We've covered a lot of post-disco electro funk material here at Beat Electric, here's a little throwback with a more traditional straight ahead disco sound. This beautiful Canadian cut was included in a Trocadero Transfer mix we posted a while back. A friend of mine gave me this 12" around December and its haunting infectious sound has found its way back on my turntable many times since. Canadian keyboardist and member of Nightlife Unlimited Louis Toteda handled production duties on this masterpiece. Enjoy the full seven minutes of swirling disco perfection.

Vera - Take Me To The Bridge

Oscar Perry-You've Got My Nose Open

Nathan McKinney-Very Special Lady

Charms-Givin' It Up

 I was downtown and stopped by a spot on a whim whilst I was supposed to be doing something else entirely. It turned out to be worthwhile though, as I came up with this Timmy Regisford produced proto house dub that I had heard a couple of times over the years. I'm sorry for the slight crackle, the dub side of the record wasn't in the best of shape and was a little thrashed, but the vocal A side was pristine as though it had never been played, which makes sense as the vocal ain't all that and it was the dub that lit up the clubs.

Chocolette - It's That East Street Beat (Dub) 

 Carol Williams was the first female solo artist on Salsoul, she had a handful of singles that did pretty well through the 80's and has spent the past twenty years or so on the disco revue circuit, doing throwback parties and oldschool themed events at casinos and the like.

 Her biggest underground hit, Can't Get Away (From Your Love), gets a lot of CD compilation and internet love, and rightly so as its one of the best, but the 12" single is getting a little harder to come by and I haven't seen the instrumental around anywhere so I'm putting that up, and as an added bonus a couple of her heavier unreleased tunes from a series of sessions she did in 1983.

Carol Williams - Can't Get Away (Instrumental)
Carol Williams - 60 Yard
Carol Williams - Have You For My Love
Carol Williams - I'll Do Anything

  We've covered Bay-Area-transplant-by-way-of-Ghana Rim Kwaku Obeng before on Beat Electric. His self-released recorded output produced two highly sweated LPs, Rim Arrives and Too Tough. As far as I know there is just one other Rim record other than the mediocre International Funk 12" also mentioned in Black Shag's post, fortunately it's from 1983 and very high quality.
  I first found this 12" in a Santa Cruz thrift store several years ago. I kept putting it in my record bag and never working it into sets due to the higher tempo and slightly odd arrangement of the track. Frustrated, I eventually traded it to another collector. As these things go I heard the track again much later in a mix and began to regret letting it go. As luck would have it I wound up finding another copy last week on the way to a gig and alerted Black Shag who demanded to hear it. When Black Shag asks you for an mp3 you'd better deliver.

  Rim And The Believers - I'm Not Going To Let You Go

 Word was put out that a big Italo collection had been put out at the Rasputin chain of record stores in the Bay Area, but of course given my busy lifestyle by the time I finally got around to taking a look the vultures had already picked it over, bragging about their scores on my facebook page, whilst I was left with their scraps, fumbling around the Rasputin downtown that all the crack heads wonder in to. That being said, perhaps they missed this one, or simply didn't consider it worthy considering the other prizes on offer, but I was pleased to come home with it as a consolation none the less.

 Azul y Negro were a Spanish electro duo, that I suppose if you grew up in Spain in the 70's and 80's you would have heard of, but are new on me. They are sort of a Spanish equivalent of the Pet Shop Boys perhaps. This balearic sounding instrumental was actually on a Disconet DJ pool LP which came pre-mixed, so I cut it out and faded the song before a Norma Lewis track kicked in.

Azul y Negro - Mar De La Tranquilidad

Goldie Alexander is an Australian author, well known around Melbourne for her murder mysteries, and her ability to fictionalize difficult subjects from her native country's past into stories from children.

According to my internet research, which is detailed and authoritative, at some point in her career she went to Canada to become a black soul singer in the disco scene there and put out a handful of records, including a super tight e.p that includes that has this sought after jam on the B side, before abruptly disappearing from musical history and reentering the literary world of Australian short stories.

