Chart Action: Disco With Red Rack 'Em
Red Rack 'Em reviews various number one tracks currently charting around the web...
Have you ever wondered what goes through the mind of the globe-trotting DJs when they search for new music online? Have you ever listened to the top selling charts on stores like Beatport, Juno etc and wondered ‘how did it all come to this’?
Well, we do do and we have - and we’ve asked some of the worlds top DJs to give us their thoughts on the current number one tracks featured on various digital platforms’ charts.
First up, we have Scottish house aficionado, Danny Berman AKA Red Rack ‘Em. He is responsible for the huge dance floor weapon ‘Wonky Disco Bassline Banger’, which even got the thumbs up form Elton John, and his 2017 debut album ‘Self Portrait’, (which featured the aforementioned banger) also went down as one of the year’s most underrated releases.
We checked the disco charts on Beatport, Juno Download, Youtube, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud, and asked for Mr. Berman's thoughts on those tracks. And our man Rack ‘Em had much to say about it all…
Platform: Juno Download
Artist: Sweetooth
Track: Lose Control
Remix: Don Dayglow remix
Label: ISM Records
Can I just start with the disclaimer that I don't like about 99% of modern disco music. So I am not the best person to review modern disco tracks. Especially as the term 'disco' today generally means some ropey warbling Ableton sound disco edit of a well known track which has been done to death already.
Just as 'balearic' always has delayed acoustic guitar in it, modern 'disco' always has some super obvious chicken scratch sub Nile Rogers style rhythm guitar in it - because as we know ALL disco tracks have that kind of guitar in them right? It's REALLY hard to recreate vintage disco without the original recording environment (i.e not a laptop) and/or by sampling but my main gripe with modern disco is the musical content.
Disco was made by off-duty jazz musicians moonlighting in the lucrative major label funded late 70s disco boom so without that level of musicianship, I think it's a bit misleading to call the stuff people make today disco. The same as deep house doesn't really mean anything today either. It's just a tag to try to sell music to people on download sites.
This track is actually quite nice though - I like the deep house style pads and the synths - it's quite euphoric feeling. It reminds me a bit of Crazy P and the 'Nottingham' sound of labels like Winding Road. To me this is more like a slow deep house track with some nice vocals on it.
2 word review - not bad.
Platform: Beatport
Artist: Purple Disco Machine
Track: Body Funk
Label: Club Sweat
This is too loopy for me tbh. I know Purple Disco Machine is quite popular but this is too clean and loopy and uses the well known 'music makes you lose control' sample which Jacques Le Cont used in 1998. So you know, I don't think it's so cool to rehash such a well known sample.
It's definitely aimed at the Ibiza kind of crowd so not my cup of tea. I don't play anything so machine like and poppy. The bassline is like 2 notes played up and down. It has a massive build before the second drop comes in and there's no variation on the second drop. It would have been nice for a key change or something when it comes back in.
1 word review - Ibiza.
Platform: Soundcloud
Artist: datfootdive
Track: ｓｔａｙ
Label: Future Society Collective
This is nice but it's not disco - this could be classed as 'Modern Funk' but I am pretty sure it's just a looped up sample slowed down on Ableton from some old boogie track. I
checked out the rest of the EP on Bandcamp and it's basically slowed down boogie records with tape hiss put over them and the tracks are like 1 minute 30 long so not sure how much creativity they have brought to the table. I would check out Onras 'Long Distance' album on All City - for a better example of this kind of thing from 2010.
1 word review - Lazy.
Platform: Bandcamp
Artist: マクロスMACROSS 82-99
Track: NEW DAWN
Label: Neon City Records
According to youtube this is 'vaporwave' and on bandcamp it's 'Future Funk' which I guess means feel good disco samples filtered in Ableton with a 'whoosh' noise over them. This is way too loopy and again just sounds like some old Chinese disco record which has been put into the Ableton blender. I can hear the Ableton warble all over this. I get it that it's an aesthetic and it's not bad music as such but it's been done before and so much better. I checked out the rest of the album and it's basically loads of asian smooth jazz funk/disco with a house beat put over them. Sound quality is atrocious.
1 word review - Ableton.
Platform: Youtube
Artist: Bee Gees
Track: Stayin’ Alive
Label: Warner
Are you serious? Hahahahahaha.
1 word review - No.
Favourite track out of the above:
None!