Tune #116: Kano - Another Life

I always thought that italo-disco was a bit cheesy for my ears. On the other hand, italo tracks with space disco & electro elements... that's what I am talking about! Many examples fit in this category and one of them is certainly Kano - Another Life!

KANO - ANOTHER LIFE (INSTRUMENTAL VERSION)

Kano was an ensemble of Italian musicians and producers Luciano Ninzatti (guitars), Stefano Pulga (keyboards) and Mateo Bonsanto (production), established in Milan during late 70's. The production trio released 3 studio albums during the first half of the 80's, accompanied by vocalist Glen White in the last one. 

Kano's music can be characterized as a fusion of disco, funk and R&B elements, but the group were not always stuck on the commercial italo disco formula (cheesy music & vocals). During their initial steps, they made heavy use of repetitive loops & arpeggios by utilizing electronic drum machines, vocoders and overdubs. The first works were pivotal to the evolution of electronic dance music, whether it was hip hop, electro or house music.

Their debut song was the international hit "I'm Ready" (1980) with various releases worldwide, while its distinctive bassline was been sampled by various electronic music tracks throughout the years. The track was included in their first self-titled studio album, along with other compositions such as "It's A War", "Now Baby Now" and "Cosmic Voyager".

Three years later, the project released "Another Life", which was another successful single worldwide. The heavy use of synths (Prophet 5 for bassline, Yamaha DX7 for bells/chords and Minimoog for the lead melody) along with the soulful vocals of Glen White made the track a huge success! Just like their first single, it was sampled in various tracks; notable examples are Lifelike & Kris Menace - Discopolis and Junior Jack - Life.

Kano disbanded as a production team in the middle of the 80's. However, vocalist Glen White used the project name in some of his first solo releases, in which the original members did not participate. After a very long time (2021), Kano regrouped for the production of a new studio album, titled "No Cents... Go Funky!", mostly oriented in funky compositions (as the album name implies).

Last but not least, you may enjoy the official promo video of the track, as feature in German TV show "Formel Eins":

KANO - ANOTHER LIFE (OFFICIAL PROMO VIDEO)

Tune #115: A Mountain Of Rimowa - No More

Two weeks ago I witnessed the ALFOS experience at a mini club located in the basement of Crust, a local pizzeria in Athens. The event was hosted by Deaf Ears Disco Cult, a local project by Greek DJs Christos Aggelopoulos and Thanasis Besinis, and featured the acid house veteran Sean Johnston, founder of A Love From Outer Space (ALFOS) collective, alongside the late Andrew Weatherall. Whoa, what a night to remember!

Sean Johnston was born in Bridlington and grew up in a rural area of East Riding. While in his late teens, he moved to Hull for studies. This is the city where he started his DJ career, promoting and hosting local night shows. In the spring of 1988 he travelled to London in order to follow a career in the music business. Working as booking agent, he attended various nights at London clubs and experienced the blow-up of the acid house scene.

One of the defining moments in his journey is undoubtedly the acquaintance with Andrew Weatherall through Jeff Barrett, the label manager of Heavenly Records, in the early 90's. In 1994 he released a single alongside sound engineers Jake Davies, Matt Nelmes & Rich Johnstone for Sabre of Paradise, a label established by Lord Sabre himself.

The origin of the ALFOS parties can be found in 2007, when Johnston gave Weatherall a car lift to Brighton. The latter listened to a CD mix made by the former, focused on slow-paced, nu-disco psychedelic sound. What had been initially created for personal entertainment purposes was materialized to commercially available compilation Watch The Ride (2008), which was well received by the audience. Following the compilation's success, fellow DJ Nathan Gregory Wilkins invited the duo to play music at The Drop, a new club in London, and consequently the first event was realized.

The musical manifesto of the ALFOS experience incorporates dance tracks laid out in many different guises, but never exceeding 122 bpm; a refined distillation of music genres, from progressive house & techno of the 90's to cosmic disco, krautrock and psychedelic electronic music.

Apart from his DJing duties, Sean Johnston has graced electronic dance music with his own productions & remixes, most notably under the Hardway Bros moniker. The project was initially created in co-operation with Jake Davies and Rich Johnstone and is currently run by Johnston solely.

Last but not least, one of his latest aliases can be found in the below YT video; A Mountain Of Rimowa with track No More (in original version and remix by Max Pask)

A MOUNTAIN OF RIMOWA - NO MORE (ORIGINAL MIX)

A MOUNTAIN OF RIMOWA - NO MORE (EACH OTHER REMIX)

Closing his DJ set at Crust, I shook hands with Sean Johnston and thanked him for bringing the ALFOS experience. It reminded me of the same vibes with Andrew Weatherall at SNFCC in 2019...

Tune #114: Omicron - Tranquility Base

When I was very young, I wondered why Greek artists do not have a presence in electronic music, whether it was for dancefloors or focused on more ambient paths. The fact is that I was unfamiliar with significant Greek music artists and their music in the 90's. At some point, my ignorance could be justified from the limited exposure of the genre to the mass media (as I little kid I did not have the means or the knowledge how the perform a dedicated search). Therefore, I discovered great music producers in the later years, when I had the time, resources and more important the passion to dig out obscure but inspiring music. 

One of the most interesting digging results is undoubtedly Savvas Ysatis. Influenced by the electronic music innovators Kraftwerk and Jean Michel Jarre, he was absorbed by the beauty of the synthesizers and their endless possibilities. While in his mid-teens he moved from his birthplace (Athens) to New York in order to dedicate his life on electronic music composition. From 1993 until 1997 he developed a fruitful collaboration with Instinct Records, composing a plethora of tracks under various aliases. Through the label he met fellow composer Taylor Dupree and soon they started working their own original material together. Their partnership stood the test of time with many releases spanning different pseudonyms and different genres, from housey techno to ambient & IDM.

