Cosmic Afro-Disco Traveler

The new episode of our Six Degrees Traveler weekly radio broadcast is now up on Apple i-Tunes (under the "Eclectic" an "Electronica" sections of their Radio page or at www.live365.com/sixdegrees.



Cosmic Afro-Disco Traveler:

On this week's show, we feature two hours of African influenced "Cosmic Disco". If you're having trouble imagining just what the heck that might sound like, it's probably best if you surrender any preconceived notions, crank up the volume and just shake your booty.

The "Cosmic Disco" genre tag began to be used quite a lot when those two Scandinavian, retro groove kings, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas first started making noise on the scene with a series of irresistible tracks and remixes (both individually and as a duo) that combined the "old school" spirits of disco, Giorgio Moroder, and electronic space music with a nice modern electronica spin. It is a well known, slightly dirty secret, that despite the tremendous backlash that disco received towards the end of it's first glory days, it's spirit has never died and has in fact flourished in many hybrid forms all of these years. From the bygone days of Blondie to the more recent sounds of LCD Soundsystem to just about every release on the DFA and Rong labels, to the seemingly endless bootleg Disco Re-edits that come out every year, one could argue that disco has won the day and emerged as a perfectly viable and ultimately "hip" art form. This is not at all surprising to club goers around the world but might be shocking to all of those folks who sported "Disco Sucks" buttons and Tee shirts during the 70's and early 80's.

Even from the beginning, there was no denying the influence that African music has had on disco. Afro percussion and chanting figures prominently on many disco classics and the music of the mother land continues to merge perfectly with today's "nu disco". Add a healthy dose of trippy electronica, a dash of new wave sensibility and today's more muscular dance grooves and you get a pretty irresistible concoction that goes by the catchy tag of "Cosmic Afro-Disco".

Like I said, don't worry about intellectualizing it, just give in and shake what your momma gave you.

Listen/Buy Prins Thomas Dub Remix of Bebel Gilberto's Bring Back the Love


Check out the full playlist at:

http://sixdegreesrecords.com/radio/playlist.php?week=02_25_09


Note: Image above taken from the excellent compilation D'Afro Disco from Codek Records

And here is the rest of it.