Take me here

Undoubtedly "come lose it all on the whiteboydancefloor" is the slogan which shall endure as the best one we will ever have. But with The Killers releasing "Sawdust" a compilation of b-sides and rarities, "Take me where the white boys dance" would have to easily be one of my favourite lyrics of this most uninspiring year.

My sources tell me the track "Where the White Boys Dance" was a bonus track on the hugely successful "Sam's Town" however why a song that encapsulates what we are all about wasn't brought to our attention earlier baffles me.

Probably more embarrassing that I didn't notice.

All that mumble aside, it is a real hidden gem of a track and it grooves along on a hope and a whisper so beautifully. Whilst it would seem quite out of place with the rest of "Sam's Town" it is indeed a track of great quality. This easily tips The Killers into popular territory for me and displays a level of depth and diversity I did not previously attribute to them.

Mp3: The Killers - Where the White Boys Dance

I take a drive in my car

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