Whoever said “disco sucks” never heard Escort — a 17-piece ensemble whose hooky melodies, soaring string section and throbbing beats make it impossible to listen without involuntarily toe-tapping. But then, Escort aren’t a rare find you’ll discover in a dusty bin of old records. With their debut LP released just last year, the Brooklyn band are as modern as they come.
Lead singer Adeline Michele fronts the band that was masterminded by Eugene Cho and Dan Balis. She tells us about how they engineered the band’s sound, partially in reaction to that notorious Disco Demolition movement from the late 1970s.
“[Cho and Balis] wanted to do disco. They wanted to do it ’70s but they also wanted to do something that’s very current,” she says. “I think part of disco’s bad reputation back then was that it was the beginning of electronic music and people were missing that live instrument aspect when it came to live performing. So they thought, ‘Well, let’s be different and let’s have whoever plays on the record [play live].'”
That huge entourage is enough of a party onstage — but wherever the band performs, the audience erupts into a kind of orgiastic bacchanal. If you go to see an Escort show, you’re there to dance.
“It’s not [about] coming just to see a DJ and just dancing,” says Michele. “I think you get the best of both worlds because for music lovers and people who do actually listen to musicians and instruments, they can find what they’re looking for and for people who want to just have a good time they find that too.”
Escort
Saturday, 7 p.m.
Webster Hall, 125 E. 11th St.
$25, 212-353-1600
