Your Disco Needs You Playlist

March 28, 2008 by Chris Burns  Send to a Friend

I am pretty stoked to have been invited by PlanetChicDC to DJ their Soiree Disco at Chroma tonight and it should be a nice change of scenery with a solid sound system with great lighting and lazers to boot. Normally I would have put together a proper live mix, but I have busting my butt trying to rip my records onto CDs as the club doesn’t have turntables for my records. This has forced me to be highly selective in selecting the tracks I want to play and Allah Kareem for Imeem.

Since it’s going to be a bit of an educational set for a crowd not terribly familiar with underground disco, I also kept it simple and decided not to get too rare, spacey or generally wierdo with my picks.
But don’t get it twisted, this shit is still funky and soulful. Here are a few that made the cut:

1. David Joseph - You Can’t Hide Your Love
When people ask me what my favorite disco or “classic” song is, this is usually the first one that comes to mind. The feel good, positive vibes in this song are timeless and the synth line is infectious. Do not be surprised if I work two copies between the instrumental and vocal to extend this jam to 20-30 minutes. And if you don’t like it, you can kiss my ass because by the end of the night you’ll be begging for this jam.

2. Aleem - Release Yourself
The opening vocal on this cut can elevate a room to other heights if mixed and dropped appropriately. This is somewhat of a Disco City staple and as my partner Maxmillion Dunbar says, “all the other Aleem joints are good but ultimately are just weaker versions of Release Yourself.” This is the choice if you want to induce head shaking, fist pumping excitement at peak hour.

3. Gino Soccio - Dancer
I actually read the other day in Tim Lawrence’s essential academic study of disco culture in the 1970s, Love Saves the Day, that this track had a fair amount of commercial success. Anyways, the vocal hook is infectious, the arrangement is straight-forward and effective, and the bass line makes you unconsciously shake your pelvis.

4. Class Action - Weekend
Like “You Can’t Hide”, this is also probably one of my favorite Larry Levan remixes. The studio band on this track is almost robotic and you can ride this with a mix with alot of things pretty easily because the instrumentalists are so steady. Also, this song is awesome because it’s about getting laid and the vocal is so sassy and gay. I LOVE IT!

5. Musique - In The Bush
I picked this song because its sort of starting to get warm out and I can’t wait for what is shaping up to be the most epic summer of my life. This song is so happy, loose and carefree, yet stomping and intense at the same time. A fantastic Patrick Adams classic, the flip side “Keep on Dancing” is stellar as well.

6. Musique - I Love Music
The lyrics coupled with the killer boogie synth lines make this one pretty self explanatory.

7. The Juan Maclean - Happy House
If you haven’t heard this one at your local hipster “dance night” (I fucking hate that term), you will soon. This is going to be the ANTHEM of the summer. This track has massive crossover appeal and covers so many of the popular subgenres of the moment: nu/space disco and early 90s piano house. SIDENOTE: CAN WE PLEASE GET OVER PLAYING THE SAME FUCKING MAINSTREAM EARLY 90s house jams. IT IS NOT OK to play “show me love” or “finally” because everyone else with a laptop and serato is cranking these joints at their hiphop/disco/bmore club/indie/rnb “dance parties.” There is so much equally good stuff of the same sound with the same get-the-crowd-pumped-factor. Do a little digging and homework please as the dancefloor will thank you. This is directed at no one in particular and I love you all the nonetheless.

8. Inner Circle - Everything is Great
This is my one sort of wierdo pick for the party tonight. I found this while digging at “The Thing” in Brooklyn and was pretty blown away that it wasn’t a solid reggae choon like I was expecting from this well known outfit. This is a nice uplifting track with some weird background sounds and a druggy, wavering cough syrup melody.

9. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33
I wont be playing the whole composition, but the Part 3 (or C if you have the vinyl release) is a very nice melodic groover that references outer space which is always a win-win in my book. If you haven’t checked out the entire composition, crank this as you pregame before going out to the cluuuuuuuuub.

10. Jackie Moore - This Time Baby
This is a pretty powerful song that has incredibly strong production to back this great diva’s vocal. Sam Burns knows first hand I lose it in the club when I hear this track and the build at the begining towards the chorus is fantastic. If I heard this at the Shelter in New York at like 2 in the afternoon when the club is warmed up, sweaty and full of people

I CANT WAIT “TO SEE ALL MY FRIENDS AT ONCE!” (I’ll buy you a drink if you can tell me the reference of that).

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