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Some funky musical re-imaginings of fictional disco parties in the very late 70s and early 80s, this stuff came back in full force over the last couple of years, but there is a dedicated sound that is still evolving today. These picks go from relatively well-known to virtually undiscovered, all part of a very distinct and funky brand of synth disco, call it what you will, the tunes have been called everything from nu-disco to bubble pop to whatever.  It started in the disco clubs all over the world, and has been revisited and re-invented en-masse by DJ’s and producers alike, and at an exciting range of BPMs.  Oh, and the photo above is from Verner Panton‘s Spiegel publishing house in Hamburg…words simply cannot describe, so I won’t waste your time trying to here.

First up is a Breakbot remix of the Yuksek track Extraball, I first heard last Friday on my friend Ben’s (aka CHARLIE!) new mix, which you can grab for free.  Breakbot has been producing some of the best remixes, re-introducing them to this new sound and often times, at least in my opinion, besting original versions of songs with ease.  First got into them in 2007 or so reading Akutou‘s Hey Kids! blog, an excellent blog that follows this distinct French spin on synth disco.

Next up is Bogdan Irkük, a Bulgarian producer who proudly cites Chaka Kahn as an influence, my friend Minkis sent me a link to the Coastal EP, out on Rollerboys Recordings.  I thought Minkis may have found someone I’ve never heard before, but it turns out I have heard him before, on Mark E‘s (now archived on RA, but you can still download it for free on ISO50, thanks to Jakub), which I’ll come back to in just a moment.  I think this track is great, love the way the lyrics act as an instrument, flowing with the beat, it’s vocoder that doesn’t dominate the track like the kind of stuff getting goofed on by the viral spoof.

This D. Gookin track from his debut EP has been out for a little more than 6 months now (crazy how time flies huh?), but its freshness grows on you and sticks around, even if you like the tune the first time you heard it.  To be honest, I didn’t know what to think the very first time I heard this track, or the first time I saw him play, for that matter, but before the track or show was over, sure enough, I got it and was a fan.  This track is up for free on Moodgadget (or XLR8R, if you prefer) make sure you peep the rest of the EP and pick it up if you enjoy!

Going back to the Mark E podcast, when I first heard this BeeGee’s re-edit by Cole Medina, I almost did backflips and somersaults.  This is some seriously funky stuff, a perfect slice of slow-disco, re-edited, filtered, looped and mixed to give kids a taste of music that dominated dancefloors before many of us were of legal age to set foot in a discotheque.  A gentleman named Sunshine Jones did an edit of this edit (which is awesome), and apparently, he’s talking to Cole about doing something with it…pretty cool, check it out here.

Yuksek – Extraball (Breakbot Remix)

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Bogdan Irkük – Foreign Tongues

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D. Gookin – Glad I Met You

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Cole Medina – Love You Inside Out (The Pinches Mix) (BeeGee’s edit)

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Posted in Music and Music Videos Posted by on Apr 28 2009 12:00 pm

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