How many fools have this record? This rare 45 on Life World? This is a mid tempo joint that has proven to completely blow the world of boogie and funk fans away. This record alone proves why inferior pressings can command higher praise than their 12" counterparts, as evidenced by their Popsike trail. Check it! Pyramid Plus - Comin At Cha Pyramid Plus - Comin' At Ya (MP3)
I went and saw the Richard Avedon exhibit last weekend at the SF MOMA. There's something in the way he photographs people that is so raw. His ability to capture such depth of emotion in the eyes is really beautiful and moving. There's a series he did based on rural life in the American West that was so stunning, I can't stop thinking about it. On a completely different note, here's a track I really love. Herbie Hancock and Sylvester are an amazing team. Obviously a true testament to Sylvester's brilliant talent and vocal range as this song is sung low and deep. Herbie Hancock - Magic Number (Disco Mix)
While I agree with my friend LeBaron and the BBC science department that our race will split into several subspecies, I disagree with the timeline in which this is all going down. Judging by the video below I believe this new survival of the fittest (or lack thereof) is currently upon us.
Ugh. So anyways, not only are we here at Beat Electric imploring you to Funkacise, y'all better double down and throw in a little Funkincise just to keep squarely on the path towards genetic and spiritual enlightenment. Gift Of Dreams - Funkincise Gift Of Dreams - Funkincise (Instrumental)
Beat Electric is gonna let you in on a little secret. The human race is at a critical stage and the choices that you make can effect your DNA in the future. Many generations in the future your DNA will have no choice but to chose one of two subspecies. Your future seed can be the well endowed, built to conquer gracile species or human robustus; the hunched over goblin like fellow who fights by unleashing kitschy homosexual pornography on hotlinkers. Getting into an excercise routine is very difficult, especially since there are so many entertaining tweets to follow. I guess, what works best is to find an activity that you like to do. BT Magnum practices yoga in conjunction with tantric sex, Black Shag does biathalon on his Wii with a very heavy firearm, Kelley B roller skates with pompoms, Disco Tom plays dodge ball, Safety Scissors likes to fish, and I like to bowl with little people. However you do it, get your ass in gear and funkacise that body for the good of your future generations.
(I had to get rid of the video game, as we were hotlinking it from the good people at neave.com and it was causing the page to have trouble loading.)
I think I'm going to do a series of posts on records with 'Lets Rock' in the title. I think I can manage about four or five. It's usually a mark of quality I find.
Producer Rick Tarbox had a couple of act's which rhymed with his lastname, Hotbox and Starbox included, both of which are great electro funk acts. Starbox's Let's Rockett has a not uncommon space travel theme, so instead of a picture I'm including this Space Invaders game, put your mouse over and play it if you have some time to kill. This is the hard hitting instrumental version.
In advance of the show on Friday I felt it necessary to post a couple of tracks as well as a mix Dâm-Funk did for BBC radio whilst on his most recent European tour. As I have been following him over the last couple of years, it is interesting to see how Dâm has so heavily developed and evolved this style of music he has aptly coined Modern Funk. Give it a few years and if we are all lucky, the man will own a radio station or two in just about every market.
I hacked us. I was playing with our hotlink filter and didn't test it, that fate was supposed to be reserved for sites piggy backing our content. Sorry if it caused your eyes to bleed.
Contrary to popular belief, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's 1991 hit Good Vibrations was not the first hip house track. Fast Eddie invented it; Tyree laid claim to the first hip house track on wax with the 1989 release of Turn Up The Bass, but UK's the Beatmasters say they preceded him by three years. As seen in this documentary, there are fine lines between hip house, rap house, house rap and you name it. The genre grew a lot in the 90's and saw a lot of success on the radio but it morphed into something very 90's. These Chicago early hip house cuts show a lot of classic house and acid elements. Tyree and Fast Eddie's earlier tracks were classic acid house with little, if any, vocal. Tyree - Turn Up The Bass (Hip Hop Version) Tyree - Nation Of Hip House Fast Eddie (feat Sundance) - Git On Up
Many people have been inquiring what the BeatElectric crew actually look like. It seems to be a real point of interest, which is a shame, as the blog was supposed to be about rare dance records and not our perceived celebrity status, which doesn't really mean anything to us as we are millionaires who live outside and above the normal restrictions and tier structure of society, but seeing as so many of you asked I'm posting the above picture of Kelley B, taken the other night at our two year anniversary party roller dance jam. This is a rare photo of Kelley smiling and as such is now a treasured part of the BE archives.
