My apologies in advance of this entry but I am taking a break from posting deep joints for a quick moment. I have to keep a few gems close to my chest or else I will have nothing to surprise people with when I get booked for another DJ gig sometime in this lifetime. So here we have a couple of damn fine dollar bin jams by the group Feel.
When The Players Association disintegrated in 1981, two of the main songwriters Chris Hills and Danny Weiss went on to form Feel. Compared to their previous project, Feel had more limited success on the Sutra label. Released in 1982 I'd Like To has a very similar vibe to Armenta's 1983 classic I Wanna Be With You. In fact, if you pitch one of these records up and the other one down a bit you might just have a seamless mix on your hands. I also put a rudimentary instrumental edit I threw together of the follow up single Let's Rock (Over and Over Again).
And yes, I know this is a picture of Shalamar but I doubt we will blog about them again anytime soon. Nonetheless, this picture is way too awesome and felt right for this post.
This is quite possibly the heaviest electro jam ever recorded. The Jonzun Crew was formed by brothers Maurice Starr, Michael and Soni Johnson in Boston in 1981. This track came on the seminal 1983 Tommy Boy release Lost In Space. This track doesn't share the sparse production that is featured in many electro tracks from the era. The sound is thick and dark with killer vocoders and synths. It is as much at home on a disco dancefloor as it is on a breakdancer's cardboard. The mix was done by John "Jellybean" Benitez. Michael Jonzun and Maurice Star would go on to produce New Edition and New Kids on the Block.
Here is a quick "summer" edit of the fantastic Jewel song "Paradise". Lotus Land records has just furnished a new limited vinyl 7" pressing for the summer, available HERE Jewel - Paradise (disco tom edit)
South African born singer Richard Jon Smith put out a host of 12 inches and a self titled LP on Jive Records in the early 80's. With his over the top vocal delivery and super slick production, it seems to me that Jive's A & R department had optioned him to be their breakout success story. Of course he never did blow up all that hard but amidst the flurry of releases was a single called "Baby's Got Another". I feel this track due in no small part to the production work of frequent Jive collaborator Darryl Payne. The tasty guitar stabs and dirty vocoder bits gave an otherwise decent tune that much needed edge. Now go find yourself a copy on discogs for $5.00. Richard Jon Smith - Baby's Got Another (Extended Mix) Richard Jon Smith - Baby's Got Another Dub
Thanks to everyone who read my rant last week and sent in their weird, newly discovered disco joints. It meant a lot and I will contact you individually to see if it's cool to repost them. Please send more in, if they are new on me (as they mostly are) I will put them all in a post and give you the credits. I think I worked out that there must be some electro blog haus mailing list floating around and we got on it somehow, but if you read my post and decided to send me your bedroom produced electro banger despite me calling you all out as fame hungry spammers then more power to you, keep hustling.
Speaking of remixes, many of the Europeans amongst you may recognize East Coast's The Rock as the origin of the main sample used in a mainstream dance hit in the late nineties, I know I do at least, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. It had a male vocal over the top and got tons of radio play. Anyone have less damage to their long term memory centers than me?
This is the 12" mix, with beautiful extended percussive sections, and the phased out bass line is perhaps I think one of the most standout in all disco. It was produced by a then young Charles Wallert, who went on to become successful with artists such as Dione Warrick and George Benson, and was originally released on the small indy Family Records, but after the DJ's responded to it RSO picked it up just weeks later.
Have you ever wondered about Latin Disco? New York was the Disco & Latin HQ for america, it only makes sense there would be some unstoppable latin disco joints made. I can't think of any latin disco songs that were hits, and I'm definitely not counting Yambu's version of "Sunny".
Many NYC Latin groups did decide to go disco, and in turn definitely made their own niche in the disco world. Groups like Charanga 76, Eastcoast Connection, as well as giants like Joe Bataan & Eddie Palmieri went there as well.
Here we are checking out an edit from the music of Alfredo De La Fe. He is a classically trained violin player from NY (via Cuba), who played with too many legends to mention. He recorded his own solo LP, "Alfredo" on Criollo records and his tune "Hot To Trot" is the only disco song on this record. Scorching hot breaks and "first time ever talking into a microphone" vocals make this a winner.
Right. So, at first I was all excited thinking I had found some Sting record that was all obscure. Through various misinformations, I believed this to be true for far too long (as in up 'til earlier today). Turns out this is not Sting as in Gordon Sumner of The Police Sting. I was far too hopeful I suppose thinking he had made something like this, and shame on me for not doing more research. This is made by a far lesser known Sting, a female and male trio on ABC Records with a penchant for falsetto. "Pleasure" is not an all out stormer but one of those summer type grooves that sits back just enough and invites the listener to either tap their foot or get up and shake it. The falsetto and backed by the strings and the solid rhythm section, it just works. One thing I really enjoy about this track is the breakdown. There are so many intricate little pieces nestled in the background that really give it a laid back party feel. Produced by Jay Ellis and written by C. Spencer, C. Blandon, E. Pitt and J. Ellis, "Pleasure" is a sure fire song for the summer (not Sumner).
