Dishing up portions of deep fried funk and soul-side samba and play some dusty records.
David Holmes is the among the best in a growing cadre of invisible-soundtrack producers inspired by the audio verité of classic film composers — Lalo Schifrin, John Barry, Ennio Morricone — as well as the usual stable of dancefloor innovators and a large cast of jazz/soul pioneers to boot. — Freddie Crugger aka Red Astaire first encountered hip hop in the 80’s when his brother was collecting vinal hip hop and worked in an import record shop in Stockholm. This lead him to buy loads of records and in turn his decks, drum machine and then a few years later a sampler.
Breakwater released two albums: Breakwater in 1978, and Splashdown in 1980. The latter features the song “Release the Beast“, which was sampled for the Murs track “Intro” in the album Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition. “Release the Beast” was later sampled by Daft Punk for the song “Robot Rock“, which appeared on the album “Human After All“. — The Lafayette Afro Band was formed as the Bobby Boyd Congress in 1970, in homage to their original vocalist Bobby Boyd. Upon deciding that the funk scene in the United States was too saturated for them to viably compete in, they relocated to France in 1971.
The Limp Twins are Will Holland, of Quantic fame, and Russ Porter. Hailing from the West Midlands they became unhappy with the state of local dance floors. Over a banana milk shake they decided the only way to get people dancing again was to delve into the stacks of dusty records that filled their bedrooms and start preaching the word. And the word was groove.
Breakestra is a funk music project founded by Miles Tackett and based in Los Angeles, California. Breakestra was first formed in 1997 as a strictly live ensemble playing “covers” of funk, soul, and jazz breaks that had been sampled in late 80s & early 90s hip-hop seamlessly, blended into each other in the same style that early hip hop DJs would do in the pre-sampling days of the 1970s when they would DJ records at block parties. — Blame it on No Doubt or blame it on Sublime, but by the middle of the 1990s, very little of the pop music that was described as ska had anything to do with Jamaican dance music of the early ’60s. Too many bands whose sole connection to the musical style had been a few singles by the Specials or the English Beat got it all exactly backward, with the punk influences drowning out what little Jamaican influence remained. That’s basicly what The Aggrolites is all about.
“Low Rider” is a song written by the band War and producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their album “Why Can’t We Be Friends?“, released in 1975. It reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at number 7 on the Pop Singles chart. — Eugene Blacknell was a funk guitarist, band leader and singer from the Bay Area. He was so much more than that though… the worlds of Black music and civil rights owe him an honorable mention, if not a debt of gratitude as he was also an activist on the music scene … This is Rare Groove at its rarest. It’s also the sort of collection that you can’t help feeling sentimental listening to, perhaps, wondering and hoping whether there’s an after-life where the departed are capable of consciousness and pride. This is a legacy to be proud of Mr. Blacknell. Funk in peace.”
- Shit! Shit! Shit! – David Holmes
- Love to Angie – Red Astaire
- Release The Beast – Breakwater
- Time will tell – The Lafayette Afro Band
- Another Day In The Life Of Mr. Jones – The Limp Twins
- Bernadette – Oeil
- Adeniji – The Budos Band
- James Brown Medley – Breakestra
- Free Time – The Aggrolites
- Low Rider – War
- Avec les oreilles – Monique Thubert
- The Trip – Eugene Blacknell & The New Breed
- I Sell Marihuana (Dr. Rubberfunk’s Sitar Boogie Mix) – Malente
- Live In The Mix – Flow Dynamics
RELATED LINKS:
Wizzz!: Psychorama Francais 1966-1971