Italian electro / disco producer Antoni Maiovvi clearly loves the polyester-clad early eighties Euro disco milieu populated by the likes of Giorgio Moroder and Harold Faltermeyer, judging by the distinctly Italo-house centred leanings of this debut album on Seed ‘Electro Muscle Cult’, but as the visceral-sounding title suggests, there’s also a few hints towards bloody Italian cult cinema lurking just below the surface of the nine tracks collected here. Opening track ‘Tokyo Ultra Funk’ certainly kicks things into action in impressive style, fusing the sorts of dark, bassy electro-grooves and shimmering retroid synths that you’d expect from the likes of the similarly muscular Black Strobe or Alexander Robotnik with lithe, disco-house hewn rhythms, before ‘Presidente Della Notte’ takes things out on a fluoro-tinged synth-pop tip that shares far greater kinship with the likes of Cut Copy and the Kitsune set. That said, it’s the more muscular, flexing electro workouts such as the arpeggio-happy ‘Cop With A Badge’ that represent easily the most satisying offerings here, the aforementioned track particularly impressing halfway through with its spectacular breakdown into jangling New Order-y guitars. Indeed, it’s the closing electro-disco cover of the theme to cult Italian horror film ‘Zombie 2’ that offers up the best clue as to where Maiovvi’s aesthetic is anchored here, and while there’s the occasional slide into kitsch here, ‘Electro Muscle Cult’s manages to be considerably more interesting than say, much of International Deejay Gigolos’ output these days. Apparently the physical CDR release is limited to just 100 hand numbered copies though, so you’ll have to move fast.
Chris Downton
