Title: Baggy Trousers Year:1980 Genre:Ska Comment:You may know their 1978/79 stuff, such as “One Step Beyond” and “The Prince”. You should know their 1983 international smash hit “Our House (In the Middle Of The Street).” Baggy Trousers is another one of their hits known mostly in Europe but hardly in North America.
Title: Don’t Forget That Beat Year: 1985 Genre: Electronic Funk Drumbeat Industrial Comment: Doug Wimbish is one bad-ass bassist. He collaborated with Fats Comet on this track. Both are from the UK. Their sound is like Art Of Noise meets Africa Bambaattaa meets Ministry (of 1985 sound).
Summer 1985 … 14 years old … the only thing I knew about James Brown is what Eddie said … but I still haven’t heard any of his music.
Fall 1985, Toronto, Canada … I went to see Rocky-IV movie.
Let’s go back to that night in the movie theatre … below is the scene that I’m currently watching in 1985:
What a way to expose me to James Brown music for the first time … LIVING IN AMERICA. The electric funk blew the sandals off my feet.
I didn’t hesitate to leave the movie theatre right after that scene (half-way through the movie) and ran to Starsound record store, looking for the 12-inch of that track. I was screaming out loud, “LIVING IN A AMERICAAAAAAAA, AMERICAAAAA,” like Eddie’s comic tale ice screeeeeaaaam.
Some dude understood me and pointed to the wall. And there it was … the very same one which I’m holding in my hand (pictured above).
12-inch vinyl cover of Living In America
James Brown In The Jungle Groove…
The most famous and most sampled funky track is Funky Drummer.
I am proving all you people with two original hi-rez source files (top of this page) to comprehend and pay respect to the man who brought you such killer track which spawned loop-sampling to be where it’s at today. Where would D&B and other genres be today if there was no Funky Drummer!?!
I say go out and buy this rare, full album! I shit you not, it’s the funkiest masterpiece ever. So much to sample from … especially the horn stabs and hits.
Front cover of James Brown In The Jungle Groove
Me and the vintage 1983 keytar (Yamaha KX-1 controller)
While the norm for most tracks go anywhere between 3:30 to 6:00 minutes in length … I prefer 15:00 minutes or longer … like the four seasons. Give me 4 long tracks to fill the hour, and I’ll be one very happy Iraqi. I love tracks that take me on long journeys through various movements.
One of my all-time favorite synth-pop groups is PROPAGANDA from germany … who sound like twisted ABBA + Industrial + TechnoPop + Darkness.
12-inch vinyl cover of P:Machinery
My favorite Proganda track is P:Machinery.
I’ve taken two 12-inch vinyl versions of that track and conjoined them together as one … the way I want to listen to P:Machinery by:
digitizing them into Protools;
spending two long months cleaning them up;
getting rid of every single scratch/pop/click;
restoring deteriorated sounds through various RE-SYNTHESIS processes and techniques;
splicing the tracks to separate clips;
re-arranging and layering clips to my taste;
throwing in my own synth-stabs, chops and other minor subtleties;
adding & automating series of chained top-notch effects throughout the mix, utilizing parameters some of you could not even pronounce … thus resulting with more dynamic and reverberated DEPTH to the mix;
fattening the bottom-end;
widening overall stereo perception; and
mixing, engineering and mastering my version of P:Machinery the way I think it’s supposed to be heard.
To my taste, P:Machinery sounds better than ‘sick’ … more like master piece of shit which blasts sonically across the stereo-field … not one element standing still but constantly moving all over the place.
Before reading this blog ………. I strongly recommend that you read (if you haven’t done so) or re-read (if you don’t remember) my last post about producer extraordinaire Trevor Horn’s dynamic 12-inch ………. and then come back here for more Horn’ful penetration.
Quick Recap…
This is Trevor Horn…
He’s the guy who produced and performed “Video Killed The Radio Star” world-wide smash-hit track. And he’s collecting millions of dollars of royalties from it.
I did some major digging and discovered some fascinating, forgotten facts and hidden gem tracks from The Buggles.
In 1980, the Buggles’ duo Geoffrey Downes (keyboards) and Trevor Horn (vocals) — who were coming off an international success with their New Wave album The Age of Plastic and the acclaimed single “Video Killed the Radio Star” – to help out on a new YES album. Downes suddenly left Buggles when Trevor learned that YES’ keyboardist Rick Wakeman was leaving the band, and therefore snatched him as well as lead-vocalist Jon Anderson to work on the next Buggles album Adventures In Modern Recording. The Buggle’s second album was completed in 1981 but was never released or charted. The album was a gem masterpiece.
