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Scissor Sisters, Magic Hour

2012 | Label: Casablanca

By Ashley Melzer eMusic Contributor

05.29.12 After spending three records exploring the expanses of disco and pop, the Scissor Sisters are changing their tune, moving the cabaret dramatics that have long informed their music and live show toward a less nostalgic sound. On Magic Hour, instead of wearing ’70s influences on their sparkly sleeves, the Sisters tiptoe toward R&B and electronic music. The shift is in part thanks to co-producers, German electronic producer Alex “Boys Noize” Ridha and Scottish DJ/producer Calvin Harris, whose past work accounts for some of the album’s genre-hopping and synth-heavy breaks.

There’s also… more »

Various, Johnny D Presents Disco Jamms: Volume One

2012 | Label: BBE / !K7 Records

By Peter Shapiro eMusic Contributor

03.20.12 While disco is undoubtedly in Johnny D’s DNA, Johnny D Presents Disco Jamms is, despite its title, a near-perfect snapshot of post-disco New York. Johnny “D” DeMairo co-founded, with Tommy Musto, the crucial New York house music label Henry Street Music in 1993: Together, they released such undisputed dancefloor classics as The Bucketheads’ “The Bomb!” and Armand Van Helden’s “The Funk Phenomena.” A Brooklyn native, Johnny’s formative years were the early ’80s when the Big Apple music scene was ruled by the eclectic tastes of Shep Pettibone, Frankie Crocker, Tony… more »

Escort, Escort

2012 | Label: Escort Records / CD Baby

By Barry Walters eMusic Contributor

02.29.12 Despite the dissing it took during its heyday, disco remains one of the most difficult genres to accurately reproduce or update. Playing it straight gets as corny as grizzled rockers recycling Chuck Berry riffs; adding contemporary recording techniques typically turns it into house or techno. Brooklyn’s Escort is one of the very few current practitioners that nails the genre’s soulfulness. Accurately relegating synths to a supporting position and avoiding sampling entirely, this three-member group (that swells to as many as 17 players and singers in the live setting) flavors its… more »

Various Artists, Permanent Vacation: Selected Label Works 3

2011 | Label: Permanent Vacation / GoodToGo

By Michelangelo Matos eMusic Contributor

01.30.12 Kids these days – they think “disco” lasted all the way up until house music came along. Thing is, musically speaking, they’re not wrong. From Michael to Madonna to underground labels like Prelude and West End, disco never really went anywhere, and in mainland Europeit’s essentially what pop music was until – you guessed it – house music came along. That wider sense of what constitutes the genre means that a lot of club producers are playing with a big swathe of stuff, and the third collection from one of… more »