Dimitri From Paris has been jocking disco tracks since the rest of us were still kicking it in our pampers. When the various members of the Beat Electric crew were fucking about in crappy Nirvana cover bands and British nu jazz/idm outfits this man was buying up all of the key disco joints. Never mind the fact that at the time disco was a dirty, dirty word and house ruled the dance music universe. Dimitri was able to work in the parameters of the era and incorporate his love of disco within the spectrum of house music. Still, his cred runs deep.


Arguably, the two best releases Dimitri has been involved in are the Disco Forver compilation and the bootleg masterpiece Disc 'O' Lypso. The former deserves props as it is filled with some quality bangers and was released a few years before disco's full on resurgence. Disc 'O' Lypso on the other hand is a bootleg full of island inflected disco-dub obscurities that he compiled from the deepest cuts in his crates. I was fortunate enough to pick it up at a friends record shop when it made its brief run in 2003. It has since become quite a difficult piece to get one's hands on.

Dimitri from Paris plays a special disco set with Beat Electric's own BT Magnum and Lebaron this Friday August 1st at Mezzanine in SF (Jessie and Mint Streets), Doors open up at 10 PM.

Gerard 'PJ' Browne - Sexy Lady (Disc 'O' Lypso)
Silver, Platinum and Gold - I Got A Thing (Dim's Disco Forever Re-Edit)

These are some heavy Italo tracks from 1983 by I.M.S. They managed to kick out a modern sound that that was equally influenced by Kraftwerk and their Italian contemporaries. The mastermind behind I.M.S. also gave us Spacer Woman by Charlie.

mp3: International Music System - Non Line
mp3: International Music System - Run Away

Dictionary.com lists thirty different definitions of the word jack and UrbanDictionary.com has nearly 60 entries. However, if you read all of them you would be more than slightly hazy about what exactly all the Chicagoans were hyping through house music in the mid-80's. Farley Jackmaster Funk, Chip-E's Time To Jack, Jackin' the House...those four letters were nearly a necessity for early house records. What are they talking about? I suppose it's a sound synonymous with early Chicago house...and that sound makes you jack. The concept of "jacking your body" makes sense to me if i listen to the rigid yet somehow arousing drum machine patterns. This track should help you understand. Just don't confuse it with one of the many other meanings of the word, such as self-pleasuring, stealing, a premigratory young male salmon or absolutely nothing (as in jack shit).

Risqué Rhythum Team was K-Alexi, Mr. Lee (above) and Mitchbal. Each of them had extensive contributions to this particular definition of jack. The Jacking Zone was released on Chicago Connection Records in 1986. Presumably it is about some sort of area where lots of jacking took place.

These are a groovy couple of tracks from Juice on the private label Out-Let Productions. The instrumental of the title track Big Fun is a secret weapon, but the vocal has such a great vibe and such great silly lyrics. The proto-acid house synth is anything but silly. Mercy On Me is a bad ass party jam that lays out all the production tricks, even everyone's favorite: electronic helium. I have no idea where the group or the label is from, or even what year the record is from, but I got the record from New Orleans. Both tracks were written by David LaFleur with others and produced by Willie Delcour, which are French names, so New Orleans natives they may be. Enjoy.

mp3: Juice - Big Fun (Vocal)
mp3: Juice - Mercy On Me

The brainchild of producer Darryl Payne (Sharon Redd, Katie Kissoon), the female vocal group Sinnamon topped the club charts in 1982 with their hit "Thanks To You" on Beckett Records. Co-written by the brilliant Eric Matthew of Gary's Gang and mixed by Shep Pettibone, "Thanks To You" was destined to be a boogie classic. In 1983 the band switched over to the Jive label and added a male lead vocal for their excellent follow up single. "I Need You Now" had a much smaller impact on the charts, but is now considered a more sought after and pricey 12". The group released several more singles fairly well into the 80's, but slowly faded out as they could never match the success of their early releases.