Today I'm posting three records that happened to be sat on the top of my stack, there is no theme or thread that links them other than I listened to them yesterday. An overlooked, weird disco banger, a mellow electro funk instrumental, and probably my favorite megamix record of all time...and so, with that, on to the crusty vinyl..
Blackwell's Boogie Down And Mess Around was my first signature disco tune. Its an album cut that was popular on the danefloor's of Spain (?) back in 1979, I have found two copies on separate occasions of Thrift Town, the ghetto thrift store on Mission in SF, both with the special edition strawberry red vinyl, and both with the awesome album cover of the naked chicks chasing one another. This should be an all time peak hour disco classic, why am I the only one that I know of who plays it? I gave my spare copy away, and that DJ doesn't play it either, wtf, am I off the mark on this one?
DO NOT BE IMPATIENT AND SKIP THROUGH THE TRACK..WAIT..sit through the intro and wait for the drop on this, it destroys dancefloors..
I picked up this Fatback record in Norwich for a few quid, I hadn't heard of it before, its a lovely dubbed out electro boogie instrumental with a mellow swing to it. I will be playing it as I bbq octopus for the rest of the crew this afternoon. Life sucks.. Fatback - The Girl Is So Fine (Dance Version)
International press agencies like to claim that I'm the greatest DJ to ever come out of San Francisco via Norwich, and I'm flattered, but really instead of long articles about me, my fluctuating weight and the suicidal angst of whomever I have just kicked to the curb/broken up with, they should be writing about the true king of San Francisco, my man Cameron Paul. Producer of Salt'n'Peppa's Push It, collector of platinum records, and an early mentor of LeBaron's prior to LeBaron's tragic fall from grace with the bay area nightclub community of that period. A tale deserving of a post in itself.
I found this megamix at the famous yard sale in Redwood City, it was on the Mixx It label, a DJ subscription service and was on the B side of maybe Mixx It Volume 44 from 1993, the A side having some exclusive Janet Jackson remixes on it. I can't find the record right now, I lost it about 5 minutes after recording it, but I think the mix is called something like Journey Into The Old School (The Final Chapter) pt. 3 . If you have parts 1 and 2 of this mix off of earlier Mixx It records, then please, for the love of god, write in as Cameron Paul no longer picks up my calls. Short Ableton edited megamixes are popular right now, but has anyone of those kids put together a 15 minute mix of 30 or tracks that compares to this? He probably did this in the studio, with a bored look on his face, on the turntables in one take without a single time stretch or cracked serial number. Cameron Paul - Journey Into The Old School (The Final Chapter) Part 3
I don't check our email nearly often enough, but I just came across a really cool note from a gentleman in the UK who has been a modern house DJ for 10 or so years. Long story short, the man had an epiphany between a party he went to and some of the content he found on our site. He is now on a serious mission to dig up old wax and start a new party in Brighton based on the classic sounds he is sifting through. Today is the two year anniversary of Beat Electric, and I must say it is messages such as this one that inspire us to continue curating this blog.
I received another recent email requesting we post the Instrumental Tee Scott mix of Music Turns Me On by Sparque, and in the spirit of the moment I am happy to oblige.
Also posted here is a lovely modern soul stepper from the very obscure Ohio outfit Satellite entitled You're The One I Love and a classic Ron Hardy Edit of Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principles Your Love.
This record by Patti Austin was released in 1981 on Qwest Records. It was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones (who also owns the label) and longtime writing partner Rod Temperton. With her sweet soul vocals and Quincy's polished production work, this uplifting modern soul tune is great. This is one of the few modern soul jams that has a searing guitar solo that works.
Oh, and here is a picture of Yoda getting down at a party.
I was just going through the stack of records I brought back from the UK. Digging there in the big cities was, for me at least, a fairly fruitless experience. Its a nation of record collectors and taste makers, the dealers are educated in all genres down to the last most obscure detail, and people have deep pockets when it comes to vinyl. You never want to be going head to head with a British or Japanese record nut with access to liquid assets. Forget it. But, the best thing about digging in the UK was that all the younger collectors seemed to congregate in London, Manchester and these sorts of places, and wouldn't be seen dead in a provincial town or small city, and these sorts of places are my natural habitat and bread and butter. The coastal boonies are full of killer records left over from the 70's/80's UK soulboy DJ circuit.
