UGGH…NICE WATCH

It’s hard to imagine a time when synthesizers didn’t dominate popular music, but in the early 1970s, anything beyond acoustic was a pretty avant-garde act. Producer/singer/songwriter Giorgio Moroder was at the forefront of making electro go pop, through his innovative work in disco, pop, and film scores.

Raised in a German-speaking part of Northern Italy, Giorgio made his career in Germany’s music scene in the late ’60s when krautrock artists had started sprinkling synths into their traditional rock formulas. In 1976, he hit it big with Donna Summer’s “Love To Love You Baby,” a funky, orgasmic club anthem that turned the unknown singer into the definitive artist of the disco era. A year later, Summer, Giorgio and longtime partner Pete Bellotte released “I Feel Love,” a hard-hitting electronic disco record that is often credited as the missing link between acoustic disco and modern house music. Other German electro artists like Kraftwerk might have been more musically radical, but Giorgio brought the synthetic revolution to the dance clubs and pop radio before anyone else. He would go on to compose a string of hugely successful soundtracks, from 1978’s Midnight Express to 1983’s Scarface, phasing out classical-style scores in favor of futuristic sounds that would dominate the ’80s. I collected over 25 of my favorite Giorgio songs for the latest Uggh…Nice Watch compilation…

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRACKLIST + DOWNLOAD LINK…

It’s hard to say exactly what kind of music Trevor Horn makes. This British genius is widely acknowledged in his home country as one of the greatest pop producers of all time, but in the states, his amazingly diverse discography is largely overlooked. Using a fearless mix of synthesizers, samples and live instrumentation, Horn made it clear that he was playing by his own rules as the driving force behind both Art Of Noise and The Buggles in the late ’70s. And his early-’80s work on Malcolm McLauren’s Duck Rock—including the seminal track “Buffalo Gals”—still stands as some of the most instantly-recognizable (and most sampled) beats in hip-hop history.

But aside from his more experimental work, Trevor kept winning throughout the ’80s by bringing his innovative touches to a string of mainstream hits from acts like Yes, Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones, and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. In the ’90s, he reinvented himself as the man behind Seal (he’s written and produced practically every song the singer has ever recorded), and since then he’s been staying busy with an unpredictible slate of work, from faux-lesbian teens t.A.T.u. to indie rockers Belle & Sebastian. I compiled 25 of my favorite Trevor Horn-related tracks for one of this week’s Uggh…Nice Watch releases…

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRACKLIST + DOWNLOAD LINK!!

Anyone who came up in the early ’90s probably still has the ubiquitous order stuck in their head: “EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!” But there’s much more to C+C Music Factory than one-hit-wonder status—David Cole and Robert Clivillés, the masterminds behind the group, are in fact one of the dopest production duos of all time. Starting in the late ’80s with a house crew called 2 Puerto Ricans, A Black Man And A Dominican, Clivillés and Cole churned out a steady stream of hits that fused the NYC club music they loved with pop music. After early crossover success with freestyle-infused girl group Seduction, their stock as mainstream songwriters grew, leading to high-profile work with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. In fact, before Mariah discovered hip-hop, it was her house-driven collaborations with David Cole (“Emotions,” “Make It Happen”) that defined her sound. Sadly, Cole suffered from spinal meningitis, and he passed away in early 1995 at the peak of the group’s power. I put together 25 of my favorite C+C-related productions for a new Uggh…Nice Watch compilation…

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRACKLIST + DOWNLOAD LINK!!