Michael Jackson died today, June 25th 2009. In tribute, here are a couple of our favorite tracks. Also included is a rare Mizell brothers production with young Michael singing.
I've never found the bay area to be a record digger's paradise but as of late have been enjoying some good medium rare scores. I have been thinking about this record for some time now and was quite pleased when it turned up recently in an east bay dollar bin. Northend was a studio project consisting of Tony Carbone, Russell Presto and the insanely prolific producer Arthur Baker. The trio was also responsible for a few other twelve inches on Emergency Records featuring vocalist Michelle Wallace. Her Jazzy Rhythm single is well sweated but this one seems to be the record most are looking out for. Michael Jonzun of the Jonzun Crew handled co-production and Tee Scott gave the final touches on the mix making this flawless blend of boogie and proto house an all star collaboration. Northend - Happy Days Northend - Tee's Happy
Crusty rap jamz like this really make we wonder how things would have turned out if the rap scene didn't become plagued by violence. Here we have Dr. Dre in 1984 being as un-hardcore as you could ever imagine. It is hard to put the pieces together how just two years later he would co-form N.WA. and change the face of rap for eternity.
The Wreckin' Cru was an LA electro rap group that had alternating members, including, Dr Dre and DJ Yella, among others. The group as fronted by the veteran DJ Lonzo Williams who also owned the LA old school hip-hop hangout Eve After Dark. The Wreckin' Cru' changed thier name slightly a couple of times through the 80's and drop the electro for a musical baby making gravy sound. The Wreckin' Cru' - Surgery
Please send more electro nu rave banger fidget remixes, we love them, and when I open the mail box and see thirty odd emails from teenagers trying to make it big with nothing more than a dream and a stolen ableton live serial number it brings a smile to my face and warmth to my heart. Then I delete them without listening to a single one and continue digging through to see if someone sent us something related to some deep disco joint they found, but alas, more electro promo. Not to criticise a genre, I'm not Beethoven or anything, what do I know, but still..
Speaking of nu rave, I'm a hypocrite as here is a heavy edit I did of some new wave dollar bin jam that doesn't sound far off. Loop it for five minutes, stick your name on it, don't give anyone credit and get internet famous kid. Prepare for my promo email in your inbox very shortly:
FAMILY OF EVE: modern soul gold from Pittsburgh, PA. Most people know about this group from either Kenny or Keb's long out of print singles BBE. Most people play the other tune "I Wanna Be Loved By You", originally released on Jeree Records (see photo for real Jeree letterhead). Excellent studio, was also the same studio and engineer (Don Garvin!!!) where Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music Whiteboy" was recorded. Nile Rogers allegedly visited the studio seeking the next unsigned talent, and Family of Eve was NOT mentioned to him. Classic tale of white devilism? I'd say not, as studio head Don Garvin released many of Pittsburgh's finest underground black records of the late 70's (satin whip, steel city connection, etc).
About one year later local indie label Full Sail re-released "I Want To Be Loved By You" on blue vinyl, and cut one more single for the group, "Having It So Bad For You".
"Having It So Bad For You" is the group's completely slept on follow up to "I Want To Be Loved By You". Strong beat, infectious hooks. I've been itching to surgically remove one section of this tune, last night finally did it. Here is the unofficial extended dance edit below: FAMILY OF EVE - Having It So Bad For You (Disco Tom Edit)
"I'm Going To Go" by Jago is a synth masterpiece. The simple yet effective bass line stands out in front as the rest of the song grows around it. It's not a terribly complex song, each piece has its moment to shine and then sort of ducks back into the arrangement. What it is for me is just a wonderful display of melody and structure that really grooves on the dance floor. I prefer the instrumental to the vocal, which I feel is less over the top Italo. The 12" recorded here was released in 1983 on Full Time Records.
In contrast to its musical predecessor, boogie was defined by slower rhythms and more of a bouncy, dirty and synth oriented groove. But really who came up with this sound? The true answer is Prince, P-Funk and the Gap Band. These were the guys that were playing the gritty, synthy funk tracks in the late 70's. That's not to say that Leroy Burgess and his writing partners Sonny T. Davenport and James Calloway were not on the forefront, they were indeed. Thing is, I like to think of boogie as a sort of indie genre and to the people that have the tasteful hindsight to appreciate it, it is quite arcane. Overall, most of us like to hunt down the rarest records on esoteric and private labels. But these obscure bands that were popping up all across the country in the early 80's were most likely not taking their cues from Convertion or Logg songs, they were doing their best to emulate artists on the level of Prince.
