Nu-Italo
Disco · 2006 · 118 to 130 BPM · also known as Nu Italo, Italo Revival, New Italo
Nu italo is italo disco reread by producers born after it, from the mid 2000s to today. The machines are the same ones, or faithful emulations of them, the melodies keep the original's unashamed sentimentality, but the production is clean and the wink to the past is constant. Sweden and Italy answer each other across the style, somewhere between sincere homage and studious reconstruction. It treats italo disco less as a museum piece than as a living vocabulary, one that later generations can polish, slow down and soften without ever losing the emotional directness that made the original records so beloved in the first place.
7 reference tracks
- Sally Shapiro: I'll Be by Your Side (2006)
- Chromatics: In the City (2007)
- Glass Candy: Digital Versicolor (2007)
- Farah: Gay Boy (2008)
- Italoconnection: Metropoli (2015)
- Chromatics: You're No Good (2019)
- Kavinsky: Renegade (2022)
At a glance
- Tempo: 118 to 130 BPM
- First appeared: around 2006
- Machines: Roland Juno-106, LinnDrum
- The sound: Roland Juno-106 ou émulations, LinnDrum samplée, Arpégiateurs, Chant féminin doublé
- Labels: Bordello A Parigi, ZYX Records, Clone, Diskokaine, Slow Motion, Italians Do It Better
- Key artists: Sally Shapiro, Italoconnection, Flemming Dalum, Fred Ventura
Producing Nu-Italo
Nu italo keeps italo disco's tempo, 115 to 125 BPM, though melancholy producers like Johnny Jewel or Sally Shapiro lean lower, 112 to 118, sitting perfectly on the grid with no swing but softer attacks than the originals. A sampled LinnDrum, kick on every beat, clap and snare on two and four through a shorter, gentler gated reverb than 1983's, and sixteenth hats opening on the offbeat of four, sits under light bus compression. The bass is a Juno 106 or emulation, sawtooth with light chorus, filtered near 500 Hz, playing octaves through a sentimental four chord minor progression, gently sidechained to the kick and doubled by a quiet sub sine. The Juno 106 also supplies chorused pads and sixteenth arpeggios with dotted eighth delay, doubled whispered vocals in long reverb, DX7 bells, and a restrained sawtooth lead.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Nu-Italo?
Nu italo is italo disco reread by producers born after it, from the mid 2000s to today. The machines are the same ones, or faithful emulations of them, the melodies keep the original's unashamed sentimentality, but the production is clean and the wink to the past is constant. Sweden and Italy…
What tempo is Nu-Italo played at?
Between 118 and 130 BPM.
Who are the key Nu-Italo artists?
Sally Shapiro, Italoconnection, Flemming Dalum, Fred Ventura.
