My fellow Diskotec resident Gomes has urged me to post something about Italo since we'll be playing some at our club in two weeks. But how does one define "Italo" in 2006? One might be referring to classic Italo Disco which was made in the early 80's in Italy (where Disco hadn't died, like it had in the US mainstream market) on labels like Il Discotto, Disco Magic and Lombardini. If you want a really loose definition, you can even include the rest of European Disco (Euro Disco) and US disco in the 80's (Hi-NRG). Or, one could be referring to the new strain of Italo Electro [what you could call Italotronique), put out by people like Kiko, Oxia, The Hacker, David Carretta, Black Strobe and Vitalic (the French contingent) or by artists like I-F, Alden Tyrell, Freak Electrique, Bangkok Impact and Legowelt (the Dutch contingent). In either case, you have a similar sound that relies heavily on Moroderesque-basslines, four-to-the-floor disco beats, and huge synth melodies that make you feel like an International Deejay Gigolo. What's obvious is that today's electro superstars have clearly been influenced by the electronic space disco that was popular over 20 years ago.

Here is a short list of seminal releases that are a good way of bringing some quality Italo and Italotronique into your life: