All words: Rafeena Ahmad
- Italians Do It Better – “After Dark 2”
Italians Do It Better sounds like a personal philosophy but it’s really just a rad little dance music label headed by Mike Simonetti and Johnny Jewel and they’re making headlines with the release of their second compilation, After Dark 2, which came out late last week.
Some background on the label: Simonetti first founded Troubleman Records, a small label home to indie favorites like The Album Leaf, Black Dice, Camera Obscura, Devandra Banhart, The Walkmen, Wolf Eyes, and Zola Jesus. As Simonetti’s ear and tastes expanded, he partnered with Johnny Jewel and formed the dance music label, Italians Do It Better (IDIB). Focusing on a darker, more synth-driven sound, IDIB represents projects like Glass Candy, Chromatics, Nite Jewel, and Invisible Conga People.
After nearly eight years, IDIB finally released their second compilation record, After Dark 2 and it features label favorites such as Desire, Mirage, Symmetry, Twisted Wires, and Farah, among others.
The first single, “Let’s Kiss,” released under one of Jewel’s many monikers, Mirage, was written in 2008 when Johnny had a chance encounter in Montreal where he met the “love of his life.”
Unfortunately, he had to leave the next day to kick start The Chromatics’ European tour and would never see the woman again. To commemorate his time with her, Jewel wrote “Let’s Kiss” and began curating the second Italians Do It Better compilation. Jewel’s backing concept for the album is “moments frozen in time” and each track on the record carries this theme in its own way.
After Dark 2 is available in the iTunes Music Store.
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