Producer Disco D, who has worked with the likes of 50 Cent, Trick Daddy, and Kevin Federline, committed suicide last night, his associate Benny Blanco told SOHH.com today. “We send our deepest condolences,” Blanco told the site. “He was loved and will be truly missed.” Disco D–real name Dave Shayman–had reportedly battled manic depression, but details surrounding his death remain sketchy. The 27-year-old Grammy-nominated producer had worked with Pharrell Williams, crafted the original theme song for VH1’s Hip-Hop Honors and commercials for Sprite, Best Buy, and Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards. He was best known in the electronic world as a “ghetto tech” producer, mixing techno beats with Miami booty bass music. In 2005, Disco D produced the track “Ski Mask Way” for 50 Cent’s Massacre album, and later produced the song “Popozao” for K-Fed. Most recently, he produced the song “I Pop” for Trick Daddy. Fans can post their condolences on Disco D’s MySpace page.
Download the full album (ZIP file)
Filed under: Hi*Tek
Filed under: Electro
Italy, 1976. In a luxurious discotheque on the Italian Adriatic coast, every weekend two American DJs called Bob and Tom play records that are just making history in their hometown NYC at the legendary “Loft”. Bob and Tom are resident DJs at the “Baia Degli Angeli”, a gigantic club with various floors, fountains, swimming pools and lots of glitz of the Jet set.
After the Baia closes due to a drug raid, Daniele Baldelli, inspired by the Baia Sound starts DJing in a new club called “Cosmic” in Lazise. Not only he´s beat-mixing Funk, Soul and early Disco - Baldelli´s sytle is unique: songs are mixed perfectly in a superslow tempo of 80-105 BPM. Cosmic is like a wild LSD trip: Afro mixed with German electronics, percussion solos, Bolero with delay effects, 12“s on 33 instead of 45, 70s Krautrock, Industrial… This way of playing records is absolutely new, and Daniele gets quickly famous. A whole wave of DJs and clubs get inspired by his mixtapes, and soon the whole of northern Italy calls it “Cosmic Sound”.
Unlike Italodisco, Cosmic or “Afrofunky” was never exported broadly; it has always stayed a local party phenomenon. That’s one of the reasons why it wasn’t really exploited commercially yet like many other 80’s genres. Today producers as Lindstrom, Prins Thomas or DJ Harvey caught the spirit and labels like Gomma, or Eskimo are deeply inspired and now try to create dance tracks that have a similar atmosphere.This compilation is a collection of the original music that was actually played at Discoteca Cosmic. It is playful, experimental, harmonic and most of all it is dance music.
Clide Stevens & Brainchild “Mystery Man” -
Download the music video