Disco Lento

Disco Lento, meaning "Slow Disco", is a term coined in 1991 by Marco Gilles, manager of the Italian electronic act Courtney & Grace and founder of the Italian independent record label Scuro Scuro Records, to describe an underground musical movement which evolved during the early 1990s in Italy, Austria, Germany and some other areas of Central Europe.
More commonly known as 'Lento', the movement erupted out of the fall of Italo disco and Eurodisco in the late 1980s and is characterized by heavily electronic, slow, emotional ballads using synthesizers and drum machines originally designed for upbeat dance, pop and disco music.
Failing to make a commercial impact in UK or US markets at the time, Disco Lento artists were confined to very small independent record releases, mostly through the Scuro Scuro label
in Italy. Although still virtually unknown, the movement still has a faithful cult following and today it is increasingly beginning to receive kudos and recognition, with US hip-hop producer Timbaland recently citing it as an influence.
Also known as Lento Doloroso, meaning "Slow & Painful" (a clumsy mistranslation of the phrase "Slow & Emotional"), the movement centered around Italy, the spiritual heartland of Italo disco, along with neighbouring Austria and Germany, where Italo had left a strong impact. The phrase first appeared on a poster advertising a showcase concert for the newly founded Scuro Scuro Records, which read "Nuovo Disco! Lento Doloroso!" It was then subsequently emblazoned on the sleeves of each record which released by Scuro Scuro.
The first accredited Disco Lento record released was Stiletto Ferito's debut single "Save My Soul", released in 1990 through Gilles' Scuro Scuro label. The limited-edition 7" single was the first to be tagged with a sticker containing the phrase "Nuovo Disco Lento!"
Early Beginnings
With the advent of more intelligent synthesizers and more sophisticated recording techniques to those used in early European disco and pop recordings, electronic artists began to push the soundscape further. The resulting dance genres Hi-NRG and Italo house display many of the new techniques and ideas embraced by recording artists towards the end of the 1980s and early 1990s. The room for experimentation and advance, led UK artists such as New Order on to international success.
Following the rise and fall of the Italo and Eurodisco sound, and the lack of reputable impact it had made on the UK and US markets, many former Italo disco artists and followers had begun to experiment with different styles of music. Contrary to popular belief, many Italo disco artists were very talented technical musicians and songwriters, and as technology advanced, and the sound of their favourite UK and US artists began to evolve, they did not want to be left behind.
They turned their hand to more sophisticated songwriting, experimenting with new techniques, soundscapes and penning slow ballads influenced by songs such as "Don't Cry Tonight" by Savage and Alphaville's "Forever Young", in order to project their now forgotten music onto the wider international stage. Many pre-Lento songs had a strong influence, as many of the producers and songwriters who went on to define the genre had experimented in the late-80's. Annie Anner's "Life Must Go On", written and produced by a young Courtney & Grace, shows how the songwriting was beginning to develop into something much more heartfelt and ambitious. The Swedish singer attained some moderate success in Scandinavia, something which inspired Courtney & Grace to try and further their new craft.
The Sound
Lento is characterized by its slow tempo, emphatic chord changes and reflective, dextrous lyrical content. Since many of the sounds used were originally designed for disco music, Lento harbours pounding drum sounds, glistening synthesizers along with futuristic electronic flourishes. Lento acts also began to increasingly use live instruments in their recordings such as pianos and electric guitar.
Sonically, Lento used the same programming and sounds designed for high-energy disco and dance music of the time, but dropped the tempo and transcended into ambitious widescreen futurism. Taking heavy, and somewhat twisted, inspiration from blue-eyed soul artists of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lento vocalists began to adopt a more soulful, emotional quality to their singing, veering away from the "space-age nursery-rhyme" vocal style of the Italo disco world. Lyrically the music took on a new life too, with Lento artists moving away from the simple lyrical content into more complex, more diverse topics.
In the very same way that the European Italo disco artists before them had attempted to recreate the high-energy, danceable sounds of British pop music, and take their music to the same worldwide stage as their British and American peers, Lento artists took inspiration for their aspirations from the great ballads of the 1980s and even the 1960s (a cover version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel was released by Stilleto Ferito in 1991). And very much like Italo, the twisted, cross-cultural filter produced a sound a world away from the desired outcome, creating a mesmerizing, truly unique idea.
Over the few years which Lento was allowed to grow, the artists took this new found sound and began to revert to making more danceable, disco pop tracks, amalgamating their previous expertise with their new sense of adventure. Whereas the champion bands such as The Human League and Depeche Mode had made intelligent synthpop songs with minimal, simplistic music, Disco Lento artists created an electronic wall of sound behind their disco pop songs.
The Fall
Lento disappeared virtually unnoticed, with only a few independent releases. The UK and US markets were flooded with bands such as Wet Wet Wet and Savage Garden, bringing palpable emotional ballads to the masses without the ambitious and experimental electronic sound created by Lento artists. In their small corner of the world, unbeknownst to everybody else, Disco Lento had paved the way for the decade of the ballad. The more experimental electronic ballad would not resurface again until late in the first decade of the 21st century, with producers like Timbaland once again taking their lead from heavy digital electronic dance music producers such as Daft Punk and Justice and pushing the boundaries of production. Songs such as One Republic's "Apologize", Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and Rihanna's "Unfaithful" are all examples of a new breed of Disco Lento. Hurts, who took fourth place in , cite Disco Lento as a major influence. Some believe the trip-hop scene was heavily influenced by Lento and vice versa, with Massive Attack also releasing their debut album Blue Lines in 1991.
Due to the meteoric rise of British bands such as New Order and the forthcoming rave culture, the electronic audience was looking for high-octane euphoria as opposed to the rib-shaking melancholy offered by artists such as Echo Boy, Stilleto Ferito, Courtney & Grace and The Cries. For many prolific Italo disco, Europop and dance artists of the time, Lento was seen as too serious, too arty and too far away from the fun, bubblegum essence which ran through the heart of 1980s disco. The few club and radio DJs who did become aware of it, dismissed it outright, refusing to support it, preferring instead to dwell on the Europop hits which once filled the airwaves and moving onto dance acts such as Technotronic, 2Unlimited and the rising German trance scene. The world of the ballad was saturated with million-selling UK and US artists such as Simply Red, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and monolithic tracks such as Bryan Adams' "".
The 'official' end of Disco Lento came with the folding of the Scuro Scuro label in early 1993. Although other labels had since been formed, Scuro Scuro had led the way releasing 20 singles in its short 3 year history. All but a few of the artists disappeared into obscurity, and the music was never heard by those they tried to reach. A few producers including Echo Boy surfaced in the mid-90s on work with various European pop artists.
Echoes to Disco Lento appeared in the late 1990s / early 2000s with the advent of Lento Violento, a slow, pounding form of house music. It is not known whether the term Lento Violento originated from the Disco Lento music.
Disco Lento Artists
* Annie Anner
* Cris Life
* Il Scuro
* Juliet Romeo
* The Cries
* Den Harrow
* Vine
* Gazebo (Paul Mazzolini)
* Alphaville
* Savage (Roberto Zanetti)
* Berlin
* Hearts & Souls
* Hurts

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