ZE 30 – ZE Records Story 1979 – 2009 is a sampler of the finest in mutant disco from the hippest of New York labels at the turn of the 80s; a label that influenced !!!, The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem and even Bruce Springsteen. The ZE Records story began in 1977 when Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban were introduced to each other by the Velvet Underground’s John Cale. They became friends and in 1979 they combined the first letters of their surnames to name what became one of the finest labels of their time, combining the New Wave sounds of Talking Heads and Television with the disco music of the New York clubs such as the Paradise Garage. The label came to define the ‘No Wave’ sound with the roster of acts including James White, Was (Not Was) and *Suicide.

The set opens with the 12” mix of Tell Me That I’m Dreaming from Was (Not Was) with its nonsensical call and response lyrics and Chic worthy bassline leading the groove though samples of incriminating Ronald Reagan samples. The superbly named Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rhumba Band rolls out the house piano and a slice of sax for Deputy Of Love and Things Fall Apart opens with a twinkling music box before a sinister guitar leads you into a arch hipster’s Christmas carol. Michel Esteban’s partner, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, floats over the shimmering electronica of Hard-Boiled Babe. She may have lived with Patti Smith at the tail end of the 70s, but her work here is closer to Matthew Herbert’s experimental house than Patti’s New York punk loft

Alan Vega’s Jukebox Babe is an otherworldly slice of Martian rockabilly, but with his partner Martin Rev in Suicide he drifts over the haunting lullaby of Dream Baby Dream. Zikha hired the Cars’ Ric Ocasek to produce the Dream Baby session hoping for a disco cut along the lines of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, instead he got a lofi masterpiece that served as a keystone for the stripped back sounds of Springsteen’s Nebraska album.

The Talking Heads lifted a line from Sonny & Cher’s The Beat Goes On on Born Under the Punches and Casino Music’s cover seems to simply imagine David Byrne and co covering the song in full. James White, with his backing band The Blacks command you to Contort Yourself with his screeching saxophone – though his tearing cover of Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough would have been a more timely choice.

The highlight of the collection is the Kid Creole & The Coconuts jaunt Something Wrong In Paradise mixed by Larry Levan. Its lyrics tell of corruption in the Caribbean, but the irresistible confection of carnival horns and tropilalia guitars scream party more than protest. Bustin’ Out from Bill Laswell’s Material could be the dark flip side to Dina Ross’ Niles and Rodgers produced classic Coming Out, with diva Nona Hendryx singing lyrics culled from a Black Panther’s prison letters. But it’s not all discontent (pun intended) with Garcons providing a joyous tribute to French Boys and the coy come on of Aural Exciters Maladie D’Amour.

Ideally the collection would close with the fade out of Dream Baby but tacked on at the tail Michael Dracula’s What Can I Do For You feels like an indie rock demo and Marie et les Garcons Re Bop Electric is a mere novelty curio.

ZE Records covered almost any sound from punk funk to alien rockabilly – but there’s always a disco edge in place. The songs weren’t the hits the label hoped for, with Zikha bemoaning the fact that his ‘bands were too clever… truly great rock music is not clever.’ Stranded in a strange mid-point between the punk of CBGBs and the disco of Studio 54, ZE’s James Chance mocked their rivals – “anyone who stays on the Lower East Side will become the inevitable victim of provincial mind rot… so dislocate yourself, get slick, move uptown and get trancin’ with some superadioactive disco voodoo funk.” It might not have been great advice for record sales, but it’s great advice for any record buyer.