Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque!
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After a fair few days of (much needed) rest - today, I'm incredibly excited to bring you the final 'Dreamer in America' post, talking about four amazing tracks that I was listening to during my last hours (and the flight home) from the states. Today's quartet of fine cuts goes in a huge range of directions - despite all of it being blog-era, there's some gorgeous nu-disco, wonderful French-touch infused synthwave and of course, the usual servings of club jams, this time around from Wales and Italy.
Let's begin!
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Lebatman - Alphaville
Starting this one off strong with a bona fide classic - Alphaville (and no, I'm not talking about the German band...) has only clicked with me fairly recently, despite being a massive underground hit upon release at the start of French house's major, DIY-led comeback in the late 2000s, and a blueprint for many talents in the modern scene (including New-York based musician Mr. Hoosteen and several Creux La Nuit members!) - it is, to put it simply - an extremely addicting, idiosyncratic, Convention-sampling weapon that's surprisingly heavy, summery and bursting with joy throughout, whilst managing to sound like a total one off. Around this time, the Italian mastermind had only been releasing filter house for just under a year (going off of a small EP he did for Japanese net-label Bump that same year) and his style was very much beginning to take shape - however, while a lot of his later cuts are a lot smoother overall, the roughness of Alphaville is what makes it so brilliant in my eyes. Sure, it's still a summery club weapon like I said a second ago, but the way it's been put together works insanely well - the drums are rough, distorted and almost techno-ish in nature, it's stuffed with movie samples and warmth and the structuring is quite odd - but at the same time, it's an upbeat classic that sounds like it could have got signed to Vertigo at the turn of the millennium or been slammed into an Essential Mix for Radio 1 in the very late 90s, so it gets a pretty huge thumbs up from me.
Vanguard - Morning Light
Around fifteen years ago, things were going exceptionally well for Welsh production outfit Vanguard - they'd just released a cracking EP for Kris Menace's legendary label Work It Baby (that being Oysters in the Half Shell, go and check it out!) and remixed the likes of Silver Disco, The Ghosts and The Scientists of Modern Music, whilst making rounds on blogs and getting regular plays on the BBC. If that wasn't enough - they also released a slew of fantastic singles during this time, bolstering their success even further - one of those being the euphoric, yet damn incredible Morning Light, which I listened to heavily during my last day in America for pretty much all of the right reasons. Firstly, it shows the Welshmen at their absolute prime as a duo, their sound and stylistic ideas now fully formed after three years of relentless work - secondly, in my eyes, Morning Light is a beautiful (and very successful) hybrid between French house and nu disco, complete with great instrumentation, squeaky clean production and fantastic beats, all melded together with their one of a kind style that's very hard to replicate (well, we have La Voyage at least!) whilst being perfectly glamorous, confident and great for any happy occasion - but mostly for dancing to - and most importantly, it's a timeless slice of sweet, sweet house that still sounds extremely fresh today, heck - it could honestly be a smash hit today - so I'm sure you readers are bound to love it. File next to the likes of Louis La Roche, Chris Malinchak and Moullinex.
Digitalfoxglove - Someone Else
For the final two tracks on the Dreamer in America series, I wanted to step away from all of the club-ready bangers and shimmering jams and go in a slightly different direction by talking about some very unique, yet more emotional things, and to kick this off, I thought I'd bring my friend Peter (who's named after a plant, in case some of you are curious!) onto the blog today with his frankly excellent, synth-wave esque workout Someone Else, that was released a decade and a half ago to acclaim. Some of you readers may know him as a member of the legendary American-German nu disco quartet Ride The Universe that rose to prominence for their dazzling originals and reworking Chromeo, Thrill Kill and Pat Lok amongst many others - and I'm incredibly pleased to say that this single truly is wonderful, and one of my favourites of the year, for sure. It's a truly epic crossover between the sounds of the late 80s with a (very welcome) French touch feel, baked with nu disco vibes reminiscent of what'd be covered on legendary blogs such as Chemical Jump or, the omniscient Discodust - and if I had to put it simply, it sounds as if it would be the product between a hypothetical situation where Kavinsky, LBCK and everyone's favourite, enigmatic Parisian robots Daft Punk got locked in a room together and decided to work on a track. Despite the comparisons to such legendary artists, Peter's style is what really makes Someone Else shine - it flirts with several different moods expertly, in the end creating an extremely bittersweet classic, and if anything, it proved (and still does now!) that he's a true master behind the boards, and with synthesizers. I'm glad to finally talk about his amazing music on the blog - and readers, be sure to check out his stuff, including edits for Fear of Tigers, Reflex and PNAU.
The Twelves - Nightvision
Before I get into this, I want it to be known that I'm usually not the biggest fan of cover songs, however I'm very much willing to make exceptions for ones that are particularly lovely - Nightvision, the half-way point on Daft Punk's seminal second album Discovery has been a favourite of mine since I was about thirteen, even if it is a little bit short, and underwhelming compared to the rest of the record. Regardless, when I was thinking about what tracks I wanted to include on the final post for this series, I thought back through all of the events from my week and a half in America - meeting family, checking out new places and feeling very, very free - and The Twelves' stunning nu disco cover of Nightvision slowly crept into my head, and I immediately knew this had to be the final song. Whilst packing to head home, and just as I landed in England, it was all I could think about, and quite rightfully so - for the uninitiated, this cover is a complete masterpiece, turning the original from a small, ambient interlude into a funky, yet deeply emotive and melancholic anthem, complete with loads of amazing instrumentation (the strings are so, so lovely, my god!) and tight, neck-snapping drum work, whilst sounding cinematic, beautiful and moving entirely throughout. It's impossibly rich, heart-warming and detailed - managing to expand perfectly on Daft Punk's original work in a way that feels so, so natural. As to be expected, praise was thick and heavy upon release, with Pete Tong playing it right before the two of them took the reigns from Brazil to London on Radio 1 for the Essential Mix shortly before Christmas 2009, and it was blogged so much that it topped Hype Machine four times separately. Furthermore, it's since been listened to almost eleven million times as part of Thomas Bangalter and Fred Again's legendary performance to close out USB002 - and it is entirely deserved, because in my honest opinion, this cover truly shows the importance of music as an art form. Nightvision is beautiful, it's for dancing to, it's for watching the sunset, it's for... well, anything you want - and as a massive fan of nu disco and French house, this cover truly blew me away when I first heard it a little while ago, purely because it truly is a breathtaking piece of work, and a perfect closer.
There you have it, everyone!
I sincerely hope you've enjoyed reading this entire series - it's been beyond a pleasure to be able to talk about the music I love to such amazing people, especially during a trip that opened up my eyes to the wider world and had me experiencing loads of wonderful, wonderful things. I am eternally grateful, and can't wait to see what happens next.
No AI was used in the writing process for all nine posts!
Be sure to support everyone featured on today's post, and as always - keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
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