gullbuy music review

Punk Disco Beat vol. 1

title

Punk Disco Beat vol. 1

label

-

format
12inch

Punk Disco Beat 12inch cover'Punk Disco Beat vol. 1' seems to be put out by the same people who did 'The Dark Side of Disco vol. 1.'

This record is a white dj sleeved 12inch with 4 songs. There no record label identified on the 12inch. The performers of the songs are not identified either.

Despite the seeming sneakiness of this package, the tunes are great. As with The Dark Side of Disco, there is a mix of well known and not so well known. For well known, The Slits version of Heard It through the Grapevine is here.

  1. The Slits - Heard It through the Grapevine London's The Slits sound as good today as ever. They predated much of the riot grrl movement, and sound completely contemporary in today's punk disco atmosphere. Ari Up's vocals are as individual as James Dean's persona, and the music bumps and skips in a fine fashion. The best version of this classic Motown track ever.
  2. Dance - She Likes to Beat Dance was a NYC band from the early 80s. She Likes to Beat is a female vocal track with great bass work. I had never heard this cut before.
  3. Pylon - Danger (dub) Completely killer. Pylon was a band from Athens GA that had their own sound, kind of like a poppier Contortions with female vocals. Songs were centered on a driving simple drum beat and a treble maxxed bass guitar, with sparse non-traditional guitar and sharp vocals. I especially like this version of Danger, with the vocals taken a bit into the background.
  4. Glaxo Babies - Maximum Sexual Joy From Bristol in the UK, Glaxo Babies took more influence from the no wave sound than punk funk, though both sounds sit together in this song. Maximum Sexual Joy starts off with a dominating bass guitar, then gets joined with many other sounds that kind of bounce off the center, like The Pop Group used to do. The track is basically an instrumental, though yelps and unintelligible vocalizations can be heard.

Pylon is the winner for me, as I have already heard The Slits track a million times. The Slits come in second, Glaxo Babies third, and Dance round off the bottom of a pretty fine 12inch record.

---Carl, September 30, 2003