Week 39: New Beat / EBM

I'm not gonna go on much about this one, because I've already blathered enough about it in this mixtape for Mashit from 2007. And this article I wrote for XLR8R.

Without being too terribly redundant, let's just say that a lot of fun music came out of Belgium in the late 1980s. There was EBM (which stands for Electronic Body Music)—basically a really-dancey Belgian version of industrial—and New Beat, which was a slowed-down, tarted-up combination of EBM + Chicago House + Euro-pop. EBM/New Beat bridged the gap between American house/techno and European rave, by way of a lot of post-punk/gothic/industrial influence. The music itself is slowed down and slutty and completely mindless, so obviously I adore it. Here's a mixtape!

Chrissy's Year of Mixtapes Week 39: New Beat / EBM.

1. Bazz; The Drop Deal (Chrissy Edit) (DiKi Records, 1988)
   
2. Boytronic; Bryllyant (New Beat Mix) (Rush Records, 1986)
   
3. Jade 4 U; Rainbows (Instrumental) (Subway, 1988)
   
4. Telex; Rendez-vous dans l'espace (Magnetic Dance, 1988)
   
5. Nasty Thoughts; Acid Sex (Acid Version) (Kaos Dance Records, 1989)
   
6. A Split-Second; Flesh (New Beat Mix) (Antler Records, 1986)
   
7. Nitzer Ebb; Warsaw Ghetto (Rush Records, 1986)
   
8. Insekt; Control Your Fear...Now! (New Beat Mix) (KK Records, 1990)
   
9. Neon; Voices (Target Records, 1988)
   
10. Zsa Zsa LaBoum; Something Scary (Kaos Dance Records, 1988)
    
11. Public Relation; Eighty-Eight (Instrumental) (R&S Records, 1988)
    
12. Logo; Businessman (12" Version) (USA Import, 1988)
    
13. Trisomie 21; Take The Shock Away (Play It Again Sam, 1989)
    
14. Sister Movie; Hold Me (Complete Kaos, 1989)
    
15. Edwards & Armani; Acid Drill (Instrumental) (MG Records, 1988)
    
16. Agaric; I Am Gonna Beat Dis (Instrumental Acid Mix) (Kaos Dance Records, 1988)
    
17. Gail Robinson; Bust Your Body (Chrissy Edit) (N.B.S. Records, 1989)
    
18. Groupietemple; I'm Your Acidbaby! (Big Sex / Contempo, 1989)
    
19. Unknown Artist; ??? (white label, 1988)
    
20. L&O; Even Now (Target Records, 1988)
    
21. The Neon Judgement; TV Treated (Kleo / LD Records, 1982)
    
22. The Invincible Limit; Push! (Last Chance Records, 1986)
    
23. Front 242; No Shuffle (Another Side, 1985)
    
24. Rhythm Device; Higher Destiny (Music Man Records, 1990)
    
25. Royal Guards; New Beat Is Clean (Instrumental) (Target Records, 1989)
    
26. Major Problem; Love Parasite (Beat Box International, 1990)

NEXT WEEK: Juke.

Week 38: Chicago House

After last week's tape, I felt like it was time for some ACTUAL house music, so here goes...

The stories about this genre have been told a bajillion times, so go google them if you want the in-depth version.
The short version is this: there was a guy from New York named Frankie Knuckles who moved to Chicago in '77 to play at a new discotheque called the Warehouse. He played lots of very odd, deep, drum-oriented disco, which soon became the dominant sound of early-'80s black Chicago (and spawned a lot of other, even weirder DJs—most famously Ron Hardy, who played at the Music Box).
By 1981, Chicagoans were referring to the Philly Disco, Italo, Quebecois disco, and new wave records heard at the Warehouse not as "disco", but as "House Music".
By 1985 you have a bunch of local Chicago kids attempting to MAKE this type of stuff on their own, with loads of crummy equipment culled from thrift stores (equipment which, in the intervening 25 years, has become incredibly valuable due to its house music cachet).
By 1986, this local Chicago music has blown up and gone worldwide, conquering New York's club scene, hitting #1 on the UK pop charts, and directly inspiring Detroit techno (and every other dance music genre since).

25 years later, Chicago House still sounds different than house music from the rest of the world. It often has a rawer, less polished quality than, say, French house, or NY house. Also, Chicago house tends to vacillate between VERY traditional, R&B-inspired vocal tunes and VERY weird, psychedelic, oddness in a way that most other genres (including other sub-genres of house) don't.

But enough of my rambling. Here are my faves from the early years of Chicago house.

Chrissy's Year of Mixtapes Week 38: Chicago House.

