ITALO DISCO PERFECTION CYBERNETIC LOVE BY CASCO

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Casco means helmet in Italian and Casco is Salvatore Cusato.  An Italian DJ and producer who passed in 2011.

Cybernetic Love the 1983 release on House of Music records came during the big boom of Italo Disco and it's cheery, spacey, vocoder perfection symbolizes all that's best of the Italo Disco sound.
CASCO A CASCO ZIP

Interestingly the 1986 follow-up Son of my Father was a Giorgio Moroder remake and lacked any of the magic of the first release.  It is in fact not even a collectible like Cybernetic Love and can be picked up for a song.

TAKE A CHANCE MR. FLAGIO ITALO DISCO BRILLIANCE

original version
Take a Chance is one of those rare italo disco records in that it's actually a cover.  The original was an album cut by Material from their l.p. One Down featuring Nona Hendryx of Labelle.  The remake is very different and in my estimation much improved.
Flagio stands for Flavio Giorgio, Flavio Vidulich, Giorgio Bacco and one of the most brilliant italo disco gems of 1983, TAKE A CHANCE.  I have such a passion for vocoder.  Take a Chance wrote the book on how to use it correctly.  The bassline is hot enough to make Nile Rodgers proud.  A FLAGIO ZIP

It was used on Amanda Lear's RAI Italia t.v. show Cocktail D'amour from the early 2000's.  It was actually on the credits like a theme song.

Newcleus

Brooklyn trio Newcleus were the definitive Electro act.  Though they only released two full albums.  They had a nice string of seminal electro/freestyle hits. Block party favorites they originally started in 1977 as Jam-On Productions.

I'm surprised that I haven't blogged about them before because I was so into them.  Their sound really touched my soul.  I'm kind of surprised that they weren't much huger chart successes then they were because it seemed to me that their music was so ever-present at the time.  The idea that they had to speed their vocals to resemble the Chipmunks in parts was definitely part of the magic.  Their biggest pop hit "Jam on It" took it up to #56 on the U.S. Top 100.  Though several of their songs made the R and B Top 40.

I also think that their sound has held up very well.  It certainly makes me want to shake my tail in 2017.

Their first release Jam on Revenge was in 1983 which I've mentioned before is the legendary year for me and my going to the disco youth.  Their sound certainly mixed in very well with the Italo Disco which I hold so close to my heart and for which most of my blog is dedicated.

But with a vocoder and Jonathan Fearing on the mix how could they go wrong anyway?

Their songs have also been used in a few video games including Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 2 and DJ Hero 2, the latter even featured a newly re-recorded version.

By the mid 80's they still had a few releases but their sound was sort of on the decline as that hot new genre "house music" was making for the greatest impact on the dance floors.  I will thank my friend DJ Chris Baron for turning me on to Cyborg Dance and Space is the Place.  He even did a genius edit of Cyborg Dance.  In 1985 I was in D.C. and heard an awful lot of Hi Nrg and early House so progressive Electro like this wasn't on my radar and my trips to New York City were few and far between because I was studying.

A FEW OF THE BEST NUCLEUS TRACKS
Cyborg Dance and Space is the Place
The debut single Jam on Revenge

I have to admit I also love this sound because it reminds me of Shaun of the Dead, a film I really love and featured Electro obsessed characters.

INSANELY RARE VOCODER FUNK the pinch SHOT OUT

A limited edition 7" inch single on a small Texas label called Spider-Mo Records has become a highly collectible record. Shot Out by the pinch is a Electro vocoder romp.
GRAB IT
I don't go on much about my Vocoder fascination but it is one of my passions. It's featured on lots of classic Funk, Italo and Electro records that I'm fond of.

Maybe it reminds me of Peter Frampton. I loved his talk box vocals when I was in Elementary school. But not long after my passion turned toward disco.

The 12" single is a re-press and is not collectible like the original 7" single.