Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque!
It's now December - and to end out this incredible year, I thought I'd introduce a new type of post that I plan to be doing more often called The Artist Lowdown - in which I break down an iconic artist (or group) and their work in French house, future funk or nu disco. For today's first pick, I'm going to be focusing on legendary blog-era disco aficionados Vanguard, who, across their four years together producing music, made a huge impact on the disco influenced house scene and became one of the underground acts that defined a generation.
Let's get started!
WHO ARE THEY?
Vanguard were a Welsh duo consisting of James Thomas and Tom Morgan (now respectively known as dJJ and Tomos!) that formed in September 2008 and disbanded in December 2012. They produced music inspired by the early French touch scene - being inspired by Modjo, Room 5, Le Knight Club and of course, Daft Punk - and also the newer acts of the time - such as Justice and the later work of Mr. Oizo. After meeting through mutual friends, they realized they had a similar vision for making music and decided to perform as a duo.
After posting several of their songs to MySpace, they began to pick up steady recognition on the internet with classics such as Femme Fatale, So Much and Judgement of Paris. This culminated in Bethan Elfyn of BBC Radio Wales discovering them - and in January 2010, they were catapulted to stardom after doing an interview (and cracking DJ set) for BBC Radio 1 - and went even further when they headlined the BBC Music Introducing Wales event in November of that same year.
Label offers soon followed - they signed to Shiny Disco Club - contributing two incredible tracks for their Millennium Disco compilations - official remixes for Sugarland Records, Louis La Roche, Sony and Namco came, and they signed to Kris Menace's legendary label Work It Baby for their first official EP, Oysters in The Half Shell - which was released in September 2011. They also scored various shows across the globe - mostly playing in Wales in clubs such as CYNT and Cwlb Ifor Bach but also in places such as Spain!
Eventually, in December 2012 - Tom announced that he would be leaving the project and letting James take the reigns, as they both began to go in different musical directions. After that, Vanguard became a solo vaporwave project, releasing for coveted labels such as AMDISCS and Elemental 95, before the project came to a close at the end of 2015.
Despite Vanguard's disbandment being thirteen years ago, since then, they've remained one of the most well known acts of the blog-era disco explosion, mostly in part due to their solo projects, their music circulating around the internet since then and praise from fabled electronic music DJs and producers such as Disclosure and Salute - who played their legendary track Apollo at the start of this year during a gig in Medellin. Furthermore, they've also directly inspired the formation of La Voyage - the legendary trio consisting of Opierm, Guv'nor Funk and Luv4Loop, which is a massive plus.
Right, now you know who they are - let's get to the music!
THE MUSIC:
Those that know Vanguard well know that they have a very distinct style - and they're known for making the most incredible club jams with a whole lot of style. Yesterday, I took it upon myself to listen to (almost) their entire catalogue to pick out all of my favourite tracks from their fantastic discography - and to kick start this off - here are my favourite originals and remixes from the full time Welshmen, part time disco legends.
LeJeune (Shiny Disco Club, 2011)
Released as part of the second volume of Millennium Disco - LeJeune is an expertly done flip of I Wanna Be With You by Armenta - which was initially used on their (also iconic) banger from 2009, So Much. With some of the most fine, intricate and glamorous chopping I've ever heard in a French house track - this track is a pumping club weapon with heavy post-disco influences and it is a sparkly, bright way to enter their amazing catalogue.
Long Beach (Work It Baby, 2011)
Released as part of the legendary Oysters In The Half Shell EP on Work It Baby - Long Beach is a punchy, summery anthem which is extremely energetic, slightly jittery, and in my humble opinion, one of the best tracks that exemplifies the Vanguard style with ease. Sampling Kilque's fantastic 1983 classic Inside Me - this is definitely one to spin to wear off the cold months - as it's glitzy, effortlessly fun and in general, it's a massive anthem!
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Neptune (Self-released, 2009)
Released as one of Vanguard's (many) infamous MySpace singles, Neptune has become a personal favourite of mine due to the amazing sound design and instrumentation, epic sampling techniques and quirky production - sure, it's filter house at heart, but underneath, it's stuffed with warm, poppy, late 80s influenced synths, bittersweet emotion and a bassline that's guaranteed to move your feet. Hell yeah!
On and Off (Self-released, 2008)
Although this track isn't typical of Vanguard's usual style (hence why it's assumed to have been released back in 2008!) - On and Off is a tightly produced, filtery banger that oozes with the quality of the releases on Crydamoure and various other 90s Parisian labels. Although strange, this one is very fun!
So Much (Self-released, 2009)
Essentially the older brother of LeJeune - So Much is a truly incredible French house outing which feels reminiscent of the stuff you'd hear on Daft Punk's second album Discovery. Also sampling Armenta's I Wanna Be With You (although with some slightly more trippy and light chops) - So Much is club ready, bass heavy and is a genuine classic, just as LeJeune is. It's also one of Vanguard's most popular originals, sitting at around 170,000 views on YouTube across various uploads.
One of my favourite remixes of the bloghouse era - Vanguard's epic edit of Hey You by indie band Pony Pony Run Run is absolutely fantastic. It's incredibly upbeat, energetic and injected with healthy doses of groove, tight, punchy production and dopamine. Pair this with the brilliant synthesis, the soft, gliding vocals of the original and the fast, attack-like chopping featured in this edit, and we have a clear winner. Give it a spin!
Foals - Electric Bloom (Vanguard Remix, 2008)
My personal favourite of Vanguard's entire catalogue - their dope edit of Electric Bloom by Foals is a pounding, heavy club weapon with thick, buzzy synths, slamming drum-work and enough indie sleaze to make any well-to-do record executive throw up. Clearly influenced by the work of SebastiAn and Justice - unlike the rest of the duo's work which is mostly buttery smooth, sleek and shiny - this is a welcome contrast that, when cranked loud, absolutely kicks.
The Ghosts - Enough Time (Vanguard Remix, 2011)
Easily the most club ready track of Vanguard's entire catalogue - the duo's insane edit of Enough Time by The Ghosts is a heavy, bad-ass and irresistibly funky banger that would go down extremely well in clubs and at large festivals. It obviously has a lot of late 90s influence - it's punchy, full of filtered down choppage and it reminds me a lot of the work of the legendary German trio Supa Channel - which is a huge and insanely great bonus - DJs, you know what to do - thank me later!
Fred Falke - Back To Stay (Vanguard Remix, 2009)
Released into the blogosphere in late 2009 - Vanguard's energetic, slightly mental remix of Fred Falke's legendary banger Back To Stay is a pure anthem - as said above with their edit of Not Enough Time - the chopping is insane - and so deeply intricate, it rivals the work of The Phantom's Revenge in his early years - it's basically a summery, raucous version of 3 Minutes Ninja Pizza Making, with some added flamboyance for good measure!
Tesla Boy - Runaway Man (Vanguard Remix, 2010)
Another favourite of mine from the blog house era, the Welshmen's iconic, poppy remix of Tesla Boy's Runaway Man is a dazzling, bright portal into heavy, club ready, French house beats mixed with late 80s synthwave. It's frankly epic, energetic and at times, awe inspiring. This truly is music for being a runner in the night (or just cruising in your Mercedes in downtown LA...)
There you have it, everyone!
You can find the complete Vanguard archive, managed by Opierm for all of the great things Vanguard - it is linked below!
Be sure to check out more of Vanguard's stuff - and as always, keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
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