At the late 90's Ysatis returned to his birthplace to support and develop the electronic music scene of Greece. He wrote the track Mono + Mono with distinguished Greek DJ & producer Giannis Papaioannou (a.k.a. IØN), adopting the alias Volume One, and started the Allou project with vocalist Elias Aslanoglou, known for his tenure at alternative rock band Magic De Spell.

ΑΛΛΟΥ - ΩΡΑΙΑ ΜΕΡΑ

Since then, he released additional works for prominent labels, such as Plastic City & Tresor, while also collaborating with Taylor Dupree for production of new material for the latter's label 12k. One of his latest partnerships is with fellow Greek producer Fluxion (Konstantinos Soublis) as Soluce for the collaborative album Birth (2018).

I consider a great idea to present in the current post one track from the early works of Savvas Ysatis; it is called Tranquility Base, taken from his first studio album Acrocosm under his Omicron moniker. The entire album is one of the finest examples of ambient/IDM music and the above track just provides a glimpse of a highly sensory experience that takes the listener to a unique ambient journey through cosmical areas!

OMICRON - TRANQUILITY BASE

Tune #113: Paradise 3001 - Several Huge Yellow Snaplike Somethings

If anyone follows the scene of electronic dance music, he/she could identify that the revival of old trance/progressive sound is evident during the last 2-3 years. I do not know if the current situation is caused by the lack of new styles that would fill the dancefloors, but I am very pleased for two reasons; the first one would be the production of new tracks that present similar vibes to the ones evoked of the old banging tunes from the 90's and the second one is the re-issue of forgotten obscure tracks that went under the radar.

One of the latter examples is the following:

PARADISE 3001 - SEVERAL HUGE SNAPLIKE YELLOW SOMETHINGS

Behind Paradise 3001 we can find the Dutchman Aad de Mooy. AdM started his involvement in music composition back in 1983, when he played guitar in various new wave bands. Fascinated by the endless possibilities of analogue syntherizers (Korg MS10) and drum machines (Roland TR606 & TR707), he has been engaged in electronic music production since 1989. He achieved international success in the club scene with his second D-Shake release Yaaaaaaaaaah / Techno Trance. Since then he adopted several pseudonyms across various music styles (Alex Cortiz, D-Shake, Time Warp, Flygang, Hallucination Generation, Cat Scanner, Dish Cuts, etc.). A supportive force in his journey was Go Bang! Records, an electronic dance label founded in 1990 by Ruud Jacobs which left its important mark in the rave history of the Netherlands. In parallel with music production, Aad de Mooy created video clips for tracks of his own and other producers (such as Kraze, Todd Terry, MC Extince) and curated a show on Amsterdam radio stations.

Today a track from his Paradise 3001 alias is presented with the perculiar title "Several Huge Snaplike Yellow Somethings". Under this pseudonym, 2 studio albums and multiple 12" singles have been released, lying mostly in the spectrum of ambient trance. However, the specific track is an absolute banger! A compilation of Paradise 3001 tracks (including also this tune) has been issued in 2020 by Banoffee Pies, a Bristol based record label founded in 2013.

Since 1998, Aad de Mooy rebooted himself and embraced his "Alex Cortiz" persona, focusing on lounge music compositions with more than 10 studio albums, leaving behind the wild days of killer grooves that rocked the clubs.

P.S. I recently acquired the book "Hypnotized: A journey through trance music 1990 - 2005", accompanied with a 3xLP compilation of the Dutch trance sound. I would strongly emphasize that Aad de Mooy undoubtedly deserves an acknowledgment for his contributions in the genre and the club scene in general. From my point of view, Paradise 3001 would be one of the best examples how Dutch trance should sound and not the mega-euphoric supersaw arpeggios imposed by the likes of Tiesto & Ferry Corsten at the turn of the millenium!

Label Realm: quIrky motIfs

ID&T is a music label established in 1992 by Dutchmen Irfan van Ewijk, Duncan Stutterheim & Theo Lelie (it is obvious that the acronym stands for the initials of the founders' first names).

The label's history originates from the first gabber party organized by the 3 guys in 1992 at Utrecht Conference Center, which was named "The Final Exam" and gathered 12.000 people. Due to the party's success, they organized more events such as Thunderdome, Mystery Land and Global Hardcore Nation. The popularity of trance genre at the end of the 90's led the label to change their sound focused on the emerging Dutch trance artists.

In 2005 the company went through a big change since it was acquired by Be Yourself Music, a label started by old ID&T employees. Nowadays, the company continues to throw big dance parties for the masses mainly in the Netherlands.

Instinct Records was a dance label set up in New York by Jared Hoffman (1989). The label gained popularity from its first signing, which was a then unknown artist called Richard Melville, better known later as Moby! Through Moby's work, the company released worldwide hit singles and launched sublabels as alliances with other companies (such as FAX USA to re-issue material from German label Fax +49-69/450464, This Is Acid Jazz to publish material from UK label Acid Jazz in North America). Additionally, the label introduced to the US market prominent artists (DJ Krush, Amon Tobin, DJ Cam & Ninja Tune acts) through its sublabel Shadow Records. The company's success lasted until 2002, when it was sold to Knitting Factory Records.

Internal was a sublabel of FFRR (Pete Tong's label), which was established in 1992 by Christian Tattersfield, the former Marketing Manager of London Records. It was the production home of significant electronic music artists of the 90's, like Orbital, CJ Bolland, Salt Tank & The Advent. In 1996 Tattersfield left the company to become the Head of BMG UK imprint. Since then, he established a successful executive career in the music business, since he was appointed CEO of Warner Music UK between 2009 - 2014. With his departure, the label ceased operations a little years after.

P.S. Happy New Year!!!