a brief downtown disco discursion
Though it hasn't caught on with the hipsters looking into the '80s nyc scene with an open mind towards disco has reapped big benifits. How can one appreciate New Order w/o listening to Moroder and Italo-Disco or NYC electro produced by Arthur Baker who worked with them? Oh well. New York in the '80s was so furtile and pop culture is still reaping the benifits.
Example: south bronx teenage Jellybean Benitez djs in manhattan, does the Roxy, meets Madonna because shes in a band playing drums (drums!) that he's gonna remix. They do it, she becomes famous, he helps remix tons of tracks on her first album. whatever. She also asks the Beastie Boys to open for her on her first tour. Appropriate enough because they're both taking '80s nyc innovations to the pop masses. She - disco electro pop w/ sligh sexuality/awareness, They - Hip-Hop w/ jokester comic sexuality. Both with a wink-non-wink. The Beasties first album is produced by Rick Rubin who also co-produced Jazzy Jay's track It's Yours that was released on Arthur Baker's Streetwise (or some subsidiary thereof). Baker also co-produced Bambattaa's Planet Rock which Jellybean remixed. Baker also release the Dominatrix's Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight which was recorded by a fellow who was also in Ike Yard, with releases on Factory America, and the Death Comet Crew, ground zero enlightened hiphop with Ramalezee on vocals. Ramalzee, B-boy and graffitti writer, also records seminal hiphop hit Beat Bop with k-rob that is co-produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat who was also in a band with Vincent Gallo called Gray. Gray also played the no-wave/post-no-wave downtown scene with Arto bands, Jim Jarmusch bands, SY, etc. Don't forget Madonna's band Breakfast Club later goes on to record for ZE records one of the few nyc labels releasing no-wave and other downtown detrus: Contortions, Suicide, Arto, Rosa Yemen, Lizzie Mercier Descloux (bff of Patti Smith), Kid Creole, etc. A lot of that produced by Bob Blank at his Blank Tape Studio where he also helped produced Disco along the lines of Arthur Russell's Dinosaur L stuff. Arthur Russell also releasing disco and not-disco and electro on his Sleeping Bag records, stuff like Mantronix's first couple of albums. Mantronix, like Jellybean, another Harlem/South Bronx teen riding the wave, making the wave to musical greatness. I'm sure he knew Madonna too. Time to ride the wave, eh?
Example: south bronx teenage Jellybean Benitez djs in manhattan, does the Roxy, meets Madonna because shes in a band playing drums (drums!) that he's gonna remix. They do it, she becomes famous, he helps remix tons of tracks on her first album. whatever. She also asks the Beastie Boys to open for her on her first tour. Appropriate enough because they're both taking '80s nyc innovations to the pop masses. She - disco electro pop w/ sligh sexuality/awareness, They - Hip-Hop w/ jokester comic sexuality. Both with a wink-non-wink. The Beasties first album is produced by Rick Rubin who also co-produced Jazzy Jay's track It's Yours that was released on Arthur Baker's Streetwise (or some subsidiary thereof). Baker also co-produced Bambattaa's Planet Rock which Jellybean remixed. Baker also release the Dominatrix's Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight which was recorded by a fellow who was also in Ike Yard, with releases on Factory America, and the Death Comet Crew, ground zero enlightened hiphop with Ramalezee on vocals. Ramalzee, B-boy and graffitti writer, also records seminal hiphop hit Beat Bop with k-rob that is co-produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat who was also in a band with Vincent Gallo called Gray. Gray also played the no-wave/post-no-wave downtown scene with Arto bands, Jim Jarmusch bands, SY, etc. Don't forget Madonna's band Breakfast Club later goes on to record for ZE records one of the few nyc labels releasing no-wave and other downtown detrus: Contortions, Suicide, Arto, Rosa Yemen, Lizzie Mercier Descloux (bff of Patti Smith), Kid Creole, etc. A lot of that produced by Bob Blank at his Blank Tape Studio where he also helped produced Disco along the lines of Arthur Russell's Dinosaur L stuff. Arthur Russell also releasing disco and not-disco and electro on his Sleeping Bag records, stuff like Mantronix's first couple of albums. Mantronix, like Jellybean, another Harlem/South Bronx teen riding the wave, making the wave to musical greatness. I'm sure he knew Madonna too. Time to ride the wave, eh?
posted by furtanic at 3:01 PM
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