Line #46 Music/DiscoInferno


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/discoinferno.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:From left to right: Ian Crause, Rob Whatley, Paul Wilmott]]
3	[floatboxright: Influences:
4	+Music/JoyDivision, Music/NewOrder, Music/{{Wire}}, Music/GangOfFour, Music/TheDuruttiColumn, Music/MyBloodyValentine, Music/PinkFloyd, Music/IggyPop, Music/TheStooges, Music/EchoAndTheBunnymen, Music/PublicEnemy, Music/TheYoungGods, Music/TheByrds
5	Influenced:
6	+Music/TheAvalanches, Music/AnimalCollective, Music/{{MGMT}}
7	]
8
9	Disco Inferno were a short-lived English experimental/PostRock band, formed in 1989 by Ian Crause, Paul Willmott, Rob Whatley, and Daniel Gish (who'd leave just after a year to join fellow post-rock pioneers Bark Psychosis). They started out making relatively palatable PostPunk, with the ''Science'' EP and their debut album ''Open Doors, Closed Windows''. After being inspired by hip hop, electronic music, and acts like Music/MyBloodyValentine, they changed up their style and began to experiment with sampling and found sound, releasing 5 [=EPs=] from 1992 to 1994 (which would eventually be compiled into a 2011 compilation album titled... well, ''The 5 [=EPs=]'').
10
11	In 1994, the band released ''D.I. Go Pop'' to generally positive reception but little commercial success, and this lack of success caused tensions in the group to rise. Eventually, the three decided to split up and their third and final album ''Technicolour'' would release nearly two years later in 1996.
12
13	While little-known at the time, they have since gone on to receive acclaim and are considered foundational to post-rock, with groups like Music/TheAvalanches, Music/AnimalCollective, and Music/{{MGMT}} naming them as major influences.
14
15	!! Discography
16	* Albums
17	** ''Open Doors, Closed Windows'' (1991)
18	** ''D.I. Go Pop'' (1994)
19	** ''Technicolour'' (1996)
20	* [=EPs=]
21	** ''Science'' (1991)
22	** ''Summer's Last Sound'' (1992)
23	** ''A Rock to Cling To'' (1993)
24	** ''The Last Dance'' (1993)
25	** ''Second Language'' (1994)
26	** ''It's A Kid's World'' (1994)
27	** ''The Mixing It Session'' (1999)
28	* Compilations
29	** ''In Debt'' (1995)
30	** ''The 5 [=EPs=]'' (2011)
31
32	!! Tropes
33	* AlbumClosure / BittersweetEnding: After an album of anxiety and chaos, ''D.I. Go Pop'' ends on "Footprints in the Snow", a less chaotic track discussing a brighter, better future.
34	* BrokenRecord: Many of their songs, such as "New Clothes for the New World" and "A Rock to Cling To", are built around repeating loops with very small changes in arrangement.
35	* CapitalismIsBad: "Even the Sea Sides Against Us" alludes to this.
36	-->''A future so close I could sell my cares for it''\
37	''But I'd rather be penniless than buy any shares in it''\
38	...\
39	''Yet we're begging for scraps from the tables''\
40	''Of blatant opportunists''
41	* ConceptAlbum: ''D.I. Go Pop'', as well as many of the bands [=EPs=], have a general sociopolitical meaning behind them. The whole album also features general themes of nihilism and alienation.
42	* DarkAndTroubledPast: The second verse of "Starbound: All Burnt Out & Nowhere to Go" alludes to this; the main character mentions how they "fell down low and wanted to die", and how their "only acquaintances were cowards and liars". Also acts as a CynicismCatalyst, as the rest of the song from that point comes off as angry and bitter towards the world.
43	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: "A Rock to Cling To" and "Things Move Fast" are both about this.
44	* EpicRocking: "From the Devil to the Deep Blue Sky" is nearly 10 minutes long, "Scattered Showers" is 7 min, and "Love Stepping Out" and "Waking Up" are both 6 min.
45	* EverythingIsAnInstrument: DI prominently build songs around found sound and field recordings. For example, "I'm Still in Love"s drum part is a sample of fireworks going off, and "Starbound" features camera shutters played rhythmically alongside the "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" sample.
46	* TheGamblingAddict: The protagonist of "Sleight of Hand" used to be a "gambling man" who was never able to make a profit despite having "studied the system to a fault".
