Italobot podcast 08 : Altair Nouveau

Italobot podcast 08 : Altair Nouveau

1. Jon Anderson: Meeting (Garden of Geda)
2. Mike Oldfield: (Incantations) Part One
3. Landscape: Shake the West Awake
4. Righeira: Tanzen Mit Righeira
5. The Buggles: Inner City
6. Giorgio Morder: Paul's Theme (Jogging Chase)
7. Talk Talk: It's My Life (Dub Version)
8. Imagination: Music and Lights
9. Ministry: Work for Love
10. Barry De Vorzan: Theme from "The Warriors"
11. Heaven 17: Crushed by the Wheels of Industry
12. Wind: Luxury
13: Mike Mareen: Dancing in the Dark (Galactica Remix)
14. Change: Hold Tight
15. Stephanie Mills: Pilot Error (Club Mix)
16. Raw Silk: Do It to the Music (Dub Mix)
17. Sylvester: Fever
18: Midnight Passion: I Need Your Love (Instrumental)
19. Rosetta Stone: Sunshine of Your Love
20. The Immortals: The Ultimate Warlord
21. Tantra: Hills of Kat Mandu (Patrick Cowley Remix)

If you haven't heard of Altair Nouveau its time to get acquainted. His brand of music is a blend of space disco, fusion and the fantastic. You can get a taste of his new EP Space Fortress with his single Sorcerer which has a very live feel and soaring synthesizer lines. He has been a resident of the West Coast of the U.S. for a while now but he informed me that he is about to grace the Eastern Seaboard in a few weeks with a move to New York City. San Francisco will be sad to see him go but he was gracious enough to allow me to stream this mix he did last fall as part of the podcast.

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Don't Hurt Me

Rene's 'Don't Hurt Me' is another classic track from powerhouse Discomagic Records complete with powerful synth lines and the charming calm of piano and saxophone. Written by Rino Facchinetti the former lead singer of Styloo with some help on the synths and drum progamming from Walter Bassani. There are some pretty wicked synth percussives in there towards the end and you got to love his use of the amen cadence too.

Port Salut

This track is off the wall and seemingly, pretty damn rare. And like a fine cheese this one has been aged to perfection. It sounds like space disco but the bass line tears through this song like pure funk. The chorus is infectious and the drum track snaps with the crunch of that synthesized bass. There is not much info online about Port Salut so if anyone has any more information about this one post it in the comments below.

Trust in Me

I'm riding high on a beautiful day in the Bay Area so I thought I would get a little boogie up here since the taste of Spring is nearly on my lips. L.J. Reynolds was in The Dramatics from 1973 to 1981. This one appeared on his album Travelin.

Lovables

This looks like my kind of Valentines Day scene. Toughing it out in the urban wastelands with my tough-as-nails girlfriend. Fighting off brigands and looking for a refuge for our forbidden love. And as we made love by the burning compounds of the warlords "It's Beautiful" played inside of our minds.

A fun-loving track produced by the team of Mauro Farina and Giuliano Crivellente,

Alek Stark - Trapped EP

Alek Stark cut his teeth in the the late 90s and 2000s with his label Star Whores and releases on numerous labels including Transient Force, home to some wonderful new electro and space disco tracks. His new Trapped EP on 158.8MHz Records has some fine cuts and he has made it freely available for the first 97 downloads. "Trapped" is driven by a drum track very reminiscent of old Prince layered with a spaced out synth, "Who I Am" is another great homage to space disco number complete with textures of arpeggios and vocoded vocals, "Inside You" has a pretty infectious, percussive synth lead and big soul claps.

All in all Stark's EP and label meet his purpose in honoring the Italo sound of the early 80s. Very robotic.

Download the Trapped EP.

He is pressing 20 or more copies on vinyl. If you are interested in getting one email him:

158.8mhz@gmail.com

Wonderful Train

I'm not sure where I can get a ticket for the wonderful train and I'm not sure where the wonderful train goes but I love train rides. And Angela St. Philips makes it sound like its just the best. What I love about the liner notes on this one is they tell what synths they used, the Oberheim Dmx, Dsx, Korg Poly 61, Prophet 5.

Download Oberheim DMX drum sounds

I have been looking at a great soft synth that emulates the old Oberheim sound. The OP-X from Sonic Projects sounds great, affordable and you can try it free.

Lovables

A fun-loving track produced by the team of Mauro Farina and Giuliano Crivellente, "It's Beautiful" is another good Valentines Day track so I thought I'd throw it up here for you lovers out there. It has a lot of cliche Italo synth phrases but isn't that what you love about this period of pop production?

Lovables - It's Beautiful

Altair Nouveau

http://www.altairnouveau.com

Altair Nouveau - Fall 09 Mix

setlist

Elle et Moi

Sensual is the first word that comes to mind to describe Max Berlin's iconic "Elle et moi" (She and I). A poetic, sexual lullaby that beckons for the evening warmth of bed sheets. Check out the lyrics here. Below is a  great remix from Joakim.

A Stroll through the Technopolis etc.

Here are a few to last you the weekend.

Maritime Tatami by Victrola is wonderfully dark and minimal with incredibly haunting vocals. Simple drums and a chunky, blocky bass sound. The B-Side "A Game of Despair" follows in a similar vein but with chorused guitars. A little more lyrical it doesn't conjure the same sense of future dystopia as "Maritime Tatami."

Victrola - Maritime Tatami
Victrola - A Game of Despair

Lastly a fun-spirited song for Friday to bring you out of the post-apocalyptic sound of Victrola. The Clocks' "Wake Up" has an almost cliche "80s" sound but its hard not to give in to its cheerful chanting. It was released in 1981 on Balls to Play Records. The B-Side is pretty fantastic, I will try to get a copy of it for download but you can preview it here (not sure how long this link will work).

The Clocks - Wake Up

Dream Machine and the Orlando Riva Sound

Orlando Riva Sound, or O.R.S., was a disco outfit from Germany in the late 70s that put out some serious heat. "Body to Body Boogie" is slow and sensuous but to me the real star is the B-Side to the Ariola re-release of "Body to Body," "Dream Machine." "Dream Machine" is a great space disco number that has a little more depth in my humble opinion, but you can be the judge of that yourself. I guess it depends on whether you feel like an evening of back rubs or contemplating singularity.

Both tracks were produced by Anthony Monn who did some wonderful work in the genre through the 70s and 80s and he apparently produced Bolero's "Hold Me in Your Arms" which is a staple in my rotation (See podcast 01).

Orlando Riva Sound - Body to Body Boogie
Orlando Riva Sound - Dream Machine

Roberto Onofri

The opening notes of "Let's Go Out" sound like an introduction to a hi-NRG Italo number but it rapidly transforms into a rough-around-the-edges groove with some real bounce. The female vocals scream and screech, seemingly past the capacity of the microphone and Roberto's lyrics are at times indiscernable and muffled. There is an exquisite break in there with some singing synthesizers so look out for it.

For more information about Roberto check out this interview on Euro-flash.

Roberto Onofri - Let's Go Out