Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture
Love is the Message podcast
Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and dance party orga...
Tim and Jeremy are back on European soil for our second episode on Eurodisco. Examining their record boxes with a post-colonial lens they discuss the aesthetics and politics of race within the genre. We also here about homoeroticism, history-themed tracks, ‘the honky box’, and the life and times of two of the key players in the scene: Jacques Morali and Richie Rome.And of course… Village People.Next time – Moroder!Tracklist:The Ritchie Family - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)The Ritchie Family - African QueensVillage People - San FranciscoBoney M - Ma BakerBoney M - New York City
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1:07:36
LITM Extra - What We're Listening To, Jan '25 [excerpt]
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show and lots more like it, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.
For the first time in a while Tim and Jeremy dig into their record bags for a selection of tracks they’ve been enjoying recently. We hear the strange deep tones of the Rudra Veena, contemporary virtuosic New Age noodling out of California and some Antipodean sitar funk. Elsewhere in the episode Jeremy buys his first D’n’B white label in a long while, we get a few tributes to some big names of the UK scene, and revisit the mighty WAR.
Tracklist:
Madhuvanti Pal - Bhairavi (Part 1)Turn On the Sunlight - Floating SunsetGlass Beams - Black SandWar - War is Coming! War is Coming!Yannis & The Yaw - Walk Through FireVibration Black Finger - New Wave (The Hustle Bustle Song)Ariwo - El AlacránSami Galbi - Dakchi HaniBig Bud - CloudsurfingCalabra - Mazzara ReturnThe Mighty Zaf & Linkwood - Thinking About Phlash
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9:01
Eurodisco pt.1
In the first episode of 2025 Jeremy and Tim attempted to understand a somewhat maligned genre: Eurodisco. What is it and where did it come from? We hear about the cross-continental currents that gave rise to the form, unpack its aesthetics and spend time with some of its key proponents like the French composer and drummer Cerrone. Tim and Jeremy also take time to unpack the Switched On Classics, play us an infamous Beethoven reinvention, ask what the Enlightenment has to answer for, and compare Eurodisco and another genre that riles people up, prog rock.
Tracklist:
The SalSoul Orchestra - Magic Bird of Fire
The Walter Murphy Band - A Fifth of Beethoven
Kongas - Jungle
Cerrone - Love in C Minor
Love and Kisses - I’ve Found Love (Now That I’ve Found You)
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1:04:23
LITM Extra - 'Resistance Through Ritual' Reading Series pt.3 [excerpt]
This is an excerpt from a patrons-only episode. To hear the full show and lots more, visit Patreon.com/LoveMessagePod.
On this patrons episode we complete our close reading of Resistance through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain’. Jeremy and Tim take in chapters on criminality and culture, Style, and feminist analysis of girls’ culture. They refer to another seminal work ‘Policing the Crisis’, interrogate the links between class and generational consciousness, and return to the Mods, alongside Taylor Swift and Ray Davis.
Jeremy and Tim also examine the long theoretical introduction to the book - a watershed piece of writing in the development of cultural studies.
Tracklist:
Junior Murvin - Police and Thieves
The Kinks - Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
The Clash - Career Opportunities
David Cassidy - Cherish
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5:01
Black Disco
In this episode of Love is the Message Jeremy and Tim have packed a bag chock full of stone cold 1977 dance floor classics that share a Black Disco aesthetic. We hear a number of cuts from Tom Moulton and Walter Gibbons that can be pinpointed as some of the most important contributions to early remix culture (whilst still guaranteed to go off at a party). François K makes a fleeting appearance, alongside Boney M, Grace Jones, Miami, the SalSoul Orchestra and Henri Bergson. We close out the show with an all-timer in Lamont Dozier’s ‘Going Back to my Roots’. Enjoy this week listeners, as next time we’re taking on Euro Disco…
Due to licensing issues, we can only play short clips of the music discussed. If you’d like to listen along to the full tracks, we have an ever-expanding Spotify playlist hosting (most) of the tracks played in the show. You can find Series 6 here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZpKyqhvhOXfTuPMHCBkFs
Produced by Matt Huxley.
Tracklist:
CJ & Co - Devil’s Gun (Tom Moulton Mix) Elton John - Bite Your Lip (Get Up and Dance) (Tom Moulton Mix) First Choice - Dr Love (Tom Moulton Mix) Loleatta Holloway - Hit and Run (Walter Gibbons Mix) Rare Earth - Happy Song (François K Edit) T-Connection - Do What You Wanna Do Peter Brown - Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me? Sine - Keep It Coming Lamont Dozier - Going To My Roots
Om Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture
Love is the Message: Music, Dance & Counterculture is a new show from Tim Lawrence and Jeremy Gilbert, both of them authors, academics, DJs and dance party organisers.
Tune in, Turn on and Get Down to in-depth discussion of the sonic, social and political legacies of radical movements from the 1960s to today. Starting with David Mancuso's NYC Loft parties, we’ll explore the countercultural sounds, scenes and ideas of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
”There’s one big party going on all the time. Sometimes we get to tune into it.” The rest of the time there’s Love Is The Message.
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