Machine Soul: A History of Techno [1993]

Cowboy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:06:39 +0000

"Oooh oooh Techno city
Hope you enjoy your stay
Welcome to Techno city
You will never want to go away" – Cybotron, "Techno City" (1984)

"The 'soul' of the machines has always been a part of our music. Trance always belongs to repetition, and everybody is looking for trance in life... in sex, in the emotional, in pleasure, in anything... so, the machines produce an absolutely perfect trance." – Ralf Hütter, 1991, quoted in Kraftwerk: Man Machine and Music, Pascal Bussy

Bermondsey Goes Baleric [1988]

Cowboy — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:06:49 +0000

When talking about the state of London’s clubland, the one thing everyone (except the promoters) is agreed on is the fact that the scene is too big and much too samey. The one real exception is the House Hippy scene of clubs like the Shoom and Future. This scene is, unique in its music policy, dress sense and attitude and blatantly sneers at the West End trendys.

Acid – Can You Jack?

frank.talisman — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:21:23 +0000

The emergence of house music in Chicago is usually treated as if it was a single homogenous genre. In this great piece Tim Lawrence argues that while the early impetus came from reheated versions of disco, it was the acid experiments of a younger generation that really pushed dance music forward, inspired by the sheer accelerated craziness of Ron Hardy's Music Box. Can you jack?

The Men In The Glass Booth [1976]

frank.talisman — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:03:44 +0000

He’s there each night from ten to closing time,

With sights and sounds to help the crowds unwind,

And from the booth each night he blows your mind

With his mix and tricks

Mr Bongo

frank.talisman — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:39:30 +0000

From humble beginnings in the London basement of Daddy Kool’s reggae shop on Berwick Street, Mr Bongo is now seen as the standard bearer for Latin music outside the Americas. Mr Bongo founder David Buttle takes us through the twists and turns of the label's history.

Flash is Fast, Flash is Cool [1981]

frank.talisman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:26:07 +0000

Rap, Rap, Rap [1981]

frank.talisman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:20:26 +0000

LAST SUMMER, when Kurtis Blow’s ‘The Breaks’ was’ the sound of New York City, sceptics said it was a novelty hit and that ‘rapping’ would never last. They were wrong.

Naturally enough Kurtis Blow’s album turned out to be a disappointment – he records for a major label, and major labels still think in terms of albums. Rapping is a music made for singles. 12” singles, whose liberating opportunities for stretching out and riding a beat the form fully explores.

No Guile or Wile, Just Wallop – ESG [1981]

frank.talisman — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:08:34 +0000

THESE DAYS, a lot of bands glorify the appearance of being what they are not. The lounge lizards trumpet their self-proclaimed “fake jazz”, dilettante dabbling of the worst sort, – insidious because its packaging is stylish enough to pull an audience that should be getting inspired, not sedated. James White, once an innovator, now sells fake funk. Circus Mort deal in fake angst-and-psychosis new muzak. The Speedies sell fake Anglo-pop, complete with put-on accent. Chandra sells fake innocence, nurtured in exclusive private schools.

Walk This Way Suckers – The Birth of Gangsta Rap [1986]

frank.talisman — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:23:26 +0000

Go Bang No. 5 – Mantronix [1986]

frank.talisman — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:03:02 +0000

IT WAS the cold winter of 1901, the Tsar was still in power and you couldn’t buy a hip-hop import in the whole of St Petersburg. Scratch this Ivan: no roubles no rap. Then the futurists came along, welcoming the winds of change and the prospect of revolution. By 1912 the young artist Vladimir Mayakovsky and his friends had published their first manifesto A SLAP IN THE FACE OF PUBLIC TASTE. “Only we are the face of our time. The horn of time trumpets through us in the art of noise”.