Miscellany Vol.3: Kraftwerk, Dynamix II, John Robie

Kraftwerk announce 8 cd box set


Kraftwerk have announced the release of an 8 cd box set comprising their works from 1974 - 2003. The release was already planned for 2004, however it was postponed at the last minute. The new date is set for October 5th. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Included will be (digitally remastered, expanded artwork and whatnot):

Autobahn (1974)
Radio-Activity (1975)
Trans-Europe Express (1977)
The Man-Machine (1978)
Computer World (1981)
Electric Café (1986)
The Mix (1991)
Tour de France Soundtracks (2003)

Apparently there is also going to be a vinyl release of this.


And speaking of Kraftwerk, here's a completely unrelated video by Chicago rapper GLC. It's easily forgettable if it weren't for the first 35 seconds where Bun B of UGK makes a short introduction - check out the shirt he is wearing. Not too bad ...





Scratch D of Dynamix II vs. John Robie - They're coming


Electro bass pioneers Dynamix II (or rather, one half of Dynamix II) have teamed up with electro funk legend John Robie to create 3 mixes of a new tune "They're coming". Dynamix II are probably most known for their seminal "Just give the DJ a break" and can be credited as being one of the first groups to transform the traditional rap-based Miami bass sound into the new school: creating a dark and sparse version of electro bass, with extra low end, copious amounts of vocoderized vocals and even a hint of breaks influence.



I've always thought it's ironic that this tune which so perfectly embodies their heavy and sinister style is based on an early 80s New Wave song: The main break was sampled from Visage's "Pleasure Boys":




Keyboard wizard John Robie was the mastermind behind the earliest electro records. Together with producer Arthur Baker he created Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock", "Looking for the Perfect Beat", Planet Patrol's "Play at your own risk" and was also responsible for some of the earliest Freestyle records. It's no overstatement to say that he was the main force that defined the music and the sound of electro, and by that created a blueprint that artists are still copying today.



What really set him and those early electro tracks apart was the fact that he was a musician. That was a rare occasion in early 80s hip hop where the focus was usually on the beat, and the compositions were crude and raw (not that there was anything wrong with that). A similar constellation can be found in contemporary electro. My biggest qualm with a lot of new school electro is its lack of musicianship. Most artists are beatmakers - and it shows: Sometimes you're left wondering if they are going for that reduced and minimal sound on purpose or if it's due to their limited abilites. So it's a welcome surprise to hear some artistry in electro music again.

UPDATE 08/24: I just got the news that this is not even supposed to be released yet. Please check back - I will write a more detailed review as soon as the final versions hit the stores.

Raise it up

2 great artists R.I.P.
Left: J Dilla (1974-2006)
Right: Baatin, who just passed away today.

J Dilla aka Jaydee and Baatin were two thirds of Slum Village. Here's the beautiful video to Slum Village's beautiful tune "Raise it up":



Fun fact: The quirky sample is lifted off a house tune, Thomas Bangalter's "Extra Dry". It starts off with the sample - a bit reminiscent of 8-bit/chiptune music - but gets increasingly noisy, distorted and abstract along the way:




Thomas Bangalter of course was one half of the influential French house duo Daft Punk. Their body of work was raw and innovative ... but at the same time incredibly club/mainstream friendly. It makes you wonder why they haven't been sampled more often. Sure, there's Kanye West's "Stronger" which is probably the obvious choice cause the original was a huge hit and has that nice memorable talk box chorus. Since it's Kanye it comes as no surprise though that his version is quite wack and pales in comparison to Mickey Factz' take on "Robot Rock". Good decision on Mickey's part to keep it simple and NOT to throw it in the neo (read: watered down r&b) hip hop blender, but straight loop the original and rap over it cause it ROCKS. Reminds you of the old days when hip hop was not afraid of appropriating contemporary dance and disco songs.




Check out his hyper-eclectic heaven's fallout mixtape where he samples everything and everyone from Bjork to The Prodigy to a Wes Anderson movie soundtrack back to Uffie to The Smiths to Daft Punk and Jamiroquai etc. etc. Hit and miss mostly but when it hits, it hits hard.

(What's up with Mickey Factz though? All that good stuff was from 07/08. This year so far: disappointing.)

