Italo Disco RFI

me i say search: italian boys - forever lovers
and michael fortunati - slip and slide (or maybe it's called 'into the night')

also what would you dl from this site? i'm finding its a little bit overwhelming to go in blind. don't download the michael fortunati song thats on there btw, it's no good.

Most of the Italo disco songs that did actually become hits had a bit too much of that typical late-80s digital synth sound to them. The best ones used mainly analog ones.

At the moment I'm feeling

Koxo-Step By Step

Also alot of the others recommended above. Actually just recommend any proto house or stuff like that. I am still consistently blown away listening to "She Can't Love You", by Chemise, which the Glimmer Twins introduced me to. Sounds like Frankie Knuckles gone goofy, ten years or so earlier.

So yeah anyone got more recommendations?

my all time favorite italo tracks are:

Gaz Nevada-IC Love Affair

and

Mr. Flagio-Take a Chance

I like the spacey electro-y stuff but am also feeling the more organic earlier stuff, the same basslines but more guitars and the occasional sax solo.

I like a lot of the proto-house electronic disco that crossed over, NYC labels like Emergency releasing italo like Kano, Elektra's Feels Good and Capricorn along with Chemise and Shannon, and Sleeping Bag putting out Video's Hey Girl and the even better Video feat. Buckelew Hey Boy (somebody) and a recent fave, Tonight by Synomin or something, how's that spelled?

http://www.irmagroup.com/php/scheda.php?release=NEW&label=Irmagroup

It has some instrumental versions where I would've liked the vocal versions in many cases, though not Penguin Invasion...that's a terrible vocal.

and you should all go to:

http://www.viewlexx.net/cybernetic-mixage.htm

and dl some mixes, especially the 2 I-F Mixed Up at the Hague mixes, which are mixes of hip italo-disco electro and other euro and NY club tracks. The first one really helped set off this recent trend of interest.

I'll second that.
"Cybernetic Love" by Casco, "We Just" by Moses and "Mister Game" by Klapto also rule.

there was a period of one week or so last month where i only downloaded italo tracks. it was wonderful.

I also like:

Fancy "Bolero" (veerrry cheesy, but fun)
Company B "Fascinated"
Fun fun "Colour my love" / "Baila bolero" (both pretty obvious, but I hadn't seen them mentioned).
La bionda "One for you, one for me"

The Casco track is brilliant! Couldn't believe it had been made back in the 80s...

Over here in the Netherlands, we had the Italo Dance Classics 1 to 4, which contained some of the tracks mentioned in this thread...

I'm listening to the 3 part Bootleg DJ Cafe mix by I-F right now...fantastic.

ok, here are 3 favorites of mine that always "get the party started" right, they all feature a mix of early 80s italo and electro-funk and all feature women saying motivational things about dancing:

Digital Emotion-Get Up, Do You Wanna Funk
D.F. & Pam-On the Beat
X Ray Connection-Get Ready(special freak mix)

note there is no question mark after the first title. Because with a beat like that, it's a rhetorical question.

Yeah - it's as good an introduction as any. Alec D(eRuggiero) knows his Italo.

there are many schools and sounds of italo, ranging from 77 to 87 or so, the hippest stuff being around 82/83, depending on yr taste. We'll see what Alec D's got!

NY's real italo luminary was Generic Costume's Kevin Carney, but he moved to LA, I think.

Cyber People - "Void vision"
Koto - "Dragon's legend", "Chinese revenge" and "Japanese war game"
Kano - "Another lover"
Ken Laszlo - "Hey hey guy" (which is really actually fucking twisted lyrically)
Radiorama - "Desire"
Scotch - "Delirio mind"

'84-'86 style. All bombast and drama. Like if you take all the strings-y bits and overblown 20-minute concept EPs from disco (that were never part of any trendy revival) and execute them with synthesisers and sci-fi, you get this type of italo.

The tasteful stuff is all well and good and fine for indie-rock revivalists but italo can also be like the happy hardcore of disco.

