De-De-Mo are part of the golden age of the Rimini sound and it’s fantastic to see them find a new audience. I’m curious to see, with a number of labels investigating the Spaghetti Dance seam, how many more gems are there to be unearthed.
I never believed that Italo Disco was just a pop project. That’s more or less what it ultimately became with the likes of Sabrina and Den Harrow, but in its formative years it was a new musical expression. Alright, yes pop was part of it; but pop was part of the 80s and very few would deny that pop was embodied in groups like The Human League or Depeche Mode. Anyway, digression. In Spaghetti Dance circles there are a handful of groups that characterize those early days of this brand of synth music. Many of them have already been reissued, but one outfit have slipped through the net.
De-De-Mo only had one release, ‘Cause I Need You, ‘Cause I Love You, which came out nearly 30 years ago. The 12” was the epitome of fledgling Italo, New Wave streaked sounds cobbled together on simple equipment with tonnes of heart. Since then the 12” has become one of those untouchable objects of fanboy desire, until now. Bordello A Parigi, whose releasing rate has rocketed in 2014, have managed to unearth this hidden EP from 84 and gave it a full re-polish.
The title piece is at the core of the release. Synthlines are catchy, addictive, and vocals lament of a lost romance whilst bordering into the absurd. The record has a wonderful homemade quality to it, a D.I.Y. job created with some borrowed equipment down the garden shed. But don’t mistake this for simplistic, the track is far from it. Instead “’Cause I Need You, ‘Cause I Love You” is wholly charming. The Doub version, feeling there was a typewriter slip there, and Midnight version are instrumental and DJ adapted takes on the original. For the finale Denmark’s aficionado, Flemming Dalum, is on remix duty. The Dane does the thirty year old track proud. Modern sounds are filtered with dusty analogue chords, breaks are extended and some extra punch is offered for a contemporary twist.
Italo demands a lot of patience. I remember when I was first digging in crates for it, more often than not you’ll pull up a clod of muck than a nugget of gold. But now there are labels doing the pan-handling for the burgeoning fan. De-De-Mo are part of the golden age of the Rimini sound and it’s fantastic to see them find a new audience. I’m curious to see, with a number of labels investigating the Spaghetti Dance seam, how many more gems are there to be unearthed.
‘Cause I Need You, ‘Cause I Love You is available on Bordello A Parigi.
