Disco – MELT REVIEWS

Album Review: Bustié – Throb

Rating: 8/10

Due to loss, grief, and immense focus on perfectionism, New York-based act “Bustié’s” sophomore album Throb faced many delays, but now 7 years after their debut Birds of Paradise, the album has finally arrived at the perfect time. Living in the U.S. right now is frightening if you’re a person of color, LGBTQ+, or just simply don’t support a fascist regime, so now more than ever we need music that comes from people of said communities to inspire, provide hope, raise awareness, and provide a dance party of escapism, and Bustié does just that. Combining genres such as Hi-NRG, Synth Pop, EBM, and Freestyle, Throb celebrates the elements that make these genres so undeniable and infectious. Topped with lead member Angelika Padilla’s chant-like vocals that provide another layer of rhythm on top of the already entrancing beats, this music will make anyone want to move. Whether you’re the type to cut up a rug on the dance floor, or the type to stand back and bob your head to the beat, this music is for you. Thematically this album deals with lust, loss, and sexuality, and though it’s often dark sonically, it’s perfectly contrasted with heavy elements of 80’s-styled Pop which helps prevent the album from diving into doom and gloom. It’s Janet Jackson at a Nitzer Ebb concert, and it’s fantastic.

Written By: Steven Sandoval

Album Review: Jessie Ware – Superbloom

Rating: 7/10

Following her superb 2020 album What’s Your Pleasure?, singer/songwriter Jessie Ware has maintained a consistent sound that celebrates the many forms of Disco. Post-disco, Italo Disco, Funk, Nu-Disco, you name it, she’s done it, and though this risk-free approach of staying in the lane that has garnered her much success can feel a bit safe, she’s still crafting catchy tunes just begging to be played on the dance floor. These songs tackle themes such as sensuality, sexuality, and the yearning for connection and touch. In other words, this music is horny, but what I’ve always liked about Ware’s music is that it’s a sophisticated kind of horny, as opposed to some of the more vulgar horny music out there. Her music is a positive all-inclusive celebration of feeling good. Her new album Superbloom continues down that trajectory, but this time around leans heavily into the 70’s Disco she flirted with on her previous album That! Feels Good! However, the album suffers with the same issue That! Feels Good! had, and that issue is that the album falters a bit toward the end, with some tracks being a slog to get through, but that issue is excusable considering the BANGERS this album has. “Ride” is a sexed-up cowboy Disco track that interpolates Ennio Morricone’s “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” “I Could Get Used To This” is a smooth feel good introduction to the album, and “Sauna” scratches that Italo Disco itch. Jessie Ware is pretty good at this Disco stuff. Moving forward, I would like her to experiment a bit more and take more risks musically, but with this album it’s evident there’s much life left in her Disco era, despite its predictability. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Written By: Steven Sandoval

Kylie Minogue and Jessie Ware Share New Single “Kiss of Life”

Following Kylie Minogue’s 2020 album Disco, as well as the 20th anniversary of her classic album Fever, and following Jessie Ware’s superb 2020 album What’s Your Pleasure? which recently received a deluxe release consisting of bonus bangers, the two queens of Disco have teamed up to create another dance floor -ready track that solidifies their status as modern Disco’s torch carriers. This is a collab we knew we needed, and seeing this come to fruition is a gift. The track is titled “Kiss of Life,” and you can listen to it below:

Xeno & Oaklander Share New Single “Poison”

Reveling in the retro nostalgia of Italo-disco, Synth-pop/Cold Wave duo “Xeno & Oaklander’s new single “Poison” is a celebration of a sub-genre of Electronic music that isn’t exactly fresh and new, but my God isn’t it nice to revisit what once was an emerging music scene, and to be reminded of the impact short-lived and obscure music can have on a genre so ever-changing and vast such as EDM. “Poison” is undeniably catchy, and the music video which was co-directed by visual artist Scott Kiernan evokes the spirit of Giallo Horror with Suspiria-influenced visuals that compliment the nature of the music quite well. The track will appear on the duo’s upcoming album Vi/deo, which is scheduled to be released on October 22nd via “Dais Records.” You can watch the music video for “Poison” below:

Jessie Ware Shares New Music Video for “What’s Your Pleasure?”

Jessie Ware released her fourth album What’s Your Pleasure? almost a month ago and I still listen to it daily. It’s utterly infectious from beginning to end and is quite possibly the best Pop album released this year by far. Jessie Ware has released music videos for the majority of the tracks off the album, and they are as addicting as the songs themselves. Mirroring the Disco grooviness of the tracks, each video is an incredible visual experience with much emphasis on the liberating nature of dancing. Her new music video for the title track “What’s Your Pleasure?” is no exception. It’s sexy, colorful, and features more and more dancing of course. You can watch the music video for “What’s Your Pleasure?” below:

Album Review: Tame Impala – The Slow Rush

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Artist: Tame Impala

Album: The Slow Rush

Genre: Psychedelic Pop/Electronic/Disco

Label: Island Records

Rating: 7/10

It seems as if “Tame Impala” have had acclaim from the start. Lead by sole member Kevin Parker who composes and arranges the majority of the music, “Tame Impala” has been an inescapable name in both the “Indie Rock” world and the “Pop” world, but what “Tame Impala” once was is not entirely the same as what “Tame Impala” is now, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The Kevin Parker we knew back during the time of the Psychedelic-heavy Innerspeaker, and the vulnerable Kevin Parker we knew on the introspective Lonerism, an album that was a voice for the lonely and those whom suffer from society’s misguided view on introversion is now a new Kevin Parker, but he hasn’t abandoned introspection and vulnerability. In fact, the majority of the tracks on his new album The Slow Rush are incredibly introspective with lyrical themes heavy on existentialism and nostalgia, but at this point in time it sounds like Parker is instrumentally more concerned with making us dance, trading in the LSD-soaked Psychedelia and fuzzy guitars of his early work for lush synths and Electro-Pop melodies drawing from Funk, Disco, and Synth-Pop. Very much like what he was doing on his previous album Currents, and there lies the good and bad of The Slow Rush. Not much has changed on this album, which prompts one to believe that Parker is either playing it safe, or truly isn’t finished experimenting with this sound but isn’t reaching anything that is breaking new ground. Though both albums are cut from the same cloth, The Slow Rush isn’t without it’s gems. The opening track “One More Year” is a message to the fear of life becoming stagnant, “Breathe Deeper” is a lush and sexy banger with a refrain that will stick in your head for days, and “It Might Be Time” features a surprising contrast of joyful instrumentation and existentialist lyrics. However, a lot of these tracks sound like Currents throwaways and don’t quite deliver anything memorable or anything that keeps them from being disposable. That isn’t to say this album isn’t a smooth listen though, because when this album shines, it SHINES, and much of it is cohesive, but I feel like the next “Tame Impala” album needs to be vastly different, or Parker needs to hone this style and create an album with consistent replay value.

Written By: Steven Sandoval