Disco lives! Who knew? As it turns out, the artists behind Dirty Space Disco have known for a long time, going far beyond the crass commercialization that disco had become around the time of its “death” in the early ’80s and becoming something more interesting, if less culturally relevant. Dirty Space Disco was put together by Dirty Sound System, a DJ collective who has been specializing in this sort of thing for some time now, and their obvious expertise shows through in their selection of tracks for this particular compilation.
Now, it should be noted that this is still dance music. The beats repeat themselves into oblivion, the synths do pretty much the same thing, and the only difference between the beginning and ending of a track may well be that some featured instrument (voice, guitar, anything) is doing something else. Despite the repetition, however, it’s easy to find the strongest tracks.
“Baby Let Me Kiss You”, from Fern Kinney, is a fantastic old-school R&B jam that just…keeps…going, and Yello Power’s “Hi Samurai” has the best beat on the album. It’s a deceptively simple little thing that propels the song right on through the silly little faux-Japanese melodies and grunts that scatter throughout the track. It’s easy to get bored with the disc if you’re not moving your body, especially in between the vocal numbers, but other DJs might just owe Dirty Sound System a thank you letter for a fantastic portrait of just exactly what it is that disco, perhaps the most reviled of musical genres, has now become.