Friday Mixtape: Blue Hawaii curate a 70s and 80s disco mix

This week’s Friday Mixtape comes from Montreal duo, Blue Hawaii. Made up of Raphaelle “Ra” Standell and Alex “Agor” Kerby, the pair released their second record, Tenderness earlier this month on Arbutus Records.

An electronic band, the pair regularly use computers to compose their tracks. As a result, Ra and Agor have curated a mixtape of dance disco tracks they love, but made before any of the instrumental devices they use had even been made.

The result is a mix of 70s and 80s disco grooves to put on as the working week winds down this afternoon…

Why have you picked these songs, what do they remind you of or make you feel?

These are throwback tunes, some of our favourite 70s and 80s disco. It’s interesting to listen to music before the time of computers, to see how people were forced to create with certain limitations, and bring creativity in different ways to we are used to now.

When or where should this mixtape be listened to?

Good for a hangout, or maybe with your parents. Don’t think these songs are going to be offending many people, that’s the sort of beauty of disco.

Can you tell us a bit more about your new record?

Tenderness unlike these tracks, was certainly made with a computer! It’s kind of a concept thing where we discuss technology and online relationships and tell the story through emotional reinterpretations of dance music. That sounds pretty high-brow, but it’s really just something we wanted to have fun with, and you can tell that with all the little stories and interludes we drop throughout.

What posters did you have on your bedroom walls when you were younger?

Like Marilyn Manson, Sublime and Misfits lol, for me (Agor). Ra liked pretty classy music from the get-go, Radiohead, Bjork, Guns & Roses.

What records have you been listening to while recording?

Frank Ocean, Kornél Kovács or anything off the Studio Barnhaus label.

If a film about Blue Hawaii was to be made, what song would would be on the trailer?

There already is a film titled Blue Hawaii and the music was definitely Elvis!