Escort

オハコのNu Discoはもとより、ロック、バレアリックなどのフィールドにも進出する“Tirk”からまた新たなキラーボムが登場！“Tirk”からArcade Lover名義でも活動しているDan Balisの大所帯バンド・プロジェクト＝Escortによるファースト・アルバム！2010年にDillingerの“Cokane In My Brain”のカヴァーで一躍注目された総勢10名にも上る生バンド編成である彼ら。キュートな女性ヴォーカルを武器に、アシッディーなサウンドメイクでエレクトリック・ディスコを奏でる！Kid Creole & The Coconuts and Ian Dury、そしてTom Tom Clubを意識した80’sサウンド極致です！
BBQ

New York's Escort, a disco act (that's right) driven by former house producers Dan Balis and Eugene Cho, debuted in June 2006. "Starlight" was a startling A-side of midtempo boogie, hot enough to sit beside the Salsoul and Prelude labels' best releases of 1979 and 1980. Each one of the song's elements, including its sturdy rhythmic foundation, ARP synthesizer zaps, dramatic violin tugs, and layered female vocals, was executed and placed with such precision that it suggested perfectionism. Fast-forward five and a half years to November 2011. Escort had issued a total of six high-quality singles that demonstrated the band's love of -- and ability to breathe new life into -- numerous strains of late-'70s and early-'80s club music. Purist disco, August Darnell's tropical gangsterism, and electronic Euro-disco, to name three, were nailed down and revitalized with remarkable depth for active, mischievous dancefloors, as well as the stage, where the band's membership swelled to 17. The singles added a freshness to DJ sets overflowing with oft-heard classics, secret weapons that should have remained secret, and ropey re-edits. Escort's self-titled album features all eight of the songs from the 12" releases, though some of them appear in adjusted and/or partially re-recorded form. Most noticeable is the absence of vocalist Zena Kitt, who appeared on the first few singles; she has been replaced with Adeline Michele, who joined in time for 2010's "Cocaine Blues" and is more like a young Fonda Rae -- compared to Kitt, not as tough sounding, more flirtatious and playful. The hyper-sexed "All Through the Night" ("You don't have to take me out/Just pick me up and turn me out") doesn't have the same predatory bite of the original; otherwise, the versions are equally strong, only slightly different in makeup. Three wholly new songs feature the same attention to detail and, as usual, repeated club and home play in mind. The finest of the trio is a rather audacious update of Carmen Lombardo and John Jacob Loeb's "A Sailboat in the Moonlight," recorded by Guy Lombardo and Billie Holiday, that smacks of Darnell/Kid Creole in the most pleasurable way. ~ Andy Kellman|