The Revival of Disco

After the disco backlash of 1979, many people believed that disco as a genre had died. However, Politician Rock put it perfectly, "When disco seemingly died in the 80's, it actually just split itself into two factions; house and hip-hop." Over time, house and hip-hop branched out into rap and pop. Electronica was even born from disco, when in the mid-90's, artists like Moby, Daft Punk, and The Chemical Brothers emerged onto the scene before the term "electronica" even came into use. Slowly but steadily, the pulsing beats, the fuzzy bass, the arena style synthesizers have morphed back into what they once were - disco. As of the moment, bands like Hot Chip, Of Montreal, and Hercules And Love Affair, are freely proclaiming their band's genre as disco, and are not unlike the beats that used to pulse through the night clubs of the mid seventies.

Hot Chip is a british, electropop band formed in 2000. They've made three studio albums so far, their latest being Made In The Dark, and their most popular songs being Ready For The Floor, and the single One Pure Thought. With Alexas Taylor's catchy falsetto and Al Doyle as the guitarist from another electronica band LCD Soundsystem, they can pump out some amazing disco beats. 

Of Montreal is an indie/electronica band based in Athens, Georgia. They emerged onto the electronica scene in the late nineties, and have since been making fresh tunes and great music. Between Kevin Barnes's crazy vocals, and the overall arrangement of their music, they can definitely be considered among today's great, modern disco bands. Their latest album, Skeletal Lamping, has received critical praise as their ninth studio album, and has even been compared to the works of Prince.

Hercules And Love Affair is a New York based musical project started by DJ Andy Butler. Their self-entitled debut album was released in March of this year, and was also critically well-received. They've come out with three singles so far, the most popular one being Blind. Hercules And Love Affair are the only band that I've listed so far to freely proclaim themselves as a disco band. They consider themselves to be a "disco revolution", and certainly are one. With Andy Butler's melodious vocals and the danceable tunes, they definitely have a future in reviving disco.

Of course, the revival of disco will never becoming so great as Saturday Night Fever, but it is certainly occurring, and probably will continue to as long as these bands are around.

Top image of Of Montreal.