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January 31, 2007
Pax Discona
Disco's 00's resuscitation is complete at this point, with LCD Soundsystem's 45:33 taking the form on unapologetically without adding hipster friendly rants or rock album touchstones. We've been handheld on our journey of shiny acceptance by French robots, sideways haircut types, and Murph himself. We've been nursed through ZE records compilations and Moroder re-evaluations until we found our strength. Now here we are, ready for the disco, ready for the next step, ready to dive into all the next level shit we'd been ignoring.
Here, in a puff of smoke, with barely any explanation, appears exactly what we never knew we needed...
The newly available 28 After by the Black Devil Disco Club is a total question mark. No one's really sure who made it, or when. The Chemical Brothers and Aphex Twin are involved in unearthing it somehow, but since almost no one else had any clue where they got it, some have assumed that the '70's France birth date was all an elaborate ruse. A recent Pitchfork review does a decent job of outlining the guessing game, but the best way to be totally confused is to dive into some snippets...
Black Devil Disco Club - "I Regret the Flower Power"
Starting with what sounds like an air raid siren on too much cough syrup and then coming on strong with that mustachioed Italo disco sound we all love, this track demands attention. Processed string sounds swell up, signaling the entrance of an obviously French singer whose monotone delivery is tastefully surrounded by a level of Martin Hannett-like production space. From his recording cave, Frenchie laments the Flower Power, and its love-y dove-y bullshit. Whether this notion comes from a hippie hating 70's recording cave, or a Devandra Banhart hating modern recording cave, it's easy to hop on board. Just then, when you're ready to pencil this into a mixtape for all your humorless post-punk pals, intrudes this unholy scatting, the likes of which I can only compare to something awful like the Manhattan Transfer, a high school jazz choir, or maybe an industrious muppet. It's still weird and spaced out though, married to the sleazy electro throb and bongo combination. The juxtaposition is just so flippin' bizarre that you're inclined to let it slide. Soon, the echoed Franco hippie regretter comes back, and all is forgiven.
Really though, you could ignore the vocal and get lost in the margins of the track for ages, just noting the variety of synth tones the mysterious producers throw at you. High-pitched and fast paced squiggling here, regal pseudo-Eastern theme there, odd gastro intestinal blasts throughout. This is suited as much for a pot fogged basement as it is for a coke fueled dancefloor.
Black Devil Disco Club - "Constantly No Respect"
This is the real mind blower as far as I'm concerned. It starts typically enough, though adding a steady metronome beat to the bongomania is appreciated. Almost immediately comes this insanely fast synth pattern that, if played by human hands, must be the result of some kind of banned horse amphetamine. The rest of the track is pretty awesome, all floating vocals and shifting rythyms. You're not just marking time waiting for the hyperactive keys to come back, but then they do, and...oh shit. It's like ten minutes after the singularity (when artificial intelligence surpasses our own) the computers, instead of unleashing fiery death, decide to go the club and get laid. Which is still pretty creepy and all, but infinitely preferable to tripping over Terminators.
// Black Devil Disco Club 28 Later buy
Posted by Jeff Klingman at January 31, 2007 10:10 AM
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