With electro disco having dried up over the last few years, Voltaire are, in a way, breaking with the norm. For those looking for an analogue fix with a decent floor slant, look no further.
It’s full time work, well part time, staying up to date with the comings and goings of electronic music. But up to date we keep! Flying low comes a new release from San Fran’s Voltaire Records. Publicist’s Keep It Off the Record was a bit of an underground favourite, a curious blend of cosmic disco and krautrock sentimentalities. For its latest, the West Coast imprint sees The Publicist return, this time accompanied by Tussle for Split Infinitive.
The record begins with the downtempo sounds of Publicist and “Do You Know Who I Am.” The BPM might be lower than expected, but the track is energy packed. The snares are crisp as arpeggiators build to a head alongside heavily vocoded lyrics. The arpeggiators are kept working for Tussle’s remix of “Hand to Mouth.” The track has a neo-disco aspect, a floor sound flooding through with tight beats and some extra vocoder for good measure. Similar arrangements to Bangkok Impact or Sneak Thief drifting through. The flips takes things down a notch as Tussle reduces the club connotations, melting string and synth in the warm haze of “Dusty Roads.” Publicist takes on Tussle’s “Soft Crush” arrives for the finale. A decent build leads into a full throttle electro disco affair. As in Publicist’s first EP, echoes of early Crème Organization filters through the thick bars and carefree tone. A warm, fun track to close on; one balancing depth with club appeal.
The sounds being explored on Split Infinitive are well establish. Ghostly looked at similar ideas in their Disco Noveau series, as have labels like Clone, Radius and Italians Do It Better. One of the more refreshing aspects of the Voltaire sound is its parred back, cosmic influence. “Dusty Roads” breaks with this, having a more indie electric motif. With electro disco having dried up over the last few years, Voltaire are, in a way, breaking with the norm. For those looking for an analogue fix with a decent floor slant, look no further.
Split Infinitive is available Voltaire. [Buy at iTunes or Amazon]
