Who would have guessed that Nation of Ulysses frontman Ian Svenonius would ever make a disco record? In 1990 the answer would probably have been zero. With The Make-Up’s soul-injected punk it wasn’t such a huge stretch anymore, but I think it was with Escape-ism’s drum machine driven minimalism that that the idea could have emerged. Last year he teamed up with Rich Morel to release a single as Too Much. While the aesthetic still oozed of 60s punk and 70s glam, their debut album is a time trip straight back to the 80s. Most of the songs exist in that limbo where disco became Chicago house, especially the brilliant “We Showed Them”. The closing track even sounds like genre-blenders Saint Etienne. Out via Dischord a week ago.