I went into a small record shop with pictures of Elvis and 60's garage acts all up over the walls. I asked the tea drinking proprietor politely if he had any disco or eighties dance music, and he casually points over to two boxes I passed as I walked through the door, both with big hand written scrawls on the side saying "ONE POUND EACH". Now a pound sterling equates to about $400 USD or thereabouts it seemed, but still, its pretty much the smallest denomination possible in Great Britain. I asked him why the boxes were almost placed out the door and in direct sunlight, and he said it was so if anyone came in to try and steal records they would just take the easy route, nick some disco and leave, his rock'n'roll records safely untouched by their thieving hands. We had a chat and he gave me a stack from the boxes for a fiver. He knew tons about disco, modern soul and it's current market value. He just hated it that's all. Here are three I picked out that were interesting.
Fashion were a darkwave dance act from the early eighties London scene, I have a couple of their other records, but I had never seen this one before, it was a double 12" single. The bands producer 'Zeus B'Held' often created dub versions of the bands instrumentals that he would term 'mutant remixes', this one comes off the flip of the bonus disc:
The shop owner said an old rep for Pye Records who was now living in Essex came in and dropped a bunch of promos off that were sitting around his garage. Pye would carry releases from a lot of English independents in the late seventies, particularly small glam rock labels, and some of these glam acts would often put a disco B side on their singles in an attempt to cash in. David Boydell was a pure disco act, there is an LP of his out there somewhere, this single came on cool white vinyl, Red Light is a quirky disco funk instrumental that appears on the flip"
A very sick group here, The Ice Band with Unique Pleasure. They back up the great name with their monster ghetto disco tune "Live People". Here is quick edit! Ice Band w/ Unique Pleasure - "Live People" (edit)
Let's Go Another Round is probably my favorite Inner Life AND Rainbow Brown track. Both released in 1981, the Rainbow Brown version was produced by Patrick Adams and featured Fonda Rae singing lead while Inner Life's had Jocelyn Brown on vocals and Greg Carmichael handling production duties. Stan Lucas wrote and co-produced both versions. Obviously with its drawn out breaks and funky synths, the Inner Life version is more suited for the dancefloor. Flanked by soaring string lines, the Rainbow Brown interpretation falls more on the classic tip of the disco spectrum. Either way, It is quite nice to hear frequent collaborators Greg Carmichael and Patrick Adams go head to head and display their different production flourishes.
All the B-Boy's will know the origins of this one, but less known is that in 1983 Larry Levan made a remix of this Jimmy Castor Bunch dance battle classic. I picked up a clean copy for a few euros when I was traveling through Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago on the classic dutch Ramshorn re-release label. I love Ramshorn, it was so well curated, whoever picked out the tracks that that label re-pressed during the 80's for the european market deserves a blog entry all to themselves, if only I knew who that person was.
I heard some funk purist say that Levan should never have touched this, but thats just aging B-Boy crazy talk as a result of brain damage incurred from too many failed headspins. Levan's version hits hardest.
Tomorrow evening Saturday 8/22 I will be spinning records in the lovely city of Portland with my good friends Patricia Furpurse (Discoworkout.com) and the Monorail boys, Remy and Lamar. Check out this post on the excellent Monorail Blog for some exclusive tracks and more information about the event. We are pulling out all of the jams, so come early and stay late. There may be some afterparty action as well, stay tuned.
I'm pretty sure for the entire time I have been listening to "dance music" this song by Candi Staton has been a track that always seems to speak right to whatever I am feeling. I can remember dancing my ass off to the Frankie Knuckles version on Trax as a youngster, throwing my hands up and singing along loudly not a care in the world. But as I get a bit older, just the littlest bit, it's the House Appela that always gets me straight in the heart. This week, in light of some serious house posting by Black Shag, it seems fitting to post this track. That, and the fact that in the midst of weekly stresses and work, this track provides such an amazing soundtrack to coping with the hard times in life. It builds and climbs and though it never really goes all the way; it's subtlety is its genius. Of course lyrically this is a seriously amazing song. Yeah, I love this track...it's just really, really good.
We should probably take a breather for a few months while you all digest the collection that Black Shag just posted; but I think you might appreciate this mix.
Beat Electric reader Gretchen from Milwaukee sent me this cassette full of ghettoblaster jamz to rip and post on the blog. It is in the red the whole time, but what a killer set of tracks. Unfortunately, it looks like side B was taped over with Earth Wind and Fire, which cuts off the first two tracks and then resumes. Enjoy!
