Death Disco: Far Eastern Delight?

Deep within The Arches this month, Scotland's biggest club night presents quite possibly its most varied line-up to date. Already confirmed are Japanese Popstars, Andy George and Jamo, Fanklub Deejays, Man Like Me and theatre performer Ann Liv Young. As if this smörgåsbord of performance wasn't enough, the people behind Death Disco are hoping to bring in Zombie Nation to headline the April date. Nothing is confirmed yet but regardless of whether or not Zombie Nation are added to the bill, the current line-up will still ensure this month's Death Disco is a highlight of April.
Japanese Popstars are sitting pretty at the top of the bill at the moment, creating a name for themselves off the back of a series of impressive live appearances and general media praise. Japanese Popstars are not Japanese, or indeed popstars in any conventional sense of the word. Instead they are natives of Northern Ireland and consist of Declan McLaughlin aka Decky Hedrock, Gary Curran and Gareth Donoghue. They are signed to bespoke indie label Gung-Ho Recordings (Gus Gus, Zoo Brazil) in the UK, and Beatink in Japan (home of Underworld, Aphex Twin and Cinematic Orchestra).

Japanese Popstars only real parallel with rock music is that they had already built up a sizable live show fanbase before releasing their first major single. Their gigs are typically raucous affairs, with a great amount of energy being displayed on stage. Their sound is similar to that of Orbital and Underworld, with some drawing comparisons between them and The Chemical Brothers.

Also appearing are Fanklub Deejays, hailing from Antwerp where they run their fantastic club night Blast Your Ghetto. Well known in Europe, the pair have been the support on recent 2 Many DJ's tours, as well as performing alongside Shadowdancer, Modeselektor and Brodinski recently. This is their debut appearance at Death Disco and judging by the love they have garnered elsewhere it is unlikely to be their last. They're pretty much guaranteed to work the glitter-splashed crowd into a foaming frenzy and win over a brand new Weegie fanbase.

The Skinny Playroom will most likely be the setting for London based three-piece Man Like Me, whose self released 'Oh My Gosh' record managed to combine the Commodore 64 sounds of the oh-so-achingly-now 8bit genre with MC skills. Led by mild-mannered 23-year-old Camden local Johnny Langer, Man Like Me combine indie, rave, grime, ska and hip hop with matter-of-fact lyrics to create a youthful British sound. Over the past three years, Man Like Me have built a strong and loyal following through a combination of quality releases, extensive gigging, and TV and radio appearances. Their meteoric rise from the streets of Camden - including high profile gigs in London, Paris, Glasgow, Florence, Venice, Amsterdam, LA, Las Vegas, Rome and Barcelona as well as a very muddy Glastonbury appearance – was reflected when they became the second only unsigned act, after Friendly Fires, to play Channel 4’s Transmission show.

This, like so many other acts so far this year, is their debut performance at Death Disco. Be sure to sample their delights this month, although you can probably head to the bar when they break out their cover of Salt 'n' Pepa's 'Lets Talk About Sex'.