At the end of the day, Leroy Burgess and his Convertion producer Greg Carmichael were very deep in the game, many of their projects were groundbreaking and definitive. Recorded and released in 1980 Let's Do It was one of the very first tracks that clearly defined the "Boogie-Funk" sound of the 1980's. It's also an amazing fucking record.
Both Convertion and Logg performed live shows at the Paradise Garage in the early 80's. Need that damn time machine again.
Harari was a soul group from Johannesburg South Africa. They were originally called The Beaters. Party, produced by Michael Stokes was released in 1980. The track became a pretty big club hit in 1982 and soon after, the group broke up with it's members pursuing solo acts. Band leader, Sipho Mabusse went on to put out a cool electro track called Burn Out in 1985 (which I will cover in the future).
Party is a Loft classic that is loaded with feel good party energy.
I had to go to LA last minute for a couple of days and don't have access to my records, but I have a laptop with me that has some recordings and some edits buried on it, and so I'm going to post one those. Don't be scared off, I'm putting up something that is fairly faithful to the original, Benny Golson's 'I'm Always Dancin to the Music' is a great tune in it's own right, but some of the bridges and passages make it difficult to play for a modern, mixed crowd dancefloor (I think at least, hence the edit).
Benny Golson is a legend of the jazz scene, I think he plays tenor, but I would imagine his best known piece is the theme tune from M.A.S.H. He came back after a ten year hiatus from the music industry with this disco dance single, to much derision from the jazz heads, the snobby indie rockers of their day.
Its 90bpm, and has a willfully difficult to mix intro (that I left in) but it has more punch and energy than any peak hour disco banger I have in my bag.
D.C. LaRue's "Cathedrals" was released on Pyramid Records in 1976 as a 12" thrusting D.C LaRue onto the disco scene and straight to the top of the R&B charts. In England he became the first white male to attain the #1 position on this chart. This song is so amazing...the lyrics are pretty bizarre and the track itself, musically, is also rather unique. It has loads of interesting sounds and a really solid groove. It's one of those tracks I always pack in my bag when playing out, perfect for bringing people out onto the floor.
In the last several years we have seen the San Francisco boogie-funk scene grow exponentially thanks in small part to Beat Electric but most of the credit is due to the excellent weekly Sweater Funk party at Li Po Lounge. That being said, many of the tracks on Night Shift 2 (including an edit by our very own LeBaron) have been covered on Beat Electric at some point and we take that as quite a compliment. Enjoy this exclusive mix by two of SF's best Disc Jockey's, Proof and Renmin, both members of the extended Sweater Funk crew.
Also, do not miss this Sundays installment of Sweater Funk. It's Jon's Birthday and they expect to have some very special guests up from LA.
NIGHT SHIFT II a choice mix of early 80's funk and soulful boogie flavor mixed and compiled by PROOF & RENMIN 1. world premiere - share the night (club version) 2. shannon - sweet somebody (12" mix) 3. orlando johnson & trance - turn the music on 4. aurra - such a feeling (lebaron edit) 5. dayton - sound of music 6. first love - party lights 7. fonda rae - over like a fat rat 8. howard johnson - say you wanna 9. trilark - check it out 10. starpoint - it's all yours (special dance mix) 11. first touch - it's yours 12. toney lee - love so deep (instrumental) 13. toney lee - reach up 14. komiko - feel all right 15. the ritchie family - i'll do my best (for you baby) 16. the nick straker band - a little bit of jazz 17. samson & delilah - i can feel your love 18. midnight express - danger zone 19. midnight star - midas touch 20. steve harvey - something special 21. take three - tonight's the night 22. aretha franklin - jump to it 23. the walkers - (whatever happened to) the party groove 24. the chi-lites - stop what you're doin 25. katie kissoon - you're the one (you're my number one) 26. yvette cason - cash play (dub mix) 27. manhattan transfer - spice of life Proof & Renmin - Night Shift II
This is a self produced track by Miami artist Michael Sterling. It was released by Success Records in 1983. This track combines a pop lock'n beat, great modern soul vocals, and a little garage house flavor to create a really unique sound. The cop sirens would become a theme later in his career as he played bass in Inner Circle, who is responsible for the pseudo reggae track Bad Boys (What Cha Gonna Do). Sterling is still making music, but his output seems to be strictly limited to smooth jamz.
I have been interested in the pre-Miami Bass sound from this region for a while, and this track makes me to dive deeper to see what else is out there. Also, a portion of this cut sounds pretty good as a ringtone.
Hey look, its Pele back when he played for the New York Cosmos, back when you could go to the Paradise Garage all night, nap for a couple of hours, then go across town to see Pele and Franz Beckenbauer kick a ball around, half assed and in the twightlight of their careers and probably both with hangovers comparable to your own, if not worse.
