Disco Music Remix
Macabeo Eastman
Defected would like to use cookies to store information on your computer to improve our website and to enable us to advertise to you those products and services which we believe may be of interest to you. One of the cookies we use is essential for parts of the site to work and has already been sent. You may delete and block all cookies from this site but some elements may not work correctly. To find out more about online behavioural advertising or about the cookies we use and how to delete them, please refer to our privacy policy. By closing, you're agreeing to cookies being used in line with our Cookie Policy.
Ahead of the release of his first ever mix compilation Glitterbox - Discotheque, we revisit 15 of our favourite Purple Disco Machine productions. Tino Piontek has been a prolific producer for the past 6 years, with his unique and contemporary nu-disco style capturing the hearts of many. The unmistakeably catchy chant of his 2017 track 'Body Funk' is currently having a second outing with huge remixes from Dom Dolla and Carl Cox, while his remix of Fatboy Slim's iconic 'Praise You' and his infectious single 'Dished (Male Stripper)' were two of the summer anthems of 2018. We're looking forward to more of the same this year from Purple Disco Machine and if his edits of Julien Jabre 'Swimming Places' and Ilija Rudman featuring Andre Espeut 'In Your Eyes' are anything to go by, we're not going to be disappointed.
To get the glitter ball spinning disco expert Professor Tim Lawrence, from the University of East London and author of dance music history Love Saves the Day, helped us explore 6 ways in which the genre changed the world.
Tim Lawrence says: Disco was one of the most influential cultural and musical movements of the 1970s. It was the platform through which social dancing became a popular phenomena again after fading out at the end of the 1960s. Disco repopularised dancing as a social activity internationally, but it was responsible for introducing a new style of freeform dancing. Prior to disco, all forms of social dancing involved a man and a women dancing with one other.
DJ mixing techniques, and the rise of the DJ as a new form of musician, primarily started in New York City in the 1970s. For example, in the UK right up untill the end of the decade DJs would announce the song names between tracks! The New York DJs knew dancers wanted to lose themselves in the records because of the new form of crowd dancing. They developed all these techniques that would enhance that experience. It started with Grasso using a pair of headphones to listen to the incoming record so he could mix the two together and maintain a continuous flow. DJs then started to explore ways of extending records, say by buying two copies of the same single and then mixing them together.
The DJs were the organic experts of this culture. They were music fans who wanted to play records and barely made a living out of it. They had no training, no conventional musical skills, but developed a very refined and receptive sensibility to the culture they helped to create.
It was never exclusively a gay club, but they made it clear they were welcome. And this new crowd changed dynamic of the dance floor. In fact Francis Grasso [the in house DJ at The Sanctury] said his new DJ mixing technique was inspired by this this new crowd. The energy was so high, he started mixing together records so there was no gap. So disco, with its freedom, became a way for gay culture to find an expression.
A label called Sceptre Records was one of the first to spot what was going on in the discotheques so started to commission records specifically for the disco market. Another indie, Salsoul, realised that dancers wanted to own 12 inch singles they made for DJs, so in 1976 they were the first label to release one commercially, which proved a major foundation for dance culture more widely.
Thomas Jerome Moulton (/ˈmoʊltən/, MOHL-tən; born November 29, 1940)[1] is an American record producer. He experimented with remix in disco music and this led to its wide adoption as a standard practice in the industry. He also invented the breakdown section, and the twelve-inch single vinyl format in the process.
Moulton was born in Schenectady, New York, United States,[1] as the oldest of five children to parents who both were jazz musicians.[2] He worked as a model at the Bookings and Ford agencies before beginning his production career. Before that, he had worked in the music industry, first as kid working part-time in record shops, then holding a sales and promotion job at King Records (from 1959 to 1961), and similar positions at RCA and United Artists. He eventually left due to his disgust at the industry's dishonesty.[3] His music career restarted in the late 1960s, with a self-made tape of overlapping songs created for the Fire Island bar and restaurant The Sandpiper.[4]
He was responsible for the first continuous-mix album side, on Gloria Gaynor's disco album Never Can Say Goodbye, earning him the title of "father of the disco mix."[5] Among some of his other successes in mixing songs are The Three Degrees' "Dirty Ol' Man", MFSB featuring The Three Degrees' "Love Is the Message", B.T. Express' "Do It ('Til You're Satisfied)", Tamiko Jones's "Let It Flow", Sarah Dash's "Sinner Man", Michele's (Chantal Curtis) "Disco Dance", The Trammps' "Disco Inferno", the People's Choice's "Do It Any Way You Wanna", Andrea True's "More, More, More", plus First Choice's "Doctor Love" as well as "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" and Claudja Barry's album, The Girl Most Likely.[1]
Moulton's innovative work was honored at the 2004 Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony in New York City, when he was inducted for his achievements as a remixer. He is the official archivist of the Bethlehem Jazz and Salsoul music catalogues and has overseen all of the digital remastering. In late 2006, Moulton remixed the Brand New Heavies (featuring N'Dea Davenport)'s single "I Don't Know (Why I Love You)".
In 2006, a compilation of mixes titled A Tom Moulton Mix of Moulton's remixes on Soul Jazz Records.[6][1] The British label Harmless Records has released albums of Moulton's work of remixed tracks, originally issued on Philadelphia International and other Philly soul labels, mainly during the 1970s.
"I think Matthew Herbert is one of the really great sound storytellers when using the technique called remix. The unstable bassline reminds me of a mysterious world, much like the movie Labyrinth (starring David Bowie)."
"Alter Ego has chosen only one word from the original vocal. That word becomes a destructive force much like a magic spell. Likewise, I can feel the breath of rock music where the remix has an extensive space between drum machine and synthesiser."
"In my opinion, if a parallel world could exist between an original version and a remix version, then the remix version would be right. When I work remixes I always keep that theory in mind. Todd Terje's original and Pepe Bradock's remix is the one-off specimen which proves that theory."
"It is like many house music remixes; however, it is definitely hip-hop. I always hope that my music balance is like this remix. By the way, I have a memory about The Brand New Heavies: when I was at a club, I was talked to by a member of The Brand New Heavies after I rapped on stage at the club. He said to me that he was a bassist and he would like to feature my rap on their song. He gave me his email address, but I lost it. So I am not sure whether it was true or not."
d3342ee215