If you ask me to give you just just one reason that makes Italo disco records sound far more interesting to my ears than it's American counterparts i guess i have to answer that it's weirdness.Sometimes some trivial elements like a heavy Italian accent or lyrics that make no sense at all could give a record that special twist that it need to become special.With Italo's motoric rhythms owing much more to Europe's electronic music tradition and pop new wave acts than to the funky instrumentation of U.S recordings, it comes as no surprise that their sound could sometimes almost be described as ''gothic''.A small number of Italian recordings bared much more resemblance to acts like Nitzer Ebb or D.A.F. and their heavy industrial sound than to any record that could be labeled as disco.The real gems of the genre are the ones that utilized it's diversity to their own effect.''It's The Monkey'' by Strada is one of those records that reaches this rare momentum of weirdness.Personally i think this is one of the real masterpieces of mid 80's Italian electronic music that sounds like it has been produced under the consumption of a great deal of lysergic acid.The lyrics are completely surreal and the screamings towards the end of this song make this record crazy enough to lose your sleep over it.Coming from Strada's self titled one and only LP this is a tune that easily competes for the spot of one of the best ever Italo records.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
primitive sensation
If you ask me to give you just just one reason that makes Italo disco records sound far more interesting to my ears than it's American counterparts i guess i have to answer that it's weirdness.Sometimes some trivial elements like a heavy Italian accent or lyrics that make no sense at all could give a record that special twist that it need to become special.With Italo's motoric rhythms owing much more to Europe's electronic music tradition and pop new wave acts than to the funky instrumentation of U.S recordings, it comes as no surprise that their sound could sometimes almost be described as ''gothic''.A small number of Italian recordings bared much more resemblance to acts like Nitzer Ebb or D.A.F. and their heavy industrial sound than to any record that could be labeled as disco.The real gems of the genre are the ones that utilized it's diversity to their own effect.''It's The Monkey'' by Strada is one of those records that reaches this rare momentum of weirdness.Personally i think this is one of the real masterpieces of mid 80's Italian electronic music that sounds like it has been produced under the consumption of a great deal of lysergic acid.The lyrics are completely surreal and the screamings towards the end of this song make this record crazy enough to lose your sleep over it.Coming from Strada's self titled one and only LP this is a tune that easily competes for the spot of one of the best ever Italo records.
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2 comments:
As a long time follower of all things early eighties and Italo I am astonished that somehow I have never come across the Strada 'It's The Monkey' before....without a doubt one of the best records of that genre ever created, monkey whooping and all!
So good in fact it should be posted twice, especially if you posted it in a bitrate higher than 160! ;)
still keeping my fingers crossed you may one day repost the Strada Its The Monkey track or even another track off the album...go on, spoil us!
Slap this track in the middle of Baciotti's Black Jack and Slang's Pinch Roller and the Italians give JP Massiera and Bernard Fevre a tun for their space disco money...for some reason the anglo-american disco paradigm rarely reaches these cosmic heights or maybe that should be depths... ;)
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