New York Apple Jack is a fast paced, deep, soulful disco funk crowd pleaser from the P&P stable, and I think the best disco funk track P&P ever put out, they don't let themselves go too far down the analog synth freakout path but its still a little abstract and dusty. Apply this one to the dancefloor wisely and with great care..timing is everything.
Supermax are an Austrian band founded by Kurt Hauenstein in 1977. In 1978, Supermax released the album "World of Today" which bears the bands biggest hit, "Love Machine". The version posted here is from the 12" on Atlantic released in 1977 as a precursory track to the album in 1978. This track is not an in your face disco track, but more dark and seedy. There are definite qualities of being ethereal and almost ambient in a way, with of course, a strong beat. The vocals are sung with a sleezy quality that really takes this track to the next level. The long synth breakdown with the percussion and the "ahh-ooga's" is just unreal. Honestly, this track for me is one that really will always sound ahead of it's time...dark, lascivious and driving whilst feeling a bit blasé. (Interesting side note, Supermax were the first multiracial band to tour South Africa. Despite near constant death threats, they played 21 shows causing quite a political scene and earned Kurt "no-entry" status to several countries.)
Admittedly, I have a very soft spot for mid 70's jazz/funk. Places and Spaces by Donald Byrd with the Mizell Brothers production team has been in my top five favorite LP's for a good ten years now. When I first heard this record several weeks ago, I was instantly brought back to the period of my life when I salivated over this kind of crap.
In his time, Patrick Adams produced many, many records of varying styles under a myriad of aliases. Sine was Adam's first of several collaborations with a very young label known as Prelude Records in 1977. Prelude was still trying to find its footing at this juncture basically hiring Adams to produce a jazzy cosmic record released under the guise of disco. Don't get me wrong, this album completely blows me away but only in the loosest terms would I categorize it as disco.
Armed with his signature 70's (see Cloud One) Arp 2600 synth sound, it feels as if Adams and co. wrote the entire record in the studio and jammed it out in a few sessions. The end result is a very raw yet cohesive LP.
Here are are nice pair of lazer soul tracks by the modern soul group Khemisty that hailed out of Washington DC. Band members Marie Council, Shirl Hayes, Kimus Knight put out a couple of rare 12 inches and a well sought after LP that BT Magnum picked up at a thrift store recently. Each of these tracks have an entirely different feel from one another. I Can't Win For Losing has a really killer synth line and an infectious modern sound that makes you want to do a Kevin Baconesque bicycle dance routine. Khemistry - I Got A Feeling 12" Khemistry - I Can't Win For Losing 12"
T.K. Disco is one of the disco power house labels, if you have spent any time at all collecting old dance 12"s then you would have come across one of their releases on almost every excursion. They put out records by just about everyone in genres from funk to pop rock, and on occasion tasted billboard top 10 success. They were out of Miami and above is a picture taken in the distribution warehouse beneath the then main recording studio. A storied and well documented label.
T.K. put out a lot of shit in it's time, but when you had the volume of output that they did that could be expected, but the main thing is that they also put out a lot of heat, including amongst them some moderate rarities.
Here are some of my T.K. favorites, including some popular four to the floor, some psych funk and some r'n'b, all from master tape:
Fresh outta Ohio circa 1984, Angelo Tinsely's send off jam "get down with me" was launched into the halls of boogie obscurity. Nothing to little is known about basically every group on this LP, a collection of local Ohio bands, including one Angelo Tinsely. Catching up with Tinsely in Tampa Florida just last spring, I learned he was a very active recording artist, though none of his material was ever released or saved, he had at one point attempted to copywright over 2000 songs. This song was also featured on the mega dope BBE comp, Kings of Diggin with Kon & Amir. Good looking out Kon! Angelo Tinsley - Get Down With Me
"Don't Stop" by Ish is one of those sultry tracks that climbs and climbs, the lyrics and the music simply oozing sexuality. I love the escalating breakdown with the moaning and breathy vocals over it. Pure genius. It's a little cosmic, a little synth and a little disco all sort mixed up in this perfectly seductive tune that grooves on and on. It really does feel so good. Ish - Don't Stop
It's Tuesday and I am a little brain dead from the long holiday weekend, so I feel it may be time to get my head working again and nerd out on a micro genre. In terms of its lifespan, Italo Disco somewhat quickly morphed into the High NRG cheese sound, but in its first several years it seemed to take more influence from American R&B than synthy Euro-Pop. I like to call this early incarnation (roughly 1980-1982), Italo Boogie.
