November 25, 2003

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  Digital Disco 2

  various artists
  label:: Forcetracks

  Disco will always be a dirty word, but it does well in describing the route that many Force Tracks artists have been taking in recent years. Dub Taylor, Hakan Lidbo (working with D:Exter here), and MRI are all reliable Force Track artists who made their appearances on the original Digital Disco compilation last year and join us again on Digital Disco 2.

  These artists are joined by outside artists like Luomo and Ian Pooley - and with the added bonus of some lesser known Force Track artists like Adjuster and outside guest Steve Angello - Digital Disco 2 is a better and more exciting compilation than its predecessor Digital Disco.

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  Esquivel

  title:: The Best of Esquivel
  label:: BMG

  The explosion that was Esquivel was a truly monumental sound which combined vocal harmony, stereo separation and big band music all in a completely listenable and fun style in the late 50s - late 60s. In the 1990s, a renaissance of Esquivel's "Space Age Pop" music occurred, at a time when the nerdy hipsters were sick of grunge and pre-processed pop music, the sounds that might emanated from their parent's hi-fi's from the dawn of the stereo era became an enticing and enthusiastic fad.

  Luckily, Esquivel lived long enough to enjoy this revival, passing away in January 2002. Camden, a British BMG label was one of the labels which originally reissued some Esquivel music in the 1990s along with RCA and Bar/None in America, and here Camden are again with The Best of Esquivel compiling tracks recorded between 1957 and 1967.

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  N.Y No Wave

  various artists
  label:: ZE Records

  I had hoped that this compilation would expose me to some recordings that had surfaced during the years, but most of this record is James and Lydia. In fact, James Chance plays on 8 of the 22 songs, and Lydia plays on 6. However, I had totally missed out on Rosa Yemen / Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and had never hear the Arto / Neto tracks.

  I like this compilation. It is very listenable, not all noise, as some people may have told you.

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  Runaways

  title:: And Now…The Runaways
  label:: Anagram Recordings

  It has been hard to find this record for years. Now Anagram have made it available through this re-issue. There are no bonus tracks, so we are talking about a thirty five minute CD. Even so, I like this record a lot, as I always have.