The Devil's Music

Black Devil Disco Club - The Devil In Us

I love it when something like this comes along. Do you remember a few years back, when the Rephlex label put out a couple of records by someone called Black Devil? They were shrouded in mystery, and there was little word on whether or not it was new music, or if it was actual late-period italo disco - judging from the sound of it alone, it really could have gone either way.

Well, as it turned out, Black Devil was in fact authentic - from their bio, "Originally released in 1978, Black Devil's Disco Club... is credited to Joachim Sherylee and Junior Claristidge, pseudonyms of two French library-writers, Bernard Fevre and Jackie Giordano. It was made manually in a recording studio in the suburbs of Paris using synths and occasional tape loops and a drummer. No midi or computers."

Now that you're up to speed there, we're presented with new work by 'Black Devil Disco Club' - now credited solely to Fevre - with the release of 28 After, which I take to mean 28-years-after the original Disco Club release. The funny thing about the album is that it is very similar to the original work - a few of the tracks on 28 After are arguably the same songs, only modified with complete vocals and fuller-sounding production. So it could be that the original tapes were used as source material, or these are completely new, re-recorded versions of the old songs? Fevre isn't telling, and that is fine by me. I love this stuff, and the songs - new or old - are awesome. Totally bizarre, dark disco jams with rolling bubbly synths, goth-y vocals, and congas galore. RIYL: Black Devil (obvs), Metro Area and the Environ label, Lindstrøm and Prins Thomas, Beard-house, etc.

The new album is out now on the British Lo Recordings label, and can be purchased in the US from our friends at Turntable Lab, Boomkat (in the UK), or you can download it from iTunes or eMusic. Highly recommended.