Daniele Baldelli, Huntley's and Palmer's Audio Club @ Stereo, 10 Apr

Imagine if you can, a time without the disco. An era where the DJ was simply there to fill the gap between live bands in the dance halls, and when obtaining the latest record imports from America meant travelling halfway across the European continent. Since the dawn of Daniele Baldelli's DJ career in 1969 - some 40 electro-obsessed years ago - there's been a considerable dedication to his art. In comparison, the jockey cadets of today certainly have it easy in their quest to acquire the latest beats. But the chances are they don’t have the same emotional connection as this Italian (their version of David Mancuso, so to speak) does with his collection of 60,000+ vinyl discs. Synth-pop, new wave, electro, funk, krautrock, blues, afro-beat, disco... the DJ, producer and near-pensioner Baldelli has literally lived it, adapting as the technology advances but still operating at the core of a dancefloor’s chemistry. Needless to say his slightly dodgy-sounding style in the early days of speeding up records with English lyrics is a slightly more controllable affair in the year 2009, but the Italian revellers never really understood the words back then anyway. Now we all do.