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Need dark disco recommendations

Putting together a mix along the above theme, but having trouble zeroing in on any one trove of this stuff because it's kind of a niche style in a niche sound. Still, I know it's out there, and have plenty of my own, so I'm looking for recommendations of artists and labels I can dive into, though track suggestions are fine (I'll take mixes, too).

Looking for those moody slow chuggers with heavy baselines and extra grit:





Watcha got, TA?

I fucking love that Ghost Vision track. It mixes like a dream with this muthafucka. You can have this transition on me:

Also, Damon Jee is the king of this style, as well as under his aliases Nozz and Holographic Planes. He's like the Hardfloor of dark disco - the formula is always exactly the same but the end result is always satisfying.

And a few random favourites:

Vox Low - Galactic Pot Healer


Guero - Elektronique (the whole album is great)


Craig Bratley - Computer Controlled (again, the whole album is great)


Man Power - Kiloton (Hardway Bros Remix)


Kairos - Disco Nebula (Connor Remix):


Roliva & Technicism - Neumatico


Curses! - The Deep End (Holy Ghost! Dub)


I should also hype my mate Rob, as this sound is his speciality and I'm sure you can profitably strip mine his tracklists: https://soundcloud.com/freqlikeme

Do they need to be this slow?

Until then have an intro on me at 13:20

Why bother replying if you have no clue about the music in question?

Because you're a faggot and I feel like it.

Check out slow motion records on Bandcamp. Also correspondent. Both are record labels if one was not aware

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I fucking love that Ghost Vision track. It mixes like a dream with this muthafucka. You can have this transition on me:

Ohh, that is red hot. Fired them both up in Traktor and the guitar in Saturnus just glides so effortlessly over that rhythm. Might be a tad too acidic for the spirit of this mix, as I�m going for more of a �midnight cruise through 1970�s Times Square� mix that plays out like a dark kaleidoscope of grit and vice in a Dante�s Inferno kinda way, but I'll keep this in mind for the uptempo stretches.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Also, Damon Jee is the king of this style, as well as under his aliases Nozz and Holographic Planes. He's like the Hardfloor of dark disco - the formula is always exactly the same but the end result is always satisfying. I should also hype my mate Rob, as this sound is his speciality and I'm sure you can profitably strip mine his tracklists: https://soundcloud.com/freqlikeme

quote:

Originally posted by planetaryplayer Check out slow motion records on Bandcamp. Also correspondent. Both are record labels if one was not aware

Perfect, thank you both! Yeah I've found this material scattered here and there over the years, but haven't been able to come upon any one hub, be it label or DJ, where I can just comb through it track after track, so this is exactly what I've been needing.

I recognize Kiloton from either the Waxwerks or Leftorium sets you posted in this thread from back, so if you know of any other Weatherall sets in a similar vein, feel free to post em up.

All of 'em. This sound wouldn't exist without Weatherall.

My compliments to your friend Rob. I've been trawling through his sets, and they've proved a steady supply of just what I've been looking for. I'm gonna have to pitch south pretty hard for a lot of these in order to get the sound I want, but this is the style I need.

One thing I don't quite understand is the relationship between acid and disco. I think Rob has it right when he refers to it as 'disco techno,' the latter of which probably accounts for the 'dark' feel it has, but what I don't understand is where acid comes in, and it seems to come in a lot.

From my own stash:

quote:

Originally posted by Paradox Lost One thing I don't quite understand is the relationship between acid and disco. I think Rob has it right when he refers to it as 'disco techno,' the latter of which probably accounts for the 'dark' feel it has, but what I don't understand is where acid comes in, and it seems to come in a lot.

I've no idea what you mean. It comes in because producers put it in.

There are all kinds of disparate sounds thrown in this genre-not-genre: lots of electro-clash influence, lots of rock guitar, lots of Middle Eastern scales, lots of '80s synth-pop, lots of EBM. Why not acid as well?

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I've no idea what you mean. It comes in because producers put it in. There are all kinds of disparate sounds thrown in this genre-not-genre: lots of electro-clash influence, lots of rock guitar, lots of Middle Eastern scales, lots of '80s synth-pop, lots of EBM. Why not acid as well?

EDIT: Thought it through and never mind.

Really "dark disco" is just a buzzword that's only been floating around in wide usage for about a year, and all it describes is the sleazier end of what my mates and I have been calling "slo-mo" for years. As far as I'm concerned it's all part of one very diverse continuum, but the softer end of that continuum would just be labelled "Balearic" or "cosmic disco" by most people. Acid is just one of the harder sounds you'll find in there, but I don't think it's in every track by any means and I don't think it's critical to defining the genre.

