, but Lissvik’s work on the new album by The Crêpes, What Else?, is much more apparent as he was supposedly more involved in the production side.  The album took a little while to work on me, but lately I have been enjoying it frequently as a starter to the day.  It plays like a derivation of the vibe Studio accomplished on ”No Comply” with more blissed out pop lyrics and guitar.  But here is by far my favorite piece of the album, the short and sweet “Write” that prefaces the gentle ringing daze of ”Ebb Tide”.  The vinyl is is still available at Piccadilly, but CD versions will most likely follow soon enough!  Truly a beautiful little piece.

The Crêpes – Write/Ebb Tide

Next comes a 12″ I was lucky enough to recently win on eBay that takes us back to the definition of balearic, complete with muted horns, guitar, and ambigious European lyrics from 1984.  Tullio de Piscopo’s classic “Stop Bajon (Primavera)” is what you might call a balearic necessity, and I jam to it in my car all the time, and people probably stare, but when you start to listen to this kind of amazing cheese you just have to be unashamed about it.  It’s as simple as that.  I won’t say much on it, but don’t pick up the LP because most of the tracks are stripped down and edit the structure of the song away.  This is the 12″ version and if you haven’t heard of it, today might be the best day you are going to have in a while, so prepare yourself to enjoy!

Tullio de Piscopo – Stop Bajon (Primavera)