Scottish duo LF System are at No 1 with their spin on a 70s obscurity, the commercial peak for a disco edit scene bubbling for decades. But are these tracks always ethical?
movement in the US in the late-70s, disco has continued to thrive in the past four decades. The frequently bombastic, sometimes camp and always danceable art form has gone through cultural peaks and valleys since emerging from a primordial soup of nightlife cultures during the 60s and 70s, and now it’s back on top of the mountain.
It’s an unconventional banger, based entirely around a slow, seductive Philly disco obscurity by a band called Silk. Released in 1979 on the Philadelphia International Records label , Silk’sis the basis for the looped verses and chorus of Afraid to Feel. “We found the Silk track around 2019,” explains Finnigan. “I was deliberately digging around for samples, going out of my way to find loops and vocals to use.
It started when New York’s Tom Moulton began experimenting with reel-to-reel tapes to extend the duration of danceable soul and funk hits of the early 70s, bursting them past the confines of a radio-friendly play length in order to keep dancers on the floor for longer. As music began to be more dancefloor-focused, a new type of producer emerged: someone who could slice and dice the tapes to reimagine the structure of a song and create the most energy.
By contrast, fellow collector and DJ James Hillard from the pivotal Horse Meat Disco collective used to eschew edits for years because they largely “took all the fun bits out”. But as he has played to bigger audiences, he has appreciated edits by producers such as Opolopo, Dimitri from Paris and Michael Gray, who “make sure the original vibe isn’t lost, but also bring the songs up to modern production standards”. This includes having beats that are quantised, making disco records easier to mix.
It’s easier to get an interpolation cleared as there’s only one set of people to persuade – but it also means there’s only one set of royalty payments, as you don’t have to also pay to use the sample. On the one hand, Silk’s songwriters are credited on Afraid to Feel and getting an unexpected royalty payday.
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