I'd like to announce the formal release of _The Five EPs_ by Disco Inferno

^^^ DMCA STOOGE

― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:04 (3 years ago) Permalink

Dude don't blow my cover!!

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:05 (3 years ago) Permalink

I retreat from lurkerdom more or less once every 5 years, so this time I'd like to say: thanks Ned :-)

― beegee, Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:11 (3 years ago) Permalink

In response to the DCMA stooge oh wait -- not sure. I certainly wasn't burning them every day or even every month.

And you're all welcome, of course!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:29 (3 years ago) Permalink

Could I ask which of the following 6 releases does not count as one of the '5 EPs'?

Science
Summer's Last Sound
A Rock To Climg To
The Last Dance
It's A Kid's World
Second Language

I own the first four of the above on 12" vinyl and then I sort of lost interest in DI at around 1993 (for some crazy reason). So I'd be interested in getting the final 2 releases in a physical format.

― Duke, Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:49 (3 years ago) Permalink

Science, right?

― Andy K, Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:54 (3 years ago) Permalink

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/unauth/disco_inferno/the_5_e_p_s/

#6 unauthorized/bootleg release of all time

― abanana, Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:55 (3 years ago) Permalink

OK, thanks. I never know how to define these things, to be honest. Science has 4 tracks and ~20mins running time, A Rock To Cling To has only 2 tracks and ~12 mins running time, but none of that probably means anything!

xpost

― Duke, Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:58 (3 years ago) Permalink

Yeah Science is the one out, it got reprinted on In Debt anyway.

This is fantastic news. I'll definitely be picking this up, as I hope everyone who Ned sent a copy to will as well.

― Vinnie, Thursday, 15 April 2010 19:08 (3 years ago) Permalink

Good, in that case I'll be picking this up -- be great to get Kid's World and Second Language.

― Duke, Thursday, 15 April 2010 19:24 (3 years ago) Permalink

As Vinnie noted, _Science_ was the missing one -- being on _In Debt_, it was more readily available, though aesthetically I do consider it of a piece with the other five (the continuing impact of "Waking Up" and "Fallen Down the Wire," for example). To a large extent, Disco Inferno 'started' there, though the earlier recordings were key in them finding their feet (and there's a slew of beautiful songs to choose from like "Emigre.")

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 15 April 2010 19:41 (3 years ago) Permalink

― Sean Carruthers, Thursday, 15 April 2010 20:12 (3 years ago) Permalink

I'll join in the joy! Many years ago sent me a cd of the 5 EPs which is so valuable to me I keep the cd in a small drawer that contains the few items I won't hesitate to grab in an emergency (house fire, earthquake (unlikely in DC)). I will buy the official version several times (gifts for friends). Thank you, Ned!

― DC_Paul, Thursday, 15 April 2010 20:49 (3 years ago) Permalink

Many years ago *Ned* sent me a cd

― DC_Paul, Thursday, 15 April 2010 20:50 (3 years ago) Permalink

ned sent me one too, and these guys are great!

thx again ned

― fischer-price my first chukkas (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 15 April 2010 21:19 (3 years ago) Permalink

I uh borrowed this off the internet and it is my favourite DI thing, excited for a real release - pretty great news

― falling while carrying an owl (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 15 April 2010 21:21 (3 years ago) Permalink

Hope that Ned will send me a cdr of the album when it comes out tbh.

― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Thursday, 15 April 2010 21:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

Very good news.

Now if only Hamilton Bohannon weren't almost entirely O.O.P, which is even more nuts than the DI EPs having been ; )

― Soundslike, Thursday, 15 April 2010 21:27 (3 years ago) Permalink

this i'm gonna buy

― sonderangerbot, Thursday, 15 April 2010 22:30 (3 years ago) Permalink

Hey guys, I've been lurking this message board for quite a bit, and this recent news made me incredibly crazy and happy.

Also, I noticed Raggett mentioned about "other news" being released soon. Might that be related to these quotes of his (from another thread)?:

"At LONG last I have finally found the interview I did with Ian Crause back in 1994. Seriously, this tape had been eluding me forever. I'll be digitizing it and figuring out how best to share in as part of a larger project; more details soon."

"He said indeed. The larger project is forthcoming."

― OptionalToaster, Thursday, 22 April 2010 05:32 (3 years ago) Permalink

...maybe.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 April 2010 05:39 (3 years ago) Permalink

(But it would be separate from this reissue. Ian does know about the tape and was interested to learn about it.)

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 April 2010 05:40 (3 years ago) Permalink

Just saw this news - way to go, Ned! Do you happen to know if they plan on releasing a vinyl version?

― biologically wrong (Z S), Thursday, 22 April 2010 05:45 (3 years ago) Permalink

I've been asked that -- at present, no idea.

Playing "Love Stepping Out" just now reminds me why I did this all in the first place. It's rare for me to say that music can literally give me chills, and yet.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 22 April 2010 05:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

I only recently discovered the earlier stuff ("In Debt" is on emusic) and man alive I love "Falling Down the Wire".

