The Attic

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Shadowplayers: how Factory Records created great music against all odds


"The only alternate to the spectacle becomes the spectacle of the alternate. Discuss." Factory Newsletter #1 Coming across the FAC.DANCE compilation at Rotate This was one of the highlights of

Saturday, 12 July 2014

The Hard Sell: Join our list. Resistance is futile


[Dancers at Studio54] Are you tired of crowded clubs, overpriced drinks and terrible Top40 music? Of course you are. Do you want to see more classic dance parties across Toronto

Monday, 23 June 2014

Hello Steve Reich: James Murphy's best remix ever?


And the music world breathes a sigh of relief as this blog is once again updated. Even though this was released back in October, it deserves another listen: I can

Monday, 5 August 2013

The rise of House music, from Detroit to Manchester


[Interior of the Hacienda nightclub, Manchester] As the 90s progressed and drum machines gave increasing power to DJs while allowing producers to explore different sounds and increasingly complicated rhythms, new

Saturday, 3 August 2013

Track Highlight: Mother of Pearl


The original Dorian Gray, Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music has made a career of looking for love in all the wrong places. Before sliding into a wearied but knowing collapse

Monday, 8 July 2013

Track Highlight: La Mer - Sleazy disco


One of the most famous French chansons , "La Mer" has been covered endlessly by artists in every style of music imaginable. What makes Julio Iglesias' version special is the

Friday, 5 July 2013

The New Wave of Disco: how technology changed music (for the better)


[Bruce Davidson: Subway (New York City, 1980)] As the grime of the late 1970s progressed into the glossy sheen of the Reagan and Thatcherite years, New Wave began hitting the

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Not your Dad's disco: the origins of dance music


In the beginning... there was the Paradise Garage. Arguably the birth place of what would later become modern dance/DJ culture, the Paradise Garage had the most impressive sound system ever