Loose Joints Crew:
Davey Lähteenmaa
Chris Pare
Dave Shaw
****download mixes at www.attitudecity.com****
Reviews/Articles:
The Hour (January 18th 2007)
Written by: Steve Lala
David Shaw, Delphi and Chris Pare launch the Loose Joints weekly at La Sociale, promising "the very best in electronic disco, Italo and bumpin' gems both past and present" in the luxurious, refurbished setting of this newly branded club (known until last week as The Mansion, 1445 Bishop St.). I took advantage of the opportunity to allow Dave to shed some light on disco music and its progeny, specifically the genre of "Italo," in the 21st century:
"I've heard Italo used to describe everything from Canadian disco to techno," Dave explains, "but to me it really belongs to an era in the late '70s and early '80s... European artists were being heavily influenced by disco from NYC and Philadelphia, but without the crazy budgets being paid by U.S. labels for orchestras and studio musicians, they had to employ a lot more electronic instruments and English-mangling vocalists. Pair that up with lyrics and artwork about robots and outer space and you're mostly there... Some of the tracks went a long way to influence the birth of house music. That being said, like most dance genres, about 85 per cent of it is unlistenable, but that's where record hunting comes in."
Check out our recent mention in Montreal's Mirror:
The Mirror (June 12th 2008)
Written by: Jack Oatmon
There's very little quite so satisfying and stress-relieving than a whirling throng of sweaty young revelers boogying down to the visceral, thumping sonic serotonin that is old-school disco, from the sweet strings of New York to the synthetic revision of the Italo set to the dark, guttural psychedelia of groups like Black Devil.
It's an uplifting style of music that ranges from foolish and flippant to deadly serious, but one thing reigns it all in: every single funky bass line, twinkling synth, catchy verse and cheesy string line is engineered to get your booty movin'. And that's just what two of the city's key disco pushers, Loose Joints and the All-Rounder, are coming together to do this weekend.
"I had really only been aware of Loose Joints since last summer," says organizer Jay Watts III, "and was intrigued by what they were doing. At the same time, I started the All-Rounder at Korova, and noticed that people were really responding to disco."
Attendees at Body Work: Electronic Disco Spectacle can expect '70s-style oil-colour light projections and tunes by names like Montreal's Gino Soccio, Creative Connection, Kano, Jimmy Ross and many other classic artists. The resurging popularity of disco on the Plateau has become notably more visible over the past year, aided by groups such as these two. "Not cheesy stuff, necessarily, but not just esoteric Italo either."
Now every Thursday!