» DISC REVIEW: H/ELLBOY: Italo Megamix by DJ Hell The Evil Kitsch of Daniel Siwek: NihIli$tic Pop Ain’t Go$$ip! (Music, Movies, Mixed Media Mishugas)

(H)ELLBOY: Italo Megamix by DJ Hell
International Dee Jay Gigolo Records
Rating: 8/10

When I interviewed DJ Hell for XL8R back in 2005, I asked him about the “italo revival” that I saw going on in Europe (and was hoping would finally catch on here, not that some people weren’t trying) and he seemed surprised. He told me that he didn’t think people were still interested in italo, and that in Europe the trend had already winded down as far as he knew. I explained how I was seeing the name dropped more and more; I may have been over hyping it a bit. Now I’m not saying that my questioning made him go out and record this “Italo-Megamix,” because in the same interview Herr Hell also told me that he played an almost all-italo set for Hugh Heffner and the guests at the Playboy Mansion when he DJ’d the magazine’s 50th Anniversary party (thus the bow-tie and Bunny ear). When I found that he decided to release it I contacted him and he promptly sent one over!

It’s not that some of these songs haven’t appeared on other comps, (Klein & M.B.O.’s “Dirty Talk” and Alexander Robotnick’s “Problems D’Amour” are two that have found recent homes), and it’s not like Hell is the first person to get hung up on Giorgio Moroder’s “Chase” or build a set around “I Feel Love” (though Patrick “Menergy” Cowley’s remix is included here), but DJ Hell is just that - a DJ. When a DJ comes to rock a party he/she wants to pull out the full arsenal, and an italo mix without Robotnick and Moroder would be seem bare, whether the Playboy Bunnies knew the difference or not. As I listened to this disc, my mind’s eye cued in the blurry “dream sequence” dissolve, and for some crazy reason I was invited to this party, and there I am making obnoxious faces to Bill Maher and talking-up The Girls Next Door when I hear Gino Soccio’s “Remember.” “Holy shit!” I yell out to the chicks as if they just told me to meet them in the Grotto in 5, but it’s really because the last time I heard this track was when I wedged it in between Ladytron and Felix da Housecat at a party. I start to tell them how brilliant I think it is when a song features a robotic female voice that mumbles in French, and how Miss Kitten made a career on that “Fade To Grey” voice. Since this is a dream, you would think that my love for 80s homo music would be a turn-on to these girls, but even there I should have known better; and so after they turn and walk away I get a drink, pick-pocket a spliff from Bill Maher, and sneak off to listen to the rest of this “dream-set.”

Aside from Hell’s (real name, Helmut Grier) own “Control” (which seamlessly combines the retro and futuristic while giving us a taste of the “harder,” more sinister, path that the genre can take), the whole thing is a look back at some of the most progressive disco ever made. Speaking of progressive, Hypnosis (named after the album-art guys?) is known for their Vangelis covers, and included here is “Pulstar,” which was originally released on 1974’s Stardrive. By the time the 80s came around, disco had already shifted from a group affair (with a large band and often a full orchestra) to a masturbatory gratification (in small studios and with a drum machine in place of a percussionist), and you can hear the music became more automated - more techno, more industrial . . . More Detroit. It’s easy to hear how Digital Emotion’s “Don’t Stop” influenced Thrill Kill Kult’s brand of electro-sleaze (Their “Mindcage” sings “don’t stop the disco” instead of “don’t stop the motion” in the same melody), and while we expect it from Daft Punk, not even Madonna could prevent herself from pilfering Cerrone’s (who I believe to be the real inventor of the “French-touch”) “Supernature.”

It’s perfect that Hell, a Kraut, put out an Italo mix, no matter how odd it sounds, because the Trans Europa Express (P.L.’s version included here is more Bambaataa than Kraftwerk) always goes through Germany. Moroder himself may be Italian, but he didn’t make it until he went to Munich. And it was ZYX Records (most popularly known for the “West End Girls” by the Pet Shop Boys), in Merenberg, and its label head Bernhard Mikulski that originally compiled and marketed this new synth-disco-cum-electro-pop sound, that was largely coming from Italy, of course. They say he coined the name “Italo”, and even though similar music came from France or Canada or Belgium, it has slowly become as popular as Eurodisco or HiNRG.

I haven’t researched this at all, but I’m assuming the Ellboy title has been adjusted in the States to avoid problems with the movie franchise, and it seems pretty obvious that the Bunny Ears are obscured for the same reason. By the end of the disc, Hell shows us how a little Italo and a little Kraut can go a long way - like Japan, where the Yellow Magic Orchestra (Y.M.O.) mix up the mojo and send it right back for Italian acts like Koto (also on ZYX) to go all “Oriental.” Though there’s no Koto here, it’s almost implied, and besides, this set is supposed to be just that, a set and not an Italo anthology designed to compete with Blanco Y Negro’s definitive, I Love Disco Diamonds.

Even if those Bunnies had no idea what they were hearing, if I just woulda stuck with it, there’s no telling DJ Hell’s mix could have taken me!

The Track Listing:
01. B.W.H. - Livin’ Up
02. Charlie - Spacer Woman
03. Donna Summer - I Feel Love (Patrick Cowley Remix)
04. Experimental Products - Glowing In The Dark
05. Digital Emotion - Don’t Stop
06. Klapto - Mister Game (Instrumental)
07. Klein & M.B.O. - Dirty Talk (USA Connection Instrumental)
08. Mr. Flagio - Take A Chance
09. Giorgio Moroder - Chase
10. Alexander Robotnik - Problmes D’Amour(Ah Ou Ah Version)
11. Cerrone - Supernature
12. Gaucho - Dance Forever
13. Trans-X - Vivre Sur Video
14. Hell - Control
15. Gino Soccio - Remember
16. Magnifique - Magnifique Part 1
17. PL - Transeurpa Express
18. Hypnosis - Pulstar
19. My Mine - Hypnotic Tango (Instrumental)
20. Y.M.O. - Rydeen