Thursday, October 30, 2008

Happiness  


The Pointer Sisters released this 12" in 1978 on Planet Records. It has a stunning intro and is simply a solid track start to finish. Production by Richard Perry. "Happiness" isn't a pricey record by any means, but it is one that moves the floor.

Happiness

Posted by T. Preston | 2 comments

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Check It Out, Check It Out, Check It Out  


Trilark was the cloud city steazed vocal trio brainchild of Crown Heights Affair masterminds Ray Reid and William Anderson. Another treasure from 1982, (I know I keep harping on this year, next week promise I will be on some 1979 heat) the quite rare Trilark LP was a collection of mid tempo modern soul jams. The more accessible single "Love Never Looked Better" is a decent track but not up to par with some of the other material on the record in my opinion. My favorite joint is "Check It Out". I just picture an early 80's beach front soul porno shot with some dusted old film stock whenever I hear this one. This shit is just too smooth. Check It Out:

Trilark - Check It Out

Posted by Magnum | 3 comments

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Partytime Records  

Partytime records was a spin off label of the legendary Streetwise record label, Arthur Baker's brain child where he served as chief a&r and talent scout. He had a good ear and always heeded my advice and for this he was rewarded loot and immortality. Partytime was a reasonably self descriptive name for the sublabel, it's output was exclusively dance floor heavey although varying from synthy modern soul to electro hip hop in genre.

These are my two favorite cuts from Partytime. Pushe's Don't Take Your Love Away, and Citispeak's I Don't Need Your Handouts. Both are synth laden uptempo boogie, of the sort which has tended to make up the lion's share of my set recently, one female vocal led and the other male. I heard the Jeanne Harris vocal described as 'sour', but thats part of it's charm:

Citispeak - I Don't Need Your Handouts
Pushe - Don't Take Your Love Away

Posted by Black Shag | 2 comments

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Eternal Question: Is There Life On Mars?  

One of disco music's eternal questions may soon be answered. The Rover's sole mission is to answer this question. While The Mars Rover is an amazing feat of engineering, it is full of aesthetic deficiencies. Although I like the Johnny #5 head, the body looks a lot more like an insect than a vehicle. I also think the rover would probably be more functional with a robot sidekick that has arms and legs. The new moon rover that has the ill conceived name "Chariot" got it right with gold leaf trim. All we can wish for is some 12" triple gold Daytons on that sucker.

Life On Mars was a concept album that was written an produced by Philadelphia native Dexter Wansel in 1976. He was a Philly Sound pioneer and produced for such acts as: Teddy Pendergrass, Phyllis Hyman, The Jacksons, and Patti Labelle. Dexter produced several albums in the Jazz Funk genre with a sound that is equally split between Herbie Hankock's Thrust album and disco floor burners of the era.

Dexter Wansel - Life On Mars

Posted by Joel Brüt | 1 comments

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Friday, October 17, 2008

Palace Palace Me Now  



I'm not sure why this chugging upbeat disco song is called Palace Palace. I'll admit that the lyrics are profoundly vacuous and the congas verge on irksome but as I was recording this track into my compu-tron my ears assured my brain it was a worthy selection. The vocoder here, which is a sound that wasn't overused in the disco years, works almost as well as it does in Easy Going's Baby I Love You (a future post of mine).

At first, outside of Who's Who, who had just a handful of disco tunes culled into an album at the end end of the 70's, I only found the producer's name connected to a Moog hits comp in '72 called Music For Pleasure on a track entitled Listening To Mozart (which I'm guessing was a Moog version of Mozart W. Carlos style). That find in fact added some credibility to Daniel Bangalter...I'd love a blog of cheeky Moog covers. Then, upon further investigation, I discovered that Daniel Bangalter is merely the real name of Daniel Vangarde, who not only produced a slew of European disco hits but fathered Thomas Bangalter, one half of the duo Daft Punk. The vocoder makes more sense all of a sudden and takes on a seminal role. Can we thank (or blame) Daniel and this track for the robots that carry the torch of modern dance music these days?


Posted by safetyscissors | 6 comments

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Quiet Village  




A man of many talents, Lalo Schifrin covers this 1951 Les Baxter original bringing it to new heights with a touch of exotic funk.

