- From his pert, electro-ish "Psychedelic Symmetry / Hippe Can Dance with Boogie" on Electric Minds in 2008 to the glossy/airy splendor of "Leftfield Boogie / Odd Summer" on Rong last year, there was every reason to expect Japanese producer Free Disco's new 12-inch to be as obviously accessible. Guess again. Not only has he gone completely leftfield, it sounds natural, like the early '80s mutant-disco side of the spectrum has been crossed off his list of all the shades of disco he wants to master.
The A-side, "How to Play Frisbee," is driven by the kind of stiff funk-rock bass and guitar lines increasingly prevalent through the middle of the '80s, with a muzzy, shifting central chant ("Another one plays, another one throws," as near as I can make it out) that could have been uttered by an extra in a Jim Jarmusch movie. It sounds like a goof, a throwaway, but the riff burrows in and all manner of background noises pop up to distract the ear, climaxing in a pair of laser-synth solos that sound like they're being played with someone's elbows. The credits claim it was recorded on location by someone called thesoundcollector, and while that's probably a joke, it does get at the track's action-painting quality well enough.
In keeping with the mysterioso aliases, vocals on the B-side's fabulously titled "You Are My Sculpture (Heterosexual Mix)" come from the one, the only, the Question of Teething Fever. It's a spooked-out falsetto ballad over a slow and simple drum machine and alien synth notes like a dying Asteroid game. It's a weird one, and even better, it sounds like it just came out that way.
Tracklist A How to Play Frisbee
B You Are My Sculpture (Heterosexual Mix)