A Little Bit of YES…
This is Rick Wakeman.
This is Jon Anderson.
Vangelis … in his studio setup in hotel room in Paris … working on his 1987 Direct album.
During 1981-1983, Jon Anderson worked with Vangelis who’s famous for Blade Runner soundtrack and Oscar-winning theme for Chariots Of Fire.
Since this album was never charted, there was only one single released as a 12-inch ……… an absolutely incredible track I Am A Camera with Wakeman on the keys and Anderson on the mic, which can be heard below, among few bonus tracks.
The Buggles – I Am A Camera (12 Inch)
Listen to the all the instrument layers, arrangements and chord progressions.
While the norm for most tracks go anywhere between 3:30 to 6:00 minutes in length, I prefer 15:00 minutes or longer, like the four seasons. Give me 4 long tracks to fill the hour, and I’ll be one very happy Iraqi. I love tracks that take me on long journeys through various movements. One of my all-time favorite synth-pop groups is PROPAGANDA from germany … who sound like twisted ABBA + Industrial + TechnoPop + Darkness. My favorite Proganda track is P:Machinery. I’ve taken two 12-inch vinyl versions of that track and conjoined them together as one … the way I want to listen to P:Machinery by:
Digitizing them into Protools; Spending two long months cleaning them up; Getting rid of every single scratch/pop/click; Restoring deteriorated sounds through various RE-SYNTHESIS processes and techniques; Splicing the tracks to separate clips; Re-arranging and layering clips to my taste; Throwing in my own synth-stabs, chops and other minor subtleties; Adding & automating series of chained top-notch effects throughout the mix, utilizing parameters some of you could not even pronounce ... thus resulting with more dynamic and reverberated DEPTH to the mix; Fattening the bottom-end; Widening overall stereo perception; and Mixing, engineering and mastering my version of P:Machinery the way I think it's supposed to be heard.
To my taste, P:Machinery sounds better than 'sick' ... more like master piece of shit which blasts sonically across the stereo-field ... not one element standing still but constantly moving all over the place.
Although he produced only a handful of tracks of renown and disappeared into obscurity almost as quickly as he had emerged from it, Manny ( Man ) Parrish is nonetheless one of the most important and influential figures in American electronic dance music. Helping to lay the foundation of electro, hip-hop, freestyle, and techno, as well as the dozens of subgenres to splinter off from those, Parrish introduced the aesthetic of European electronic pop to the American club scene by combining the plugged-in disco-funk of Giorgio Moroder and the man-machine music of Kraftwerk with the beefed-up rhythms and cut’n'mix approach of nascent hip-hop. As a result, tracks like “Hip-Hop Be Bop (Don’t Stop)” and “Boogie Down Bronx” were period-defining works that provided the basic genetic material for everyone from Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys to Autechre and Andrea Parker — and they remain undisputed classics of early hip-hop and electro to this day.
Man Parrish Boogie Down Bronx (dub version) PLAY TRACK
What made Trevor Horn’s productions stand out was his unique and genius production techniques and the heavy use of state-of-the-art pro-audio gear, which made him become the torch-bearer for the kind of technology-led pop music which was hip and incredibly disciplined. Trevor Horn’s 12-inch remixes were uniquely long (anywhere from 8 to 13 minutes in duration) and told stories which took the listeners through long instrumental journeys at the begenning of tracks until the climax is reached (around the 5/6 or 7 minute mark). After the climax, the original or alternate full vocal version of the track takes over from that point on to the end, lasting additional 3.5 to 5 minutes in length.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood Relax (12 inch Sex Mix) PLAY TRACK
Trevor Horn is the guy who produced and performed “Video Killed The Radio Star” world-wide smash-hit track. I did some major digging and discovered some fascinating, forgotten facts and hidden gem tracks from The Buggles. In 1980, the Buggles’ duo Geoffrey Downes (keyboards) and Trevor Horn (vocals) — who were coming off an international success with their new-wave album The Age of Plastic – to help out on a new YES album. Downes suddenly left Buggles when Trevor learned that YES’ keyboardist Rick Wakeman was leaving the band, and therefore snatched him as well as lead-vocalist Jon Anderson to work on the next Buggles album Adventures In Modern Recording. The Buggle’s second album was completed in 1981 but was never released or charted. The album was a gem masterpiece.