47	* HellIsThatNoise: Quite fond of this; for example, the metallic, electronic screeches in the chorus for "New Clothes for the New World", or the distorted seagull sound effects backing up the lead guitar on "Even The Sea Sides Against Us".
48	* IndecipherableLyrics: Downplayed, but prevalent on ''D.I. Go Pop''; most of the lyrics can be made out, but they cross into this territory because of how dense the production is. Their earlier work falls under this too, with many of the vocals being pretty quiet and low in the mix.
49	* {{Instrumentals}}: "From the Devil to the Deep Blue Sky", "A Night on the Tiles", and the entirety of ''The Mixing It Session''.
50	* IWantSong: "A Rock to Cling To" seems to be about simply wanting a stable life.
51	-->''I may need dreams from time to time''\
52	''But dreams aren't keeping me alive''\
53	''My dreams have torn my life in two''\
54	''Now I just need a rock to cling to''
55	* LastNoteHilarity: Though "Starbound: All Burnt Out & Nowhere to Go" is a surreal, slightly disturbing song overall, Crause's jovial-sounding "Bye-bye!" near the end could be seen as this.
56	* LighterAndSofter: ''Technicolour'', and the ''Second Language'' and ''It's A Kid's World" [=EPs=], are [[NewSoundAlbum much brighter-sounding (or at least more bittersweet) and poppier]] than the rest of the band's discography.
57	** "A Whole Wide World Ahead" and "Footprints in the Snow" are this to the rest of ''D.I. Go Pop'', being ''much'' softer and calmer in comparison to the rest of the album.
58	* LongestSongGoesLast: ''D.I. Go Pop'' closes on the 5-and-a-half minute "Footprints in the Snow". ''The Last Dance'''s tracks slowly increase in length and culminate in the 7-minute "Scattered Showers", and ''It's a Kid's World'' ends on the 5-minute "Lost in Fog".
59	* LyricalDissonance: "Love Stepping Out" is a song lead by a repetitive harp melody and soft church bells chiming in the background, easily one of the band's most gentle-sounding tracks. The lyrics are from the perspective of [[ObsessionSong an obsessed someone angry at their partner for leaving them]], claiming they'll be "helpless on [their] own", and also features lines such as "smashing peoples' hearts can be so much more fun than breaking peoples' bones" and "punching women, kicking men... these fuckers getting all they deserve".
60	* MinimalisticCoverArt: The covers for ''D.I. Go Pop'' and the [=EPs=] ''The Last Dance'' and ''Second Language'' consist of the band's radar logo over a backdrop (a field, sea, and street respectively).
61	* MinisculeRocking: "Freethought" and "New Clothes for the New World" are both just under 2 minutes long.
62	* MoodWhiplash: "Summer's Last Sound" features the line "the price of bread went up five pence today" in between lines about petrol bombs and immigrants being kicked to death.
63	* NewSoundAlbum:
64	** While an EP rather than a full-length album, ''Summer's Last Sound'' saw the group begin to opt towards their signature sample-based PostRock sound.
65	** ''D.I. Go Pop'' features clear rhythms behind it, but also opts more towards a sound more akin to sound collage, which the band had been experimenting with on their previous few [=EPs=].
66	** ''Technicolour'' and the ''Second Language'' EP saw the band shift towards a more guitar-based sound, using samples and found sound more as a way of backing up their songs rather than as the focus.
67	* NonAppearingTitle: Disco Inferno made a song called "D.I. Go Pop", and an album called ''D.I. Go Pop'', but the song doesn't appear on the album but rather on the EP ''The Last Dance''.
68	* ObsessionSong: "Love Stepping Out" could be interpreted as the "aggressive" kind, especially the second verse.
69	-->''Baby just don't stray too far''\
70	''You're helpless on your own''\
71	''These people want to change things''\
72	''They're dangerous to know''\
73	''They'll fill your tiny head with rubbish''\
74	''Take you clean away from me''\
75	''There's not much that I own''\
76	''But I'd like to think that I own you''
77	** Downplayed in that the song's protagonist eventually accepts it's not worth continuing to argue ("But we know different, and who's to argue / on such a lovely night?").
78	* OneWordTitle: "Entertainment, "Emigre", "Interference", "Leisuretime", "Freethought", "Incentives", "Technicolour", and all of the ''Mixing It Session'' tracks.
