A genre term ironically coined by the German label ZYX , Italo-Disco is something we can retrospectively look at as European addiction to the glittery treats of American popular music of the late 70s and early 80s, well after its decline in the charts and the western love affair with disco abruptly ended. With the steep rise in import costs of records that were becoming rarer and rarer, the birth of a new recording industry, chiefly in Italy, emerged to fill the vacuum. Its off-the-mark take on disco is clear on the level of lyricism: predominantly romantic clichés sung through bad English accents. However, the insistent ARP synths and pinging walkabout bass-lines underpinning it all offer something wilder and less predictable, as does the surreal, humorous, and often psychedelic cover art suggestive of a post-human aesthetic.