Sinnamon - Thanks To You
Sinnamon - I Need You Now

Hot on the heels of Rock the Boat by The Hues Corporation, George McCrae released this early disco track in 1974. This tune, which was written for McCrae by the the then unknown KC Casey and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, went to the top of the charts in the US and the UK. Legend has it that the track was originally intended to be a instrumental, but Henry Stone of T.K. thought it needed a voice. The track called for a high pitched voice that the writers could not deliver and when McCrae showed up randomly, his falsetto was a perfect fit. The record came out before the invention of the 12" single, so the track was split up into two parts. One would assume that Francis Grasso and other DJs of the era used to extend the song by playing two copies of the 7". Also check out the early use of an early drum machine.

mp3: George McCrae - Rock Your Baby
mp3: George McCrae - Rock Your Baby (Part 2)

Skateboarding had punk, roller skating had disco, hence roller skating is one of the most popular youth culture movements on the planet, with millionaire professional icons and an entire industry that feeds off of it, and skateboarding is a thing of the past, last practiced by Marty McFly as he escaped Biff the town bully.

This is Roller Skating's best song.

It was recorded by Dr. York, who is now doing 140 years in federal prison for a very unsavory conviction.

Dr. York - Shake-n-Skate 

Discovered in a pile of 45's at a warehouse and after a five year long licensing debacle, the deep diggers over at Lotus Land bring us the lost Wynd Chymes classic. The extremely obscure 7" was the bands demo and apparently the catalyst for getting them signed to RCA Victor Records. Oddly, Wynd Chyme's first official release, the "Arrival" LP did not include the track, possibly because it doesn't quite fit in with the more jazzy leanings of the album. But then again it is the song that got them signed in the first place which makes it's absence all the more strange. This monster of a cut is the perfect blend of raw boogie funk with some nice electronic flourishes and an out of control synth bass track. On Repeat:

Wynd Chymes - Baby You're The One

Hey there. So it's been some time since I have posted anything here on BE...believe me I am aware of my neglect. However, tomorrow night...Tuesday July 8th...9pm to 12am or more I will be the guest DJ on DJ Jeno's online radio show Noise From The Void. I am really excited as many of you know Jeno's influence on the dance music scene for the past decade and then some. Please tune in from anywhere in your home, anywhere in the world for a great show. There is a live chat that takes place during the show. Also, I will be keeping a track list and the show should be archived which means I will be posting a link later once it is available. Nothing like 3+ hours of tunes to make up for 2 months of absence.
Here are the details:

Where: Noise From The Void on 90hz

When: Tuesday July 8th at 9pm PST.

First Choice, from Philadelphia, were one of the great disco acts. They had many solid hits including Hold Your Horses, Double Cross, Gotta Get Away, From You Baby, and Let No Man Put Asunder. This track is pretty ubiquitous. It is perhaps the most sampled track in dance music actually (next to the Amen Break.) It was produced in 1977 and pressed to a rare 12." In 1983 it was re-released as a 12" with both Shep Pettibone and Frankie Knuckles remixes. This fine sounding rip is from the rare 12" bootleg EP pictured which features the Shep Pettibone mix. As a bonus, I have added a mighty fine Ron Hardy remix.

mp3: First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder
mp3: First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder (Ron Hardy Mix)

We have covered the work of Leroy Burgess and Greg Carmichael here at Beat Electric several times now and of course for very good reason. Everything these gentlemen touched turned to solid gold. Logg, which also featured Burgess's cousin Sonny T. Davenport, was probably my favorite of their endeavors. Released on the Salsoul label in 1981, "I Know You Will" (thanks in part to a stellar mix by Larry Levan) is a very heavy lazer soul joint. As respective pioneers of the disco sound with Black Ivory and Bumblebee Unlimited in the 70's, Burgess and Carmichael were obviously on the forefront of the boogie tip as well with this cut. The increasingly rare and pricey Logg LP has quite a few more jams on it, but we will have to share those with you further on down the line.

Logg - I Know You Will (Larry Levan Mix)