Every track in this blend could very well get the crowd moving just as easy in 1977 as it would in 2017.
I think it would be safe to say I was into disco even before I was born. How is that even possible, you ask? The answer is simple: my mother lived and breathed disco music. She owned an extensive collection of 12” singles and albums, and lived in The Big Apple during the height of the disco era. She even managed to make it past the long lines outside of Studio 54 so that she could boogie oogie oogie alongside the other fortunate souls on the dancefloor. So yes, disco has been a part of my life since day one.
This blend isn’t purely disco, mind you. It’s “disco-inspired”. Every track in this blend could very well get the Studio 54 crowd going just as easy in 1977 as it would in 2017. That’s how much of an influence my mother’s love for disco music had on me. During the mid 90’s, when I was a regular on the Washington D.C. and Baltimore club circuit, disco wasn’t exactly pumping out of the speakers. As a matter of fact, disco was usually relegated to throwback parties that asked patrons to come decked out in platform shoes, bell bottoms, butterfly collars and afros. It was treated like a joke.
What I began to learn was that many of the DJs who spun house were very much into disco. I began to pick-up basslines, tempos, samples and instruments that I had heard in my mother’s collection. Vocals lifted straight from classic disco tunes fit nicely in the sets by DJs like Feelgood, Doc Martin and Deee-Lite’s Supa DJ Dimitry. These guys didn’t have a problem with working in a classic disco track into one of their funky house sets – and neither did the crowd. It was during these sets that a certain nostalgia began to set in. One that brought me back to the days of my mother dancing around in our living room to Gloria Gaynor, Stephanie Mills (who happens to make an appearance on this blend), The Bee-Gees, and, yes, even The Village People.
Please feel free to bust out your own disco-era get-up. Ladies: empty a can of hairspray into your hair and squeeze into a pair of Sassoons. Gentlemen: let that chair hair peek out from between your butterfly collar with a gold chain layered on top. Go on and get your boogie oogie oogie on.
TRACKLISTING:
- Todd Terje – Inspector Norse
- Lipps Inc. – Funkytown (Ryphia Remix)
- Blur – Girls & Boys
- Goldroom – Angeles (Palm & Trees Re-Tropicalize)]
- Saint Lou Lou – Maybe You (Good Night Keaton Remix)
- Friendly Fires – Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
- Justin Timberlake – Suit & Tie (Aeroplane Remix Vocal Mix)
- Mr. Gonzo – Got This Feeling
- Duck Sauce – Anyway (DJ Dan & J Paul Getto Remix)
- Verdugo Brothers – Down For You (Original Mix)
- DJ Kue – Something Special (Original Mix)
- Armand Van Helden – This Ain’t Hollywood (Featuring Will ‘Tha Wiz’ Lemay)
- Soulsearcher – Just Can’t Get Enough (Silence Groove 2 Step Mix)
- The Spinners – I’ll Be Around (Endless Sound Remix)
- Michael Jackson – P.Y.T. (Bixel Boys VIP Edit)
- Dafunkeetomato – Jack Is Jillin (Original Mix)
- Stephanie Mills – Never Knew Love Like This Before (Cyro Remix)
- The Chemical Brothers – Star Guitar (Ditto Toxic Groove Bootleg)
- New Order – Bizarre Love Triangle (Richard X Remix Full Length)
- Dana Bergquist & Peder G – Sos (Original)
- Deadmau5 & Kaskade – I Remember (Vocal Mix)
Download this blend:
- Style Funk & Soul, House, Old-School