The ubiquitous studio group Kano (which is credited for first ushering in the italo sound) had its finest moment in 1981 with "Don't Try To Stop Me" from their second LP entitled New York Cake. Boeing dropped only one 12" in their very short career, 1982's "Dance on the Beat". Both tracks are strong examples of Italo Boogie steeped in the disco-funk sounds coming from across the Atlantic with a little added euro flavor. I just checked out this mix from Ebony Cuts which presents many more examples of Italo Boogie jams. Kano - Don't Try To Stop Me (12" Mix) Boeing - Dance On The Beat (Drunk Mix)
Armenta's I Wanna Be With You used to be a secret weapon staple of my sets long ago, but its sort of been a little played out the past couple of years so I retired it, that being said though I can only find Part 1 (the vocal radio mix) of the three parts out on the internetosphere, and nobody gives a shit about Part 1, you want to hear Part 2 with all the vocoder bits and breakdowns naturally.
I often see this record credited to Armenta & Majik, mine is just credited to Armenta, but Magik a.k.a Amir Bayyan is still listed as producer. I know the female singer was French, but Amir lived in the US and is shown above at home in his home studio (perhaps the best photo find in the history of boogie disco blogs, it took my ages . Its was taken by a dutch keyboard player in 1982).
Recently a friend of mine from LA had dubbed a special kind of funk music, he was referring to this as "fishnet funk". Enticed by the name I started desperately digging through random LA private press 12"s to find some undiscovered "fishnet funk" joints. My criteria was to find some joints which invoked the power of the Minneapolis Sound, ala "Fishnet" by Morris Day and the Time. Post '84 funk sound.
This Macola distributed offering was jumping off the shelves on looks alone, then when listening to the music I could almost see the purple mini skirts and fishnets stepping out of a limousine.
I am a huge Talking Heads fan, and it takes something special for me to recommend a cover of one of their songs over the original. While I am not suggesting this is a better version of Slippery People, I am saying it's pretty damn good. It's sort of an unlikely cover, and I love the thought that an R&B and Gospel group from Chicago was listening to a band like the Talking Heads. This song gave The Staple Singers another hit on the R&B charts following their more successful tracks "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again". What I really appreciate about this version is how The Staple Singers remained rather true to the original, but tweaking it and ramping it up just enough to give it a new life. The hand claps keep you grooving and Mavis Staples sings this absolutely perfectly. There's loads of ear candy, fun little laser sounds that pique ones interest and the beat is slow but driving and totally danceable. Very danceable actually. This was released as 12" on Private Records in 1984, backed with an instrumental.
My head has been stuck in the boogie zone for so long now that sometimes I forget that I actually own a few great 70's disco records. Now I would call this track cosmic disco, a genre I quite enjoy but admittedly have not explored nearly enough. Nevertheless, Michele's second 12" released on West End Records in 1977 is my favorite cosmic track. With a studio band consisting of members of the Lafayette Afro Rock Band and Ice, production by Tom Moulton and a remix by Patrick Cowley, "Disco Dance" is a highly sought after and groundbreaking recording. This was the legendary Patrick Cowley's first known recorded production credit. Michele - Disco Dance (Mega Mix)
Although Oakland is only a few miles from San Francisco, it is a world away in most regards. Oakland is notorious for its murder rate, car theft, and phyfe side shows these days.There is a huge art community that moved in, lured by the cheap rent; however, there are very few opportunities for people. Another depressing aspect is that there are few places for musicians to play. When I lived there in the mid 90's I watched 3 venues close their doors. About all that was left were the punk club on Gilman street and the Stork Club.
When you hear this track you get the impression that things were not so bad in 1980.
This track is an amazing mix of Rockers Revenge by "Jellybean" Benitez and Arthur Baker on Streetwise Records in 1982. "Dubbing..." chugs along with spaced out vocals and synths from their chart hit "Walking on Sunshine". This is a great transitional track I often use to take a set a bit darker as it mixes so well with house or midtempo...it can really hold it's own dynamically with newer releases.
I think this is Beat Electric's first rap contribution. I think it fits in pretty well. I loved that Third Unheard comp that came out a while back on Stones Throw and this record shows that same positive happy rap vibe. The Disco Four was an early rap outfit from Harlem. The rappers Ronnie D, Greg G, Mr. Troy, Country, Kool Gee, and DJ Al Bee actually number five in total; oddly enough. This record came out on Enjoy records in 1981 and was their second release on the label. The Disco Four - Do It, Do It
Even harder than choosing records to post, and even harder than writing annecdotal blurb about the record, is finding a cool picture to put on top of the blurb. I don't like putting up pics of the record sleeve, or the label, mostly because it means getting my camera out and secondly because I'm secretive and odd and don't want you to know what they look like. It takes ages to find a fresh image to pilage for some reason and I have given up trying to find pictures that are representative of the tune in question, I should have probably searched for a picture of some 1984 era urban landscape for this one, but I came accross this image of a dude DJ'ing in 1978 instead.
DON'T email in anymore of your electro bloghaus banger remixes. DO email us your disco edits and boogie tracks, we love those, and especially any cool pictures you have of something rad going down in the early eighties, old party flyers, anything whatsoever. I will use them and credit you with supreme gratitude.
