This post was a long time in the making. What we’re gonna do right here is go back. Way back. Back into time…
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Chicago House Music: History in Interviews and Recordings. In which we learn of Gridface’s interview project with many lesser known (but not lesser) names of early Chicago house. Also includes a a bunch of YouTube links of historical house.
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when hip hop arrived. Rapper’s Delight arrives in October 1979. Of course, hip-hop had been born years earlier, but this is arguably the breakthrough point into popular culture. Mandatory discussion of who actually invented hip-hop follows. Great BBC link on an unofficial photographer of the early days of hip-hop.
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A Brief History of Electro.. How the Bronx’s Bambaataa merged Bauhuas music aesthetic, George Clinton’s fashion sense, and disco breaks to create a new musical form. The Bronx rocks to the Planet Rock. Don’t stop. Also, never forget Kraftwerk’s contribution to the DJ music era.
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Born from jungle techno, the amen break, hip-hop and dub: a history of Drum’n’Bass. Whence reggae and rave came together, amped up the BPMs and went all dark and dangerous on us. Of the MetaFilter posts linked to from here, this one is the deepest. Learned more than I wanted to know about UK pirate radio’s contribution. Big ups selecta.
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“I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape.”. On stripping the music down to the essential beats and layering on luxurious synth lines to induce hypnotic, blissed out states of mind. Perfect listening for a drug filled evening. I never really bought into the spacier European edition of Trance, but dug on the harder, darker Acid House inspired stuff exemplified by Phuture’s Mental Breakdown (Roy’s 303 Basement Mix).
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A brief musical history of Garage. Where Larry Levan, NYC’s answer to Frankie Knuckles, carries the embers of the disco flame into a new style named after the Paradise Garage, and in the process innovates much of modern DJing. A kissin’ cousin of Deep House, Garage spawned many descendants, many quite wild.
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Better Living Through Circuitry. The 1999 documentary of the rave scene just before the turn of the millennium. At best a slice of the culture, but still a useful slice. Wonder if anyone ever captured the thoughts of the Wicked Sound System, Left Coast pioneers of the rave scene? I can personally attest to the brilliance of the Full Moon Raves.
A diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – “a scattering [of seeds]”) is any movement of a population sharing common national and/or ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.
Born of the disenfranchised, it makes cosmic sense that subsequent to Disco’s revilement, the music would go on to spawn so much. The amount of subsequent creativity generated is incomprehensible. That combination of Latin Jazz/Salsa, Philly Soul, and elements of Funk was and still is a winner.
That was a good chunk of time well spent.