Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States’ urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric piano, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.
While the 70s brought us Bee Gees, The Pointer Sisters, Village People, Chic, The Trammps, KC and The Sunshine Band, Kool & The Gang, Sister Sledge, Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, and so many other talented artists, the genre slowly died down in the late 80s.
But now in 2023, disco is making a comeback all thanks to recording artist Vivian Nicole Tesler who has rejuvenated the genre with her upcoming teased first single cleverly titled, Discomatic.
With her song being released later this month, we sat down with Miss Tesler to find out more about bringing disco back into our lives and to a whole new generation.
1. How has music changed and inspired your own life today?
Music has always grounded me and has always elevated my soul. There has not been a moment in my life where music didn’t play an integral role in my growth as a human being. Music has helped me navigate the ups and downs, twists and turns life has thrown at me. This applies to my time as a child, all the way up to today, and will continue to be the driving force well into the latter part of my life.
Music has always assisted me in understanding the human spirit. Understanding human tragedies and triumphs through a different lens. It has inspired me never to be content with myself as an artist or even as a person. Because music flows through us as artists, it is a constant disturber and reminder to never stay in a stagnant place. To keep moving. To always explore. To feel the fear of the unknown and do it anyway. Through sound and words, I have been ignited to write stories that speak to people. My songs bring attention to the stories of the past, which I feel is equally as important as stories of the present and future.
Music is so powerful. It has been my biggest strength in the hardest of times. The frequencies in music have played an ancient role in our evolution throughout time. If we really think about it, where would we have been today without it? Music reignites memories of forgotten times. It can enlighten our mission in this lifetime while unloading the emotions we all carry so deep inside. Music is a gateway. It is my gateway. It is where I feel the safest to absorb, unload, unleash, and release. Music has always been my saving grace, and for this, I am eternally grateful I am able to live my peace and gift the peace to others through the power of song.
2. What are your Top 5 favorite songs to dance to right now?
- Dance the Night – Dua Lipa
- Jessie Ware and Róisín Murphy – Freak Me now
- I feel love – Donna Summer
- Flowers – Miley Cyrus
- Bee Gees – Stayin Alive
I have been living, breathing, and eating disco and I really like to get down to the greats as well as share the love with the ones who are in line with the genre today.
3. You are bringing back Disco! What made you want to go into this genre?
I have been drawn to disco from a very early age. It spoke to my soul immediately. The storytelling alongside the electric energy in the instrumentation ignited music for me in a way that made me always want to live in that era. There was never a time in my younger years when I wasn’t singing a disco song. The artists moved me in a way that left their print on my soul. It grew a fire in me that was not able to be tamed. I knew my first record would be a Disco record … many years ago. Call it intuition. Call it fate. I feel honored and grateful that its alignment came to fruition at this moment, and I’m finally able to release disco back into the world with my own songs. With that being said I feel the genre really never disappeared. That’s the honest truth.
We either witnessed or heard of the disco demolition in the late 70s. The impact of this event hurt the genre but that didn’t necessarily stop producers and artists from hiding that quintessential disco beat in emerging 80s club tracks. If you listen to it, disco has always been there, right up to today’s sounds. Take the Barbie movie as an example. We are hearing elements and samples of disco which is very exciting for the disco genre. It is aiding in the resurgence of disco/ pop in top charting tracks.
However, on the flip side, everyone else is using disco elements. Four on the floor, funky bass lines, and the pea soup high hat, but it’s modernized and usually programmed. It loses the honesty of the genre. Let’s be clear, there’s neodisco and there is original disco, which is vintage and not creating instrumental sounds with the use of a computer. There were no loops back then, no drum machines. Just hip cats, using their talent to create a breakthrough genre of music, to help people escape to the dance floor. And forget about life for a while.
I partnered with the most talented cats in the business. Who lived and worked during that era. We produced my record in a vintage analog studio in order to keep it as authentic as possible. not neo. Discomatic isn’t trying to modernize disco, it adds to the classic catalog, by staying true to how disco was originally created. I have yet to hear someone else who is staying true to that original formula. The essence of disco has inspired many artists throughout the more contemporary decades, me included, and it’s really coming to the surface now.
Discomatic the way we knew it in the 70s has arrived.
We are all simply just making our way back to the party.
4. Tell us about your new single!
Jason Brawner my producer and I really wanted to stay true to the core of disco. I am a purist and I am drawn to the musicality of an era that is sometimes altered in ways that transform its core. We hear disco everywhere. It is at every function designed to get people off their feet and dancing. However, we are working with a genius catalog of some of the best music to ever be written and performed, but no longer in our modern-day rotation of top charting hits today.
Discomatic is a modern disco, classic honest to the vintage genre for listeners who have exhausted the existing disco catalog. Discomatic stands out from all other attempts to revitalize disco by today’s artists like Dua Lipa, and Bebe Rexha because Discomatic does not infuse any modern music technologies like loops and drum programming. The album is played by real musicians on vintage instruments through a 1970s analog console. I have not heard artists (as of yet) going through the trouble to keep the genre vintage like Discomatic has done. You can hear the authenticity in Discomatic, which can only be compared to songs of the classic era.
5. When and where can people hear the song?
Discomatic will be available for pre-sale on August 7 and available on all platforms in full on August 17, 2023!
6. What goals for the future past this song?
The release of the rest of my full album Discomatic will be coming very soon! As well… I am a throwback and I’m going to continue to make retro records and touch on other generations.
7. Leave us off with some final words Miss Vivian Nicole Tesler
I want to thank the most talented cats that helped create this project from a vision to reality. Jason Brawner my producer played an integral part in the creation of this vision. He brought all the elements together to create the exact feel and sound we were looking for. Robert Berry, an absolute genius multi-talented musician, and vocalist who has an extensive catalog of his own with Ambrosia and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Robert was responsible and oversaw all the instrumentation we hear on the record. Thom Duell a world-renowned vocal recording coach, and vintage vocal arranger worked with me extensively and diligently to produce the exact vocal arrangement we were looking for. Without my team, this all would not have been possible.
I also want to thank my husband Adam and my late mother Adriana, my father Paul, and my sister Janet for their unwavering support and belief in me.
Mommy this one’s for you.
Stay tuned over the next few months for the rest of the album release!
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/viviannicoletesler/discomatic
Get In Touch With Vivian:
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/viviannicoletesler/