1. Jamie Principle; Waiting On My Angel (A Frankie Knuckles Production) (Persona Records, 1985)
   
2. Adonis & The Endless Pokers; The Poke (D.J. International Records, 1986)
   
3. J.M. Silk; I Can't Turn Around (Chrissy Re-Edit) (RCA Victor, 1986)
   
4. Mr. Fingers; Washing Machine (Trax Records, 1986)
   
5. The House Master Boyz & The Rude Boy Of House; House Nation (Dance Mania, 1986)
   
6. Mr. Lee; I Can't Forget (Dub) (Trax Records, 1987)
   
7. Marshall Jefferson; The House Music Anthem (House Your Body) (Chrissy Re-Edit) (Trax Records, 1986)
   
8. Sterling Void & Paris Brightledge; It's All Right (House Mix) (D.J. International Records, 1987)
   
9. Joe R. Lewis; Love Of My Own (Target Records, 1987)
   
10. Robert Owens & Fingers, Inc.; Bring Down The Walls (Trax Records, 1986)
    
11. Steve Poindexter; Computer Madness (Muzique Records, 1989)
    
12. Project Democracy feat. China; Is This Dream For Real (Under Dog, 1987)
    
13. Vicky Martin; Not Gonna Do It (Mike Dunn Dub) (Movin' Records, 1988)
    
14. Pierre's Pfantasy Club; Got The Bug (Club Mix) (Trax Records, 1987)
    
15. Phortune; Jiggerwatts (Hot Mix 5, 1988)
    
16. 2 Houss People; Feel The Rhythm (Acid Mix) (Neco Records, 1988)
    
17. Sleezy D.; I've Lost Control (Space Mix) (Trax Records, 1986)
    
18. Jackmaster Curt; Real Fresh House (House Mix) (Jiszack Master Records, 1987)
    
19. Armando; 100% Of Dissin' You (Warehouse Records, 1988)
    
20. Maurice; This Is Acid (Les Adams Remix) (Vendetta Records, 1988)
    
21. Cool McCool; World Turns Around (Hot Mix 5, 1988)
    
22. Phuture; Slam! (Trax Records, 1988)
    
23. Tyree; Let The Music Take Control (D.J. International Records, 1989)
    
24. Ralphi Rosario vs. Richie Rich; You Used To Salsa (The Remix of Salsa House) (FFRR, 1989)
    
25. Frankie Knuckles Presents Satoshi Tomiie feat. Robert Owens; Tears (Classic Vocal) (FFRR, 1989)
    
26. Pleasure Zone; Fantasy (Trax Records, 1988)
    
27. Jack Frost; Clap Me (Trax Records, 1988)
    
28. Ce Ce Rogers; Someday (Club Mix) (Atlantic, 1987)

NEXT WEEK: New Beat.

Week 37: UK Funky

UK Funky is a genre that has been blowing up mega-huge for the last year and some change, but what is it? Well basically, think of it as UK Garage + Grime + R&B+ Dancehall + Soca + Dubstep over a House music template. Here's a mixtape—far from definitive, and definitely an outsider's perspective on an essentially London genre, but here goes.

(Note: A lot of these are white labels, dub plates, unreleased tunes, etc. For things that are actually out on a label, I've included the name of said record label.)

Chrissy's Year of Mixtapes Week 37: UK Funky.