Midnight Star - Headlines Lisa Lisa - Can You Feel The Beat Davina - Rock, Shake, and Roll King MC - What Have I Done For Your Lately Carmen - Throw Down World Class Wreckin' Cru - Mission Possible Hanson & Davis - Tonight (Love Will Make It Right) Model 500 - No Ufo's Model 500 - Time, Space, Transmat Johnny Kemp - Just Another Lover Download - Gretchen's Illin' Tape
God bless this band. The fucking bollocks of the dog mate. What totally amazes me about The Clash is their ability to rule any genre, or sometimes accidentally create one (ahem, punk.)
They did rock pretty badass, but their reggae tune "Bank Robber" is among one of the hottest dub dance tunes I can think of. They also nailed the 1st B-Boy movement with "Magnificent 7", and then grabbed a foothold in disco history by simply releasing an instrumental version, "Magnificent Dance".
This tune here is called "Cool Confusion" and was originally the B Side to "Should I Stay Or Should I Go", pulled here from the wicked "Super Black Market Clash" 10" collection. No edits, no funny business, this is straight from the tap. Recorded in 1981 at Electric Lady Land Studios, NY (see photo above for a candid session shot.) This song is in it's own league entirely. I like to think of it as the nasty predecessor to the tune "Straight To Hell", which most people probably know now due to MIA's ripping a version of that. If this had more instrumental sections, I'm sure it would've been flipped by an aspiring R&B candidate already, but it hadn't, and it hasn't. May Joe Strummer rest in peace on that notion.
The Planet Doesn't Mind is an electro boogie cover of a classic new wave track by British group New Musik featuring Tony Mansfield of the Nick Straker Band. X-Visitors Hail from the South Bay, California and had one other release on their own imprint Dancing Bear Records entitled Hokey Pokey. I found my copy at an outdoor $1 record blow out in Redwood City, warped and beat to shit. Now, I don't really have any desire to upgrade this one, but I got a good enough rip and find the mp3 to be a pleasent listen on my ipoon.
I had been torturing myself for months and I couldn't take it anymore. I nearly poisoned my mind with that other cartridge I was using. Gladly, it is now poisoning someone else's mind in Audiogon land. All of my rips had been so dull sounding lately so I replaced that cart with a new shiny gold one with a boron cantilever.
This smooth as silk Billy Ocean track was produced by Nigel Martinez, a Brit from Leicester in 1981. Nigel holds the distintion of being the only Brit to ever produce a Motown track. Our own Kelley B Lived in his hometown for a year. The other track, from 1980 by J.R. Funk and The Love Machine is the instrumental B side of an annoying track full of James Brown vocal bits.
I probably should have posted this one right when we started the blog several years back. Of course I felt Oliver Cheatham's dancefloor classic was just a little too well known, much too sampled, etc...
But screw it. Today is Saturday, it's warm and sunny in SF and all I can think about is staying in and chilling as is there is not a damn thing to do tonite in the city.
So yeah, go out and get drunk. Dance to some trance or hip hop at some shit club. I'm gonna stay home, and in the words of Mr. Cheatham, "make love and listen to the music." Oliver Cheatham - Get Down Saturday Night
Let me start off by saying I am not the biggest fan of San Fran-Disco. The two biggest SF labels were Moby Dick Records and Cowley's own Megatone. Although Megatonewas the far superior of the two, both labels were mostly responsible for that over the top pre-hi nrg sound that makes me cringe. Now with that being said Patrick Cowley was a brilliant songwriter and producer. His early synth work was reminiscent of his obvious hero, Giorgio Moroder.
Released in 1981, Get A Little was the lead single off of his first solo LP Megatron Man. Also his most sought after 12" single, Get A Little had that perfect blend of late period disco and early synth pop. Sadly Cowley was an early aids casualty, passing away in 1982. Although he was in the prime of his career when he passed, Cowley left behind an impressive body of work.
Here is another mental latin disco song. Problem with this tune is that you really only need about 1/16th of the song to make it danceable. I've heard people play this before trying to act like the vocal part works.... not happening, just ain't happening people. Here is a chopped up and rearranged dance edit I did about 4 or 5 years ago. Still sounds good.