Rhythm Talk's Citystreet is a tough italo cut produced by Swiss radio DJ Jonathan Tedesco alongside Andy Imex. Jonathan Tedesco still remixes every now and again to this very day I believe and his radio shows in the eighties were popular in central europe. The imagery and swagger seem to pay homage to the street roots of the electro movement occuring over the other side of the Atlantic back in 1984.
Crown Heights Affair were a powerhouse band that made some of the best disco funk records in the 70's. "Dream World" is no exception, though not one of their big hits. It's super full on from start to finish, and though each element is over the top it all fits together so well...even the bomb exploding at the end works. Possibly my favorite part of this song is their use of horns. Big and precise with no timidness. "Dream World" was released on a limited Promo 12" from Mercury Records in 1978 as a precursor to the album of the same name. This 12" is backed with a mix of "Galaxy of Love" and "I'm Gonna Love You Forever".
This was Fresh Band's only release. It came out on Are N Be Records out of New York in 1984. Are N Be Records only put out three releases between 1982 and 1984 and they are all pretty sought after. This track has a lot of elements that do it for me. It has an early garage house sound with a slammin' bassline, and well executed vocals. This track was mixed by legendary Zanzibar DJ Tony Humphries who was a pioneer in the garage house sound. This tracks was produced by The Strikers' producer and Crown Heights Affair member Darryl Gibbs. Fresh Band - Come Back Lover (Remix)
"..its bad enough that you post your boring old records, but when you preface it by talking about your equally boring life thats when I realize that cable internet should be handed out only after a written test or something. Thats my one criticism anyway."
Ouch. Thanks dad.
Indeep had a minor mainstream hit that most of you know, which was .. *google*.. ah.. Last Night A DJ Saved My life.. of course, but the album that track appeared on had a few good tracks. One of them, When Boys Talk, also produced a 12" single, and on the B side of that single were some 'Scratch versions'. In that early mid eighties era scratch versions were seen often alongside dubs, straight ahead beat reprises with small sparse elements of the main tune that you could do your grandmaster flash style primitive wikka wikka scratch routines over.
I'm posting the second of the two scratch version on the B side of this record, it goes into proto techno/house territory when the ambient synth wash comes in..awesome.. anybody want to see more photos of my stereo gear?..no?..ok:
George & Glen Miller are responsible for the rarest record on West End. Little is known about this amazing release. I wish Mel Cheren would've discussed this more in his book. I've encountered random Soca Lp's from the West Indian vocal duo, as well as a very nice disco 12" called "Easing".
There is something in the air lately. It's hard to decipher whether it's the wicked winds unsettling elements in SF or if it's something more intangible at play, but I am feeling quite energetic and inspired this week. Nothing helps keep the feeling alive like a full on track from Patti LaBelle. "Music Is My Way Of Life" is just a stormer start to finish. Guitars, horns, bass, percussion, oh my. Her entry into the song is nothing short of epic, leaning hard and strong into a "wwwweeeelllllll..." and she never lets up. There is something laid back and yet driving to this tune. Listen for the little whistle thrown in there. It's pure ear candy. The break down with the rhythm and lead guitars panned opposite one another with the percussion up in front is just genius. I could go on and on, but why...listen and enjoy.
Forgive the shameless Beat Electric promo, but I feel we have somewhat earned the right at this juncture. Neveretheless, I will make this short and sweet. If you are in the Los Angeles area tonite come out and see yours truly, BT Magnum fumble about and try to mix two records (108 and 130 BPM respectively) together at the Echo for the No Culture Party.
And more Importantly check out this insanely rare jam from Emerson originally featured on Disco Tom's Liger Music Mix.
Side On was a British band that put out only one release. The record came out on Beggars Banquet in 1982. This tune has a lot of charm. It has a boogie meets synthpop sound and a positive vibe that makes for a winning combination. The project was produced by band members Peter Maas and Everton McCalla and the tracks were written by Peter Maas and Derek Clark.
Oh, for god's sake I love this track. Pitch perfect lyrics sung by Esther Williams backed by smooth strings, genius guitar playing, just enough piano and horns and a tight percussive groove. It never gets old and it always make me move. Written by Willie Lester and Rodney Brown and remixed by Larry Levan, "I'll Be Your Pleasure" is prime for spring's rising temperatures and pheromones. Esther Williams: I'll Be Your Pleasure
Magnum's house party last night has left me unable to stare at this screen for too long without feeling nauseous, so I'm going to keep it brief. Ford model agency are doing a photo shoot in my backyard, a makeup artist friend who is working the shoot asked if they could use my space today, which I agreed to as I thought it would be cool to watch and a good story, but all the models are barely highschool age and turned up with their parents to watch over the whole thing. They are shuffling through my records and putting on whatever easy listening they can find, which if you know my crates happens to be plenty.
