#protodisco

Arise (a Spotify Playlist). [To listen click HERE]

Select underground disco to jump-start a new era. Ambiance restored, the cellular memory recognizes. Picking up where we left off—doing it right and trailing ahead.

The Exterminating Angel, one of my favorite films by Aragonese film director Luis Buñuel, presents a scenario where guests feel compelled to stay at a house party—they are afraid to leave for mysterious reasons.

Circumstances turn squalid as they shelter in the living room without food and running water. They are only able to arise and carry on when both the exact order of events and precise ambiance of the moment when they had first arrived are recreated.

And so this playlist recreates an ambiance for tuning into a feeling that moves toward a perfect future—which is now both past and present. We live all our existences throughout space and time simultaneously…

I grew up in Puerto Rico nurtured by the orchestral disco epics of producers Cerrone and Alec R. Costandinos. I now know that some of my favorite elements from those productions are inspired by basslines and musical hooks from New York City underground disco hits like the ones on this playlist.

Arise features music by Andrea True Connection, André Gagnon, Michel Polnareff, Joe Thomas, Brass Construction, Dennis Coffey, The Salsoul Orchestra, Crystal Grass, T-Connection, Crown Heights Affair, and John David & The Monster Orchestra.

On the cover, I am wearing a “Stranger Times (Owl)” sweater by Scooter, hand-knit hat by Agnes, Stan-Ray painter pants, and Alain Mikli + Philippe Starck Biocity frames.

Might redraw more stuff soon