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Underground > Radio & Music >

Looking for the Perfect Beat - ELECTRO FUNK/ELECTRO/ELECTROPOP/HIP HOP

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

22:54 / 13.04.05

The purpose of this thread is to discuss and suggest early hip hop/electro/electro funk, as well as suggest some of it's modern ancestors in terms of artists/tracks/style. After that, I thought we could dicuss key albums and compilations. Splendid!

So far I've found the following to be pretty amazing:

Planet Patrol - Play it at Your Own Risk
Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock/Searching for the Perfect Beat
Newcleus - Jam on it/Auto Man
Man Parish - Boogie Down Bronx
Mantronix - Bassline
Cybertron - Clear
Time Zone - Wildstyle
Herbie Hancock - Rockit (no brainer)
Phase II - The Roxy
Grand Mixer DST - Mean Machine
Prince - When Doves Cry
Kraftwerk - Metal on Metal
Babe Ruth - Mexican
Broken Glass - Style of the Street
Neneh Cherry - Buffalo Stance
New Order - Confusion/Shellshock
Shannon - Let the Music Play

!OBEY VOCODER MACHINE JUSTICE!

07:46 / 14.04.05

Man Parish - Boogie Down Bronx

That was the first Hip Hop Record I ever heard, at the tender age of 11. It was on tape that my mate Sukh had taped off of the pirate radio station JVC. On the same tape was "Request Line" by Rockmaster Scott and the Dynamic 3 and the dub version of "What you gonna do about it2 by The Ultimate 3 MCs. Thus a lifetime of geekery was born.

I dunno - totally personal to me - but because I've got such strong memories of (some of) this stuff I don't like consciously re-investigating. I like it when it come around on the radio - I enjoy the fact it's being rediscovered, but I've no big desire to go there myself. I feel the same about stuff I listened to later in life like Run DMC - I listened to it so much when I was 15, I've no need to revisit it, I'll never hear it again with the same intensity. But that's just me. Everyone else, knock yourselves out, it's brillant music.

And "Sucker MCs" should definitely be on that list.

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

07:53 / 14.04.05

More recently, Plaid , The Black Dog and Jedi Knights / Global COmmunications / Tom Middleton have produced some marvellous Robot Rock. And Space Pimp, bloddy marvellous.

07:55 / 14.04.05

"Two years ago, a friend of mine asked me to say some MC rhymes.. so I said the rhyme I'm about to say, the rhyme was this and it went this way"

That's really started my day with a huge memory bang. I fucking love that song. Those kickdrums... arrggghhh...where's me Kappa jacket and my Hi Tecs?

07:59 / 14.04.05

Possibly "Sucker MCs" isn't electro but I DONT CARE. I start to regress every time I even think of those lyrics.

10:57 / 14.04.05

The Message is still a strong song - music, lyrics and flow, huh - even if it has been overplayed. I like the soundtrack to Wild Style a lot, the beats on there still sound hard. Hardcore Hip-hop by Mantronix that is a crazy track production wise, i dont like the MC much. There are some good tracks on Kraftwerks The Man Machine LP. Yellow Magic Orchestra's Computer Games. Art Of Noise.

What do you think about the aesthetic of Kraftwerk and how Baambaataa combined it with the breakbeat/P-funk sound and mentality?
Kraftwerk to me sounds melancholic, self-consciously alienated most of the time. And then that way of approaching music was flipped around and it became happy, funky, sexy and so on. That's dialectics, or alchemy isn't it. I dont think Baambaataa could handle the power of what he had done because he went on to make a lot of shitty music.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

11:35 / 14.04.05

YMO are very, very awesome indeed but they're definately a different strand of electronica. I don't think of "Rydeen" as being in the same genre as most of the stuff I've listed above, although there is tons of crossover within electronica, at least on a cultural level (check the influence of breaking and body popping in later Devo videos - Girl U Want, Through Being Cool and R U Experienced, especialy).

14:01 / 14.04.05

Wot no Cameo?

Anyhow, Jetuh, you really should check out Hancock's Headhunters album, if only to understand how a damn fine jazz pianist gets bored of all that and wants to play electro-funk. Chameleon is a stonking track in its own right, never mind how many times it's been sampled.

Shit, really ought to get tickets to see Hancock at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival... for once, something cool in my home town.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

14:04 / 14.04.05

Oh shit how could I forget! I have word up the album on 12", it's real swell.

15:51 / 14.04.05

Ohio Funk. Roger Troutman RIP.

05:44 / 15.04.05

YMO are very, very awesome indeed but they're definately a different strand of electronica.

I've read that Computer Games was a breakdancing favorite at NY block parties when it came out, of course I wasnt there. Havent heard any other albums, heard some Ryuchi Sakamoto solo singles and didnt like it.

I don't think of "Rydeen" as being in the same genre as most of the stuff I've listed above

What is Rydeen?

The stuff you listed above covers a lot of genres, like The Mexican is straight up funk breakbeat, it's organic and played with instruments. Hiphop is all about being many genres at once but people now forget about that.

other classic tracks:
Rammelzee vs. K Rob - Beat Bop
Cerrone - Rocket in the Pocket (at 45 rpm)
Malcolm McLaren & the Supreme Team Show - Buffalo Gals
Afrika Baambaataa - Renegades of Funk (plus the version with the zulu chanting)
Hashim - Al-Naafiysh (The Soul) - !!!! that one blew my mind when I first heard it, one of the most powerful old school breakdance songs.

09:08 / 15.04.05

Rammellzee & Hashim completely seconded. And Zapp - has anyone heard "Computer Love"? I haven't heard it since I was 16 so I may be wrong but surely the greatest computerizzzed love song ever?

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

10:15 / 15.04.05

"Rydeen" is a very awesome YMO track. I don't have "Computer Love", sadly.

20:27 / 19.04.05

If you want buy old electro there's an ace site to get it from. Vinyl only i'm afraid.

www.purepleasuremusic.com

06:15 / 21.04.05

And Zapp - has anyone heard "Computer Love"? I haven't heard it since I was 16 so I may be wrong but surely the greatest computerizzzed love song ever?

Yes Yes Yes... and eerily prophetic as well considering it was released in the pre-internet porn era.

You know I’ve been searching for someone
Who can share that special love with me
And your eyes have that glow
Could it be your face I see on my computer screen

Need a special girl (Ooh, yeah)
To share in my computer world
I no longer need a strategy
Thanks to modern technology

I'm also incapable of not falling in love with any song that features a 'shooby doo bop' refrain.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

10:58 / 21.04.05

Really liking Egyptian Lover and early Ice T like "Body Rock" right now.

12:46 / 21.04.05

Egyptian Lover is back on the circuit at the mo, doing live shows. They are apparantley pretty sick!

Just picked up a copy of Bass Patrol's Do The Alph & we are the Jonzun Crew buy the Jonzun Crew. I'd forgotten how great they sound. 1983 and so much BBBAAASSSSSS!