I'm going to escape into the sunshine with this dubbed out early eighties number from the Tyson records stable. Stop the taxi..
Here we are with a total mystery item. "Discovered" by Andrew at People's Potential Unlimited. A great later take on disco through the eyes of a seemingly all white cast. Magic City, in this instance, is referring to Miami. So put on your pink half shirt with airbrushed tits, and rollerskate to this one.
The year was 1987 and apparently Paris was an underground Milwaukee boogie artist heavily influenced by some other guy from the Midwest named Prince. The only thing I know about this 7 inch is that I own a copy and so do these guys. This release was so low budget they couldn't even spell the track title correctly.
Kleeer was a lazer soul group from 1979 through the early 80's. They went through a couple of different names and styles in the early 70's. They were first known as Pipleine, then The Jam Band, then Universal Robot Band (produced by Greg Charmichael and Patrick Adams), and finally, Kleeer. The new name came with a southern rock looking logo and self produced tracks. With their funky synth laden boogie sound, the band penned a bunch or minor hits for Atlantic in the early 80's. Here we have the slammin' boogie tune Tonight, and an edit I did of an obscure proto-house tune from 1982. Kleeer - Taste The Music (LeBaron Edit) Kleeer - Tonight
I wish I could tell you something about James 'Brafa' Bradford, but I can't, I don't have any other records by this man and can find out nothing about him. If he made anymore of these monster boogie tracks it probably wasn't under that name and the label only seemed to put out this one release, but wherever you are today James Bradford, thank you.
Disco Train is a sought after monster 45 of the sort I love most, minimal, indie, dusty and imaginative. You can take risks with your sound when you are answering to nobody I should think, not having produced any 80s disco independent disco jams myself.
This is one from my most prized stack, and now hopefully it will be helping inject some deep boogie into some laptop sets around the world:
Leon Haywood, of "I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You" fame, ran his own label called Evejim Records. While living in LA you will encounter many releases from this label, most don't really fly. This is definitely my favorite title from their extended catalog. Rare one off from this unknown band Private Joy (named after one of my favorite Prince joints).
The sun baked boogie lyrics make one feel like it 90 degrees at midnight, and time for a ice cold glass of cherry wine.
Omni must not only be lauded for making some fine boogie tracks, the guys wore really killer sweaters as well. Images such as this one were an obvious inspiration for our friends to name their free weekly Sunday Nite party at the Li Po Lounge in SF. Incidentally, Black Shag and myself will be the guest DJ's this coming weekend so today I felt it appropriate to lay down this piece of pure unadulterated Sweater Funk.
Visions Of Tomorrow were a mainstay of the Mobile, Alabama funk scene, led by Gerald Grant they gained acclaim at the many charity events and benefits in which they would frequently perform. They played a mixture of covers and originals, of which the instrumental 'Galaxy' was one of their standards. This sounds as fresh today as it ever did.. maybe even more so than it ever did.
As an aside, for San Francisco folks, we are playing the Sweater Funk party next Sunday, the 19th I think it is. I haven't played out in ages and this night is a unique experience and well worth checking out if only just to see it. Its down in the basement of the Li Po lounge in China town, everyone dancing in a fog filled, laser lit fire trap whilst guy's upstairs play mahjong next to a Buddhist alter. Come by.
These days I'm having fun taking good songs, and eliminating the good parts, leaving us with no meat, just the condiments. Here we are scraping up bun crumbs and relish bits that have fallen off of Ava Cherry's "You Never Loved Me" sandwich. Ava Cherry - You Never Loved Me (edit)
Before writer/producer Donald Burnside formed First Love (see the "Party Lights" post), he gave us the lone Air Power single on LA based disco label AVI Records. Soaring disco strings, funky clavinet stabs and endless percussion breaks make this one an essential piece of the late period disco puzzle. Another gem from 1979. Air Power - Be Yourself
Claudio Simonetti and Giancarlo Meo were one of the most important production teams in the italo boogie scene. They produced or performed in Goblin, Kasso, Crazy Gang, Vivien Vee, Easy Going, and many more. This is my favorite Capricorn track, it has much more soul than I need Love. It is a perfectly built dancefloor burner that has a Kano style vibe but with a creepy vocoder treatment. The instrumental is brilliant. Capricorn - Capricorn (Vocal) Capricorn - Capricorn (Instrumental)
Isn't she beautiful? laying there seductively like that, fresh and young, looking temptingly at us, with her near perfect European retro styling. Taking us back to an era when tasteful aesthetic seemed to come so naturally.
I even put a new cartridge on her, A Sumiko Bluepoint Special Evo III, and now she runs into a Musical Fidelity X-LPS which feeds lovingly into a MOTUUltraLite recording interface. Many a deep disco funk cut has been offered at the alter of her ginko wood plinth.
Zena Dejonay looks alright too.
