The Chaplin Band

Another record I picked up in Barcelona, this time edging more towards the funky side of Disco rather than Italo. I can't find a lot of info on these guys though I'm afraid. According to Discogs, they were formed in 1976 by brothers Jo & John Bartles. The singer Jimmy Soulier (who penned Welcome to the Party) left in 1977 and was replaced by Walter Nita, who himself left only a year later. Anton Schlaecker and Jack Bartels joined the band in 1981, both of which are credited on Angelina, my favourite of the two tracks. Like Kano, this was also released on the local Spanish Hispavox label, licenced from the Dutch label Pierrot in 1982. Both tracks are taken from the LP Dancing On Townsquare. I love the cover art on this one!

The Chaplin Band - Welcome to the Party.mp3

The Chaplin Band - Angelina.mp3

Kano

Firstly, a quick apology for the lack of posts here lately. The last few weeks of university for me were pretty intense and I really wasn't listening to much new music. A few days after finishing, I headed out to Barcelona for Sonar 2007 with fellow Groover Paul. It was a great festival and a really nice break. I found a bit of time to do some record shopping while out there so I'll start by posting a couple of my purchases.



Kano were an Italian group that put out a bunch of Italo Disco and Electro Funk singles and LP's throughout the Eighties. I'm not hugely familiar with their work but have heard them mentioned many times before and have one of their tracks "Ikeya-Seki" from the excellent I:Robots compilation on Irma Records. The 12" I picked up in Barcelona was licenced from Full Time Records to the Spanish label HispaVox.

The opening notes of the "Another Life" were lifted by Lifelike & Kris Menance in their smash-hit "Discopolis" - which seems to have had the remix treatment by everybody and their dog since the original single-sided pressing on Alan Braxe's Vulture label in 2005. The Kano track features a nice chunky bassline and of course, plenty of synths! I'm sure the male vocals have also been sampled recently (the line "where were you when I was needing you" is so familiar). On the flip side is the bonus track "Dance School". Another vocal track, this time a little more mellow. Less Italo and more Funk or Soul sounding. Enjoy

Kano - Another Life.mp3

Kano - Dance School.mp3

Bumps

I read about this album a while ago on the Stones Throw website, was pretty intrigued then forgot all about it until this weekend when my lovely local street-date breaking Independent Record Store had it on the shelf. It's basically 3/5 of post-rock legends Tortoise (Dan Bitney, John Herndon and John McEntire) making a breakbeat record, and it's great - I've had it on loop pretty much since purchase.

Although there's some slower, more effect-heavy pieces (none of the tracks are longer than 2 minutes, mind, and most are about 30 seconds-1 minute), largely it's just the sound of Tortoise's indecently talented percussion players cutting loose and producing some mad drumbreaks. There's something about it which makes it sound like an Tortoise album, despite the largely different style - it might be McEntire's production or just my subconscious playing tricks, but there's definite echoes of their previous albums there for me.

Couple of samples:

Bumps - Biotic Discussion (MP3).

Bumps - OK!!! (MP3).

There's more samples at their Myspace and you can buy the album at Amazon and Boomkat (with an excellent little write-up too).