Goldie Alexander - Spend My Life With You

 This is a strange dollar bin score for a couple of weeks ago, or $2 bin at least from the price sticker, I think even the Bay Area dollar bins are more expensive than other places. Trickle down economics coming in to play, as another social media company goes IPO in the city, fucked up 12" records, that nobody other than me wants anything to do with, double in price in order that the record store owner can share in silicon valley's prosperity.

 Anyhow, this is a local private press experimental, new wave'ish electro record out of San Francisco, by a band called Dub Oven. This e.p has an entry on discogs, but no mention anywhere else, so I think this is an internet first. Claiming to be put out on Tenderloin West Music, the Tenderloin being a pleasant neighborhood/skid row resisting gentrification despite proximity to the new Twitter HQ.

 The producers Gary Miles and Blase Smith were synthesizer players on the local punk scene in SF although I don't know much about them beyond that, I'm not sure if the guys on the front cover in tribal outfits carrying a gas oven through the jungle are them or not, still its one of the better covers.

Dub Oven - Millions Of Sensations 

 Even back when we started BeatElectric it was already sort of difficult to post something new to the internet, that is to say something you couldn't already hear on youtube, another blog or maybe some weird file dump aggregator site in France. Not that that was ever our primary objective, it was more about the quality of the rip and ease of download for laptop DJ's, but you know, its a cool feeling when you know something is completely fresh. These days though, its near impossible, I haven't done it in a while, even if the tune is complete garbage its already out there somewhere to listen to, and thats a great thing, as it means so much more weird music now accessible. Yet still, sometimes its nice to be first.

 Anyway, I was walking down 24th St, which is a strip in San Francisco's Mission district that has been a little more resilient to gentrification, there are still some new restaurants and coffee shops opening up along there of course, full of tech workers (such as myself) but there are also still the traditional residents, working class Latino families making a living.

 This older Mexican guy in wife beater had some random stuff for sale on a blanket on the sidewalk. A toaster oven, a sony walkman, a corkscrew and some records. I flipped through the Polka LP's that usually turn up on the streets of this part of Mission, and suddenly I saw some hombre's in jumpsuits and afros, it was definitely an indie Tejano Polka record, produced by a small label in South Texas, but there was a single track listed that had an English title, Stepping Out Tonight, so perhaps a song about partying, and a credit for someone named Pedro Gonzalez who performed synth duty on it. Maybe there was a stand alone disco track on this among all the accordion music.

 I offered homey a dollar, and he spat "No way! where else you gonna find this record right now!? This old school right here!" , to which I bravely responded "who else is gonna buy this record right now? Eh!? Today's your lucky day, I'm going to give you a dollar for it." .. how about that razor sharp wit, I had only just spent twice that amount on a coffee, and here this guy was trying to eek a living selling used toasters off of a blanket .. anyway, I didn't win, he scratched under his armpit, looked at me unwavering like the piece of shit I was and I gave him two bucks.

And it turns out it was a disco track..

Little Joe & La Familia - I'm Stepping Out Tonight 

Test the sound system at your next gig with this one, or just dance to it in your bedroom while you’re getting ready to go out to your favorite weekly funk/boogie club. Either way, it’s a serious jam!

  Detroit has provided an incredible wealth of black dance music to the world. We've posted a number of tracks from Motor City here on Beat Electric, here is yet another to attempt to chip away at the endless musical output of this city. Cookie Do is a one-off artist as far as I know with production from Danny Omar, who also worked with Detroit super group The Spinners and has guitar, songwriting, and special thank you credit on some of their late '70s to '80s LPs. Dream Girl features somewhat cheesy rap style vocals on the A-side, the instrumental is my favorite mix and really delivers the goods with a loose minimal funk groove over a basic shuffling drum machine pattern.

  Cookie Do - Dream Girl (inst)

I always instantly think of 'Reach Up' and 'Love So Deep' when I hear the name Toney Lee. I came across 'Teaser' not too long ago while on my seven day hunting expedition. Written and Produced by Richard Bassoff, and Nick Braddy who brought you 'The Party Side Of Town' performed by Essence III, 'Take A Risk' performed by Empress, and Tracey Weber's 'Sure Shot'.

Not the rarest, or most expensive record, but a solid synth workout, with the perfect touch of cowbell, piano, and the background vocal telling you to "take your time".

Toney Lee - Teaser (Instrumental)