Argo - Discophonia (1981)

Early 80s electronica with a good dose of gentle funk, from Lithuania.  Argo were formed out of the Kaunas Musical Theatre in 1979, and released three albums, of which this debut is the only one available digitally.  Discophonia initially caught my eye due to that wonderful Sticky Fingers-esque cover drawing, and the rainbow's a nice touch.  Given this paired with the album title, I was prepared for something along the lines of Arp Life; turns out that Discophonia's a much more stripped-down affair.

The liner notes explain the album title as referring to the two intended purposes of the music: Disco tracks for dancing, and -phonia meaning tracks for sitting down to listen to.  Things kick off in the former mode, with electric piano, phased funky guitar, a pumping bassline, and a vocal exclaiming "DISCO!" at regular intervals.  This is just the intro to A1 (all the tracks are just titled in sequence like that) though, as it moves through different sections that show off the band's musical chops.  A2 and A3 follow with more grooves, but getting progressively more relaxed; in particular, if someone introduced me to A3 as a great lost track from a KPM library record I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

A4 is pure mellowness by contrast, featuring ethereal vocals - intended, as per the liners, to act just as another instrument.  B1 goes further by starting acapella before a mellow bassline and twinkling synths relax you just in time for its upbeat mid-section.  B2 and B3 are just absolutely gorgeous electronica to finish, with barely-there drum machines and gentle keyboards; stuff of this calibre could've sat nicely on a Sky label release from the same time period.  There's one more disco flourish right at the end to get you in the mood for starting from the beginning again.  Very highly recommended.

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Arp Life - Jumbo Jet / Z Bezpieczną Szybkością (2014 compilation, rec. 1975-78)

In 1975, library music composer Mateusz Święcicki (1933-1985) teamed up with film soundtrack composer Andrzej Korzyński (b. 1940) to start off a studio ensemble for Polish Radio.  The name given to the project, which Święcicki had been using a couple of years earlier, was Arp Life: he'd liked how the Arp Odyssey synthesiser sounded much more refined compared to the rougher Minimoog.

For the next three years, additional musicians associated with the radio studios, most of their names lost to history, would come and go to add strings, brass or percussion as desired.  And ironically enough, Arp synths were scarcely, if ever, used - pretty much everything electronic here is either Fender Rhodes or Minimoog.  The best known artefact to emerge from this arrangement, and a mainstay of crate-digger blogs for as far back as I can remember, was the Jumbo Jet LP, released by Polskie Nagrania in 1977, and featuring new core member Maciej Śniegocki as writer and arranger.

Whether on a vinyl rip, or a remastered CD like this, the sampling appeal of Jumbo Jet is undeniable - wah-wah guitars, funky Rhodes and nifty bass & percussion riffs are everywhere, along with a handful of great fuzz guitar leads and melancholy disco strings.  Vocals are either wordless or limited to the track title; only the title track has more than that.  Only two tracks top the four minute mark - Jumbo Jet is basically a library LP par excellence, and a few tracks saw use in film, with Baby Bump and the gorgeous Hotel Victoria featuring in Andrezj Wajda's Man Of Marble.

original cassette cover, 1978

The following year, the Wifon label released a series of cassettes specifically promoted for in-car use, with the titles encouraging Poland's motorists to 'have a nice journey', 'don't dazzle [with your headlights, presumably]', and 'drive at a safe speed'.  That last one - in Polish, 'Z bezpieczną szybkością', was effectively Arp Life's second and last album.  Three tracks on the tape were taken from Jumbo Jet (Motor Rock was presumably a no-brainer to open the tape with), and the remaining ten were never released in any other format until this 2014 CD, which was followed by individual vinyl reissues.  The sound of these tracks is much the same as on Jumbo Jet, although Korzyński is the dominant writer rather than Śniegocki, leading to a bit more brass in the arrangements.  A couple of non-album singles and an unused signature jingle written for the Tonpress label round out this great compilation.

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Party Time - Euro Disco Style (compis rel. 2009-11)

Why not have something nice and uplifting to go into the new year with?  Well, parts of these three compilations by Reckless Records' Disco Discharge series kind of fit the bill, but the more I've discovered (and absolutely loved) about late 70s-80s Euro Disco this year, the more I've found it's just as likely to be suffused with melancholy and/or just plain strange.  Which suits me just fine. 

Besides getting hold of these discs, my interest in Euro Disco has definitely been helped by Opium Hum for posting a fair bit of this stuff, so go seek there for full albums by the likes of Space and Change who feature here in some of their best tracks.  Other highlights for me of 'Euro Disco' (the 'pink' volume, links immediately below) include Sparks' Number One Song In Heaven, and Giorgio Moroder's perfect From Here To Eternity.

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Highlights for me on 'Euro Beats': Ryan Paris' Dolce Vita, Modern Talking's Atlantis Is Calling, and Fun Fun's Baila Bolero.  One criticism of this series among those in the know has been that the sound quality can be variable, and the source/master lineage of some of the tracks a bit suspect (almost everything here ends up being labelled "Original 12" Mix", which might not always be the case - but if, like me, you just want an introduction to some great pop/dance music, it's really a moot point.

Disc 1
Disc 2

Highlights for me on 'European Connection': Space's Carry On, Turn Me On, sounding at the start like a missing piece of Air's Moon Safari; another great Moroder track, If You Weren't Afraid; the epic 16 minutes of Tantra's Hills Of Katmandu.  In fact, this volume is probably my favourite of the three - there's just so much buried treasure: the 'dub' B-side of Sylvia Love's Instant Love; the instrumental bombast of Hypnosis' Droid, and the gorgeous melancholy of Alba's Only Music Survives.

Disc 1
Disc 2