ELECTRIC INDEPENDENCE

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Serie Noire 2

A Secret History

Dirty Diamonds

Rephlexions!

Do you know how many hipster disco compilations VICE gets sent every week? No, I haven’t got a clue either but I reckon it must be something like 20, no joke. That’s over 1000 a year—and we don’t even receive the NOW That’s What I Call Music or Best Prog Rock Album In The World… Ever dross; and how many are worth listening to? Barely any. Add all the ten-a-penny Traktor-enhanced DJ mix albums (basically compilations with the gaps removed and the songs ruined) and you can understand why we’re grateful when the guy comes down from Manchester every month to buy them off us. What’s more, if you’ve broadband access to Soulseek then there’s almost no reason to go record shopping ever again, especially for the fashionable obscuro-disco comps that everyone’s releasing. Simply check the tracklisting then download the MP3s.

That wouldn’t help Belgium’s popular Glimmer Twins, though, who’ve lovingly compiled a second Serie Noire from their vast collection of new beat, EBM and acid house, on their own Eskimo imprint. Mo and Benoelie DJed more upbeat material at a summer VICE party but, with so many of these archive-plundering selections coming out, this style of playlist is gradually creeping into clubland’s cooler niches. Electroclash provoked this insatiable magpie-like pillaging of electro-pop’s murky past and surely the vaults will soon be exhausted. The Glimmers tease with two-to-three-minute segments of killer tracks by Boytronic, Mr Fingers, Blancmange, Adonis and Moroder, driving anyone with taste directly to the net to seek out these gems in their full unedited glory.

Or you could investigate New Religion’s A Secret History: Classic 80s Electronic Dance. After several similar nostalgic forays into vintage synth-pop, this 11-track effort limps on to the racks but you can’t fault the selection, particularly the inclusion of Paul McCartney’s insane “Temporary Secretary” and the brutal electro whiplash of Visage’s “Frequency 7”. By now, most will be familiar with Alexander Robotnick’s “Problemes D’Amour”, My Mine’s “Hypnotic Tango” and Liasons Dangereuses’ “Peut Etre… Pas”. These melancholy mechanical masterpieces—classics, by all accounts—have appeared on so many recent compilations that you imagine the artists, after 20 years’ obscurity, are gleefully awaiting their next royalty cheque.

Exhibiting equally impeccable taste is Paris’ fruity Dirty Diamonds posse, who’ve assembled for Diamondtraxx a 17-strong selection of engaging electronic oddities from the past two decades. Dirty Diamonds, more than most, adheres to the carefree rip’n’burn iTunes aesthetic and offers a pleasingly incoherent mix of Dabrye, John Carpenter, Akufen, Grace Jones, Mocky, Suicide and The Human League, amongst others. Beyond the fact that this is the kind of ultra-hip disc you’d expect to find fashionistas fawning over in Paris’ lifestyle emporium Colette, or soundtracking the latest collection by some malnourished cloth-cutter, there’s no denying Dirty Diamonds’ suave allure. It’s a commendable if pointless attempt to categorise the uncategorisable under the umbrella of “cool music”—and who likes being told what to listen to these days? The sleeve, on the other hand, is magnificent.

If you visit places like Moscow it’s possible to pick up black market CDs with the entire recorded output of labels like Rephlex crammed as sound files on one disc for no more than five pence. You’ll have to shell out a tenner for Rephlexions!, their second label compilation, but it’ll be money well spent. Like 2001’s Braindance Coincidence, the range of styles and scope of ideas on display is kaleidoscopic. From the sinister electro-pop of DMX Krew’s “I’m All Alone” to Cylob’s little-heard breakbeat effort “Smack ’Em Up Sharp” to Yee-King’s textbook electronica, each of the 17 tracks, however candid or unorthodox they may sound, is infused with an undeniable soulfulness. You’ll be pleased to know that Rephlex chief Aphex Twin contributes a brand new track, a lavish interdimensional transmission reminiscent of 2001’s Drukqs, while Luke Vibert gets well jiggy with a fresh Amen Andrews junglist missive.

Credible London superclub Fabric celebrates its fourth birthday with probably the best mixed disc yet by Kompakt polymath Michael Mayer (not to be confused with the Halloween films’ psycho Michael Myers, but an easy mistake to make…). Slipping in tracks from rising stars Richard Davis and Jackson amidst plenty of German narco-techno and knowing acid rave, you sense Mayer relished the opportunity to select tunes he’s not personally involved with. Playful and inventive, if a tad dry, Fabric 13 captures that cool Euro designer disco spirit that makes clubbing on the Continent such a joy.

Proving you really can’t have too much of a good thing, Canadian synth-popper Solvent (a.k.a. Suction Records boss Jason Amm, obviously—duh!) invited several like-minded musicians to remix his lush electro lament “My Radio”. The results, released on two 12”s by Ghostly International as Radio Ga Ga, are well worth hearing, particularly for fans of Perspects, Lowfish and Schneider TM; Mitgang Audio’s deluxe interpretation hasn’t left our turntable for over a month. And Legowelt? He provides a frosty new-wave rerub—smack’s back, baby.

VICE’s free monthly Cocadisco night continues: on Thursday, December 13 and we’ve asked our favourite party DJ over from Belgium for a three-hour electronic disco Christmas knees-up. We first saw DJ Raphael destroy revellers in his home town of Antwerp in May this year when he DJed for six hours in a squat playing all our favourite records and much more besides. This is only his second appearance in the UK and we can’t think of a more versatile, knowledgeable or technically proficient DJ to close Cocadisco’s autumn season. Did we mention what a nice guy he is too? Check him out at The Social (5 Little Portland Street, London, W1; Oxford Circus tube; 7-11p.m.).

PIERS MARTIN

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