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.
Patti LaBelle - Music Is My Way Of Life
Posted by T. Preston
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Labels:
Patti LaBelle
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.
Sometimes you just gotta send out your love via UPS.
Emerson - Sending all My Love Out
Posted by Magnum
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Labels:
boogie,
Emerson,
No Culture,
SmellA,
UPS
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.
Side On - Magic
Side On - A Magic Version
Posted by Joel Brüt
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Labels:
brit funk,
jazz funk,
Lazer Soul,
Side On
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
Posted by T. Preston
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Labels:
disco,
Esther Williams,
Larry Levan
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..
Posted by Black Shag
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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.
Keep On Dancin'
Posted by DISCO TOM
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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.
Paris - Phyisal Love
Paris - Girl of My Dreams
Posted by Magnum
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Labels:
boogie,
Lotus Land,
Paris,
Prince
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
Posted by Joel Brüt
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Labels:
boogie,
kleeer,
proto house,
Re-Edit,
Universal Robot Band
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:
Posted by Beat Electric
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Labels:
african disco,
blackshag,
boogie,
brafa,
brit funk
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.
Private Joy - Coolin' Out
Posted by DISCO TOM
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Labels:
Leon Haywood,
Private Joy
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.
This is one my favorite mixes from the legendary Francois K.
Omni - Body Groove (12" Club Mix)
Posted by Magnum
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Labels:
boogie,
Francois Kevorkian,
Omni,
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.
Posted by Black Shag
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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)
Posted by DISCO TOM
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Labels:
Re-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
Posted by Magnum
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Labels:
Air Power,
AVI Records,
Donald Burnside,
First Love
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)
Posted by Joel Brüt
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Labels:
claudio simonetti,
Giancarlo Meo,
Italo
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 MOTU UltraLite 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.
Posted by Black Shag
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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
Posted by DISCO TOM
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Labels:
boogie,
Dam Funk,
Funkmosphere,
Glydzone,
Wave Length
