Duke Shin

"I think that the music we do and the way we DJ is like brain-to-tape. I don't think there's an agenda where its like we're trying to revive something, or break some boundary, its just what we're into, and that mirrors the music we make or play in a DJ set." --Metro Area's Morgan Geist

From New York to Norway, France to Germany, the disco influence can be felt. "Cosmic disco" is the term used by new-school producers like Peter-Hans Linstrøm, and the associated syncopated handclaps, quirky tripped-out noises and familiar disco beat has been infiltrating productions, DJ sets and remixes around the world. Somehow, disco has become a new voice for the dance-music underground, providing the missing-link-of-the-week between the indie kids who love to dance and the club heads looking for the "next big thing." Yet despite current rearview reflecting trends, the Brooklyn-based duo known as Metro Area (Darshan Jesrani and Morgan Geist) has been cranking out disco and italo-drenched productions since 1999, scoring a cult hit with their first single "Atmosphrique." Subsequent releases would also garner critical acclaim, leading up to their self-titled 2002 debut album, which featured the ubiquitous bounce of "Miura," and future DFA remix smash "Orange Alert." Meanwhile, Metro Area's label Environ (started by Morgan Geist while in school at Oberlin) continued releasing new genre-defining material from Daniel Wang and Kelly Polar, and classic re-releases from the Jersey Devil Social Club. Otherwise, it's been pretty silent from the Metro Area boys, who haven't been heard from since 2005's "Metro Area 6." So what's been keeping them busy?

"Chasing distributors, and shit," offers up Jesrani.

"I was busy getting cheated out of money," Geist chuckles before adding more seriously, "We've been thinking for a long time about how to approach [Metro Area] that's still exciting for us, so it's a lot of strategizing and not a lot of recording."

"The music world has changed since we started putting out records, both business-wise and stylistically, so I think it requires a little more thought," Jesrani agrees.

So with recording on hold, Geist and Jesrani have been busy gigging out, mostly with European club dates. But being out there in clubland, has the duo noticed a recent trend focusing more on the type of disco beats that Metro Area has championed since its conception?

"I don't know," Geist sheepishly replies. "I think that's a lot more about what Darshan alluded to earlier. There was a bit less popular awareness of it [back when we started], and a bit less people doing it, so there's plus and minuses. The plus is that you can explore what you want to explore without worrying about competition, and other people maybe sounding like you or covering ground that you want to cover. Now, people are more accustomed to the sound, so it doesn't disorient people as much. But that's a plus and a minus--we like disorienting people a little bit."

Geist and Jesrani continue to discuss how more DJs are interested in disco, and how they believe it's more difficult to produce than most forms of electronic music, which has led to a flooded market of disco re-edits and re-issues. Geist speaks confidently and forcefully, and tends to laugh a bit more than the seemingly pensive and soft-spoken Jesrani, but neither seems the least bit willing to take credit for disco's reemergence, speaking with disdain for other remixers, producers and DJs who grab more than their share of attention for simply exposing music that was already created. Gripes and future production plans aside, Metro Area is looking forward to their upcoming Chicago DJ date.

"Last time we were [in Chicago] it seemed like the crowd wanted Chicago house, and I had a shitload of those records in my bag, but we're in Chicago--you could hear tons of DJs play that, and probably better than we'd play it!" Geist sniggers. "I hope people come with an open mind and let us play a whole variety of records, because that's how we like to play, usually... a variety of tempos, a variety of styles."

"I've had very little resistance playing records to young people that are thirty years old, they don't know if it's old or new--a lot of times they don't care," Jesrani expounds. "Its kind of inspiring at times, you know?"

Inspiring, anachronistically hip, impeccably programmed, inventively mixed--check out a rare fully assembled Metro Area DJ set this Friday, with local favorites the Orchard Lounge on hand to lend additional electronic-boogie support.

Metro Area performs at Zentra, 523 West Weed, (312)787-0400, on December 1 at 9pm. Rsvp to zentranightclub.com for discounted admission

(2006-11-28)

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