The Third Rail

This is the intro to L.S.D.'s 1991 album "Watch out for the Third Rail" which is probably the most important hip hop album to ever come out of Germany. L.S.D. were Germany's Bomb Squad, pioneers of the Golden Age, unleashing dense, layered and sonically overdetermined songs onto an unprepared audience. These 4 school kids were certainly not aiming for commercial success: their songs had no hooks, choruses or ANY radio friendly content. It was just tons of funk and jazz samples, fast rapping and a lot of scratching. There's an imminent sense of urgency about them, as if their creativity was literally overflowing and had to be crammed into each song chock-full of ideas.

Being a crew of four with just one mc, the beats and production was what really set the album apart. The competitive spirit which made this masterpiece possible is palpable, and it even prevailed inside the group - there are stories of members going on secret crate-digging missions, not even revealing names of records and sample sources to their fellow band members. Needless to say, they didn't score high on the charts, but they gained a lot of reputation in the underground and have been - to this day - admired by true hip hop lovers as the only German crew who was up to par with their American contemporaries. Last year, their legendary album was re-released ... you might want to check their myspace for details.

If you were to make a list of samples on that album, it would be longer than the infamous Paul's Boutique list. I couldn't even figure out all the samples from the 30-second intro ... well, here are the most obvious:

"Third Rail" is taken from Eric B and Rakim's "Follow the Leader".


The horn stabs are lifted from James Brown's "Cold Sweat" ... the snippet starts off with the horn stabs and proceeds with an excerpt of the James Brown tune.



Most obivously, the beginning "Watch out for the third rail, baby ..." is Fab 5 Freddy's voice from a scene in Wild Style.




Realness and selling out seem to have been major issues as early as 1983. Z-Roc - the white kid who is such a fervent advocate of staying underground - is actually played by Zephyr, himself a renowned graffiti artist.

Quite recently, Zephyr was mentioned in a song by New York folk singer Suzanne Vega. She describes meeting him and reminiscing about the old times - the late 70s when graffiti and hip hop were new and exciting for New York's youth.



It's a beautiful song, a brief impression translated into unpretentious yet lyrical prose. And there's even a subtle pro-graffiti message - which is a rare surprise, especially considering that it's coming from a middle-aged woman who is catering to an overwhelmingly white and bourgeois crowd. On top of it, it is probably the most poetic plea for graffiti I have ever heard:

The graffiti's gone and the walls complain
The flowers go but the earth must still remain

Changes & Subtleties in 25 years of Pop Music Vol. 2

1977




1988




2001



Mandre's "Solar Flight" is a lot less known than the omnipresent Isaac Hayes sample from the last installment of our "Changes & Subtleties" series. Mandre was a persona invented by synthesizer pioneer Andre Lewis who concealed his true identity with a helmet. Was he the first in the long line of behelmeted pop (Jonzun Crew, Devo, The Residents, Daft Punk, ...)? That's open to debate, but French disco group Space are at least close contestants, as their 1977 video "Magic Fly" proves.

DJ Jazzy Jeff appropriated this weird, sinister and spaced out piece of jazz-funk for his "Rhythm Trax House Party Style". Imagine my surprise when I found out about a recent (well...) house tune that also used it (or rather: replayed) it. I won't be covering much house music on here, but you have to admit they flipped it quite well.

Changes & Subtleties in 35 years of Pop Music

Isaac Hayes - Hung up on my Baby (1974)




Geto Boys - Mind playing Tricks on Me (1991)




2nd II None - If You Want It (1991)




Glass Candy - Geto Boys (2008)



P.S. Bad luck for 2nd II none that "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" flipped that sample a bit better and became the anthem of 1991 while they stayed largely unnoticed. Their 1991 debut album (produced by DJ Quik) is a soulful and funky piece of pre G-funk West Coast gangsta rap ... highly underrated. Check out the first single off that album which is sampling another classic ... Curtis Mayfield this time.

