Various Artists
Disco Nouveau Compilation (Ghostly)
House 
p> "The album and party referred to above is the brainchild of Sam Valenti IV, bossman at Ann Arbor-based label, Ghostly International. "Disco Nouveau is a compendium of the robot disco sound as interpreted by contemporary electronic musicians," explains the dapper 22- year-old Valenti, before articulating the album's raison d'etre. "The 'Disko' in question is the electronic dance music from the late 1970s and early 1980s spawned from the ice cool synthesized basslines of Giorgio Moroder," enthuses Valenti. "Our compilation is about observing the excess and vanity in our society, kind of a survey of where we are right now. This music has transcended the economic slow-down and bleakness." Disco Nouveau offers an altogether more sleek take on synthcore than, say, New York's electroclash scene. Sam Valenti sums up. "The new-found interest in electro-pop, post- punk and Italo disco is merely proof of the wheel moving, and it will ultimately swing out of vogue," predicts Valenti, correctly, "only to be re-discovered and evaluated 20 years from now." [Sleazenation]

"These tunes evoke times past while actually updating old sounds significantly: The Dutch master I-F contributes one of the hardest tracks, "Holographic Voice," and a distorted bass-line chug that rattles your skeleton more than most black- metal tunes. The title of Susumu Yokota's pumped-up and glowing "Re: Disco" says it best - this is music about disco, electro and New Wave, not a revival of any of those genres. The only thing that unites all the artists is an urge to spew the kind of fat- bottom grooves that unhinge non-carbon- based life forms but make humans very, very happy." [Rolling Stone]