- Lighthearted but seriously groovy Italo techno from Voiski and Eliott Litrowski.
- Voiski and Eliott Litrowski first teamed up to make a track called "Friendship Spacecake," a title that underlines the tone they're going for with their new project Superski. "Friendship Spacecake" is unfailingly bright and melodic, channeling the current vogue for electro through an Italo disco lens—it's the kind of thing you might hear on a summer Running Back 12-inch, but heard through a synth nerd's sense for arrangement and layering. That's the key formula on Mondo Moderno, where the two gear aficionados put their heads together for a technically impressive album of Italo-techno that impresses in just how unfussy it comes off.
Everywhere you look, there's fun to be had on Mondo Moderno, from the Petar Dundov spirographs of "Tropical Cyclone," which sounds a bit like the club scene in some cheesy movie: glossy, catchy and epic with just enough prog house thrust. "Dramatic Dogs" breezes by in similarly cinematic fashion, this time perhaps from a spy film—imagine Tangerine Dream meeting John Carpenter circa Escape From New York, but taking place in broad daylight. On a surprisingly dense like "Dramatic Dogs," or the subdued opener "It's Always Fun At The Beginning," you can really hear the duo's hardware wizardry come alive. The latter features wet, clumpy arpeggios and a jiggly organ, as if they were sculpting organic material out of the pulse of electricity.
Sometimes Mondo Moderno comes off a little cheesy, but it's usually in good spirits. "Espacio Supertemporal" channels late '70s Moroder with its thick, choppy bassline and journeying arpeggios, while "Positive Energy" makes up for a slightly cringy vocal sample with an incredible, almost disorienting drum pattern. Highlights like "Internet Killed The Internet Star" are practically pop music, mixing melancholy with soaring melody and textural dynamics in a way that often gets ignored in straight-up dance floor music. That's what makes Superski as a project so wonderful: this is an album that seizes on the pop potential of the Italo-house-techno crossover and amplifies it, without losing sight of the heavy bass or powerful kicks needed to move the dance floor. Turns out you can have your spacecake and eat it too.
Tracklist01. It's Always Fun At The Beginning
02. Espace Supertemporal
03. Tropical Cyclone
04. Ajax Plamet
05. Dramatic Dogs
06. Positive Energy
07. Sentimental Rainbow
08. The Friendship Spacecake
09. Internet Killed The Internet Star
10. Bright Colors Everywhere