I get the feeling that it just takes the right song, more than anything else. “Getting” genres and getting into them is tons easier when you have someone feeding you the right songs, telling you to buy things and recommending areas of inquiry that you might want to take up. It was that way for Italo Disco and me. With the right guide, I started to buy up everything that I could find. And soon found that, as with any genre, there was a lot of junk to wade through. Here are the three songs that helped convert me, though. Hopefully they’ll have some of the same effect on you.

Ryan Paris– Dolce Vita, [Dolce Vita 12”]

There’s a sub-set of hip-hop fans that only listen first to the production. If it’s weird or interesting then possibly they’ll listen enough times to start deciphering the lyrics. This is the production-first track on the list, where the synthesizer sounds are tweaked to sweet oblivious weirdness. Listen to that bridge near the beginning of the second minute. Echo, delay, pitch-shfting; they pulled out all the stops on this one. Obviously inspired by the movie, this weird and wonderful instrumental breakdown made me sit up and take notice.

[visit Ryan Paris’ website here, buy Ryan Paris vinyl here]

Amin Peck– Coda, [The Best of Italo Disco, Volume One]

For as long as I can remember I’ve been intensely interested in Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Driving to high school with Einstein on the Beach rocking at high volume didn’t win me many friends in the parking lot, but it did clue me in to the amazing visceral power of repetition. Everyone that bothered to talk to me about it seemed to have an opinion on it. In any case, Amin Peck’s “Coda” seems a tad more indebted to the masters of minimalism than most Italo Disco and won me heart over for that very reason. The beginning synth loops running on overdrive and crashing into one another are sonic bliss to me, which isn’t to take anything from the very dissimilar second-half of the song which even features a bit of guitar playing. Definitely a weird one.

[buy The Best of Italo Disco, Volume One here]

Junior Byron– Dance To The Music, [Vanguard Dance Classics, Part I]

Dan Selzer, the hyper knowledgeable owner of Acute Records and amazing DJ, tipped me off to this one by playing this track on a recent WFMU broadcast. He played a rather fantastic short set of tunes, but each were spot-on. This is the one that definitely stuck out, however, what with its Chipmunk voices near the end and the ultra-funky bassline that melds perfectly with the melody. If you don’t like this one just a bit, I think Italo might not be for you after all.

[buy Vanguard Dance Classics, Part I here]

Check back tomorrow for Scott McKeating’s “Songs Born of UK TV Pop Talent Shows”…