Video feat. Buckelew-Hey Boy (as opposed to Video's Hey Girl)
Taffy-I Love My Radio (midnight radio)
Fun Fun-Happy Station

if you're there, the track I was talking about a while back, I found it out, remember I mentioned about an italo track with a phone ringing in it and thought it was one of the great tracks ever:

ken lazslo, 'hey hey guy'

i LOVE "lancelot"! and i'm encouraged that the rest of her medieval stuff is great too :)

oh by the way, anyone who has ever posted to this thread needs to check out http://disco80.ru IMMEDIATELY - it's all in russian but if you feel around for awhile you'll find a link to full clips of italo disco music videos that are simly indescribable. i highly recommend the dschinghis khan performances and scotch's "mirage (la luna)" video as well (a melange of all the cheesiest possible '80s video techniques).

Charlie - Spacerwoman
Lectric Workers - Robot is Systematic

My favo track at the mo is: Torrevado "Living in the shuttle"
The guy's English is just hysterical!

LIIIIVIIIING IN DA SHAAAATLLE!

Radiorama are also great for poor English. Check their "Aliens". They make it sound like "AHHHHLIENS".

also, I got a video of this Italo-piss take:

Zlad! "Elektronik supersonik"

I don't know who this guy really is, but it's fucking brilliant!

download SYD mixes here

Playboy by Venise
No More Visions by Sly and Hunter

http://www.badbotsattack.com/Disco%20Crush%20Part%201.mp3

http://www.badbotsattack.com/Disco%20Crush%20Part%202.mp3

http://www.badbotsattack.com/bailando.mp3

other tracks of the moment:

Roni Griffith - "Spys"
Vivian Vee - "Give Me a Break" (Simonetti production!)
Rofo - "Flashlight on a Disco Night"
Gazebo - "Midnight Cocktail"
Ryan Paris - "Dolce Vita"

http://www.in-stadtmagazine.de/ec-mixes/interfunk-madinitaly.mp3

http://www.badbotsattack.com/Disco%20Crush%20Part%201.mp3

http://www.badbotsattack.com/Disco%20Crush%20Part%202.mp3

http://www.badbotsattack.com/bailando.mp3

other tracks of the moment:

Roni Griffith - "Spys" (1st Bobby Orlando production? the bit from "Passion" by the Flirts just keeps trotting in throughout the entire fucking record, haha)

Vivian Vee - "Give Me a Break" (Simonetti production!)

Rofo - "Flashlight on a Disco Night"

Gazebo - "Midnight Cocktail"

Ryan Paris - "Dolce Vita"

http://www.in-stadtmagazine.de/ec-mixes/interfunk-madinitaly.mp3

love "Call Me Mr Telephone" but i tend to put stuff like this in my 'Soul Weekender' folder heh

just discovered these guys

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Proxyon

ok tunes but GREAT sleeve art

den harrow's "broken radio" is fantastic (and a useful educational record as well)

i'm hearing some italo disco stuff for the first time, i love it. like regular disco, but cheesier!

but as a (not really all that clued in) dj, i must know - is this stuff still cool, or is it's trendyness a thing of the past? seems like i still hear ilm'ers people namedropping the whole italo thing on other threads, but then i can't help but notice no one's updated this thread in a while...

Italo is like electro in that it'll always be cool.

that's what i thought - hard to see how this stuff could ever not be cool!

btw thanks for answering my dumb question :)

Not strictly all italo, but Intergalactic Gary is an awesome DJ and well worth checking out.

This is a great set he played at the Bleep43 party in London in Feb:

http://www.bleep43recordings.com/mixes/IGBleepFeb09.mp3

Italo covers so much more stuff than people realize that writing it off is like saying "disco isn't cool anymore", which some people do anyway, but just because slavishly reviving chicago house circa 86 is cooler now, even though the debt chicago house circa 86 pays to Italo is great.

