I am gutted to hear of Donna Summer’s death. Donna Summer was the soundtrack to countless moments of late night joy. She introduced me to Giorgio Moroder, gay discos, and 17-minute edits. It was her music that conjured up the magic of New York in the 70s (a time in musical history that I am still obsessed with). As I sit in my living room watching youtube clips of old performances, I am re-living every single moment I spent with Donna on the dance floor.

Donna Summer – Love To Love You Baby (Original 12 Inch Mix)
Donna Summer – Now I Need You
Donna Summer – Walk Away (12 Inch Promo)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Secret Circuit is experimental musician and artist Eddie Ruscha. Ruscha (son of legendary painter Ed) has a release out now on Tim Sweeney‘s Beats in Space label and it is goooood. I’m especially blown away by the video that accompanies the epic b-side Parascopic Rope. Directed by Ruscha himself, it’s a trip and fucking half.

This release so perfectly encapsulates the Beats in Space sound it actually leaves me speechless. Well done Sweeney.

Buy it now

Click here to view the embedded video.

Music for : a psychedelic moment, a cosmic connection, your weird friend Benny who has the best taste in synthwave

image credit :
Secret Circuit – Nebula Sphynx/Parascopic Rope 12″ – cover art by CF

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I’m a little late to this party but check out this Halloween inspired track and music video from Glass Candy. Loving the musical homage to John Carpenter and the visual homage to Michael Myers and other slasher moments from the late 70s.

Trick or treat kids, let’s keep Halloween going for another week!

Glass Candy – Halloween

Music for : ironic appreciation of classic horror films, sexy slow dancing in front of a mirror (look out! there’s someone behind you!)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Sometimes all you need is a sharp shot of musical candy. And today’s dose comes to you in the form of Box Codax. Box Codax is made up of Nick McCarthy (of Franz Ferdinand), his longtime friend Alexander Ragnew, and Ragnew’s wife Manuela Gernedel. The tight relationships at the heart of this band are apparent in their music – everything sounds like a happy experiment, concocted in someone’s garage over too many drinks. The band’s D.I.Y psycho-pop sensibilities have quickly made them one of my favourite bands for smiles and singalongs. Also, car karaoke.

In related news – I just ate five chocolate covered dates and am now shivering at my desk from a combination of hot and cold flashes. Oh sugar, how I love/hate you.

Box Codax – Choco Pudding

Box Codax – Radical Plains

Music for : lurching around the room in a sugar-induced frenzy; insane karaoke moments; girls who wear too much makeup; cute dogs and small children.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Bad Thoughts is the new musical project of Melbourne-based producer Milo Kossowski. I’ve been following Milo’s work for some time, starting with The Emergency and later Peace Out!. Like his previous projects, Bad Thoughts is all about the awesome rolling synths and droning tones.

In Milo’s words “When sleep won’t come, the mind makes you a passenger. Thoughts buried by the day’s distractions rise to the surface: strange lusts, deadly impulses, tangled conundrums. Bad Thoughts. These songs could be a document of such nocturnal journeys.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Head to the Bad Thoughts bandcamp page for free downloads from the E.Ps Remember and Easy Roller. It’s mystical headphone music all the way. I especially recommend switching off for the next 12 minutes to listen to the epic moodiness of 24 Hours.

Bad Thoughts – Remember
Bad Thoughts – 24 Hours

MUSIC FOR : the dark of the night, the after-after-after party, the come down two days later.

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Gonjasufi’s ‘A Sufi And A Killer‘ on Warp was easily one of my top releases of 2010. That record was a wonderfully complex collection of sounds and influences that refused categorization or genre. Now, the hip hop MC (hippie? mumbler? yoga instructor?) returns with a succinct four track E.P released in collaboration with Hydroshare.tv.

When I first listened to this E.P, in the midst of numerous open tabs and half read emails, I felt very little about it. But this morning I pressed play during a quiet moment and it has really started to grown on me. My highlights from the E.P are below, the rest of the release can be downloaded for free over at Hydroshare.tv.

