I recently prefaced one of my posts with a complaint about my own lack of participation in the bacchanalian self-indulgence that is club-oriented nightlife. Last night I came tantalizingly close to ending my streak of club non-attendance only to be thwarted when a member of my party was found lacking proper identification to enter such an establishment. Sufficed to say I was bummed by the whole scene. And while it may be a far cry from the mix of Biz Markie and Ol’ Dirty Bastard records I heard blaring from the bar’s open but unwelcoming door last night, I figure the throwback Disco sound of Hercules and Love Affair is more than club-appropriate enough to make up for the lack of thump, sweat and overpriced drink purchases in my life.
The project is the brainchild of Andrew Butler, a Washington DC-born, New York City-based composer, disc jockey and producer who’s harbored an affection for Greek mythology since childhood. But the band’s self-titled debut — out March 10th on DFA Records — is a collaborative effort, featuring the input of club promoter, DJ, and jewelry designer Kim Ann Foxman, Bronx-based vocalist Nomi, and Antony Hegarty on vocals, and DFA co-founder Tim Goldsworthy guiding the proceedings with his considerable production talents.
While the record, an homage to the egalitarian communal decadence of the Disco era and it’s sound, is right up my musical alley, the inclusion of Hegarty’s striking vocal presence on half the album’s tracks drew me in even more. I’ve repeatedly remarked on the similiarity between Antony and cross-dressing Disco diva Sylverster (not just for their shared flair for gender-bending, but the strength and unique qualities of their voices) and wished Hegarty would give dance music a go. The release of the LP’s first single “Blind” made that wish come true.
Legendary Disco and House disc jockey Frankie Knuckles literally had a hand in the project when he remixed “Blind” for the single. But the fingerprints of people like his former DJ partner Larry Levan, Giorgio Moroder, Arthur Russell, Sylvester collaborator and Hi-NRG pioneer Patrick Cowley, Arthur Baker, Greg Carmichael, Patrick Adams, Vince Clarke (whose Yazoo collaborator Alison Moyet it should be noted shares much in common vocally with Antony), Tom Moutlon and countless other Dance Music pioneers are all over the album in a more metaphorical sense.
The music thumps, percolates and shimmers with layers of live bass, drums and guitar, keyboards, synthesizers and drum-machines, and even a string and horn section, authentically recreating the sounds of nightclubs everywhere from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s. The songwriting frequently hearkens back to the themes of upliftment, heartache and sensuality that were (and to a large degree still are) hallmarks of the best Club music. And the vocal contributions of Hegarty, Foxman and Nomi match the sonic atmosphere note-for-note — from the locomotive Disco of “Raise Me Up,” to the downtempo Electropop of “Iris,” and the jack-your-body House of “You Belong” — while hitting all the appropriate emotive marks.
Hercules And Love Affair “Raise Me Up”
The only thing that could improve the experience is if I had a mirror-ball in my office-space.
- El Keter