Years active 1984–1995, 2000, 2016- | Origin Netherlands (1981) | |
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Instruments Synthesizer, drum machines Labels Break Records, Hotsound Records, ZYX Music Past members Erik van Vliet (1984–1995, 2000, 2016-)
Michiel van der Kuy (1984–1995, 2016-)
Julius Wijnmalen (2000) Members Erik Van Vliet, Julius Wijnmalen, Michiel van der Kuy Genres Synth-pop, Italo disco, Space disco Albums Future Generation, Changing Times, Strikes Back, Discovery Trip, Around the Planet | ||
Laserdance (often hyphenated as Laser Dance) is a Dutch italo disco studio project that had consisting of musicians Erik van Vliet and Michiel van der Kuy. The studio project has been categorized as part of subgenre known as spacesynth and has been generally considered as a major influence for the subgenre and has remained popular around the Europe in the mid-1980s. All of Laserdance tracks are known to feature basic analog synthesizers, drum machines and vocoders. The name of the studio project comes from the first single with the same name published in 1984. Numerous hit singles from Laserdance include Goody's Return, Humanoid Invasion, Power Run, Fear and Shotgun (Into The Night).
Contents
Composer Michiel van der Kuy and producer Erik van Vliet are known to be key members of the studio project, while other members such as Ruud van Es, Rob van Eijk and Julius Wijnmalen, the composer of the recent studio album Strikes Back from 2000, have been involved as well. The very first single of Laserdance has been published in 1984 and the first album Future Generation was released in 1987 with successful sales for the studio project and generated a lot of interest towards the spacesynth genre.
Laserdance super megamix
History
Producer Erik van Vliet started studio project under the title "Laser Dance" in 1984 by releasing the first single with the same name on Break Records label and later on Hotsound Productions. Erik van Vliet and Fonny de Wulf (the producer of Rofo) produced the single, that is based upon the song with the same name by Sponooch from 1979. Michiel van der Kuy himself joined the studio project and became the composer of the project by composing the second single Goody's Return in 1984.
The first Laserdance album titled Future Generation was released by Hotsound Records in 1987 and was considered big success with approximately 150 000 copies being sold. Between 1987 and 1995, Laserdance was producing new studio album every year with numerous singles and few compilation albums being released in-between. Notably, the fifth studio album Ambiente from 1991 contains only an ambient tracks, while the seventh album Hypermagic from 1993 is the only Laserdance album to being released separately on Dolby Surround.
The declining era of italo disco in early 1990s was affecting on Laserdance in terms of sales as the ninth studio album The Guardian of Forever in 1996 mixes the spacesynth with more house and trance tracks, which aren't composed by Michiel van der Kuy himself but rather other artists. This received cold feedback from fans and the studio project was stopped for few years. However, Erik van Vliet was planning to bring Laserdance back, while Michiel van der Kuy was working as producer of Alice Deejay and his own music project Rygar. Erik hired Julius Wijnmalen to be composer of the recent studio album called Strikes Back that was released on ZYX Music label in 2000.
After the release of Strikes Back, anything about Laserdance's state hasn't been known or confirmed, although Michiel van der Kuy stated in December 2010 interview to have no plans for continuing on Laserdance while working with his new music project called Rygar. Eventually in April 2016, Erik van Vliet and Michiel van der Kuy confirmed in social media that a new record is soon to be released. The first track from the album was premiered on Radio Stad den Haag in Netherlands on April 17, 2016. The recent album titled Force of Order has been released on September 30, 2016.
Songs
Humanoid InvasionFuture Generation · 1987
Power RunFuture Generation · 1987
Cosmo TronDiscovery Trip · 1989