Every time I hear this song I wonder why I didn't grow up listening to it on the radio, it had all the elements I think to have made it a mainstream smash rather than simply a club funk classic.
I'm putting up the dub version too as I think as far as euro boogie dub versions of the time go its pretty good, try working the choppy, delayed out sections into the vocal.
A brilliant new release of LA private press funk. New label Glydzone's first release is coming from one Damon Riddick, a Los Angeles funk legend hailing from Leimert Park. Analog synth glyding over sturdy drum machines. Funkmosphere Loyalists may remember a time when this tune was on Myspace.... around the same time I had sketched a preliminary flyer for Damon's dj night, then called 1983. Wave Length - Funk Dreams
What is a Polyphase? Is it a funky science party, a means to distribute alternating current electrical power, or a tribute to the 70's electro-harmonix effect pedal? You make the call! Anyways.
So there are tracks you get super excited about when you first hear them and they sort of fade from your consciousness over time. Then there are the cuts that just stay with you, meld deeply into your psyche, and never let go. "Polyphase" by Aaron Broomfield is the latter. One thing I enjoy so much about this track is the lyrics. Normally, I am not one to fault the simplicity of soul lyrics. In fact most of the time I prefer them to the majority of crap indie lyrics we have to endure, but the quirky lyrical concept in this song just works. Especially when put in contrast to Mr. Broomfield's somewhat limited range as a vocalist.
The instrumental B-side is a dancefloor killer. With an intensely tight arrangement, Broomfield obviously had nonstop ass shaking in mind when he constructed this monster. Make sure to check out the accompanying video complete with zoomed in crotch shots of his backing vocalist.
Aaron Broomfield is still on the scene and the Dance Classic Master has posted an informative interview with the man from a few years back. Broomfield's two releases on his own Miami based Mountain Records label are both considered to be very obscure pieces. "Polyphase" has been reissued directly by Broomfield from his master tapes and cheap bootlegs float around the internets as well. If you want to find the OG "Polyphase" just do a little research, there is a running time discrepancy on the label between the 1983 and 2004 pressings. It won't make much difference though, both pressings are rare as hell and quite pricey.
Look out for a Beat Electric post on Broomfield's first 12" Single "I'm Gonna Miss Ya" in the near future.
This is my favorite of all the tracks that Charanga 76 covered. The original version was recorded by soul legend Ben E. King in 1979. It is less ubiquitous than their covers of Good Times and Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now and grooves just as well. It has the usual swagger of a Charanga 76 track and hand clapping rhythm that moves a dance floor. Charanga 76 - Music Trance
We try and keep BeatElectric within fairly narrow context, turn of the 80's underground dance etc, but today I'm veering away from two reasons, firstly I love psychadelic music of all sorts, psych rock, psych soul, psych disco and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the cleaner knocked over my turntable that I use to record and snapped the needle off my precious Dynavector 10x5 cartridge, so I can't record anything today, I'm just too heartbroken. As a result I'm putting up the live set from San Francisco's diggers OM and MAKossa's new international psych night with their kind permission.
This set varies from known Turkish seventies heavey groove classics, to bizzare eastern european private press funk rock that they wouldn't let me get a real look at. We walked in an were handed a pair of 3D glasses and watched to the musical backdrop as a three dimensional psychedelic sexploitation film was projected onto the walls, the storyline of which revolved around air hostesses (I think). Here is their sales pitch for the night and a little of what they have to say: AFREAKA! is a monthly night of rare psychedelic beats and heavy grooves from around the globe combined with psychedelic and sexploitation cinema (often in 3D with 3D glasses provided) where DJs sychronize the music to match the visuals creating a surreal experience. AFREAKA! is free and occurs every first Wednesday of the month at the Attic in the Mission district of San Francisco. It is hosted by DJ MAKossa and Deejay OM with guests that specialize in rare psych records; a night exclusive to vinyl for an authentic psychedelic analog sound.
The Attic 3336 24th St. (between Mission and Valencia) San Francisco, CA 94110
Gwen McCrae started out singing in the Pentecostal Churches of Pensacola Florida. As a Pentecostal Minister, she was heavily involved in the Church and in Gospel music. However, as she transitioned from musical expressions of the Church into those of clubs and mainstream music, she put her religion aside. Gwen was of course married to T.K recording artist George McCrae. They met in 1963 whilst he was in the navy in Pensacola. Their rather rocky relationship is cited by Gwen as one of the reasons she wasn't propelled into success in her singing career. This song, "90% Of Me Is You", written by Clarence Reid (who wrote a great deal of the songs Gwen sang) and Inez Kitts, appears to speak to just that dynamic between Gwen and George. The song is taken off her 1975 album "Rocking Chair", an album with quite a few choice tracks. "Move Me Baby" and the title track "Rockin' Chair" are two along with "90% Of Me Is You" that make this album for me. Gwen McCrae - 90% Of Me Is You
