Los Massieras - Boogity Boogity Boogity

Los Massieras is a DJ duo that is part the disco scene in Spain and in Berlin, Germany. The label/collective is Discoteca Oceano in Spain, but Los Massieras are on an off-shoot label called Bananamania, based in Berlin. Whatever the lineage, the music coming out of this scene is good. They revive the electronic sounds and the dance feel from disco, thankfully leaving the orchestral instrumentation of late 70s disco behind.

The video is the highlight here. The creator Gerson Aguerri seemlessly combines animation and some live-action shots to create a world reminiscent of HG Wells's distant future in The Time Machine with the Eloi and the Morlocks. The camera constantly pans through a world with peaceful furry humanoids being attacked by Skeletor-looking bat people that turn everything into static. I love that world loops through the video several times and you see the destruction as the invasion progresses. The whole video is beautifully devious.

RIP Malcolm McLaren

On April 8, 2010, Malcolm McLaren died of mesothelioma. He has had a long career, primarily pulling strings behind the scenes. He managed some of punk rocks most important acts, The New York Dolls and The Sex Pistols, and some less important acts, Adam and the Ants and the splinter group Bow Wow Wow.

McLaren also had a music career, but only two albums Duck Rock and Waltz Darling really had an impact. McClaren's music is more along the lines of collage and collaboration than a solo act. He recruited artist and DJ's from the New York hip hop scene and combined their talents into a record.

While McClaren's music isn't particularly genius, it introduced several styles to mainstream music and culture. Here are two good examples:



Buffalo Gals is the first single off of Duck Rock and surely the most important song he released. Buffalo Gals introduce record scratching, live vinyl sampling, and the early stages of turntablism to the pop world. The video is a mash of early 80s New York street culture.



On Waltz Darling, McLaren's only number one hit ever was Deep in Vogue. Unseating Madonna's hit Express Yourself, the song was number one for only a week. Deep in Vogue introduced the world to the dance style of voguing. Oddly enough, Madonna would come back the next year and turn voguing into an international phenomenon with her music video for Vogue.

McLaren was always ahead of his time, bringing new forms of music to the mass public.  Even in 2003, he was pushing to bring awareness to Chiptune or 8-bit electronic music.  In an article he wrote for the tech/culture magazine Wired, he called the new sound "a new kind of folk music for the digital age."

I will leave you with my favorite McLaren music video, a reinterpretation of the Puccini opera Madame Butterfly. Also influential, hints of this music video can be seen throughout Lady Gaga music videos.