I was listening to righeira all weekend

Are you going to the beach?

no—i dont have any money

http://discohorror.blogspot.com/2009/05/vamos-la-playa-hater.html

^^^ featuring an a++++ dad joke fyi

if i do say so myself

<3 that blog post even if it meant i had to read a blog

i still like chopin btw

max, i heart you. i have both the righeira and Miami's 12"s of that song

also, how come those dudes can't dance on the beat together?

mentioned forever ago upthread, but peep it cuz it's great:

magazine 60 - don quichote

http://discohorror.blogspot.com/2009/05/lesson-in-literature.html

anyone knows the lyrics to dharma's plastic doll?

anyone know any good italo mixes?

The mixeshereare possibly my absolute favorite Italo mixes. Enjoy!

Sorry about the crowded text in that link there.

thanks :)

http://www.robotsforrobots.net/

any specific mixes to recommend from those websites?

Have a listen to the Intergalactic Gary mix I posted upthreada if you haven't already.

holy crap, almost 0,5 GB! i hope it's worth it.

Completely.

i am currently obsessed with Ris- Love-N-Music . way too fucking good.

yes! loved when bus station john dropped it last week (like two minutes before i left)

esp. the "my boyfriend's a music jock" line

o, you're in SF too?

oakland, til the end of august

w/ frequent trips to SF i'm sure

OH! hey, what's the deal with drinks, j03? might be tied up tonight...

but i'm going to be in oakland on Sunday. great reading at 21 Grand...

ah I freak out anytime I hear "Love and Music." There was some other italo-related thread somewhere where people went on about it a bit. I need a copy of that record. Such a magical chord progression!

I'll play it tonight in NYC.

well I'll try to make it but we'll see...

Digging into this stuff this weekend (ok, I'm about a decade late into Italo) -- but this Overfitted Disco mix is pretty great:

http://misteritalo.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-spaced-out-disco-mix-from-robot.html
Milkways Galactic reaction Barclay 1978
Keyboards Affair Tubular bells Polydor 1983
The Black Angel Change an angel (instr) American Disco 1983
M-Basic OK, run Deejay 1983
Elitechnique Spectral escape Radius 2006
Electrick Dragon Davorite Moustache 2009
Tanya Jackson Twisted Love (instr.) Sizzle 1984
Kano Ikeya seki Teldec 1984
Lucy Montenegro Lucy loves hairy boys Moustache 2009
Crazy Gang Every Sunday (extended edit) Flexx 2006
N.O.I.A. True love ZYX 1984
Mirage Change your life (instr.) Memory 1984
Revolving eyes Do your time on the planet Moderne Rec. 2007
Rude 66 Deeper space woman Loeb 2008
Alden Tyrell Odessa theme Clone 2005
Doctor's Cat Watch out! ZYX 1983
Q The voice of Q Philly World Records 1982

That mix looks good. Thx for the link!

look forward to trying out the Overfitted Disco mix, looks promising.

(btw, Capitaine, those dmp mixes you linked to above are freaking amazing)

I should add that (what I think is) Mirage's Change your life (instr.) Memory from the Overfitted mix (it comes in about 42 minutes in) is absolutely incredible Moroder-esque throb.

(wait, it might be Revolving Eyes' Do your time on the planet -- who fucking knows, regardless, it's awesome)

As I keep coming back to the Overfitted Disco Spaced Out Disco Mix (and the good-but-overrated Mixed Up at the Hague Vol. 1 mix on which is an instrumental mix) I feel compelled to note that Q's "The Voice of Q" is a fucking Italo godsend. It's not really Italo, as it's a couple of black American dudes. But holy shit, the popping bass, the haunting whistle melody and vocoder, and the "why doesn't any soul singer sing like THAT anymore" vocal make me wish these guys did something/anything else.

firstly, haven't we already established that "italo" doesn't have to be from italy?

secondly, I'm being ornery because you badmouthed Mixed Up at the Hague, but it's hard to call it overrated. It has it's flaws, but when it came out, it was a real game-changer for so many people. We would likely not be having this conversation if that mix wasn't released. And while they seem like familiar canon classics now, at the time Spacer Woman, Mr. Flagio, World Invasion etc, even that particular mix of Dirty Talk, were all pretty damn obscure and that's a lot of classics to have one one mix.