So I think I've decided that the grand masters of this boogie funk record digging scene aren't hip urban twenty/thirty somethings with blogs, or studious trainspotting bearded art school dropouts with DJ nights or jive talking beat producers, no, its none of them, its slightly overweight middle aged men in small cities in the UK, France, Holland and Belgium. These guys are on a while different level. Above is a picture I took in a record store the other day in the English urban metropolis of Norwich, the poster is for a night happening at a small pub this evening into the wee midnight hours of, well, 12am midnight. Look at the production values on that flyer. With a font and photocopy job like that you know its for real. The owner of the record store has promised me in his local dialect that he will school me hard, and I believe him, as all these country record dealers seem to have at some point seen or owned everything that the United States ever produced. Which explains why I never see any of it in the US.
Next Friday, the 7th, I will be representing the West Coast (and Norwich) at the Computer Boogie party at The Star in Bethnal Green, London. Check out the flyer on the side bar. I should be fresh from a digging excursion in Amsterdam, and I brought all vinyl, along with some cuts I haven't played out anywhere yet.
Ulysses82 are putting the party together, a production outfit from the UK who are known for their electro funk remixes and creative sampling. I really like them so I'm looking forward to hearing them play. I'm including a couple of their boogie reworks here, along with a southern scene UK underground classic, Light Of The World's 'Time'. Disco Tom was telling me that Kon or Amir played him the 7" of this one and told me to keep an eye out for it whilst I was here, so I will go one better and put up the 12". If you are from England and don't know Light Of The World, don't worry, they are still in business and are apparently available to play weddings, corporate events with either their own material, covers or a special George Benson tribute set.
My head is pounding this morning from the endless supply of free vodka consumed last nite so I need to keep it short and sweet before I drag myself into a hot shower and seize the day. Here is a very nice track by the trio Plush. Rene Moore, Angela Winbush and Bobby Watson handled the songwriting and production on this one and Tee Scott did the remix. Smooth.
Electronics were really pretty in the Cold War era. Technology was changing so rapidly and a new modern style was emerging. I think a lot of people that had a Nakamichi 600 also had a DeLorean in the garage and a digital Seiko LCD watch on their wrist. If you were an audiophile with an extra $600 in your pocket, this was the deck for you. I happened to pick it up in the sticks for $40. Nakamichi didn't stop at one beautiful piece of gear though. They created the System One, which is the sexiest stereo ever made; it is sexy enough in black, I have never seen one in silver. I have been looking for a lazer soul cassette that would allow me to share with you digital media whores some fine analog gear. That said, this tape was mastered with a lot of distortion and it doesn't make for the best rip!
These lazer soul jamz from Ivy were released on their sophomore 1985 Ivy II cassette on Heat Recording and Filmworks out of Akron, Ohio. There are more than a few smooth jamz on this tape but these choice cuts have a lot of lazer soul flavor.
PARIS READERS: I will be visiting your fine city this coming weekend. Help me figure out where I can go to dance to some good music!
Alright first off, Carmen is Black Shag's baby. He brought her into this world, reared her proper and we love him for his efforts. Thank you Shag! That being said his beat to crap copy of the Throw Down 45 is even more jacked than my VG- piece of junk. It's been almost a year since he covered Carmen's first single Time To Move and I could not wait any longer to post this second release on Kevin McCord's Detroit indie label, Presents Records. Pictured above is the one sheet and press photo from the promo copy of Time To Move released in 1984. For more info on that cut, check Black Shag's original post here.
The now 14 year old's follow up single Throw Down was written and recorded by McCord. Although this track is a little more rare and sweated than Time To Move, I equally covet both of these songs. Throw Down is considered a Proto classic and although it was produced in the slightly advanced year of 1986, this track keeps it very real. Thanks to LeBaron I have included the 12" mix of Time To Move as well. Carmen went on to record a few more freestyle tracks in the late 80's and early 90's but none of the releases came close to the grandeur of her two Presents Records singles. Carmen - Throw Down (7" Mix) Carmen - Time To Move (12" Mix) Carmen - Time To Move (7" Mix)
and:
The SWEATER FUNK 1 Year Anniversary
San Francisco, do you know how good you truly have it here? For a solid year now these champs have been hauling their awesome soundsystem into the basement of the Li Po Lounge every Sunday evening just for you. There never is a cover charge and these guys throw down the best damn music this city has to offer. It's all for the love of boogie, 2 step and modern soul. Get off your asses and go to their one year anniversary party and boogie down in the basement! In the spirit of the event, I have included a track from Salsoul legends, Skyy. Thanks to Marky for this one.
