Intro to Italo Disco

and an invitation to an Astrological Extravaganza for my Birthday!

This week we dive in to one of my favorite genres of music, Italo Disco! What is Italo Disco? While interest in Disco declined sharply in the states in the late 70s and 80s, Europe continued to carry the torch and push the genre forward. The music that was created continues to be extremely influential on electronic music production. With a mixture of forward thinking synthesizer heavy tracks that were most likely a result of low production budgets, and cheesy but catchy lyrics typically in English, the music is lush and saccharine at the same time. At the time of inception, the genre wasn’t really called Italo yet, and a lot of the history has been loosely constructed through rose colored glasses in retrospect, so it is hard to define in a concrete manner. Bands like Pet Shop Boys, New Order, and Erasure were heavily influenced by the genre, and more modern bands like Daft Punk, Neon Indian, Chromeo, and Justice also pull a lot of their musical vocabulary from Italo. The genre began in the late 70s and really took off around 1983 thanks to the export efforts of the record label ZYX out of Germany. Not all Italo disco was produced in Italy or featured Italian singers. People like Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone were basically proto Italo, and Groups like Trans X, Falco, and Alphaville are imitators that most people don’t consider a part of the genre, but obviously were heavily influenced. If you want the long form history and explanation this article by Far Out does a better job explaining things than I care to. Take a listen to these tracks and next time you hear Dua Lipa or Daft Punk, see if you can hear the influences these musicians had.

This week’s featured party is my Birthday! Jesus Christ y’all. I turn 37 Friday. Im celebrating with an Astological extravaganza known as Celestial Bodies. Get tickets at DiscoTX.com! Also coming up we have a Country Disco at Ruins on Feb 18 featuring Vinyl Ranch!

Disco, TX and High Fantasy celebrate the 12 signs that divine all our fates, traditions that go back beyond recorded history to a time when gods are said to have walked and talked with men. Embrace your zodiac or other celestial body, don the cloak of your favored mystic tradition, dress as your favorite magical character or God, cast aside the skeptics, and embrace the divine. 
Celestial Bodies is a Birthday celebration for all Aquarians including Blake, and a fund raiser for High Fantasy’s large party in April.
DJs 
DJ Blake Ward
Lyra by Brandi Cooling & Birthday Spankings by The Lovely Bunnie

Oracle readings by Chelsea Soprano, 
Dress Code: Astrological, Magical, Mythological, Celestial, 
Ruins Deep Ellum
DiscoTX.com for Tickets

Feel like getting me a birthday present?

Donate to the High Fantasy Camp on Go Fund me! https://gofund.me/0a67b01a

or Buy Your Ticket before they sell out! DiscoTX.com