Taco
High-energy 1930s swing reimagined through the neon lens of 80s synth-pop. Theatrical, dapper, and delightfully anachronistic dance music for the modern dandy.
High-energy 1930s swing reimagined through the neon lens of 80s synth-pop. Theatrical, dapper, and delightfully anachronistic dance music for the modern dandy.
Taco sounds like a time traveler from the 1930s who crash-landed in a West German recording studio in 1982. His music is a dizzying collision of Great Depression-era songwriting and the cold, precise machinery of early digital pop. It is dapper, disciplined, and deeply theatrical, characterized by bright synthesizers that mimic brass sections and drum machines that provide a rigid, danceable backbone to his smooth baritone delivery.
What makes him truly distinctive is the commitment to the bit. While other New Wave artists flirted with retro aesthetics, Taco fully inhabited the persona of a vaudeville entertainer. He utilized staccato rhythms and tap-dance percussion to bridge the gap between Irving Berlin and the Fairlight CMI. It is music that feels both incredibly expensive and charmingly kitsch, capturing a specific moment when the future was obsessed with the distant past.
Start with the 1982 album After Eight. It is the definitive statement of his 'techno-swing' vision, anchored by his global hit cover of 'Puttin' on the Ritz.' It serves as the perfect gateway into his world of top hats, tails, and transistor rhythms.
Taco Ockerse (born 21 July 1955), also known mononymously as Taco, is an Indonesian-born Dutch musician, actor and entertainer who started his career in Germany. He scored a global hit song in 1982 with a version of "Puttin' on the Ritz".
Shares playful, nostalgic, energetic (moods); digital clarity, maximalist, studio polished (production style)
Shares digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style); playful, nostalgic, energetic (moods)
Shares playful, nostalgic, energetic (moods); digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style)
Shares digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style); playful, nostalgic, energetic (moods)
Shares digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style); synth-pop, traditional pop (subgenres)
Shares digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style); playful, nostalgic, energetic (moods)
Shares digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style); urban night, rooftop, basement show (atmosphere)
Shares digital clarity, drum machine, studio polished (production style); playful, nostalgic, energetic (moods)
Shares theatrical, new wave, synth-pop, baritone (signature)
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