SYNAESTHETIC_TAPES 07 / TO A NEW (SYN)AESTHETIC YEAR
To wish our readers a happy 2021, Parisienne musicologist Bianca Bolzoni curated a playlist of lavish Disco from around the globe to dance a disgraceful year away and step into 2021 with plenty of Syn and Aesthetic.
Clubs are shut, and public congregations of people forbidden. What else left to do, then, if not sheltering ourselves from the dystopian state of the world out there, pouring a glass and having a boogie? Whether alone or in company, no genre could possibly fit the mood of a Covid-age New Year’s Eve house party better than Disco, with its lavish, decadent, sparkly and sinning attitude.
Italian-born, Paris-based harpist and musicologist Bianca Bolzoni, with her extensive knowledge of international retro groovy gems, was our obvious choice for the never easy and never obvious task of soundtracking the last night of the year and the first morning of the following.
Spanning from Synth-driven Italo nuggets like La Bionda’s ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ and Clio’s enigmatic ‘Faces’ to tropical-flavoured Brazilian Disco anthems like Marcos Valle’s ‘Estrelar’ and Cristina Camargo’s 'Moral Tem Hora’, Bianca’s selection stands out as a statement of Disco’s universality regardless of language differences. Accents and productions unique to each country, actually, make the playlist an exotic compendium that defeats the stereotype of cheesy New Year’s Eve dancefloor classics without renouncing suave grooves.
When reflecting on the cover design for the seventh installment of Synaesthetic_Tapes, both Bianca and our minds immediately and simultaneously went to the enigmatic and seductive figure of 1978 paillettes or latex-clad Amanda Lear, the androgynous muse of Salvador Dali and David Bowie and queen of Euro Disco. Despite lacking from this selection, Amanda’s outrageous yet classy witty femme fatale attitude and image hover all over this playlist, perfectly encapsulating the spirit of New Year’s Eve dancing.
Sitting on an imaginary axis between New York Studio 54 and Rome Easy Going, Bianca’s selection is our wish to step, glass in hand, tie undone, into a new (Syn)Aesthetic year.