Zero Gravity Dance!
Let Dejour enroll you in a space disco crash course, as we take you on a trip through your new favorite band's favorite bands.
by JOSE R. MEJIA
Laurie Marshall, “The Disco Spaceship”
One of the hardest, tightest disco tracks around, this 1977 dancefloor murderer is impossible to deny. By the time you hit the planetary chant and the strings somehow keep going higher and higher, you actually start to feel a bit out of this world.
Venus Gang, “Cosmic Daddy”
1978, and American disco has had plenty of time to visit Europe and subsequently get blasted off into orbit. Still rooted in diva-vocals and solid live instrumentation, you’ll only need your silver bodysuit for the out-there vocal effects and synth blips.
Orlando Riva Sound, “Indian Reservation”
77’s “Moon Boots” would make more sense lyrically, but it took this 1979 song about the trials of Native Americans to bring the distended cosmic funk ORS dealt in to fruition. The slow-mo, druggy gallop beat comes together under the insistent bass throb so well that you absolutely have to forget the lack of cosmic references.
The Creatures, “The Other World’s Robots”
Monotone, modulated voice? Check. Spaced-out sound effects? Check. Entirely too catchy? Check.
Welcome to the future, where sinister robots come from other galaxies… to dance.
Visage, “Fade to Grey”
Underrated synth-pop group rips a page from Giorgio Moroder’s playbook and drives their point home with an endlessly looping spacecraft hum that you can still hear days after the song finishes playing.
Telex, “Brainwashed”
This electro-disco classic from 1981 reels in the emptiest-sounding bassline ever and spins it into interplanetary chimes for a midtempo jaunt through an asteroid belt.
Charlie, “Spacer Woman”
By 1983, space is the place, live instruments are nowhere to be found, and even the women hail from beyond the beyond. Earth girls are easy—but who’s interested in Earth girls when you can have a space(r) woman?
Clive Steven & Brainchild, “Mystery Man”
Hellaciously slow, lock-step synth/drum interplay, and the sweetest female vocals around. The perfect track to come down to after a galactic trip.
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