Boombox 2 Funky Grooves & Electro Soul

-
Dâm-Funk
The second part of ‘Boombox’ is the evidence that there was still some very good disco around after the heyday was over by the end of the 1970s. Disco went out of the mainstream and back to the clubs where it belonged in the 1980s. Party people started to dance on funky grooves and electro soul, music that is often referred to as ‘post-disco’. Unlike disco music of the 1970s, post-disco usually lacked the typical shuffling hi-hat driven beat, walking basslines and string orchestration. It now featured drum machines, synthesizers and sequencers. Soulful vocals, however, remained an essence of post-disco. The main force in post-disco were mainly one-hit wonders and short-lived collaborations, while record producers played a significant role in post-disco in general. An exception to this rule and one of the key-figures at the same time was Prince, who made some sublime crossovers between funk, electro and rock.

From the late 1990s, post-disco started to live again in one way or another. For instance Los Angeles-based musician Dâm-Funk (picture) and Miami Nights 1984 (both featured in this mix) use key-elements from post-disco in their work. Dâm-Funk released his new single ‘I don’t wanna be a star’ on Stones Throw last week. Check out his excellent soft rock mixtape as well.

So, take your oldschool ghettoblaster to the streets and enjoy!

Tracklist:

Prince – Jack U Off (1981)
Prince Charles And The City Beat Band ‎– Beat The Bush [Alkino Re-Edit] (1983)
Dâm-Funk – I Don't Wanna Be A Star (2012)
Donna Summer – Dinner With Gershwin (1987)
Miami Nights 1984 – Ocean Drive (2012)
Lillo Thomas – Downtown (1987)
The Dells – Whatever Turns You On (1981)
Mtume – Green Light (1983)
Distance – Get Get On Down (1981)
Elaine & Ellen – Fill Me Up (1980)
Krystol – After The Dance Is Through (1984)
Alexander O’Neal – Fake (1987)
Keith Sweat – My Mind Is Made Up (1985)
Young & Company ‎– I Like (What You're Doing To Me) (1980)
Larry Wu – Let Me Show You (1984)
Evelyn King – I’m In Love (1981)
Roger – I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1980)
Renegade – A Fine Time (To Discover) (1989)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disco Knockouts!

-
Image
Apart from the picture of Sharron Davies, there are two songs that inspired me to make this mix. One of them is a recent track from Duck Sauce. The repetition of the female vocals reminded me of Stars On 45 (I believe they both sampled 'Gotta Go Home' by Boney M). The other one is from Dutch singer Dee Dee. I heard ‘I put a spell on you’ on a recent episode of Tim Sweeney’s ‘Beats in space’. In the accompanying video she looks a little bit like a sex doll, but I love the song! I like the closing track from soul veterans the Drifters, but isn’t it strange to hear guys who were in their thirties at the time sing about schoolgirls? Different times, I guess, when no one had heard of R. Kelly yet... One of my personal favourites is ‘Night time’ from Maggie MacNeal. I bought the 7” which was produced by Michael Lloyd (known for his work for the Osmonds, Lou Rawls and Solomon Burke) way back in 1979. Maggie MacNeal was one half of the successful Dutch duo Mouth & MacNeal. Their
Read more

Soft Rock For Autumn Days by The Smooth Operators

-
Image
Pexels Look outside and watch the falling leaves and early sun downs: this is the AOR soundtrack to this year’s autumn by The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) 😊 Enjoy some soft rock with a touch of soul! Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are best known for their UK number one hit (Come Up And See Me) Make Me Smile in 1975. The song came from their album The Best Years Of Our Lives and was co-produced by then relatively unknown engineer Alan Parsons. Their pretty funky track White, White Dove was released a year later as the final single from their next LP Timeless Flight . The track was written and produced by Harley himself.  White, White Dov e was the second single from the album , after Black Or White had failed to chart. White, White Dove came out shortly after Timeless Flight , but despite the album's top 20 success in the UK, the single did not reach the UK top 50 either. However, the same year Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel would return to the UK top 10,
Read more

Smooth Sailing On A Late Summer Night

-
Image
Unsplash As a touring member of the Pretenders Welshman Carwyn Ellis originally started his worldwide collective Rio 18 in Brazil. She’s In L.A. is a collaboration with AOR masters Young Gun Silver Fox: “They deliver a new flavour of lowriding Californian funk, telling a story about the joy of finding a new life in the City Of Angels, the metropolis by the sea.” (Bandcamp) Evie Sands began recording as a teenager in the mid-1960s. After a rocky start and having trouble with unreliable record executives who stole her songs, she finally had a hit single with Any Way That You Want Me in 1969. Her debut album, also named Any Way That You Want M e, was released several months after the single had peaked. In 1975 Estate of Mind saw the light of day on Capitol Records. Produced by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, the album marked her continued output as a first class singer/songwriter. The disco inspried One Thing On My Mind is one of the outstanding tracks. The song was covered by severa
Read more