"I'm a former scientist now on wheels." "I'm a disco clone!" "Spooks spooks spooks in space!" "Woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks!" These are just a few of the odder lines taken from some of the strangest, silliest, most colorful underground singles released during the late '70s and early '80s, all of which were released by Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban's New York-based ZE label. Mutant disco Vol 1 and vol 2 aare now on CD released on the revitalized ZE, this swollen reissues of 1981's Mutant Disco adds other label highlights to the original album's six-track running order.

At their most inspired, the artists on ZE found some middle ground between immensely accessible disco-pop and the avant-garde, without ever falling down the middle of the road. Music that appealed to Highlights-reading six year olds as well as their Village Voice-reading parents wasn't particularly common back then (surely there are no modern-day parallels); and it's just one of the voids that the ZE label filled, fostered by a very direct collision between the novelty of pop and the possibilities of artful experimentation. Three of Was (Not Was)' earliest, most thrilling songs -- "Wheel Me Out," "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming," "Out Come the Freaks" -- are here, in all their squealing, thoroughly batty, funk-driven glory.