Sipho Mabuse aka Hot Stix, was a member of the South African group Harari. He put out a few records as a solo act in the mid eighties. This jam from 1984 is great. It came from the EP Burn Out, which features two modern dance singles and two traditional Afro soul tracks. It is hard to peg the influences of this track, but it sounds more Kano than breakdance electro.
This picture is actually an old boss of mine as a kid in southern california during the height of the space race, all tooled up and ready to fight communists on the moon. he had it on his facebook page, I didn't ask his permission to use it but then I don't think he has much of a taste for deep cosmic disco anyway and the chances of him happening upon it posted on BE should be slim.
I'm getting ready to head to Europe on Tuesday and didn't think to record enough tracks this weekend to post up whilst I'm away, but then I haven't done my laundry or watered my plants yet either so it will have to go to the back of the to do list.
I was at a record store near San Jose last week and came across this Space 12". I like the Space album that everyone knows that has Magic Fly on it etc well enough, I'm not the biggest cosmic disco nerd in the world, but the Carry On, Turn Me On 12" is probably their finest, rarest and most sought after work. Made in France in 1977 it sounds like an Air record twenty years ahead of it's time, but a little funkier. This was famously sampled by Moody Man to great effect, although in it's own right it was already a slab of perfect house.
Action, a hot radical new group from the mind of Curtis Knight. Curtis Knight was going to be the next Jimmy Hendrix, except Curtis lived into the disco era. Owing nothing to his past affiliatinos with Hendrix, here Curtis is with his band Action, likely a one-time-only all session band. What it lacks in hesh guitar force is replaced with an equivalent of sleaze and rhythm. Here is an edit I'd made of it years ago. Action - Disco Dip
I think I have hit a record. This is my 14th hour at the computer and I believe my eyes are turning not only square but a demonic shade of red. To say I am short on wit and intellect at this point is putting it mildly. That said, this is a straight up jam. I love this song and I have to dedicate this one Black Shag as this happens to be the very first LP he "owned", having lifted it from his dad. I should have relinquished this posting right to him, but I am a brat and am posting it myself. I can safely say that if I could have someone sing the soundtrack to my summer, I would have to throw Randy Crawford in the mix (I am extremely partial to Etta James and I adore Patti LaBelle, but you know...variety, life, spice, etc). I'm going to get a glass of champagne and listen to the sweet sax solo at the beginning with my eyes shut. Enjoy. The Crusaders - Streetlife
Nancy Martin, also known as Nancy Martinez, released this sultry jam in 1982. This track is one of a handful she released using her more Anglo sounding moniker in the early eighties. Her first releases came out on her Canadian home label Neige. This one was produced by Dominic Sciullo and Rick Annett.
This track, like many produced in Canada, shows a lot of italo influence. It seems to have equal parts Robotnick and Sharon Redd with a bassline could easily be warped into a modern minimal techno track. This cut was a crowd pleaser at the Garage, which is easy to imagine. It is hard to see how this track would fly in a club nowadays, I would bet that it would require a good crowd with a particularly high serotonin level.
I have the Atlantic promo release, but the original looks way cooler. The Neige release is also a minute longer. Nancy Martin - Can't Believe (Vocal)
I didn't get to post last weekend, as along with the rest of BeatElectric crew I went on a spiritual journey to our Shamen, LeBaron's, tribal compound in the ancestral lands outside of Sacramento. I thought I had encountered my animal guide until I realised it was just BT crawling around on all fours throwing up on LeBaron's vintage shag carpet. Now my brain has recovered slightly I can make amends.
Boytronic were a German electropop outfit from the early nineteen eighties that I believe were recently revivied by one of the founders. They has a couple of underground sleeper dance hits that were popular in both the dark wave and high energy nightclubs of Europe at the time. Here is both the vocal and dub of their sought after new wave electronic 12" You:
And to make up for not posting last week here is the B side from an Italo mega mix record I came by, I would post the A side but I didn't get round to recording it, the B side had all the best tracks on it anyway..as per usual, proove your chops and try and spot them!: Discottantatre (weird italo megamix)
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.
Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough Michael Jackson - Off The Wall Michael Jackson - Rock With You Michael Jackson - Call On Me (w/ Mizell Brothers)
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
How many fools have this record? This rare 45 on Life World? This is a mid tempo joint that has proven to completely blow the world of boogie and funk fans away. This record alone proves why inferior pressings can command higher praise than their 12" counterparts, as evidenced by their Popsike trail. Check it!
