I got the following mail in my junkmail folder today, written on the back of a Doener Kebab, a letter from expatriate Mads in Berlin.

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Though promising to post here on Distortion Disco on a regular basis when Martin started out in April, my contribution has been limited to a meagre two posts thus far, but as I'm playing on Friday at the Rodeo Club in Berlin, I'd like to at least help out today with this thinly disguised shameless plug. For those of you who are in town - it's gonna be rockin'!

The record bag will span from minimal techno to shameless pop, with the controls set to DANCE (Don't expect too much guitar - ed.)! Here is a couple of tracks that are guaranteed to find their way to the decks on Friday night:

Panico - Transpiralo

Cowbell-heavy Latin punkfunk from yesteryear by a bunch of French Chileans, of whom one might, might not, be a drug-crazed rambling South-American transvestite prostitute, but sure sounds like one as (s)he spurts out the sleazy chorus. The whole dancepunk-thing has aged pretty quickly, but this still holds up - probably because it sounds less like "skinny indie boys discovering dance music" and more like skinny indie boys having great and inventive sex with Brazilian shemales while playing bass guitar. The whole thing reminds me a bit of old school disco hip hop in places. But turned up to 11 and with more cowbell.

Get it at Tigersushi

Girls Aloud - Waiting

A pop hit that never was, this is music purposely built for drunken end of the night swing dancing on the dance floor, delivered by UK Popstars-winners 2003 Girls Aloud. Don't let that fact put you off, though - no fear of pop music should let you miss out on this.

The single-worthy 'Waiting' was well hidden away as an album track on the girls' (very good) 2005 album Chemistry, and subsequently sank without trace after its release. That it didn't get to dominate the airwaves is one of the great pop crimes of the 21st century

Buy it for almost nothing at Amazon (where it is lying firmly in the virtual bargain bin...)

Love and Cowbell

Mads

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It's probably also a safe bet that you are going to hear some new stuff that you didn't know you loved, so go dance your shoes to death to the banging sounds of Mads, seriously a good DJ, for whom I have only praise!