L'Amour Toujours
Gigi D'Agostino embodies the Italian "progressive house" sound: completely synthetic, Eurodisco-lite, and peppered with vocals filtered through a Vocoder. This stuff doesn't do so well in the U.S., but it's huge in Europe, where a track like this album's hit, "I'll Fly with You," can top the charts from Spain to the Czech Republic. Unabashedly pop, D'Agostino is probably pooh-poohed by experimental DJs--making him laugh all the way to the bank. He does share one thing with many of today's artier electronic producers: an obsession with the 1980s. A cover ofNik Kershaw's 1984 song "The Riddle" won't raise many eyebrows, but then there's the left-field instrumental "Rectangle," initially released by obscure French electro-pioneer Jacno in the early '80s. Wisely, D'Agostino more or less refrained from tarting up the song's elegant simplicity and tried his darnedest to preserve its hard-to-pin-down melancholia. Even more wisely, he actually uses it twice, first in a medley with "La Passion" and then in a straightforward cover. Can't get enough of a good thing.--Elisabeth Vincentelli