Parov Stelar – The Demon Diaries (Album)

Electro swing is a relatively underrated genre in my humble opinion, so I was excited for Parov Stelar’s latest album “The Demon Diaries”, featuring some exceptionally talented vocalists such as Angela McCluskey, Anna F., and Lilja Bloom. The style of music incorporates the basics of swing, jazz, and big band before blending it all together for a modern, fresh, and upbeat sound.

Marcus Füreder, along with the French group Caravan Palace, have been at the forefront of the genre for years, and for good reason too. The Austrian artist creates music that just gets you doing all sorts of moving and grooving that you didn’t know you could do.

The album actually consists of two CDs, the first containing 13 tracks and the second with 11 songs. It was released from his own record label that he established in 2004, Etage Noir Recordings. Read on for the press release regarding the album:

“Over the years Parov Stelar has meticulously sampled, remixed and referenced some of the most influential sounds of bygone eras, injecting them with a new lease of life and bringing them into modern times. It has become the definition for a certain style, a certain sound, THE Parov Stelar sound. Undeniably unique, countlessly copied but never equalled. He was the gentleman of electro-swing, the soul brother and the phantom of the disco, but now, Parov Stelar is simply himself. Three years after his last album, Parov Stelar returns to the world he created with “The Demon Diaries“, his sixth LP.

The musical demons are not always so dark and evil as they may at first appear. The artist’s restlessness is the driving force in “The Demon Diaries“. While often seen as an affliction, here it acts as the catalyst for creativity, the desire to push things further, to go faster and fly higher than ever before. Where would we be without our inner-demons? Without that desire to test our limits, to go that one-step further than anyone has even been before? But where there is light, there is darkness, something Parov Stelar knows only too well. Those that give themselves fully to the creative Zeitgeist, to the pressures and the strains risk being taken over by the demons inside. Broken promises, dead ends and sleepless nights full of doubt cloud their psyche. The line between party hedonism and melancholy is often a very thin one.

“The Demon Diaries” doesn’t just reveal both faces of the beast, the double album, like previous works “Coco” and “The Princess” also reveals two different aspects of Parov Stelar’s musical genius. The package contains 24 songs with nine guest vocalists.

The “classic” Parov Stelar sound can be found of on the first album, dominated by the crackling and hissing of old vinyl and timeless samples. It is another tour de force of the club music that has sent fans in arenas and on dance floors the world over into musical ecstasy. Hundreds of thousands of fans take the pilgrimage to Parov Stelar shows every weekend, and have been doing so long before the media caught hold of the music. Music for the here and now, the joy of life and ability to let go and be free all come to the forefront.

The 2nd album goes in the opposite direction to its electro-heavy brother. The eleven tracks take the live route, incorporating over 25 musicians using live instruments and often playing in small orchestral formations. Parov Stelar’s darker, more melancholy side shows its face, the dancing shoes have been put swapped for a glass of red wine and a thoughtful, reminiscent mood. Parov Stelar takes his listeners on a journey through the night, and covers them in a warm musical blanket to shield them from the piercing wind, and the demons that rattle against the windowpanes. Their attempts to get in are futile, the music is too powerful, and soon, the sun will rise on another day.”

Parov Stelar – Facebook / Twitter

Purchase: iTunes / Amazon

Facebook Preview (You can check out each individual song by clicking the name)

CD 1 Tracklist:

01. Demon Dance
02. Keep This Fire Burning
03. Hooked on You (feat. Timothy Auld)
04. Clap Your Hands
05. Hit Me Like a Drum (feat. Timothy Auld)
06. The Green Frog
07. I Need L.O.V.E.
08. Djangos Revenge
09. Gin Tonic
10. Don’t Mean A Thing
11. Josephine (1930 Version) [feat. Anduze]
12. Berlin Shuffle
13. Hit Me Like a Drum (Club Version) [feat. Timothy Auld]

CD 2 Tracklist:

01. Six Feet Underground (feat. Claudia Kane)
02. The Sun (feat. Graham Candy)
03. Summertime (feat. Maya Bensalem)
04. Walk Away (feat. Anna F.)
05. Josephine (Candlelight Version) [feat. Anduze]
06. Magenta Rising
07. Golden Arrow (Demon Diaries Version) [feat. Lilja Bloom]
08. Don’t Believe What They Say (feat. Angela McCluskey)
09. The Sea (feat. Harald Baumgartner)
10. Keep This Fire Burning (Stelartronic Remix)
11. The Lonely Trumpet (The Demon Diaries Outro)