1. Gracious K; Migraine Skank (white label)
   
2. Cooly G; Narst (Hyperdub)
   
3. Lil Silva; Different (Kingdom Remix feat. Jazmine Sullivan)
   
4. Maxwell D & Lil Silva; Blackberry Hype (Different Riddim)
   
5. Atki2; Sundial
   
6. DJ Champion; Motherboard (white label)
   
7. Roska & Jamie George; Wonderful Day (Roska Kicks & Snares)
   
8. L-Vis 1990; United Groove (MJ Cole Remix) (Mad Decent)
   
9. Bubbz; Citizens of the City (Bok Bok Dub)
   
10. Egyptrixx; Phones (Aaah! Real Monsters)
    
11. Kanji Kinetic; Thrill Seeka (Sleazetone)
    
12. Drop The Lime feat. Carrie Wild; Set Me Free (Lil Silva Remix) (Trouble & Bass)
    
13. Stush; We Nuh Run (Sirens Riddim)
    
14. Roska; Elevated Level (Kingdom Edit feat. Brandy)
    
15. Fuzzy Logik; What Goes Around (white label)
    
16. Fingaprint Production; Night Time (Invasion)
    
17. Diamond feat. Sophia Romai; Flyaway (Spoilt Rotten)
    
18. Donae'o; Watching Her Move (My-ish)
    
19. Dark Knight; My Bitch (It's Funky)
    
20. Fuzzy Logik feat. Egypt; In The Morning (Relentless Records / Virgin)
    
21. Perempay & Dee feat. Katie Pearl; In The Air (Bopstar's Wonky Mix) (white label)
    
22. Fuzzy Logik; Twiss (white label)
    
23. WunnaDemWuns; I Feel (Ear Dis)
24. Bok Bok; Ripe Banana (Dress 2 Sweat)
    
25. Ghislain Poirier feat. MC Zulu; Go Ballistic (Toddla T & Duckbeats Remix) (Ninja Tune)
    
26. Tigerstyle feat. Vybz Kartel & Money P; Balle! Shava! (Dirty Canvas v. Sinden Remix)
    
27. Sticky feat. Marvin Brown; Jack It Up
    
28. Reese Project; Direct Me (Chrissy Refix)
    
29. Hanuman; Bola (Atki2 Remix) (Idle Hands / Sleazetone)
    

NEXT WEEK: Chicago House.

Week 36: Italo Disco

Italo Disco is, well, disco from Italy (mostly Milan, really), and its golden age was approximately 1980-1985. It was influenced in equal parts by American & Canadian disco, Giorgio Moroder-style Euro-disco, and 1970s electronic music like Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, and the like. So basically what we've got here is another odd, techy offshoot of classic disco with weird synth noises and broken English. Which means I love it.

A lot of people use "Italo Disco" as a blanket term to mean any mostly-electronic disco, lumping in Quebecois disco, Euro-disco (which was mostly based out of Munich & Paris), even San Fran Hi-NRG. I know I'm being pedantic, but those people are wrong. For instance, if anybody tries to tell you that Lime or Bobby Orlando or Giorgio Moroder are Italo-Disco, stop listening to them. (Yes yes, I know, Moroder was born in Italy. But he was ethnically Tyrolean, his native tongue was German, and every record he made was recorded in Munich or Los Angeles. Besides, some tiny village in the Dolomites where they speak Ladin or Romansh or whatever probably has a lot more in common with Innsbruck than with Milan.)

Anyway, Italo Disco has been hugely influential to modern music—it is one of the cornerstones of house music, techno, synth pop, electroclash (for better or for worse), and it informs a bunch of other genres as well. Track 8, for instance, was a huge influence on Jamie Principle's genre-defining house classic "Your Love".
Some other footnotes: Track 15 was recorded in 1982, but sat unreleased in some vault somewhere until 2003, when Detroit electro label Ersatz Audio released it on a N.O.I.A. retrospective album. Track 24 is a cover of Giorgio Moroder, not the other way around.

Chrissy's Year of Mixtapes Week 36: Italo Disco.

1. RAF; Self-Control (Carrere, 1984)
   
2. Scotch; Disco Band (Remix) (American Disco, 1984)
   
3. The Duke Of Burlington; Flash '83 (Proto Records, 1983)
   
4. Kasso; The Walkman (Delirium, 1982)
   
5. Doctor's Cat; Feel The Drive (Il Discotto, 1983)
   
6. The Creatures; Machine's Drama (Full Time Records, 1982)
   
7. Expansives; Life With You (Leader Records, 1982)
   
8. Electra feat. Tara Butler; Feels Good (Best Record, 1982)
   
9. My Mine; Hypnotic Tango (Chrissy Edit) (Progress Record, 1983)
   
10. Mr. Flagio; Take A Chance (Squish, 1983)
    
11. Cyber People; Void Vision (Memory Records, 1984)
    
12. Koto; Visitors (Memory Records, 1985)
    
13. International Music System; Dancing Therapy (IMS, 1984)
    
14. Hipnosis; End Title (Blade Runner) (Memory Records, 1983)
    
15. N.O.I.A.; We Wanna Glow (Italian Records, 1982 / Ersatz Audio, 2003)
    
16. Plastic Mode; Digitally (Discomagic Records, 1985)
    
17. Lama; Love On The Rocks (Numero Uno, 1983)
    
18. Fun Fun; Color My Love (X-Energy Records, 1984)
    
19. The Flics; Take It Easy (Tanga Label, 1984)
    
20. Kasso; Kasso (Instrumental) (F1 Team, 1981)
    
21. Bizzy & Co; Take A Chance (Deejay, 1982)
    
22. The Passengers; I'll Be Standing Beside You (Chrissy Re-Edit) (Durium, 1979)
    
23. Kano; It's A War (Full Time Records, 1980)
    
24. Hananas; From Here To Eternity (Zanza Records, 1983)
    
25. Fun Fun; Living In Japan (X-Energy Records, 1985)
    
26. Sphinx; Collision Remixed (System Music, 1982)

NEXT WEEK: UK Funky.