Calvin Harris - I Created Disco

It's finally here! Calvin Harris' long-awaited album is making its way to the shelves of all good music retailers, riding high on the explosive air and radio play of the first released singles. For those unfamiliar to the Harris story, the tracks are primarily written on a Commodore Amiga, and riddled with crunchy analogue synths. Is it disco? Is it 'funkateerism'? It's catchy and that's all you need to know. The live band has returned to electro disko, and sparked the latent need to boogie in the dance and rock community. From the ironic sample of Visage's Fade to Grey in Colours, to the drug list of Vegas (with Fear and Loathing replaced by thick chords, falsetto, and a breakin' beat), and on to I Created Disco, the amusing apr's-war story of a married Englishman who created disco through a series of techniques and styles using pots and kettles, the tongue in cheek is firmly placed and sellotaped down to the pounding beat of not-so-retro electronica. There's a hint of Calvin's true love for r&b on the instrumental, Love Souvenir, and the vocals are also left to the imagination on Certified's chilled video game electro. Elements of David Bowie creep into Electro Man, the gentler pop closer, which, like Vegas, hints at 80s break and boogaloo samples: the album is a reworked revival and regeneration of a fading scene, and helpfully proves that you don't need the flashiest equipment to make the best tunes. [Alex Burden]