Lalo Schifrin: Quiet Village

Posted by T. Preston | 3 comments

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

GUEST COLUMN: RAW BOOGIE BY DISCO TOM NOBLE  


First off, let me introduce my column for BE which will be called Raw Boogie. This is micro genre I've been cultivating for the last 5 years or so, consisting of self released and usually self produced boogie joints made by local artists from all around the world. Most of the popular music from the post disco era (1982 - 1989) is notorious for having skin tight session players and uber slick production. Bands such as Slave, The Whispers, Evelyn Champagne King, etc fall into this category.

In stark contrast to the sound of the major label's elite comes the unsigned & under paid suitors seeking their claims to the boogie throne. Writing, recording, and releasing their own funk upon the world, the unisigned artists would often record in home or homie studios, with little to no budget. Most of the Raw Boogie tunes I've found were completely ignored and/or shunned by the music industry, creating a vast underground of obscure and dope funk only to be appreciated by future generations.

Raw Boogie Vol 1:

SUMY "Soul With Milk" - (taken from the LP Trying To Survive, Galaxy records 1983)





Most of the groups we'll bring up in this micro genre will be hailing from the USA, however Sumy was self releasing his music in Amsterdam. Sumy was born in Surinam, a country known largely for being one of four non spanish speaking nations in S. America, and for having a population 1/2 the size of myself and BT Magnum's hometown of Milwaukee, WI.

The young, arrogant Sumy started his own scene quickly after relocating to Amsterdam. There he created his own band, The Freaky Thangs. Mainly white dudes who wore star trek gear and porno hair. Sumy himself liked to wear leg warmers on his arms. With this crew he released two singles which were released by Phillips. After these two releases Sumy began preparing his full length LP, "Trying To Survive. Low funds and lack of equipment led Sumy to record most of the LP in his home, using a barrage of funky synths and his own wit to complete the project. He also enlisted a few friends, including a couple members of the group American Gipsy, aka the band who made the break beat classic "Inside Out".

"Trying To Survive" eventually saw release on Sumy's own imprint, Galaxy Records. An album safely 30 years ahead of it's time, "Trying To Survive" included many nice jams such as "Bitch, We Danced A Lot", "Where Were You Last Night (Sexy Lady)", and the tour de force in "Soul With Milk".

Not sure what the saying "Soul With Milk" is supposed to stand for or suggest, but the lyrics are all about clubbing and chasing girls. The beat floats in and out of open high hat disco and hard hitting funk, and the bass is pure synth. The home made acoustics, low budget mixing and dub effects truly make this standout as a low fi masterpiece when compared to other tunes which were seeing release in 1982. On top of the music, the album cover is also very home made and iconic in it's own way. The art layout is also credited to Fuck You Inc, and to this day it is the only LP I've ever seen in which the producer humbly apologizes for the recording quality in the liner notes.

Sumy is currently living in Amsterdam and plays out on a regular basis.

- Disco Tom Noble

Sumy - Soul With Milk

Posted by Magnum | 8 comments

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Sunday, October 12, 2008

Time To Move  


I found all these old Chicago party flyers on Devastating Dennis's myspace page, I must have downloaded about twenty or so. They are reminiscent of that time around the mid or late eighties when I first started to notice aesthetic, or soak it in at least, and the DIY style of the time reminds me of the cheaper small skateboard company ad's I would cut out and collect. I couldn't afford imported new wavey skateboard gear, and I didn't go to late eighties house raves and the tune I'm posting isn't even from Chicago (I think it originates from Michigan) but the spirit is still the same, so with that fine segue...on to Carmen's Time To Move!


This is an all female production, with Daisy Earnest working the boards, and a classic boogie 45 with an almost freestyle quality to it. Carmen did go on to record another vocal for track named 'Throw Down' produced by Kevin McCord that became an underground proto house classic, but I didn't post it as my copy of that particular 45 is beat to hell and I feel Time To Move is the superior track of the two anyway. I played this in a basement in Chinatown recently at the surreal and highly recommended Sweater Funk party and a friendly out of town DJ who was visiting asked me to throw this one up on the site, I can only oblige:

Carmen - Time To Move

Posted by Black Shag | 11 comments

Friday, October 10, 2008

Oh Kato!  


I now share with you one of my most favorite 7"s that I own.  It fills me with happiness and I can pretend I am in a different place and time, maybe with the potentially fictitious female named Lori....and chameleons too (I had one once named Charlie).

Lori & The Chameleons - Touch


ps...fun fact: Bill Drummond of the KLF wrote and produced this track.  KLF is gonna rock ya!

Posted by safetyscissors | 7 comments

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Talk About Party Lights  

In the dawn of the 80's the sound and culture of dance music shifted much as it had in the mid 70's. Just as disco grew out of funk, boogie morphed out of the disco sound. Boogie really was the perfect blend of the two genres. Much like disco it was more oriented towards the dancefloor and like funk it was a touch more raw and soulful. 1982 was the year it all gained cohesion, the pinnacle of dance music. This track is a prime example of Boogie's sublime evolution. 


The brainchild of producer/songwriter Donald "Dee Dee" Burnside, First Love were a 4 piece female vocal group formed in 1979. The group released their first single on Dakar in 1980 and switched over to the tiny CBS sub label Chycago International Music for 1981's excellent "It's a Mystery to Me". "Party Lights" would follow in '82 and prove to be the group's finest lazer soul entry. The reverb drenched vocals sit nicely over the gated snare hits, wicked synth lines and an out of order guitar break. I included an edit by Liquid Pegasus. Obviously he had a lot of strong material to work with, but he manages to make an edit thats pretty enjoyable to listen to on its own accord.

First Love - Party Lights

First Love - Party Lights (Liquid Pegasus Edit)

Posted by Magnum | 9 comments

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Monday, October 06, 2008

One of The Longest Disco Band Names Ever  

Fonda Rae, the Deputy of Love sang this track for Don Armando's Second Avenue Rhumba Band in 1979. She later sang on hits by Kid Creole and the Coconuts and Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael's group Wish before putting out releases under her own name. This is a soulful, funky jam that has a tongue and cheek vocal delivery and a classic disco stomp. David sent us a housy remixfor you to enjoy as well.

Don Armando's Second Avenue Rhumba Band - Deputy Of Love

BC Crew - The Deputy

Posted by Joel Brüt | 2 comments

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Saturday, October 04, 2008

Euro Cosmic  


 "Your posting a track called Disco Spaceship, so why are you using a picture of some old audio gear instead of a picture of a spaceship? there must be loads of good spaceship pictures"

 Well there are loads of good pictures of spaceships, I love spaceships and I could look at them all day, and when I get in to work on Monday I might do just that, but where would be the sport in using one for a track called Disco Spaceship? besides, the old audio gear that you see above is actually made out of cake. You can eat them.

 Now, I'm not known for my euro disco selection, in fact I would go as far to say as I don't really like the 'euro disco' genre all that much, I don't find it to my taste, its too pop heavy without the soul I look for. It reminds me of nostalgic eurovison song contest re-runs for the most part. Now to every sub genre of a genre there is always a champion, the stand out tunes that justify in this case northern Europeans in the late seventies cutting thickly produced disco records. 
 
 I believe Laurie Marshall's 'The Disco Spaceship' is one of my favorite peak hour dance tracks regardless of genre, it still carries all the hall marks of euro disco, the heavy layers of strings and orchestration, the bombastic arrangement and the cheeseball vocal, but this time its done with a cosmic edge and backed by one of the most powerful hooks in the history of disco..enjoy both the '45 version and the instrumental of the cosmic euro bomb track of all time (go with the vocal version)..

*Laurice (Laurie) Marshall just got in touch to pass on the address of his new website, check it out: www.lauricenow.com


Posted by Black Shag | 5 comments

Thursday, October 02, 2008

For The Same Man  

"For The Same Man" is simply an excellent release from 1983 on 25 West Records. Written by Libby McLaren, Matt Noble and Rebecca Rifkin, this song is made for dancing.

For The Same Man (Nasty Version)

Posted by T. Preston | 5 comments