This is an email I saved from last year...pretty informative too for those interested in what italo-disco is all about...
minto ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 10:52:23 +0200 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: In Vitro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: 313@hyperreal.org Subject: Re: (313) What is Italo-Disco? Chris asked: >I've heard this term when someone was talking about I-f's DJ >sets. ButI have no clue what is meant by it. >Any examples and recommendations? Italo (or Italian) disco was big during the late seventies, early eighties. Fired up by full discobands like Macho and later Peter Jacques Band, it slowly transformed into a more synthesized and *very* melodic musicform. Labels like Il Discotto (with it's many sublabels) and Disco Magic released hundreds of records during the early eighties. Many mediocre, but some brilliant and timeless. In more than one way, Italian Disco was the blueprint for techno. It was the first form of dancemusic made entirely with synthesizers and drumcomputers. Detroit artists like Carl Craig and Juan Atkins aknowledge this fact, and frequently namedrop Italian discoartists as influencial. Artists that made classic records include: Doctor's Cat, Klein MBO, Gazebo, Dan Harrow, My Mine (Hypnotic Tango), Kano, Scotch and many many more. Famous producers are Tony Carasco & Mario Boncaldo, Turatti & Chieregatto and Farina & Crivillente (who later turned into the Stock, Aitken & Waterman of Italo). After '83 the quality of the records went downhill. Melodies got cheesier every month and many producers did the same trick over and over again. A bit like what's happening to dancemusic right now. German label ZYX issued a lot of Italian disco compilations back in the days. You can still find them in second hand shops. But the original Italian records are regular recordcollectors nowadays, with for instance Tenax by Diana Est or a Taste of Love by Dan Harrow changing hand for 100$ or more! Rene Passetti (Italian disco fetishist)
