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Dreamer in America #5: Louis La Roche / DJ Korss / His Majesty Andre

Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque!

Just as I promised at the end of the last 'Dreamer in America' post, today I bring you three awesome filter house / nu disco jams from some of my favourite artists to date (and major influences on my sound!) hailing from a pretty huge range of places - namely England, Poland and Italy, all of which initially made their name during the late 2000s, internet fueled French house wave - so I hope you enjoy reading my (rather odd, at times) commentary on these classics, and most importantly, listening to them this fine Sunday. Let's begin!


Louis La Roche - Tonight
Aside from his latest record The New Now - it's only just dawned on me that I haven't really talked all that much about the dazzling nu disco work put out by Norwich-based artist Louis La Roche in recent years, and that needs to change - so I thought I'd start this post off by talking about one of my new favourites from the legend, that being a very underrated, buttery smooth, romantic cut from his critically acclaimed debut album To Rest Is To Rust. I initially found this banger just before heading to America, whilst browsing around on Bandcamp to get some tracks for the (very long) flight to Texas and it instantly grabbed my attention for lots of different reasons - for one, it's produced impossibly well (I love the little 80s synths and the horns!) radiating off a sound that I always love when it comes to nu disco (that being clean and very, very catchy!) and while I'm not one for singing anywhere, I feel like if this got played at a club, gathering or party, I'd definitely start dancing (whilst enthusiastically singing the lyrics!) - so that's rare from me. Alongside that, it's an all-round anthem that, like a lot of the stuff on his latest album, has the potential to become a massive hit worldwide, only proving that his initial transition in the late 2000s from making pumping French house into gorgeous, fully original compositions was one hell of a move, and he did it perfectly. Louis, all the power to you!



Alan Braxe and Fred Falke - Palladium (DJ Korss Edit)
Building onto the topic of people that I don't talk about on the blog enough, last night I was looking through SoundCloud and rediscovered what I'd consider to be one of my favourite remixes of all time - this being a killer rework of Braxe and Falke's glitzy and cold, yet somewhat gloomy classic Palladium from Poland-based filter house producer DJ Korss - who, some readers may know from his huge back catalogue of self-released original material, or his amazing Afterwork EP for 4Disco Records, which was released fifteen years ago. Whilst the original track is a lot slower and melancholic (though that's not a bad thing!) this edit takes a completely different, yet extremely welcome approach - in the process becoming a heavy club weapon that's a whole lot more amped up, joyous, exciting and sun-kissed. It's gloriously punchy, injected with what sounds like a ton of analogue warmth, at points it's glitchy and quirky, and above all, it gives the early 2000s track a very different feel. It's looser, more danceable and a damn near perfect five minute workout to drop in any DJ set to get even the stillest of crowds moving their feet - or just to sit back and imagine getting lost in a neon-soaked, colourful world (and while that may sound odd, I think about this every time I hit play!)



His Majesty Andre - NRG 555
By this point in my journey through French house, not a day goes by where I stick on some bangers from Italian DJ, producer, full-time king and Cheap Thrills mainstay His Majesty Andre (bow down...) who I've been listening to since I was a kid - and this morning, I kept getting the loop for this blog-era classic stuck in my head, so I knew it had to get featured today. A little different from Andre's other work - NRG 555 is a surprisingly short, yet very addicting and deep track that's futuristic, robotic and extremely unique sounding, with chopped up vocoder action and tons of filtering paired up with raw, boomy yet unmistakably heavy drum work that mirrors the late 90s Chicago house sound, pioneered by the likes of Stacy Kidd, Paul Johnson and DJ Sneak and adored by enigmatic Parisian duo Daft Punk and many others in the modern French house scene (I guess a lot of us have the same 'teachers'!) whilst also reminding me of Herve's own, low-fidelity disco infused house under the moniker Voodoo Chilli (which is quite fitting really, seeing as he signed Andre for many releases from this point forward!) - so for any of you readers who somehow haven't stumbled upon this yet, I urge you to give it a spin, because it is well worth your time. It was also championed by the likes of Louis La Roche back in the day too (hey, there he is again!) so, that's another seal of approval apart from my own!


There you have it, everyone!

I thoroughly hope you've enjoyed reading about (and listening to) some of my personal favourites today - I've really enjoyed doing this series for y'all over the past few days, and there's lots more to come, so keep your eyes and ears peeled, I have some amazing stuff to feature next.

Be sure to support all of the artists featured today, and as always - keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.





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