Various Artists: Tangent 2002: Disco Nouveau : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Along with the new albums by Felix da Housecat and Miss Kittin, this compilation of international "Robot Disco" artistes proves that everything that was old is New Wave again. But although disco and synth pop are huge influences on these groups, the real musical charge underneath the CD is electro, that fantastic strain of early-Eighties science-fictive funk once purveyed by Afrika Bambaataa. These tunes evoke times past while actually updating old sounds significantly: The Dutch master I-F contributes one of the hardest tracks, "Holographic Voice," and a distorted bass-line chug that rattles your skeleton more than most black-metal tunes. The title of Susumu Yokota's pumped-up and glowing "Re: Disco" says it best -- this is music about disco, electro and New Wave, not a revival of any of those genres. The only thing that unites all the artists is an urge to spew the kind of fat-bottom grooves that unhinge non-carbon-based life forms but make humans very, very happy.

PAT BLASHILL
(RS 897 - June 6, 2002)