from the 12” single, Crash Records, 1983
Casiotone keyboards and CZ-101 synthesizers seemed to come out of nowhere in the ‘80s, given that the Japanese electronics brand had formerly only been well known for their compact calculators, and the old school heavyweights like Roland, Korg & Moog got taken very much by surprise when their high-end audiophile equipment was suddenly receiving competition from Casio’s budget set ups; I had the tiny PT-1 as a kid, and every last one of those programmed beats (i.e. rhumba, waltz, bossa nova, rock 2, etc…) are still imprinted onto my long term memory banks. Not everyone had access to 808s when they were first released (particularly in Italy, excepting for the mind-bending shit that Rago & Farina were dropping), and many italo producers were quick to adopt the more user friendly, low-end gear, leaving us an inexorably thorough documentation of all the potential that Casio machines offered. This track was cut by the little-known production team of Daniele Francesconi & Mauro Pilato, uplifting but just edgy enough to avoid deep cheese, and yet another ‘80s kitsch-centric cover for all you design whores.
from the 12” single, Sound Proof Quality Records, 1983
The resurgence of vocoders in popular music has got my mind divided: on the one hand, when used atmospherically or oddly (see: Black Moth Super Rainbow), it can still be a thing of strange beauty---but, when utilized in place of actual talent or ability (see: 90% of the crap they are calling “hip-hop” these days), it begins to grate on one’s nerves. Thankfully, this minimal Italo nugget from established producer & record label owner Alessandro Novaga and his partner in crime Giorgio Paganini falls into the former category, employing the vocoder mainly as another level of rhythm, but also in a creepy manner which makes the words mostly undecipherable; frankly, there’s an ominous vibe running through the core of this whole track, like an ‘80s horror movie on speed or something. This duo, known here as ‘Cellophane’, also mixed and/or produced a handful of other in-demand Italo cuts under a string of differing aliases, but this song is my absolute favorite.
from the 12” single, Market Records, 1984
I like my italo dark…the darker the better actually, and it doesn’t get much gloomier than this mid ‘80s burner from Milan duo Fokewulf 190 (named after a German WWII fighter plane); if there was such a genre, these guys would have been the kings of italo-goth, given to paling their faces white & rocking lots of religious jewelry when they perform (it’s worth doing an image search on them, trust me). All the pieces fall into place here: slammin’ beats, single-note key stabs, ghostly polysynth, sexy saxophone, and what I can only describe as a truly endearing attempt to sing in English. Used copies of this 12” trade hands for over $100 (those aren’t even in excellent condition), and although a high price doesn’t necessarily mean a high quality record (in fact, often times, records are forgotten or OOP for a reason: they suck), this track delivers time & time again!
mixed: 2009, tracks: 1981 – 1986
It’s wonderful to see italo music beginning to get the recognition inside the USA that it has always deserved---if people only knew the extent to which these records influenced the minds & creative processes of American producers in the early ‘80s, impacting both the burgeoning world of beats and the land of top 40 pop. As I’ve mentioned before, the bacchanalian celebration which was disco never stopped in mainland Europe the way it died an ugly, homophobic & racist death in America and the UK; in fact, until recently, many folks over here continued to dis on italo records for being cheap and flimsy, although some of us were hip to the magnetic glow before our youth’s became retro. As much as I complained during my formative years, growing up in south Florida was actually a huge blessing for the music obsessive in me, exposing my inexperienced mind to all sorts of music that most kids outside of NYC or LA never heard. This is a tape by Danish DJ Flemming Dalum, better known as ‘the King of the Cut’ (for obvious reasons once you listen to his flawless fusion of italo “hits”), a man who actually made several trips to Italy right as these records were being made; thanks to Marcello at ID Blog for this one. Now, put on some Wayfarers, strap on your headphones, and get ready for the hottest preview of vintage italo burners you’ve ever heard!
from the 12” single, West End Records, 1983
I knew this had to be the work of Italians, even if it was released & recorded in NYC, because the obsessive level of intensity, finesse and precision employed in its production has italo fingerprints all over it---I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Italians really do do it better! The effects wash in and out like fireflies, Shirley herself delivering an impressive display of vocal depth & restraint (not always common with disco divas…), and all the while the Parente brothers’ metronomic meticulousness never goes cold---most other producers putting that many sequencers & drum tracks into one song back then never came across this smooth or uncluttered. It’s not a rare find or anything but this groove will never let you down, whether you’re dancing on the floor or behind the decks, “…baby, feel my desire, let me set you on fire...meltdown…”
from the 12” single, Emergency Records, 1980
I have to admit, it was really shocking and, ultimately, inspiring to hear the highest ranking military official in the country, 4-star Admiral Mike Mullen, stick a knife into the ugly embarrassment which is our nation’s so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy; sure, I figured they would support “looking into” the idea of repealing it, but I was fully taken by surprise upon hearing the emotion and passion in his voice while delivering his condemnation of the procedure which has led to over 14,000 gay & lesbian service members being discharged from our military. I may not agree with the motives behind the wars we are fighting, and I might not personally understand why other gays & lesbians would be willing to die for a country who largely neglects them, but shit, all of us deserve that choice. This single by Italian trio Kano helped define the early italo sound, and that’s not surprising at all, because this track is dank as fuck! I fear that the theme of this song will prove to be timeless, you know how we all love a rerun…
from the 12” single, Crash Records, 1985
It’s no secret that Madonna loved the italo sound & sought to re-create that in her early releases, but this track duly verifies that her passion was not merely a one way street, after her rise to fame anyways; hell, on paper it’s a match made in heaven (Madonna is Italian no less), and that certainly panned out in the charts. What’s odd is that, while America went about drooling over Madonna for decades, either deifying her image to unhealthy degrees or becoming possessed with seething rage at her global sex fête, the underlying musical inspiration for her groundbreaking sound, italo, is only just beginning to receive its comeuppance. This is another Roberto Ferrante masterpiece, so good (in my humble opinion) that it stands evenly beside Madge’s singles of the same time period; so it’s an italo take on Madonna’s take on italo, and though it may fall into the “guilty pleasure” category, I’m on vacation still, so it’s all about immediate gratification baby!
