If my parents saw me right now, sitting with a rocks glass of $8 whiskey and Mountain Dew Baja Blast, they'd provide little more than a wagging finger and concerned questioning as to where my life is going. Alas, the bargain bin, mood-stabilizing concoction proves perfect for listening to the dopest music I've been sent all day, a five-track installment from a pair of serious homies: the recently rebooted LA-based Lazerdisk (Chad Bechard and Zack Johnson).
Now, I've always been down with disco. Both relaxing in its groove and uplifting with its choice of instrumentals and samples, the sound's soulful vocals and rudimentary, yet revolutionary, use of sonic and literary devices gave way to a brand new world view. Nothing else felt so deep. How could it? It was a movement I could, as a confused freshman, easily relate to.
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The first wave of disco was a genre that lasted only slightly longer than the Second Mexican Empire; an empire characterized as "too liberal for the conservatives, and too conservative for the liberals [1]." The modern disco movement, often misrepresented as the "nu-disco" offshoot, is currently reasserting itself as a proper revival of the lost good vibes set forth by its immediate blood relative. As outlined by Lazerdisk's Mélange EP (meaning: a mixture or medley), the rebirth of the style is all but obvious and upfront.
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The album flows quite nicely, much like the carbonated smoothness of this Whiskey Blast, only far classier. Listening through in its entirety, the track changes are barely recognizable and the styles flow seamlessly from the classic disco tune "Got The Love" feat. Craig Mitchell to the Love Train-inspired "Sunk", into the heavy Patrick Hernandez-style collaboration with The Knocks entitled "Crashing". Viewing the album from afar, we clearly go from classic 70s disco to Justice and Chromeo style heaviness.
You may recall that we mentioned nu-disco is a bit different from classic disco. Let's be clear; Mélange undoubtedly possesses strong ties to the newfound branch. In fact, "Star Stuff" feels like something straight out of Quentin Dupieux's latest confusing harebrained masterpiece, Wrong Cops (featuring Marilyn Manson and an unsightly rasterbation of political irony, given 3.5 of 5 'Beer Stars'. You know, for the record or whatever). Rightfully so, this subjective fact only serves to reinforce the album's stylistic namesake.
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Much like the lasting influence of Oizo3000 and tell-tale high school angst had on my life, this now empty glass of W&B paired with Lazerdisk's Mélange has made all things right in the world again. I am calm with reminiscence, placated with satisfaction, and now ready to confidently move onward with the fact that I may or may not have quit my day job today.
