The story behind big room-meets-Francophonic filtered disco feeling new Solidisco single "Unreal" (featuring Italian house producers Fireflowerz) released on Mixmash Records, is a four-year process. Moreover, it's one that as much showcases the awareness and curatorial talents of a legend as much as it is aware of the growth in skill of a rising production duo. According to Solidisco's DJ DStar, this story starts off quite randomly, then takes a turn to the amazing.
"[I] was in Cinespace with DJ AM in LA just before [he passed away], and I met Luke, U-Turn, and Oliver that night while I was DJing, too. Luke came in with (now wife and fellow DJ/producer) Gina Turner, and it happened that I was playing a remix (of Luke's). He checked out my set and introduced himself." The serendipitous meeting coincided with DStar's realization that he also needed to start producing so that he wouldn't become, in his words, "just another open-format DJ." After Luke informed him that he could email along some material and that he would happily send feedback, DStar did so. Regarding this, he says, "[Laidback Luke] coached me. He wrote back every few days, and wrote paragraphs on how to make [the tracks I sent him] better."
The idea that Laidback Luke actually responds to a group of DJs who send him promos seems ludicrous, but when interviewing him at Electric Zoo, he said that "[t]he demos that stand out make a good shot, but also, it’s the names that return that I’ll give constructive feedback to. People come back, they learn, and come back with new tracks. Back in the day, I guided guys like Afrojack and Avicii to a professional level of producing." Regarding the new Solidisco track on Mixmash, Luke says "[I felt] the time [was] right for [this track]. [They grabbed] back to the filter disco roots and [hooked] it up with a vocal that sticks. [It's] funky stuff!"
Regarding the single, DStar says, ["Unreal"] is a different sound for us. A lot of producers these days make the same three songs ten-to-100 different ways. [Solidisco doesn't] try to do that. We worked with (Italian house producers) Fireflowerz on finishing the production, as we like what they do. Luke got the vocals for the track, as it was just an instrumental at first." Intriguingly, when asked about the track's performance in live sets, the answer spoke volumes to the length of time it often takes for a release to see the light of day. "[Solidisco] finishes three tracks a month. We tweak and test everything. We tested ["Unreal"] way back, so it's a bit older. It's big, uplifting and feels like Daft Punk. [Solidisco] can't produce a true 100% disco record [in this era]. What we try to do is capture [disco's] uplifting vibe and put it together with house music instead."
"Unreal" is out now.