Gonjasufi – The Lows

Gonjasufi – Ninth Inning

from the E.P ‘The Ninth Inning’ available to download here

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After last night’s zombie mayhem, I’m spending the afternoon on the couch listening to goodies sent across by the lovely people at Nang Records. Today’s favourite is definitely the new release from electronic guru Andy Meecham (of Emperor Machine, Chicken Lips and Bizarre Inc). It’s called ‘Monophonic Volume 1′ and I’m geeking out all over it.

The aptly titled ‘Monophonic Volume 1′ is a synth purists dream. Each track has been crafted on a single classic synthesiser (and named after it!), giving each piece it’s own identity and sense of time and place, referencing landmark moments in the history of music technology from the East and West.

The sounds that Meecham manages to dial in on these magnificent beasts are nothing short of magnificent.  Side A utilizes synths from Britain and America exclusively. [And] on the flip we head to East for a bit of Japanese precision. / Nang Records

It’s was impossible picking only one song to post since every track on this record is killer. But for pure primal electronics, I had to go with ‘Yamaha CS15′. Kids, I suggest you do yourself a favour and Buy. This. Record.

Andy Meecham – Yamaha CS15
from the album Monophonic Volume 1
Buy it here.

MUSIC FOR : people who are unashamedly aroused by vintage synthesisers, electronic music geeks

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It’s (almost) Halloween! And to celebrate, we’re putting on our scrappiest clothes and rolling around in (fake) blood and guts for an evening of zombie raving at a new night called PRISM. Wriggly Scott and myself are planning our outfits as we speak – we’re either going to look AWESOME, or… err… something else.

To get you into the spirit, here are a few tracks for zombie lurching and disco dancing from masters of Halloween creepiness – Gianni Rossi, Bauhaus and Parisian instrumentalists Zombie Zombie .

This post also marks the debut of a new discoballbreaker tagging system. The music on this blog is all over the place, and since I’m not a fan of classifying genres, I’m instead going to classify tracks based on my own finely tuned and highly scientific ‘MUSIC FOR’ system. You’re welcome!

Gianni Rossi – Murder
Zombie Zombie – Halloween Main Theme
Zombie Zombie –  Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free (Joakim remix)
Bauhaus – Bela Legosi is Dead
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand
The Minni-Thins – Chorus of the Zombie Apocalypso

MUSIC FOR : zombies, creepy art school dudes, disco dancing in dark rooms, a Tarantino zombie film

post image via homemadehearts

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Remember @condeelevator? Well Dubai has a few new bitchy twitter accounts to keep it entertained. The favourite at discoballbreaker towers is definitely @UAEgirlproblems, which first popped up in August but only really started to infiltrate people’s timelines a few weeks ago. Almost immediately after, a sister (or brother?) account appeared called @UAEguyproblems. So far it looks like more people are interested in the faux musings of the fairer sex. Which makes sense, because @UAEgirlproblems is infinitely funnier. Some of my personal favourites :

An honourable mention also goes to @InsatiableCroc, which isn’t really about Dubai but is most probably written by someone who lives here. If you know of any more satirical twitter accounts from or about the city, tell me on twitter.

P.S – It’s been a while since I’ve posted some happy, uncomplicated dance floor music. So here it is. Because everyone needs some straightforward house music every now and again.

Chicken Lips – Desire (Part 2)
from the album Metaphysical Transition

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Next week is all about the art happening in Dubai. There is an artist talk by Sama Alshaibi at The Pavilion on the 18th; simultaneous openings on the 19th at Mojo, Carbon 12, Lawrie Shabibi and James Clar’s studio space Satellite, and then THE STATE: SOCIAL / ANTISOCIAL? which will have dual openings at The Third Line (on the 21st) and Traffic (on the 22nd). If you’re around, I recommend checking all of it out. And especially THE STATE: SOCIAL / ANTISOCIAL?, a group show curated by my old boss Rami Farook. See the show statement below :

THE STATE: SOCIAL / ANTISOCIAL? is inspired by and, a continuation from, previous shows at Traffic also titled ‘the state’. This exhibition resumes a dialogue explored earlier in shows held at Traffic: THE STATE (2010), the inaugural exhibition, questioned the socio-political state post September 11; and THE STATE: UPPERS & DOWNERS (2011) ran a commentary on the global condition, from an economic perspective, with the city of Dubai as a focal point. This third installment of investigation combines works from the collection of The Third Line, Traffic and The Farook Collection, and is exhibited at both galleries to connect the conversations previously limited to one physical space.

