disco/italo/cosmicdisco/library music/early electro/synthpop/edits/balearic subforum?

[ilya]

:) :music: :)

[ilya]

oooh ya, boogie & jazz-funk can go in there too :P

[Serendipity]

i like where you're going with this one.

[ilya]

i like where you're going with this one.

hmmm, me too... let's add synth funk to the list! :toilet: :D :) :jt:

[Stripe]

all of those are other :P

[ilya]

I know I knooooow :(

Hear me out though! Italo or HiNRG typically fall under the electronic category whereas more 'traditional' forms of 70s disco/philly soul are generally non-electronic. Boogie and cosmic disco many times end up somewhere in the middle, kind of a hybrid of EDM and non-EDM, and sometimes not even dance-oriented at all! I'd also say these 4 are just as closely related to one another than nu skool/electronic breaks & funky breaks for example or acid & schranz/hardcore. Just speaking in terms of sheer size of the overall category/genre/whatever disco is also probably much more encompassing than house or techno, and definitely far more encompassing than electro/dubstep/drum n' bass/breaks/hip-hop. In fact... a lot of old school hip-hop & breaks is probably more disco than anything else :P

I also think it's safe to say that disco, in its many forms, including modern stuff like disco house/re-edits/deep disco/etc. has been undergoing a pretty massive revival internationally amongst music fans/dancers and especially DJs. A lot of it is even breaking through to mainstream audiences just as much as if not more so than the current pop darling (dubstep) with outfits like LCD Soundsystem, Chromeo, etc.

I definitely understand that consideration of adding a new subforum is probably the last thing on the agenda and I know you're already working your butts off on making the site robust & dope (and damn is 2.0 dope!) but I'll cross my fingers that we could maybe revisit the idea later on at some point? I'd even, with tears in my eyes and an ache in my heart (my achy breaky heart), be willing to see the Canada regional forum euthanized in favor of disco. :hump:

[Stripe]

I am all for changing the descriptions of the sub genres though. If needed, its not tough to add a new main genre area :)

[ilya]

personally, i'd love to see a disco forum kinda like..
genre: Disco
subgenres: Disco House, Nu-Disco, Edits, Italo, Electrofunk, Cosmic, Indie Dance
or whatever resembling that...
i'd guess it would see a good amount of traffic/activity but honestly, no clue if other members would agree or if i'm being foolishly optimistic :P

[Marc S]

only 1 of those sub genres is a sub genre of disco though, italo? really? disco?

[ilya]

only 1 of those sub genres is a sub genre of disco though, italo? really? disco?

Yes, all of the categories I listed are pretty widely considered part of the disco umbrella. Italo is short for italo disco - replacing the large and expensive string sections & studio musicianship in general found in the more organic State-side version with synths. Cosmic (again, short for cosmic or space disco) developed in a similar fashion, although the impetus was to push disco into more experimental territory, rock vs. 70s psychedelic rock for example.

Boogie, or electrofunk, is a stripped down version of disco made primarily with drum machines as opposed to live drummers. Some people refer to it as post-disco; again - this development arguably occurred because of the rising expense of studio time and increased affordability of technology. Many of the same producers from the 'classic' disco era were prolific through the 80s as well with this spin on the sound.

Nu-disco and disco house are modern incarnations of disco, the former by definition and the latter probably more so in terms of tribute. Artists like Todd Terje, Prins Thomas, Lindstrom, etc. are seeing a good bit of popularity and putting out (in their own words) disco music. Other artists like Tensnake, Holy Ghost!, Ilija Rudman, Metro Area, etc. are generally lumped into either the Indie Dance or Nu-Disco category depending on publication/distributor. You could possibly be right that disco house is kind of a stretch, but I think given that the bulk of a disco house track is uhhh.. a filtered disco sample, it probably has just as much if not more relevance being discussed in a disco forum than it does another forum with mostly progressive house heads.

Edits could be clarified to say "disco edits/re-edits" although I don't think that's really necessary as the word edit itself in context of dance music is overwhelmingly associated with disco culture/up****** old or forgotten tracks to begin with. Yes, you might have a few thousand amateurs making unnecessary edits of their favorite pop or commercial trance tunes but the edits being labeled as such and put forth by publications/distributors are certainly not those things.

Hope this didn't come off as a lecture Marc, I honestly assume you're probably aware of most of the stuff I just typed which is why I find it surprising that you'd say that only 1 of the things I listed is a sub-genre of disco... Remember, the philly sound isn't all encompassing of disco just as chicago house isn't all encompassing of house. Yes, they're early incarnations but not even close to what defines the current categories/genres.

[Stripe]

I am still intrigued by this.. continue with why a disco area should be on its own :)

70s disco was its own genre, however it merged into house in the 80s, now there is a disco revival.

[ilya]

70s disco was its own genre, however it merged into house in the 80s, now there is a disco revival.

Added a bit more reasoning in the other thread but I what you say here is definitely relevant too. 70's disco could be considered a genre but to me, it seems more like an era, an elaboration of what was happening in the late 60's (Isaac Hayes, Sly & the Family Stone, Moroder). In the 70's, we see differentiation between the more soulful and organic sounds of Philadelphia and more floor-focused stuff happening in New York/Studio 54/Paradise Garage. By the end of the decade, electronic and acoustic forms referenced one another a lot and eventually lead to synthpop, boogie, electronic funk, and proto-house emerging in a big way through (and beyond) the 80's.

All of these things, however, are encompassed by the wider category of 'disco' to me. Stylistically, it's a genre that's very difficult to pinpoint simply largely because of how much experimentation happened within it. Take two major disco hits from 1977 for example - Idris Muhammad's 'Could Heaven Ever Be Like This' and Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'. Same year, played in the same clubs, both described as disco but drastically different in terms of instrumentation. Muhammad's song is mostly acoustic, I Feel Love is HiNRG/Italo. I feel that this is a great example as to why it technically makes sense to have a disco forum -- two songs, both undoubtedly disco and relevant to the same discussion, currently would fall into completely different genre categories (Other Non-EDM and Other EDM respectively).

Really, I think that the only reason (and it might very well be a 100% valid one) to shelf the idea of a disco forum for now is simple demand. If there's not enough interest in the community to discuss it, it could just be a waste of space on the forum index. Again though, I have a gut feeling that it would probably get at least more traffic than the "non" forums, and hopefully more than some of the other established genre forums that we currently have.

[Marc S]

i still dont see any of those as disco, at all. but we come from different parts of the world and its common to see variations on genre interpretation. But the disco/funk sound here is still pretty popular and those genres certainly dont fall under it,

[drumpusher]

Nu disco and edits are huuuuuuuge over here at the mo.

[Nick Bike]

i support this movement ;)

[ilya]

me too :lush: :lush: :lush: :lush: