I’m sure that title’s never been used to describe Disco Inferno.

I came across this band a month or so ago, and on listening to the compiled Five EPs was shocked by the newness and nowness of their sound. It’s just so imaginative. Guitars, jangly and/or heavily processed, heavy sampling and the gravitas of avant-garde experimentation, there’s an internal consistency to their work that’s far from the Frankenstein of sound that you might expect from the blend of experiments and pop. It’s post-punk, but a long way from the pragmatic blend of electro, punky vocals and haircuts that gets called post-punk now.

Thrilled and excited I immediately tapped off emails to a handful of friends. “Album of the year,” I trumpeted. “I haven’t heard anything yet,” responded Dan, FBI music director, sagely. “What label are they on.”

It’s an indication of how excited I was that I didn’t think to search their name pre-email. I did it and out popped a list of reviews. Nick Southall compared the early ’90s Essex group to Wire, the Durutti Column and Joy Division – saying they were “indebted, but arguably better than” those bands. There’s no doubt it references that early Factory sound, but there’s more than that. Posting elsewhere, Nick said:

These guys emerged to prominance around the same time as Bark Psychosis, and in fact the two bands were pretty much London buddies in experimentation (even sharing band members, briefly and vaguely). Sonically, however, they stand pretty far apart – allegedly Simon Reynolds coined the term post-rock (he certainly used it) in a review of BP’s excellent Hex album in Mojo; had he said it in relation to DI instead, it’s likely that what people understand as being the aesthetic and genre signifiers for post-rock would be rather different.

Two side notes: original member Daniel Gish went on to join Bark Psychosis and Simon Reynolds is my guest on Join The Dots next week.

Spectacular, and if like me it passed you by, Disco Inferno is highly recommended.

Tom Woodward – Blue Day Requiem
Alex Jarvis Band – Stanford Prison Exp. Blues
Roleo – Electric Blues
Last Poets – True Blues
Coloured Balls – Mess of the Blues
Bedroom Rockers – 21st Century Blues (take 2)
Sandro Brugnolini – Helen’s Blues
Dead Moon – I Hate the Blues
Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
Massive Attack – Safe From Harm
Burial – Exit Wounds
Jamie Woon – Wayfaring Stranger (Burial mix)
Godspeed! You Black Emperor – 09-15-00 (Part 1)
Shackleton – Blood On My Hands

Avalanches – Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life
Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble (Dexter remix)
Culture Connect – Destructors
Cinco Locos – Opaque Brown
The Herd – 77%
Urthboy – Modern Day Folk
Plutonic Lab – The Waiting (feat Muph, Ivens & Pegz)
Solomon Theta – Spoken Fist
Delta – The Greater Good (feat Mojo The Cinematic)
Layla – Maverick
Downsyde – Verbal Diarrhoea (feat Layla)
Terra Firma – Plans and Schemes
Jobi One – Mind of Persistance
Brethren – Slingshot (instrumental)
Brethren – Slingshot
Avene – Unwanted
DJ Soup – Neverland
DJ Soup – This Is The House (feat Damien Millar)
Groovescooter feat Quro – My Spine (is the Bassline)
Quro, Muskrat & Mostyn – Who Are You?
Mostyn – Rattle On
Resin Dogs – Gunshot Dub feat Spikey Tee (DJ Danielsan version)
DJ Tokoloshe – Everybody Clap
I/O – The New Risk

I realised while talking hip hop with a friend on Saturday afternoon that I really don’t play that much of the stuff on my radio show. I can’t say why not. Is it less collaborative than those other sounds? Far from it. I listen to a lot, and when I DJ – as I did at the Hollywood Hotel for a few hours of dancehall, hip hop, house and soca on Saturday night – I play a lot. So this week on Join the Dots it’s all about the beats and the flow. That’s Thursday night from 9pm on FBI 94.5.

Coming up in the next few weeks are guest spots from two music critic/bloggers. One relatively new, Emmy Hennings, and one well and truly established, Simon Reynolds, both bound to be fascinating.