Displaying items by tag: Nightclubs

Eden, directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, (Things to Come, Father of My Children) is a poignant and edgy film. As the plot unfolds, we are told of the story of a young and hip Parisian man, Paul Vallée,

Way back in 1986, I was well established as a successful club promoter and party organiser, having largely failed to make it as a singer-songwriter, despite having had two major record deals, great reviews and – in 1980 – lots of airplay in the US.

It was April 1980 and punk was dying.

Dig the new breed who were still pretty much the old breed with the occasional knob on. The Jam, the Clash and the Stranglers were no longer punk bands in any sense of the word. They’d ‘progressed’. A straight punk band wasn’t cool any more. Ska had wrestled the scene away from punkified London and carried it off to a ghost town in the bleak midwest for a bleak midwinter. It wouldn’t survive.

© Words Matteo Sedazzari 

The Secret Disco Revolution is an ambitious, well structured, informative and entertaining  documentary made by Toronto born film maker Jamie Kastner.  Kastner has chosen a music genre and movement that in the year 2014 most people take for granted, not in a dismissive way, but the sheer fact that if any famous piece of disco music, such as Thelma Houston’s Don't Leave Me This Way, comes on the radio or at a party,

© Words Matteo Sedazzari

The origin of the 12” single originated from Jamaica in the late 50’s, and developed further into the sixties with the birth of ska, rocksteady, early reggae and sound systems, where party goers would dance to the beat of home grown talent that was longer than the three minute single. Furthermore, with the birth of disco in the 70’s, with the clubs of New York and such like, soul, funk and r ‘n’ b influenced tunes, in 4/4 time, with the bass pumping the music along, the disco dancers needed the groove to go on forever, beyond conventional airtime. 

© Words Matteo Sedazzari
It would unfair to say that Nile Rodgers is having a renaissance, as his music has never gone away nor has it aged, be it Sister Sledge or Chic, timeless classics that still enthral and pulsate any dance floor,  regardless of age.  I remember back in my days of clubbing, late eighties to early nighties, that Sister Sledge’s Thinking of You  became a club anthem, the smiles on the dancers faces were truly beautiful,

Back in the 80s, I picked up every house and techno record I could find. Why? The early Detroit techno and Chicago house scenes were like reliving the punk rock year zero again.