Glass Candy - Iko (Cosmic Rockers Remix)

DOWNLOAD the song here

A bit of self-promotion ... this is a remix I recently made of Glass Candy's "Iko" (2005). Glass Candy, consisting of vocalist Ida No and beat programmer/musician Johnny Jewel, have impressed the world with hipness and retro-chic for about a decade now - not only in terms of fashion & visual aesthetics, but also in the way they have been appropriating and co-opting past musical styles. Questions of authenticity and originality have become obsolete in their postmodern pastiche, a simulation/simulacrum that is openly synthetic, a copied version of ... well, of other copies. Their work is chock-full of allusions and references, but these signifiers have long disconnected from reality and taken on a life of their own, not referring to anything but themselves any longer. And that's not necessarily a bad thing: At least it deflects the dated yet still all-too-familiar critique of fakeness (vs. an ideal of true musical expression).



When Glass Candy started out, they went for a somewhat half-baked post-punk meets no-wave sound. In recent years, they began embracing synthesizers, drum machines and 4/4 beats, becoming one of the first bands of the ongoing Cosmic/Italo revival trend. Their most interesting period was in between, around 2004/2005. Synthesizers and programmed beats had just started to creep into their songs which were getting incredibly funky. Based on a solid foundation of dry bass and organic percussions, these tracks still had an experimental edge: mostly in their approach towards structure, melody and in Ida No's eccentric vocals. "Iko" could almost be called a pop tune if it weren't for the minimalist feel and some odd synth tapestries.

I wanted to give the track an electro funk remodeling without losing its stripped-down quality. This was tough cause it meant I had to restrain myself from going all bazerk and adding layers over layers of synths ... what I would usually be doing.

I sampled the famous Jive Rhythm Trax 122bpm for the subtle percussive sounds in the background. The guitar sample is a chopped version of a guitar sample in "Contract on the World Love Jam", which is the intro to Public Enemy's 1990 album "Fear of a Black Planet". Imo one of Public Enemy's finest moments:




Some more notes on remixes

Picking up an older post, here are some remixing rules we hold to be self-evident:

#1: There are certain bands that are not to be messed with. (I already violated that one with the very first track I made)

#4080: If you are not sure you can do better than the original: Don't bother trying.

I am probably guilty of that one too cause the original "Iko" is such a great song in its own right. Compare for yourself:

Yaz (We've got)

Yazoo were a short-lived but highly successful British electro-pop duo consisting of Depeche Mode / Erasure mastermind Vince Clarke and singer Alison Moyet. In the US they were simply known as "Yaz" and had a couple of hits in the early 80s. "Situation" was released in 1981 and also appeared on their debut album "Upstairs at Eric's".

If I were to make a top 10 list of my favorite hip hop tunes, Newcleus' "Jam on it" would be at number one, and Man Parrish's "Boogie Down Bronx" would take third position. Quite interestingly, both songs were directly based on "Situation".

Once you compare the tunes, this becomes quite obvious. In Newcleus' case it is the prominent bassline – probably THE most famous bassline in all of hip hop – that is influenced by "Situation". "Boogie Down Bronx" borrows even more heavily from it.

Here's the breakdown part in the middle of "Situation":


And here's the beginning of "Jam on it".:


And finally, here's the beginning of "Boogie Down Bronx":


Actually, that's not the whole story. Check out "Situation" again and listen to the heavy, thunderous tom-tom rolls:


Is it a coincidence that another Man Parrish tune, "Hip Hop Be Bop" also has a lot of prominent tom-tom rolls? I don't think so ...
Listen to "Hip Hop Be Bop":


Finally, I'd like to direct your attention to a little percussive detail in the background of "Situation" - a sound that always seemed to me like water drops:


And once again, there's a hip hop tune (or rather a breaks record, but a very influential one) that uses a similar sound – I am talking about the Jive Rhythm Trax 122bpm:


The whole "Upstairs at Eric's" album is great, and you should definitely try to hunt it down. My favorite Yazoo song "Don't go" is also on that debut album. And I guess you won't be suprised when I present to you a hip hop tune that is influenced by it. When I say hip hop, it is in a very broad sense: I am talking about Planet Patrol's "Don't tell me". Planet Patrol was Arthur Baker's electro soul / r&b outfit. They sound like a soulful version of Afrika Bambaataa which comes as no surprise since Arthur Baker re-used a lot of his Bambaataa material when producing Planet Patrol. One detail I am interested in is the arpeggiated melody that's playing in the background of Yazoo's "Don't go" - here's an isolated excerpt:


