Sometimes you can define a trend in music by the record label. Sub Pop, Sun Records, Motown, the 'Modular' sound come to mind. All labels synonymous with certain genres of music, so much so that their very name defines the sound that they are known for.
Italians Do It Better are my favourite label right now, and they have filled their roster with like minded artists of whom are creating a sound that is dark, seductive and edgy. This label may well be the ones lending its name to this sound that is on the rise.
Aside from the fantastic After Dark compilation, the label has released two albums from two artists which will easily make my best albums of 2007 list. Glass Candy's special tour release entitled B/E/A/T/B/O/X and Chromatics' album proper Night Drive.
Un-cannily similar in parts, yet divergent in others, both of these releases mix smooth, yet simultaneously raw female vocals with a sexy space disco sound that sits somewhere between Saturn and Neptune. Its a signal of the icy return of Italo-Disco, a long forgotten genre that has lived in the periphery for far too long, and an emergence of a stunning new pop sound.
Organic and inorganic matter are splattered throughout each record, however Chromatics use more of the organic, and Glass Candy slightly more synthetic. Night Drive with gems like 'I Want Your Love', 'Healer', a cover of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' and the title track all moves through smooth Italo-disco, lo-fi pop, minimal electronica and chilling synths with ease, transporting you to an ice planet far away, whilst you are driving down a darkened boulevard in your Countach.
B/E/A/T/B/O/X too exists on this planet, however the Countach is speeding down a lonely frozen highway, with 'Life Under Sundown' dictating the tachometer's measurements, 'Beatific' filling the speakers with fuzzy bass and intermittent piano stabs and 'Computer Love' controlling the frigid weather with its icy precision. When you reach your destination, you step out of the Countach and into the club, where 'Rolling Down The Hills' is fufilling your every space-disco fantasy.
Two similar records, yet with a subtle character all their own. I can't think of too much I have heard lately that has excited me anywhere near as much as these.
Glass Candy - Beatific
Chromatics - Night Drive
Buy Night Drive
Buy B/E/A/T/B/O/X
1 comment:
Yes! Italians Do It Better are definitely a label to watch. Funnily enough, Night Drive actually feels like a 3am drive home.
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