One of the nicest, most bewildering things about the near-universal love that Stranger Things received was the adulation poured upon the music across the opening credits. Appearing for just under one solitary minute, those undulating, analog arpeggios triggered fervor across my social media feed. Suddenly old school friends whose previous musical endeavors had barely stretched beyond Kasabian, were musing on when the score might see the light of day on vinyl. It felt strange. Where were you guys when I wanted to geek out about the Danza Meccania compilation of Italian synth-wave 1982-1987?—I thought. Where were you when I was trying to get my Kickstarter going to fund the purchase of a reconditioned Micromoog that I would have no actual, practical use for?
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Of course, neither of those things were linked so intrinsically to a show like Stranger Things, a show that captured our generation's coming-of-age by paying tribute to the movies (and almost by proxy, the soundtracks) that were so comforting during those confusing times.That in turn got me thinking: how did the mood and hardware of those soundtracks—from the proggy melodrama of Goblin to the staccato menace of John Carpenter—come to hold such a persistent influence over various forms of dance music over the years? Maybe its the fact that the way we experience club culture shares a common bond with the way we experience shows like Stranger Things (and by extension the way we experienced movies like E.T. and The Goonies). They're both forms of escapism that feature universally innocent acts shot through with the thrill of subversive temptation, of danger even.With that in mind, here are a selection of tracks that will hopefully evoke a similar reaction to the Stranger Things score. Drawn from across four decades or so of music and styles, they nevertheless share common thematic and/or formal elements. You might be pining still for the soundtrack but the below should at least help you channel your inner-Winona on the dancefloor whilst doing so.This track from French duo Space Art came out in '78 but occupies a weirdly timeless, liminal space. Despite being rooted in the proggy electronic experimentations of that decade, the mood it conjures somehow transcends that. Voices are fed with robotic bewilderment through an early prototype of the vocoder while synths swirl in all directions beneath. Suddenly though, everything opens up with the introduction of clamoring 4/4 drums and soaring major keys. You're aware, of course, that you're not really experiencing the thrill of space travel as the music rises and rises, but at the same time you are wondering just how acceptable it would be to try and 'build' a rocket ship out of the cushions currently being used as seats by your pre-drinks-round-at-mine-before crew.
1. Space Art - Nous Savon Tout (1978)
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2. Richard Wahnfried - Time Actor (1979)
Pioneering slow-mo disco from the alias of Klaus Schulze, one time member of electronic krautrockers Tangerine Dream. This was a big tune for Daniele Baldelli, who basically invented the 'cosmic' sound by mixing between tracks like this, straight up US disco, oddball new wave and African polyrhythms. The vocals sound like something from a black and white sci-fi show you stumble upon via late night cable TV. They're also pretty marmite if the comments on the record's Discogs page is anything to go by (like many of the vocal tracks on this list to be fair). I've always liked them though: pseudo-scientific/philosophical musings that are gonna provide that guy on the dancefloor—you know the one I mean, swaying alone after two thirds of the crowd have already left, weirdly positioned Strongbow stain on his shoulder or someplace, grinning at his fingers spread two inches away from his face—with the Big Night Out equivalent of this timeless gif. And who could begrudge him that?
3. Anne Clark - Sleeper in Metropolis (1983)
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4. Savage - Don't Cry Tonight
5. In Aeternam Vale - La Piscine (1989)
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6. Psyche - The Saint Became a Lush (1993)
7. Unit Black Flight - No Turning Back (Legowelt Remix) (2006)
8. Delia and Gavin - Releeve (Carl Craig Remix) (2006)
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9. 5th Floor - Two Dogs in a Room (2010)
10. Prurient - You Show Great Spirit (2013)
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One more for luck…Obviously as a Serious Music Fan (i.e. someone who only listens to dance music on headphones, at home), I don't go in much for those peak-hours-main-room-hands-in-the-air moments. I have equivalents though, and I'll never forget the first time I heard this, playing through those incredible speakers that dominate the club space in the back of LN-CC. That moment where everything falls away and those echoey keys come through to the fore amidst alien-sounding vocal sighs. It's not a million miles away from the first track on this list in that respect actually, despite the 35 year gap between them. It's E.T. lifting those kids' bikes into the air. It's Sigourney Weaver telling the Alien Queen to "get away from her, you BITCH!" It's that amazing little girl from Stranger Things flipping a van upside down with her mind and the look on her friends' faces that says, this is a feeling that we should cling onto for as long as we possibly can.Follow James Darton on Twitter.