79	* OutOfGenreExperience: "The Last Dance" is this compared to the rest of their output from ''Summer's Last Sound'' and onwards, taking on a style akin to JanglePop. "The Long Dance", its alternative version, takes things a step further and turns it into an AlternativeDance song.
80	* PerishingAltRockVoice: Crause's voice delved into this territory at times, particularly on the band's pre-''Summer's Last Sound'' releases. ''Very'' prevalent on "Next Year" from ''D.I. Go Pop''.
81	* PostPunk: Their early releases were firmly in this style, and there would still be traces of it even when their sound became more distinct and experimental.
82	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: "Don't You Know"s verses.
83	* {{Sampling}}: Why, of course! Their sound post-''Open Doors, Closed Windows'' was mostly based around this. To name a few examples...
84	** "A Rock to Cling To" samples [[Music/TalkingHeads Talking Heads']] "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" and (more prominently) Music/Galaxie500's "It's Getting Late".
85	** "It's a Kid's World" samples many TV show theme songs (such as those for Series/DoctorWho and WesternAnimation/WilloTheWisp) as well as "Lust for Life" by Music/IggyPop.
86	** Though it's distorted, the discordant jangling sounds throughout "A Crash of Every Speed" appear to be a distorted sample of the keyboards from Music/MilesDavis' "Bitches Brew".
87	** "D.I. Go Pop" features a prominent sample of "You Made Me Realise" by Music/MyBloodyValentine. MBV are also sampled on "A Little Something", with the opening drum fill from "Only Shallow" appearing at one point.
88	** "A Night on the Tiles" is built around a distorted sample of "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Music/EdithPiaf.
89	* SensoryAbuse: The main ascending riff in "D.I. Go Pop" feels like it's lurching around constantly. That, plus the skittering percussion underneath and repeated War of the Worlds radio sample, PLUS Crause's desperate vocals and the constant shifting focus in the lyrics, leads to a very disorienting 5 minutes that certainly falls under this.
90	** The ''Technicolour'' outtake, "Swing" - hard-to-make-out lyrics, a staggering drum machine beat, discordant ascending-and-descending screeches, and abrasive triumphant-sounding hits... again, all leading to a ''very'' disorienting track. It also doesn't help that the recording constantly cuts in and out in the song's first half.
91	* SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers: "The Atheist's Burden" laments that there's "so much pessimism in the world it's frightening" and asks the listener to get up early and "see the world before the cynics have got out of bed".
92	** Most of the ''Second Language'' EP is anti-cynicism, actually - the title track mentions catching a glimmer of hope, even for a fleeting moment, and "At The End of the Line" (though a melancholy song on the surface) mentions that "at the end of the line, there's always up".
93	* SongStyleShift: "In Sharky Water" goes between chilled-out post-rock and intense post-punk twice over.
94	* SpokenWordInMusic: For its second verse, "In Sharky Water" has Crause read an Observer article about the British government's involvement in Cambodia.
95	** "New Clothes for the New World" has a sample of a woman going "...it's going to be-" in its choruses.
96	** "Footprints in The Snow" ends on a recording of the band arguing with their landlady after a set.
97	** "D.I. Go Pop" features a sample of Orson Welles' radio adaptation of Literature/WarOfTheWorlds repeated throughout.
98	* TextlessAlbumCover: ''D.I. Go Pop'' and the ''Second Language'' EP.
99	* ThemeNaming: The tracks on the ''Mixing It Session'' are all named after animals ("Shark", "Bird", "Rats"...)
100	* WanderlustSong / IWantSong: "Starbound: All Burnt Out & Nowhere to Go" appears to be a particularly spiteful one.
101	-->''I'm gonna go so fast''\
102	''That I won't have a past''\
103	''I'm gonna go so high''\
104	''I'm gonna look down my nose at the sky''\
105	...\
106	''The world has spat its shit down on me for far too long''\
107	''I wanna spit [?] back''
108	* WhamLine: "D.I. Go Pop" follows the group going to a foreign country and being disgusted and shocked by its poor conditions. Eventually, they meet an English waitress and ask if she "moved there by choice".
109	-->''She looked at us strange so I told her our story, and she laughed and said''\
110	''"You must have got on a ferry cause you never left England"''

Context Music / DiscoInferno