And here's the beginning of Planet Patrol's "Don't tell me":



I always find it interesting to reconstruct the musical paths that led to the creation of hip hop and electro. In the early 80s, hip hop hadn't crystallized into a rigid form yet and influences were drawn from all kinds of music. There was no canon, and it was a period of openness that encouraged experiment and eclecticism. At its best, the resulting music was a cross-cultural rollercoaster ride where funk rhythms collided with pop or avantgarde music. Needless to say that today's state of hip hop is a step backwards in both musical and cultural terms: Flamboyant artist like Man Parrish would be considered gay and their music would stand no chance whatsoever.

Hip Hop Genealogies - Rocket in the Pocket

This is a little clip from a live concert by disco artist Cerrone in Paris, 1978. Cerrone (who is the guy behind the drums) had an international breakthrough hit in the 70s with the epic "Love in C Minor" and has continued to produce disco music to this day (here's a great song from 2002). If you ever come across one of those "The 10 sexiest/most controversial album covers" lists, you will probably find one of Cerrone's albums in there.

Anyway, back to the video: After an extended drum solo Cerrone goes into a super-heavy slow-motion breakdown part backed by weird guitar sliding noises and the chant "got a rock... rocket in the pocket" before he picks up the speed again and everything turns into a funky uptempo disco song. It will already sound familiar at this point ... just in case you're missing it, here's the break again speeded up to 45rpm:




The break became a staple in early hip hop, being played in many DJ sets and finding a way into quite a few songs. My guess would be that Afrika Bambaataa, known for his eclectic taste in obscure music, first introduced it. The Cold Crush Brothers also used it in their routines – check out this clip from the Cold Crush Brothers' MC battle against the Fantastic Five:




This was in 1981 - the first recorded use of the Rocket in the Pocket break as far as I know. The first time it was put to vinyl was in 1983, on the popular B-Boys track "Two, Three, Break":




One year later (1984) it was subtly appropriated for the intro of one of my all-time favorite tunes: Captain Rock's "Cosmic Blast" ... and I gotta admit the write-up about the break was just an excuse to post this song:




There are a lot more tunes that have sampled Rocket in the Pocket and I put some of them in a rar file:

DOWNLOAD THE ROCKET IN THE POCKET COMPILATION

Tracklist:
1.Cerrone – Rocket in the Pocket (live) (1978)
2.Cold Crush Brothers – live at Harlem World (1981)
3.The B-Boys – Two, Three, Break (1983)
4.Captain Rock – Cosmic Blast (1984)
5.Run DMC – Hit it Run (1986)
6.Original Concept – Can You Feel It? (1986)
7.Eazy E – Radio (1988)
8.Beastie Boys – 59 Chrystie Street (1989)
9.MC Lyte – Cha Cha Cha (1989)

Enjoy!

Trans Europe Express Revisited

In my last post (which you might want to read as an introduction to this) I broke down the famous train sound pattern from Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express. For the sequel I put together an (incomplete) selection of tunes that all sample this particular sound. The diversity of the material is truly reflecting Kraftwerk's cross-genre appeal, with songs ranging from hip hop (old and new) to electro funk and even some krauty ambient stuff ... Keep an open mind!

DOWNLOAD the Trans Europe Express compilation



1. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock (1982)
The most famous sampling of Trans Europe Express – not the beat though. An emulated version of the train sound is played in the background when the synth melody from Trans Europe Express sets in. Search the blog for more stories about this track.

2. Anthony Rother – Trans Europe Express (1998)
That's a no brainer ... outstanding remix and probably the only one that can hold up to the original. To quote myself: Rother „took the sluggish juggernaut steam engine and remodeled it to a REAL express train by increasing the bpm. The driving beat features prominently in the mix while the rest of the instrumentation is reduced to a sparse frame. Whereas the original version was still rooted in a long musical tradition - a symphony that went through several movements -, Rother's tightly composed Trans Europe Express has finally arrived in the Modern Age, thus realizing what was only hinted at but not unfolded by Kraftwerk.“

3. Kool G Rap – Rhymes I Express (1989)
Only samples the pattern in the chorus but it's such a dope song that I had to throw it in. Nice play on the double meaning of „trans“ and „express“.