This exhibition aims to move beyond mere presentation and aspires to act as a forum on socialization and the current state of people and behavior. It also complements the launch of its online counterpart www.thestate.ae. With a focus on the various social aspects of the current “state” of today, the show puts a mirror up to the face of society for self-observation and self-reflection through the subjects of the works themselves, as well as the social, psychological and emotional impact on the viewers.

Both openings of show should be good, but I must admit I’m pretty excited about a live musical performance scheduled to take place at the Traffic opening. This is Bunty, a loopy space pop-py musician from Brighton.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

THE STATE: SOCIAL / ANTISOCIAL? opens at The Third Line on Sep 21st (19:30), and then at Traffic on Sep 22nd (19:00). Bunty will perform around 20:00.

Image credit : James Clar, ’8888′, 2011

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I’ve been meaning to post this video and song by Italian duo Husband for months but somehow never got around to it. When their EP ‘Love Song/Slow Motion’ popped up on shuffle today, I figured it was time.

Husband are Gianlorenzo and Chiara from Bologna. Gianlorenzo is apparently a bit of a celebrity in the Italian music scene – he’s part of a local post-punk band called Buzz Aldrin. Little is known about Chiara’s musical past, which means I’m just going to have to make one up. [BULLSHIT ALERT] : Chiara spent most of her teenage years on a British cruise ship performing as a Cher impersonator.

So according to their bio, Gianlorenzo and Chiara share a love of “old American vintage cars, holidays in Sicily and volcanoes”. So no surprise then that a volcano features quite prominently in their video for ‘Slow Motion’. Watch this strangely uneasy video that offsets the driving rhythms of the song with some maddeningly uneventful visuals.

Husband – Slow Motion

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Charlotte Gainsbourg’s fourth EP ‘Terrible Angels‘ comes out next week. But you won’t have to wait until then to watch a slightly unsettling video of Gainsbourg dancing with dozens of doppelgangers around an abandoned parking lot. This Kylie Minogue, video vixen moment just doesn’t sit well with me, if only because I now equate Gainsbourg with butchered lady parts. Maybe it’s not really me that hates the video, but my disgruntled lady parts??

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Many years ago, I was thinking of doing a concept cover album of Air’s Moon Safari. The plan was to use no instruments but to simply sing all the sounds myself. Unfortunately, my Moon Safari concept album is still unfinished (big surprise), but maybe this guy can help me with it?

Alaa Wardi is an experimental musician living in Riyadh. The 24 year old’s productions are completely made up of samples of his own voice and body. Check out Wardi’s facebook page for more of his DIY sample symphonies.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Last week – also known as the Week Of Absolute Misery And Migraines (WAMM™) – I spent an evening on the couch watching a rerun of Hot Rod. I’ve always been a fan of Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island crew. The guys may not always knock it out of the park, but you can’t fault them for the enduring brilliance of ‘Motherlover‘, ‘Jizz in My Pants‘ and my personal favourites  ’Just 2 Guyz‘ and sequel ‘We’ll Kill You‘. Unfortunately, Hot Rod is a generally unfunny escapade strung together with a few amusing moments and many close ups of Andy Samberg’s crazy face. But the soundtrack?  Sweet mother, the soundtrack is all kinds of awesome.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stacey Q’s Two of Hearts is my secret theme song, because you know, cheesy synths and hair flipping is so my thing. But the Lonely Island guys take it to the next level by blasting it out of a beat up old truck in the parking lot outside a convenience store.* The guys deliver even more synth action with Giorgio Moroder’s ‘The Chase’, which pops up a number of times in the film. AMAYZING.

Stacey Q – Two of Hearts

Giorgio Moroder – The Chase

*You know I’m dreaming up ways of re-enacting this scene. Maybe in the car park outside Park’N'Shop?

Click here to view the embedded video.

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