The Buggles I Am A Camera (12 inch version) PLAY TRACK
Welcome to our yearly State of Hype Machine’s Crowdfunding update. We’ve been doing this for over two years now, and would like to share with you… This post is only available to Hype Machine supporters. View post →
Your friends may not always share your taste in music. Luckily, plenty of folks on Hype Machine do. Our new “Loved by” feature on your Favorites page (desktop only, for now) shows people who also favorited these tracks. Chances are, you’ll like some of the other stuff they’ve been into, and discover a few new […]
In each Stack newsletter, we share a long mix we’re enjoying that week. We’ve collected them all on our new Mixes page, for times when you just want to sit back and listen. There are artist guest mixes, radio show archives, DJ sets, and more; categorized very roughly by energy (Up, Down, Weird, like our […]
It’s been another year of great music, and we are proud to bring you Zeitgeist 2018! We analyzed the posts in our index to figure out which artists made an impression this year. The feature is split into two segments: the 25 Most Posted artists of 2018, and Breakthroughs—the artists making their Zeitgeist debut. We […]
Hard to believe, but it’s been a whole year since we launched our funding campaign. Thanks to our supporters, the three of us have been able to … This post is only available to Hype Machine supporters. View post →
It’s Zeitgeist time! We’re back with our annual collection of the year’s best music. Alongside the most-posted artists and videos of the year are two new features: First is a reflection from some of the people who defined the year in emerging music. We asked artists featured in our Stack newsletter for their favorite music […]
Three months into our funding campaign, we have been encouraged by the outpouring of support. A lot of work is still ahead: while we’re now over 3,000 supporters strong, your contributions remain key for us to invest in new features and improvements to our mobile apps. We noticed that some of our supporters occasionally had questions […]
Hype Machine turned 12 last week! That’s a long time for any service, especially an independent one. How long have you been listening with us? To celebrate, we’ve redesigned the site for better navigation and playback, and added a few new features. We’ve also introduced a way to fund our work directly. With your support, […]
It’s here! Our 10th annual roundup of the year’s best music, with the most-discussed artists and videos of 2016, and every longread we’ve Stacked each week. To start, we’ve compiled a few of the stories we’ve followed in Stack throughout the year, with artists, labels, and genres that have gained prominence in 2016. You can […]
For the first time since it’s release in 2011, Hype Machine for iOS is available for free in the App Store! Here’s what’s new in this release: We’ve added an easier way to read blog posts when playing a track: just swipe up on the artwork to see the list. There are a few other changes: we’ve removed […]
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 […]
Happy New Year Beat Electricians! This is one of those highly unknown, un-googleable tracks that blows minds on the dance floor. I really did try locating some info on this boogie beast but it is mysterious! All I can say is that it was made in 1986 somewhere in the U.K. Anyway, I really like the lyrics to this track plus I have listened to the song a millio […]
Nothing to cure the Funkmosphere hangover blues like a new post. Firstly, just want to give one more shout out to Dam Funk and all of the Funkmosphere residents (Billy Goods,Laroj,Matt Respect, Ron aka Randy Watson, and Eddy Funkster) for keeping the funk strong in Los Angeles. I really says something to the quality of the night when they can stay strong for […]
This "torrential" downpour in Southern California has provided a great setting for trying to dig up some deets on Nathan McKinney and Desert Bone Records. Apparently, the info for this artist is pretty scarce, most of my search results are Youtube videos with "hynas" on cars and comments full of homies proclaiming how this is a "fir […]
"Hi there,
Just wanted to second a couple of other comments on your site and say that yours is by far one of the best music resources I've found. A similar but now sadly defunct site called Retro Wonderland came a close second! Keep up the good work. All the best."
And all the best to you too, Elliot, for your lovely feedback you've emailed me :)
Hashmoder
From: Yaron Sarel
"...just discovered your site, and I wanted to tell you that you make me one happy Israeli guy. I work as a sound engineer, living in Tel Aviv, and I love the 80's. In fact, two good friends of mine and myself formed an oriented-80's synth band. After years of playing rock, for some reason I have never imagined I would be playing this kind of music. I used to listen to as a kid (before I discovered the electric guitar). Your work brings back to life this music i miss and love so much. Thank you sir!"
And thank you, Yaron, for your lovely feedback.
Kindest regards,
Hashmoder
Disclaimer
Mp3's on this site are for sampling and promotional purposes only and will only. Most of the mp3 tracks on this blog/site are remixes, extended and limited versions which are deleted, no longer available for purchase and would not be heard otherwise. However, please support these artists. If you are one of these artists and would like your music removed from this site, please notify me, and I will endeavor to remove them as soon as possible.
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