Shop our Big Takeover store for back issues, t-shirts & CDs
Follow The Big Takeover
Silly me. I looked at the cover and thought this would be some sort of metal album. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by the captivating dance music of Pilooski and Pentile, the French duo who collaborate as Discodeine.
Oddly, this debut album reminds me a lot of DJ sets I’ve heard by my favorite DJ, the Norwegian Skatebård, who spins a lot of italo, hi-nrg and generally spacey disco that’s both danceable and interesting music to listen to on a train if, like me, you’re not much of a dancer. On Discodeine, elements of house music, old techno and classic disco mix and mingle like club-goers on ecstasy, but the overall feeling is definitely italo, perhaps due to the European influence. For example, the opening track, “Singular,” takes a classic disco beat and bassline, adds some blips and bleeps and features a mysterious whispered vocal by Matias Aguayo.
Krautrock also emerges as a strong influence, particularly in the closing “Figures in a Soundscape,” which is more of a sound collage than a dance track. Even the infectiously danceable “Antiphonie” echoes ideas from Kraftwerk and Can.
Ultimately, I wonder why people flock to the predictable 4/4 banality of typical house music, when there’s engaging, intelligent electronic dance music like this in the record bins. It’s the kind of album that transcends being merely dance music and becomes “good music.” By the way, Jarvis Cocker and Baxter Dury (son of Ian) both make vocal appearances.
