diskJokke
is the latest Norwegian nu-disco export following in the footsteps
of Hans-Peter Lindstrom and Prins Thomas, the latter of which
discovered diskJokke and signed three tunes up to his ‘Full
Pupp’ label. Joachim Dyrdahl aka diskJokke hails from Svelvik,
a small town southwest of Oslo with only 5000 inhabitants. Currently
in the eighth and final year of his Mathematics degree, Joachim
is also a classically trained violinist and classical music aficionado
who discovered his love of electronic music through Norwegian
DJ legend Olle Abstract’s radio show. ‘Staying In’
is diskJokke’s debut album and follows 12” releases
on the aforementioned ‘Full Pupp’ label and Get Phyiscal’s
sub-label ‘Kindish’ as well as remixes for Lindstrom,
Spektrum and the soon to be released remix of Bloc Party’s
‘Sunday’. With ‘Staying In’, diskJokke
plows through a hypnotic spectrum of continually cascading nu-disco
beats which elevates melody to the forefront and delivers the
whole package in a playful and occasionally dark manner. There
are micro-aspects of Ministry of Sound’s euphoric anthems
which underpin the melodic soundscape but these are reined into
a dizzying array of sonic-matter to create a mesmerizing and rhythmic
slice of post-midnight dance floor euphoria. As syrupy melodic
synths fuse with unfurling bass, glistening speckles of miniaturized
sounds continuously flower and recede to create a varied and buoyant
texture which will have you stroking your chin as well as shaking
your hips. A tangible element of darkness and melancholy prevails
throughout many of the tracks which is an ode to the album’s
title, referring to the dark winter and autumn nights in which
diskJokke cosied up inside to make music.
On the first half of the album you will find diskJokke
in a less serious and mischievous mood, more transparently playing
around with the listeners senses by fusing the retro with the
futuristic, the dark with the light and the upbeat with the downtrodden.
The swirling and discotized melodics of opener ‘Folk I farta’
is a lesson in contrast as diskJokke accentuates the contemplative
and forlorn amongst a bed of effervescent house-inspired beats.
On ‘Større enn først antatt’, diskJokke
spaces out with a surge of progressive retro sci-fi melodies and
bouncy beats to which he applies a dark tinge. The title track
‘Staying In’ sounds like an ode to a 16bit game console
soundtrack, ideally the ‘Rainbow Level’ on Super Mario
Kart, whilst the industrialized beats of ‘I Was Go To Marrocco
And I Don’t See You’ sits a little uneasily with the
cyclic warping melodies and gives off a slightly camp feel which
should please the experimental handbag-house crowd.
As soon as ‘Interpolation’ commences,
the jockeying is over and it’s time to get down to business.
The second half of the album is chock full of propulsive micro-techno
in overdrive complete with glistening shards of fluttering sound
which are fused together and delivered in a mystical and crystallized
nu-disco aesthetic. To get an idea of the sound imagine Mathew
Jonson at his most hypnotic and melodic remixing house king Bob
Sinclair whilst spaced-out on industrial-strength cosmic shrooms
after listening to Uusitalo and Luomo albums on constant rotation.
On tracks like ‘Interpolation’ and ‘Glatt’,
progressive beats and warping melodies interlock and take flight
into a ghostly oblivion whilst on ‘The Dinner That Never
Happened’, a track which appeared on Smalltown Supersound’s
exquisite label sampler ‘The Portable Supersound’,
diskJokke provides an epic slice of sci-fi mutant disco.
The press release states that ‘Staying In’
is the sound of Norwegian disco taken to its farthest, futuristic
limits and I for one can imagine tracks off this album providing
the soundtrack to Europe’s most super-hip dancefloors. (RM)
For
fans of: Lindstrom, Luomo, Slam, Etienne De Crecy, Mathew Jonson,
Martin Buttrich
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