Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Time To Jack - 20 Years On

Moving away from the minimalism that seems to be defining House and Techno at the moment, I think we need reminding why we primarily got into electronic music in the first place. The raw funk of Chicago House music has inspired millions and from it has evolved the multiple styles and genres that we now see today. It was 20 years ago since the first producers in Chicago started laying down their own minimalist version of the 70's and 80's Disco and Italo sounds. What came from those simple drum machines and the Roland TB303 in particular has stayed with us ever since. 20 years later we still dance to them like it was the first time. They still sound as fresh as the first time. This is Timeless music.

Released on the legendary Trax imprint out of Chicago in 1986 'No Way Back' by Adonis is a bonafide classic. Its funky bassline, spoken word vocal, 909 kicks and stabs has come to define the Chicago sound. You can read a biog of Adonis on his myspace page and check his website adonisrecordings.com

Adonis - No Way Back Trax 12" 1986

In The Beginning There Was Jack - Classic House Acapella


"In the beginning there was Jack, and Jack had a groove, and from this groove came the groove of all grooves, and while one day viciously throwing down on his box, Jack boldly declared 'LET THERE BE HOUSE' and House music was born......."

Yes! I know precious little about this acapella, apart from the fact that it defines everything house music is. Those in the know, please enlighten me.


DJ Skull - The Graveyard Orchestra Djax-Up-Beats 12" 1997

The Graveyard Orchestra by DJ Skull is an over-looked classic in my opinion. It has the most immense bouncing bassline I have ever heard on a Chicago House record. Play this in any club at the right time and it will take the f**king roof off!
Djax-Up-Beats is a label set up in Holland by Saskia Slegers aka Miss Djax who provided a platform for Chicago producers to release their music in Europe when no else gave them the chance. Find out more info and a history of the label at www.djax.nl

You can buy downloads of Djax releases from here






And now to a homage to the Trax Acid House sound.
It was the German based Label Gomma that released this slab of old skool Acid House. Made by Headman and remixed by a couple of English blokes with a penchant for Eighties Disco and Chicago House. Chicken Lips transformed this into something so old skool and retro it does actually sound like it was made in 1986, not 2003. The simple 303 riff, complete with cow bells and simple 909 kicks makes this a classic Chicago Acid House record that never was. Just wait for the Hi Hats to kick in and it almost feels like you were listening to Ron Hardy dropping this at the Music Box circa 1986. Proper!

Headman - It Rough (Chicken Lips Trax Dub) Gomma 12" 2003

Buy Adonis and Headman records from Juno



Genres: [Acid House] [Chicago House] [Electronic] [Remix] [Acapella] [Spoken Word]

Comments:
Hey, just discovered your blog via someone's blogroll. Nice job, you're in my bookmarks now ;)

Regarding the infamous house music speech: the speaker was a guy named Chuck Roberts, and the speech first showed up on Rhythm Controll - My House (Catch A Beat) in 1987. This usually sells for upwards of $100 now as it's pretty tough to come buy. The following year it showed up again on the UK pressing of Mr. Fingers - Can You Feel It (Desire), which gave the speech much more exposure since Fingers was already fairly popular; most people thought this was the "original" version of the speech, and I've heard some people even credit Mr. Fingers as delivering the speech.?.. It's been used and sampled countless times since, and the rest is history .

Cheers,
Pete
 
Thanks for the info Pete, useful to know. I have seen it on bootleg albums of acapellas before.

Glad you like the blog. Spread the word!
 
Yes! Good stuff.
 
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