About After Dark by Various Artists Album
Originally Released On May 31, 2007 – Johnny Jewel's Birthday… This is the quintessential archetype & anthology of the Italians Do It Better sound picking up where Glass Candy's I Always Say Yes EP left off. The cover art features Jewel's hand unapologetically spray painting the bands' names on the alley wall of the Universe. The music within is a portrait of the label at the very beginning, setting the tone for what would come. A glimpse of glitter in the embryonic stage of being discovered, After Dark unleashed a phenomenon into the world: “77 minutes of analog electronic music mutating through Italo Disco, Krautrock, Electro, Giallo Cinema, and Pop,” as label head Jewel once said of this now legendary compilation. It was first released as a tour only CD-R, hand-colored & limited to a Kubrick-indebted micro run of 237. Initially given away at Glass Candy T-Shirt tables for their Summer tour through California & Texas, featuring cult classics by Glass Candy, Chromatics, Farah, & Mirage. Including breakout heat like “Lady Operator”, “In the City”, “Law Of Life”, “Rolling Down The Hills”, & “The Chameleon”, After Dark paved the way for what would become the sound of Night Drive & Beatbox later that year. Out of the blue & into the black… Sparse, skeletal, & consumed by a constant sense of creeping dread.