So, is all electro soul "Italo," then? I mean, what distinguishes, say, the Jonzun Crew from Q (aside from "Voice of Q" being better than anything on the former's record barring maybe "Ground Control")? Are Jonzun Crew "Italo" too? Are Kraftwerk? I guess that was what disappointed me about Mixed Up at the Hague 1 -- it seemed more like a collection of (mostly great) contemporaneous dance tracks than anything that existed along any kind of thematic continuum.

We could probably debate this ad nauseum, but I feel like the easiest way to determine if a track is Italo is by asking the following question:

Would the Pet Shop Boys like it?

(I'm not actually kidding -- and in this case, I don't think they would. Plus, I think Dan's soft spot for electro is clouding his vision here)

The one group that's actually Italian that kind of makes me question this line of thinking is Kano who are possibly my favorite Italo act...tho something about the debut strikes me as the kind of thing Neill Tennant might appreciate.

by the time the term "italo" started gaining popularity, particularly in the US, it was used to define a certain type or early 80s euro-disco/synth-pop, and generally nobody gets too disturbed when stuff like World Invasion gets lumped in with the term. Electro is one of the key ingredients in italo, so there's crossover, but generally italo is more poppy.

I know they've been around for a while but I need to rep for the two You Can Trust A Man With A Moustache EP's. If only because nobody on ILM has mentioned them.

just glad to see someone repping for "Ground Control" ...heavy stuff indeed!

yo, i repped for ground control on my site back on 10.07.07

that does't really mean much, just joining in on the repping.

xxpost: listened to 2 overfitted disco mix and I could barely finish it. it's the mixing.

How do you mean? It's def. smoother than the mixing on, say, Mixed Up in the Hague Vol. 1 (sorry, Dan) -- and that's legit.

well, tracks seem to jump suddenly onto each other. it maybe doesn't really matter if the flow is good, but too bad it's not. it's only my opinion of course.

the mixing on Mixed Up in the Hague is fine...the flow is awesome, and it's not legit!

neo-italo worth a spin

http://www.myspace.com/eleganteorchestra

Not too bad, but doesn't sound like Italo to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIev-sdxORM

this counts right?

i first heard it on optimo's how to kill the dj... RIP

I like this

Is this the right thread for it?

I've come to the conclusion that Italo is the best music for writing code to - most music distracts me when I'm trying to concentrate but something about Italo puts me in just the right headspace to make stupid nodding/dancing movements at my desk while still producing quality work. Some current office favourites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRsIN9_qmUU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSMsKWl1No0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbofGHQLoY4

all quality tracks, cheers!

it doesn't get much better than the chorus on this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF_2qpJPGuM

i think this is the epitome of cheese. and also one of my faves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7bKx0-shPI

also jesus, this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCsM1Am7xOM

and this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhaAp26N5vc

http://www.italo-interviews.com/

also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFQfhjK9jiM

looove this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSt94LTl0kM&feature=related

this classic track sung by some asian guy. so bad it's great. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SusP8Y4xEdM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eAjZ_0jHsE

Love that track. Didn't know the whole "chopped/screwed" thing went back to the early 80s.

might as well mention "KKK" while we're at it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0n7iRFpCp0&

there is so much good stuff in this thread!

Are there many italo/eurodisco songs with Steve Perry-esque vocals like Secret Service - "flash in the night"?

S/D: Dario Raimondi & Alvaro Ugolini

S: Fun Fun - "Happy Station", Advance - "Take Me To The Top"

not particularly a good song, just thought I would share this childhood classic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rehaLthGyVY

About halfway through this thread -- and put this together:

http://open.spotify.com/user/124420673/playlist/1eT41Z2Pj1JYSj2xe5mUTA

I just started paging through this thread and then fast-forwarded to the end in hopes that the last post would be a Spotify samaritan. Hooray!