― Eyjafjallalalalalatrolololol (Trayce), Thursday, 22 April 2010 06:08 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ok, 6 - 7 years of lurking and I somehow missed Ned's DI evangelism. Just checked out a few songs on youtube, and need to get my hands on The 5 EPs. I'll be coughing up the money in September, but want to be able to listen in the meantime... Anyone willing to help me get a copy?

― deceanor, Thursday, 22 April 2010 22:04 (3 years ago) Permalink

Damn, I was hoping the interview would be included with the Five Eps reissue.

Well, can you at least give out a basic idea of what the interviews consists of?

― OptionalToaster, Friday, 23 April 2010 03:38 (3 years ago) Permalink

It was done around the American release of D.I. Go Pop, so pretty much that era.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 April 2010 05:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

"love stepping out" is so beautiful.

reminds me of durutti column.

i would submit this band's name did them zero favors.

― you better check that sausage before you put it in the rofl (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 11 May 2010 18:43 (3 years ago) Permalink

Posted this in "I'd buy that for a dollar!" Great purchases for a buck or less, but hey:

Not exactly $1 on these, but I've been looking for these damn things for so long that it's worth sharing... I found two of the five legendary Disco Inferno EPs (Summer's Last Sound and A Rock to Cling To) for $3.99 each. Two down... three to go.

Of course, all five are being reissued in a few months, per Ned's thread. But I couldn't pass these up in good conscience.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Saturday, May 8, 2010 10:15 PM (3 days ago)

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Tuesday, 11 May 2010 18:54 (3 years ago) Permalink

I've had a chance to see a rough design of the artwork for the collection, and it's a keeper.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 14 May 2010 14:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

nice!

hey ned i know i should just search and all but i love 5EPs, what to get next by DI?

― you better check that sausage before you put it in the rofl (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 14 May 2010 14:56 (3 years ago) Permalink

Well there's not much of a catalog to search for (which is both good and bad, obviously):

In Debt, which is the collection of their first single, album and EP in one place. It starts in full on Joy Division/Durutti Column worship mode but by the final tracks is something else entirely, you can sense the transition happening.

DI Go Pop, which was released in the middle of the EP releases, as it were. Tim Finney put it best when he said that its 'deliberate rejection of beauty' acts in excellent contrast to the EPs, but it is often equally beautiful and wonderful.

Technicolour, which was the final release while they were a going concern. Recorded after the horrific instrument theft and is more of a 'straightforward' rock album than anything else, but still worth the listening.

There's also the Mixing It EP taken from a radio session, plus a variety of unreleased demos from Technicolour that surfaced. And that's pretty much it.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 14 May 2010 15:22 (3 years ago) Permalink

I should also say that DI Go Pop and Technicolour were both reissued by One Little Indian a few years back but I don't know about their in-print status now; similarly In Debt has resurfaced from time to time. Oddly enough the first American issue of In Debt was by the Coctails on their own label!

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 14 May 2010 15:23 (3 years ago) Permalink

DI Go Pop and Technicolour were both reissued by One Little Indian a few years back but I don't know about their in-print status now

These reissues can still be had new for $12 apiece on Amazon... looks in-print to me!

And what a bargain!

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Friday, 14 May 2010 15:26 (3 years ago) Permalink

Also, looking upthread a bit, you can get both Technicolour and In Debt via eMusic:

http://www.emusic.com/artist/Disco-Inferno-MP3-Download/11580018.html

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 14 May 2010 15:27 (3 years ago) Permalink

Guys, Technicolour is excellent. Don't sleep on it just because it's not as "experimental" as DI Go Pop or the preceding EPs.

Just sayin'!

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Friday, 14 May 2010 16:28 (3 years ago) Permalink

That'll do, Ned. That'll do.

― Matt M., Saturday, 15 May 2010 03:07 (3 years ago) Permalink

I've no doubt.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 15 May 2010 03:08 (3 years ago) Permalink

Everybody I know is getting a copy of this for Christmas. Even my aunt.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 15 May 2010 18:41 (3 years ago) Permalink

Is this CD only or will there by vinyl?

― Chewshabadoo, Sunday, 16 May 2010 22:32 (3 years ago) Permalink

yeah wondering this also

i'm probably one of the few who prefers di go pop over the collected eps, still excited obv

― geheimnis (r1o natsume), Thursday, 20 May 2010 16:32 (3 years ago) Permalink

My understanding is that there will not be a vinyl release at this point.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 20 May 2010 16:34 (3 years ago) Permalink

That's a shame, but understandable! Will probably buy a flac release if that is happening?

― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 1 June 2010 16:05 (2 years ago) Permalink

M@rk R. reflects on DI in today's Resonant Frequency (complete with ILX/Ned Raggett reference!): http://pitchfork.com/features/resonant-frequency/7821-resonant-frequency-71

It's funny, though-- even though the conversations around music are so important to me, they are not everything. There's something wonderful about revisiting music that seems to have been forgotten, and having it be a private pleasure that you carry around like a secret. It's a feeling most music obsessives can probably relate to: You're listening to something and you've never really talked about it with anyone and you're not even sure if you're hearing it "right" or where it might fit or what it might mean. For example, I never knew anything about the English band Disco Inferno while they were active, but someone on a message board burned me a copy of the group's out-of-print EPs years ago, and I was shocked by how much good music was on it. And there's one song in particular that has haunted me ever since, and the way I've experienced it represents how much works for me at one end of this continuum.

Some days, Disco Inferno's "Love Stepping Out"-- with its simple repetitive sequencer, half-spoken lyrics that weirdly mix an expression of romantic longing with violent imagery, and sampled crowd noises that seem to come from an amusement park-- is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. But after all this time, I'm not sure I've ever heard it with anyone else in the room, and I've never written about it or discussed it with anyone in any depth. It's something I listen to and think about and am moved by, but there's no record anywhere of my enjoyment of it, and it's not something I've really talked about. I know almost nothing of the conversations around it. And there's something nice about this feeling, too, to commune with this sound with very little context. Music that could, from another perspective, seem dead because it's not being shared turns into something intimate that sparkles with a very specific kind of life. Sometimes I listen to "Love Stepping Out", and it feels like I have the only copy of it in the world, and it ceases to exist whenever I put it back on the shelf.

― ilxor has truly been got at and become an ILXor (ilxor), Friday, 18 June 2010 19:26 (2 years ago) Permalink

"someone" on "a message board"

― ksh, Friday, 18 June 2010 19:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

That's really nice and I've kind of always felt a similar way about Disco Inferno. I guess the band would prefer some more recogniton and money though.

― kraudive, Friday, 18 June 2010 23:43 (2 years ago) Permalink

I must have spent about $75 total tracking down all the EPs in the mid 90s

― kreidleresque, Saturday, 19 June 2010 00:27 (2 years ago) Permalink

A quick update, reconfirmed via Ian C., that the current release date will now be early November. Otherwise all still good to go.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 July 2010 20:23 (2 years ago) Permalink

Awesome.

― Captain Ostensible (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 16 July 2010 21:01 (2 years ago) Permalink

Oh right. Not that many then - esp. if some of us are buying two.

Some things just aren't fair. Why don't people want to hear this wonderful band?

― kraudive, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:19 (8 months ago) Permalink

That's totally not in any way a dig at you by the way IA!

― kraudive, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:23 (8 months ago) Permalink

I didn't buy two copies of it looking to gain anything financially in the future. Heck, I have most of them of CD and vinyl as it is and I'd never part with them. There's just something very special about seeing them together on one LP, in order, with a cover and everything. I kinda hoped Ned's review and feature on the band and the unanimously gushing reviews they got would pip peoples interest a bit. Then again they are one of these bands I just can't see beyond. Despite the complexity and restless ambition of their music I always imagined them to be quite inviting and appealing from the get go. Maybe that was just me. Either way it's a physical thing now and I don't think that's detracted from any of its enduring magic.

― InternetAlan, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 18:32 (8 months ago) Permalink

http://fuckyouneilkulkarni.blogspot.com/2012/09/disco-inferno-ep-review-1994-new.html

Essentially an uncut version of Neil's Quietus interview with Ian.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 24 September 2012 15:27 (7 months ago) Permalink

Paul Wilmott mix up at FACT: http://www.factmag.com/2012/10/29/fact-mix-354-disco-inferno/

― with hidden noise, Monday, 29 October 2012 12:46 (6 months ago) Permalink

And I should start a new thread for this but for now:

Ian Crause has just announced details of his first song release for almost 14 years.
The track, The Song of Phaethon, is an 8 minute track based on the ancient myth of Phaethon, the boy drove the sun into the world. The track will be the first of 2 about the myth, the second being the latter half of the story.
He's described it as some of the most radical music he has released and says the track will be available to download in the near future from Bandcamp. Exact details of the release will be passed on as they become available.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 18:26 (6 months ago) Permalink

And in case you were wondering about "More Earthly Concerns" from earlier in the year:

MECs was a track posted for people to hear that I was still alive and in full charge of my musical faculties after so long away and when I still had the expectation a record label would be interested in me, which they’re not. I have also been working on structurally (though not sonically) more conventional songs which I had intended would make up an album. Now I’m thinking to just release them as individual tracks. But this track mentioned above is probably the best statement of intent, musically speaking. The other track you mentioned was free to listen to but it will be released properly in time. My guess is that this first release will be followed by a selection of the other tracks I’ve been recording, which are generally pretty political, and the second Phaethon track will follow them.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 18:43 (6 months ago) Permalink

All that from

https://www.facebook.com/discoinfernouk/posts/384163368326234

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 30 October 2012 18:44 (6 months ago) Permalink

he's an interesting cat

― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 30 October 2012 18:45 (6 months ago) Permalink