from the 12” single, Danse Records, 1983
This pummeling italo track is a perfect example of how the internet has changed the underground, remaining a secret weapon for many DJs over the years but gradually having become more and more obscure over time, leaving a $200+ price tag on clean copies of the original 12”---enter, the Infernet (as Ween calls it). Now this track has been remixed and cut up by throngs of beats-heads, including a heavenly deconstruction care of Alan Palomo (aka Neon Indian) for the title track to his recent LP, in which he slowed and processed this song into a glorious, gauzy mess. In my humble opinion, this is the way things should be; it’s not as if Roberto Ferrante, the guy behind Pineapples and other rare italo one-offs, sees any of the money exchanged on the used LP market anyways. No musician sets out to have their music available only to a select few that are wealthy enough to drop a couple hundred bucks on a freakin’ single! And thus, we can all revel in the cheap-sounding lushness which is vintage italo, though put together more masterfully than your average burner, I must say; it’s really true, “Italians do it better”.
from the 12” single, Leader Records, 1982
Fuck man, there is nothing like the pulsing thud of an 808 is there!?! This track absolutely destroyed dancefloors upon its release back in ’82, long before the glory days of house and techno would re-discover Roland’s mighty 808; hell, it sounds fresh even now, almost 30 years later. The touches of electric piano and guitar accentuate the affair effortlessly, and you gotta love that evil robot vocoder asking us, “…what else can you do…what more can you do?”
from the LP Krypta: Rare Robotnicks Part 2, Crème Organization, released: 2005, recorded: 1982
Within the culture of dance music in the early ‘80s it must have seemed like an epic battle, the fight between Italy and France to be the country acknowledged more often as the smoothest & slickest producer of beats in the world---might I say, this track and much of Alexander Robotnick’s discography makes a convincing argument towards Italy, but I can never ultimately decide. In my humble opinion, this song is immaculate: a bevy of polysynths all decorating the atmosphere with eerie tension, pounding beats, wicked sub-bass bouncing underneath, some handclaps & even an excellent title. After disappearing from sight following the ‘80s, Mr. Robotnick has been back in electronica’s fold again this whole decade, still completely obsessed with the music that machines make.
from the 12” single, House of Music Records, 1983
I usually trend towards the instrumental sides of my favorite italo tracks, due to the sometimes annoying habit of the singers to try too hard and sing too much, but this track already had such sparse & robotic lyrics in the first place that they actually enhance the song’s effect, and I find myself missing them when they aren’t there. The man behind Casco was Italian DJ Salvatore Cusato, and although his name showed up “presenting” group BWH on their italo hit, “Livin Up” b/w ”Stop”, they just shared a label, and his name isn’t included on that single’s credits. That leaves this bouncy number as one of only two singles Casco ever recorded, and that rarity of output matched with the high level of quality found in this track explains (not convincingly to me, however) the $100+ price tag for used copies of this original pressing.
from the 12” single, ZYX Records, 1985
Riding the line between italo and the darker side of synth-pop, the duo East Wall wasn’t afraid to do some genre-bending, creating a seductively moody single here that currently trades for over $200 on the collector’s circuit; this song wouldn’t feel out of place on a Visage or Rational Youth album actually. The man handling the beats and synths is Fabrizio Chiari, a former member of the equally non-genre-specific Kirlian Camera; the other half of the duo is Wilma Notari, sounding both powerful and ethereal in her broken English, “…eyes full of tears, eyes alight in the night…eyes of glass, eyes of glass…” The age of italo was nearing the end when this record dropped, but it shows the quality never went away, only that dance music was heading in a new direction.
from the 12” single, Discomagic Records, 1982
Distil both the darker and faster elements of Giorgio Moroder’s space disco & Patrick Cowley’s brand of post-disco, then cross-pollinate with the pop-leaning elements of new wave, and you have italo---Italy’s answer to the world’s pleas for solid dance tunes, and the best case made for a genuine missing link between disco and house/techno music. Looking back now, I have to admit, this bangs harder than the early house tracks which came out three or four years after this stuff. Roland’s infamous and punishing TR-808 was at the core of many dark italo tracks (those who were recording in a studio that could afford one anyways), and it certainly takes center stage here, pummeling the listener with its jackhammer bass. The heavily processed vocals and laser-like synths blend seamlessly, creating mental images of some mega-urban android disco on Mars.
from the 12” single, Crash Records, 1983