Thanks. It's part Samaritan -- and part just a really good way to learn a genre and artist. I did the same w King Tubby and Lindstrom and Prins, using awesome ILM threads to cut thru the chaff. In the case of King Tubby, I think I basically saved myself about a decade of fruitless record buying and god knows how much money -- getting shit comps on dodgy labels just so I could acquire a single track.

check this out, great obscure italo from my country: https://soundcloud.com/cowboykillah/deddy-dores-demam-breakdance

Diux - Comet (1986)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ulvk8nLXJs

I thought I had heard all the known Italo classics, I was wrong. Surprised this tracks never turned up on a CBS Top 100 (which, according to IFM, will be happening again this year on Christmas.)

A couple of other new discoveries hitting me hard:

Esavu - Sia Siou (Breakin' Up)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qttJkmRnd5o

Louise Freeman - Mirage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQRboKNcy-I

Very nice tracks, especially like Sia Siou

just picked up this today for a coin :

http://www.discogs.com/DJ-Hell-Hellboys-Italo-Megamix-By-DJ-Hell/master/71175

seems to have a lot of connection to many suggestions in this thread.

Just reissued on Dark Entries, and new to me at least:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0c28sFBE_A

That was something on my never-gonna-happen Italo wantlist, nice to have it on its way.

I did splash out a ridiculous - for me - amount on a bootleg of the Victrola track they have just reissued too, but glad to see it get a proper release, and the bootleg has some other great tracks on it too.

Quite interested in what else they will be re-releasing in this series.

Has anyone posted this one here yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3IfGC_zTvU

^ The track is Helen 'Witch' in case the link goes down.

Big Ben Tribe is super classic, didn't know about the reissue.

Italooooo.

Funnily enough Dark Entries are rereleasing Helen Witch.

This afternoon I'm checking out these Italo videos - mainly ordinary-looking folk lip-synching on some TV show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mceq3eUWh7Y&list=PLAA551ED1687D4093

Excellent compendium of retro hair and fashion and being Italy, there are no apologies for excessive hair mousse!

For an Italian-American, it's like a dream journey to some super-Italian shamelessly frothy world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmxXIS2ot8w&feature=youtu.be

i haven't found a lot of decent "subreddit" about music and this is one of em https://www.reddit.com/r/italodisco
it's active but not too much and most of the recommendations are interesting /new to me , like this one

https://youtu.be/XP-GSfC1ePc

also, man, these guys in general... they had a knack to find off beat names for their act.

To my surprise I made some new Italo discoveries. I wrongly thought I exhausted this genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HTzbUku42Q

RUINS - Fire!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi73wlMaJOE

Blackways - New Life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A72wR9g8-Hs

Diana Est - Tenax

I love the instrumentals to Diana Est's Tenax and Le Louvre. pretty classic.

Music For Us by Blackway also rocks.

I'll have to check out the instrumentals. Here's another good one, it's French, but close enough to my American sensibilities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=866Jzm6bahM

my "latest" finds: a balearic italo masterpiece, much better than "Witch"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfFcvlqRrHQ

and this cover of the Jethro Tull Classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyqbTz6l57w

and this, which is German but could be italo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlGFU3BsAAs

That Angela is great, never heard it before. Always preferred "Zanzibar" over "Witch" too.

Also good by Plastic Betrand: Stop Ou Encore

GAY CAT DISCO

apologies if this has been posted before, it's quite wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBI4v-F0jpY

sound quality is bad, sorry

that's "din don" by EXO

A Classic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ZE3SaKjXI

https://clone.nl/item48884.html

that Expansives track is so great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZvEp-fpjEY

I was just about to come here to post the Expansives track. So awesome

Might fit in better in a Cosmic Disco thread but these videos are lush:

http://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/italy-discos-abandoned/

I’ve been playing Check-Up Twins all day.

https://youtu.be/HAVzIZYge_k

Gucci (yes, that Gucci) and Frieze collaborate on an italo disco fantasy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp7pE0k5BBQ

"The film imagines a universe where mid ’80s New York runs riot for the latest italo releases and Campari fountains are installed by Presidential decree. It presents the genre in all its glamour and artifice, celebrating its anonymous stars who sang in borrowed English under invented American names."

whoah