Calvin Harris: I Created Disco

Calvin Harris: I Created Disco
Almost Gold: 9/4/2007

Sometimes I like to say things that are so absurd that a rational person would not ordinarily believe them. But people will believe anything, or at least think that you believe it, if you say it with an appropriately earnest tone and expression. I sometimes get myself into trouble that way. I once told a coworker that I used to make money swallowing condoms full of cocaine and smuggling them into the U.S. That wasn't true, of course, and I thought the notion so absurd that she had to know I was joking. She didn't.

I think that Calvin Harris must have a similar sense of humor. He asserts the claim contained in the title of his debut so earnestly that some have thought he actually believed it. I think that's he's actually quite humble and his affectation of arrogance throughout the album is a joke so absurd that he couldn't imagine anyone taking it seriously. In fact, one can tell that he is quite well versed in and reverent of the work of those who came before him. One glance at his MySpace profile places I Created Disco squarely in the context of a tribute of sorts to his idols: Bowie, Funkadelic, Daft Punk, just to name a few. I think a good artist always plagiarizes a vast range of sources, and Harris certainly fits this description. This ecclectic sensibility and its creator's humor make I Created Disco one of the best electronic albums this year.