Again, this whole scene owes its coherence largely to Weatherall (RIP) & Johnston's ALFOS parties. They are/were to this scene what Sasha & Digweed were to '90s progressive. When Sasha started doing Tyrant with Lee Burridge and Craig Richards he started playing tech house records in with prog and the next thing you know you have "dark tribal prog" as a genre, when really it was just a very influential prog DJ playing lots of tech house. Similarly, Weatherall has always played a lot of acid towards the end of one of his long sets and so now you have lots of producers trying to get played at ALFOS putting acid lines in their records and some buzzword going around to describe it. There's no science here.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Similarly, Weatherall has always played a lot of acid towards the end of one of his long sets and so now you have lots of producers trying to get played at ALFOS putting acid lines in their records and some buzzword going around to describe it. There's no science here.

Okay, this makes the most sense. I quickly came to realize that acid was no more essential to the sub-(sub)-genre than any of the other influences you mentioned above, as it's largely a cocktail of reoccurring sounds that come up in different measure each time around.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Really "dark disco" is just a buzzword that's only been floating around in wide usage for about a year, and all it describes is the sleazier end of what my mates and I have been calling "slo-mo" for years.

And I noticed a few minutes after creating this thread, when going through Beatport, that 'dark disco' is actually among their official tags, so...

I had been just using 'dark disco' as a functional description. As far as I was concerned, it was just (modern) disco. But dark. I had been using 'slow-mo' the same way, though I've since let that go as the catch-all I made it out to be, as there is a noticeable enough difference between the music posted in this thread and the stuff you'd hear on one of those Sudbeat disc 1's, which plays out at the same tempo but sounds more like heavily pitched prog.

The stuff Cattaneo plays on CD1 of his compilations doesn't really exist outside of those CDs, as far as I can tell. Most of those tracks seem specifically commissioned by him for the CDs, and maybe mixed in with some more varied downtempo/electronica. I don't think you can name a single record label or even an artist specialising in that sound. As such, I don't include it in the "slo-mo" scene at all.

What I think you see with this, and also with the much-ridiculed "organic house" category Beatport recently created, is that sounds and scenes exist for years without a name before someone finally slaps a buzzword on the front of them, and the buzzword always ends up chopping off some of the legs of whatever it's trying to capture.

This track has a "disco" feel. It's dark in parts and has a dense atmosphere. It isn't really slow, though.

Good tracks posted in here.

Check out Zombies In Miami, might find something there.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J All of 'em. This sound wouldn't exist without Weatherall.

agreed. A legend.

you can try going through pinkman(label) as well

quote:

Originally posted by planetaryplayer you can try going through pinkman(label) as well

Great label. I've been using some of their releases in my mixes. This is nice and chaotic

quote:

Originally posted by lacksesepsotygh Great label. I've been using some of their releases in my mixes. This is nice and chaotic

^ very good

Ooooh this is all very sex. Love this kind of groove. Lots of goodies in hurrrr.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J The stuff Cattaneo plays on CD1 of his compilations doesn't really exist outside of those CDs, as far as I can tell. Most of those tracks seem specifically commissioned by him for the CDs, and maybe mixed in with some more varied downtempo/electronica. I don't think you can name a single record label or even an artist specialising in that sound. As such, I don't include it in the "slo-mo" scene at all.

And that's always been rather frustrating. There's plenty of 4/4 that churns away at the tempo of those CD1's, but the stuff in those mixes stands apart from most others in that it, like I said, literally sounds like modern pitched prog, though more conceived to play out at that speed rather than something that was simply pitched to do so. A not insignificant percentage of it is Hernan & Soundexile originals, so that accounts for that, but as for the rest, you're right, in that they seem to be mere one-of's in a producers larger discography:



As recent a shift in his style as it seems (probably on a account of Balance 26 ) I have to keep reminding myself that he was throwing together these mid-tempo mixes as early as 2010.

Those tunes are one of the reasons Cattaneo compilations are still an eagerly anticipated event in the modern superabundance of free online mixes. Plenty of DJs go with the "loads of unreleased tunes" angle to try and make their rare CD excursions more exclusive than a random liveset or radio show, but not many go with "loads of unreleased tunes in a style that doesn't exist except on my CDs".

Many thanks to everyone who chimed into this thread with their recommendations; picked up a lot of great stuff from this one. Jack, your boy Rob really came through, and was able to list about a dozen or so labels worth checking out which yielded a trove of fantastic material that I'm still going through. Some I like Nein and La dame Noir I had already heard of, but a bunch I hadn't that saved me a lot of trial and error.

Anyway finally put together a mix I'm pretty happy with. Wasn't a very technical one, but reflects pretty much where I'm at in the areas of controlling flow and energy levels:

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