4. Special Request – Salsa Smurph (1983)
Electro novelty track (what the hell is a salsa smurph anyway?) that was quite a hit back in the days. I have no idea why; it's just SO odd. I'd say it's the musical equivalent of what art historians call bad painting, an opposition to the canons of good taste. Weird sounds, lo-fi production, weird keyboard playing ... did I mention this is really weird (and fascinating)?

5. Kartoon Krew – Inspector Gadget (1984)
Nowhere near my favorites from the era but it still is a nice little tune, featuring some solid synth and vocoder work.

6. Sir Mix-A-Lot – Society's Creation (1990)
Heavy minimalistic beats and some unusual socio-political commentary from the Bumpasaurus. We are treated with a chopped up and barely recognizable version of the Kraftwerk sample. The 909 snare drum sounds a bit too technoid for my taste ... but then again even Mantronik used the 909 and he is the king of the beat, so who am I to complain?

7. Ras Kass – Ghetto Fabulous (1998)
That song is way past my usual timeframe, but it is a strong track and remarkable in its own right for slowing down the Kraftwerk sample to the point of disintegration. The relation to a train sound is completely lost, but it still retains its floating, ethereal character – „essence precedes existence“.

8. Professor Griff – Last Asiatic Disciples (1990)
PE's own conspiracy theorist/wingnut Professor Griff with a nice upbeat version of the sample which drops quite unexpectedly and is over before you know it. Well seasoned dosage of subsonic boom provided by Luke Skyywalker of 2 Live Crew fame.

9. Ultramagnetic MC's – Crush Kill Destroy (1984-1990)
Traveling at the speed of thought isn't the only Ultra song sampling Kraftwerk. I think I even prefer Crush Kill Destroy for its raw and unpolished minimalism ... even if the production is a bit on the „raw and unpolished“ side too. Call me biased but how can you not like Kool Keith's wacky space scientist lyrics?

10. De La Soul – Ghetto Thang (1989)
Very subtle use of the pattern and a great example of freeing a sample from its original context to create something completely different.

11. Wolfgang Riechmann – Wunderbar (1978)
Riechmann was a contemporary of Kraftwerk and part of the Düsseldorf electronic scene. His only album (also titled „Wunderbar“) is one of the most slept on gems from this time, eclipsed by the artist's untimely demise and by the success of Kraftwerk's Man-Machine which was released around the same time. It is not exactly the same pattern as in Trans Europe Express but you can clearly hear the similarity. This is a wonderful song with a slight spaghetti western feel that always reminds me of the For A Few Dollars More theme (as used in Babe Ruth's „The Mexican“ ... as used in Afrika Bambaataa's „Planet Rock“. And there we are, full circle.).

12. Cosmic Rockers – Exodus (2007)
I couldn't resist sneaking one of my own songs in. Probably the darkest and most Detroit sounding tune I ever made. The percussion pattern adds to the chilling and mechanical atmosphere. A little challenge (not too tough though): Can you ID the two vocal samples?

Electro goes Pop Culture

Been a bit busy lately and haven't found the time to write, so for now I'll just leave you with some fun stuff.

Every once in a while some electro reference will appear in the world of pop culture. I guess synths and vocoders are signifiers of choice when something is supposed to look retro/80s. Kind of sad in a way cause it goes to show that that part of hip hop has been irrevocably sidelined, or better yet: overrun by the merciless train of world history. General pessimism notwithstanding, it always puts a smile on my face when I stumble upon something like this recent ad for Cadbury (a chocolate company from the UK):




It heavily samples Freestyle's "Don't stop the rock", one of the most amazing vocoder electro tunes ever written. No wonder this came from the UK - it often seems the Brits are more determined than the rest us when it comes to preserving the electro legacy:





Here's another example ... a 2007 track by R&B singer Amerie:




I'm not too keen on modern reworkings of 80s tunes, but in this case I gotta admit the female vocals work well with the feel of the original track. It's not much of a reworking after all, just 2 loops lifted straight from Malcolm McLaren's "World's Famous" (beat & piano provided by Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley of Art of Noise fame, vocals by The World's Famous Supreme Team):