This mix is all music from 1984. It is a special live vinyl mix that I recorded on July 19, 2011 as a promotion for the A.D. (After Disco) series of parties here in Chicago.  The mix has been hosted for a few years on the Loves Podcast and I decided to upload it here to my Soundcloud for the first time.  Here’s a few words I wrote to go with the mix:  

1984 is an amazing year in music. At the time, "house" was still a colloquialism for the music played by Frankie Knuckles at the Warehouse. House was not yet a music form in its own right. "Fresh," on Vince Vince Lawrence’s fledgling label Precision, is the only house-qua-house track on the mix. The other tunes are properly considered proto-house -- the music which formed the milieu of dance music which we now describe (rather clumsily) as:

*Electro (e.g., Solo – “Girls, Girls” produced by John Robbie; JellyBean – “The Mexican”); 
*Garage (e.g., Circuit - "Release the Tension" a Timmy Regisford production; Colonel Abrams – “Music Is The Answer”); 
*Italo (e.g., Stop – “Wake Up”; Pancho Ballet – “Dancing Shoes”); 
*Synth and industrial dance (e.g., 52nd Street – “Can’t Afford” produced by New Order’s Stephen Morris; Palais Schaumburg – “The Beat Of Two” produced by Gareth Jones who also produced Depeche/Nitzer Ebb); and 
*Post-disco (e.g., Stephanie Mills – “Medicine Song”).

This music from 1984 is ‘proto’ in the sense that it was establishing the necessary elements of house – e.g., use of certain instruments (drum machines, synths, samplers) – but there are some stark differences.

Although much of the music in 1984 was released on small independents and remained quite underground, there were major successes for dance music at the time and investment in dance music by major labels. There was A&R structure at all record labels and radio play. "Trapped" (1985) by Colonel Abrams sold over 5 million copies worldwide. Earon’s “Land of Hunger” hit the top 40 on the soul singles chart. John “JellyBean” Benitez placed nine songs in the Top Ten of the U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

The democratizing force that would be house music had not been fully realized. It was still expensive to make dance music. For example, most of the tracks on the mix feature vocalists, session players or a full band. Although the epic ensembles of the disco era had long passed in fashion and economic viability, dance records were still recorded in professional studios and engineered by individuals like Bob Blank and Herb Powers. The E-max Sampler hit the market in 1984, but the studio standard were samplers like the Fairlight and Synclavier (which had more than $100,000 price tags), each of which were prohibitively expensive for use by most musician/producers.

By 1984 the relatively inexpensive Roland gear was just finding its way into the hands of Chicago, Detroit and New York’s new roots musicians. A year before, Larry Sherman acquired Musical Product’s pressing plant, the only one in Chicago. Ron Hardy was playing "Penthouse and Pavement" by Heaven 17 and "DumDum" at the Music Box. Dance music was about to fall off the edge, for better and for worse.

1984 Track List:

1. Citispeak Featuring Jeanne Harris – I Don't Need Your Handouts (Inst.) – Partytime Records 
2. Pancho Ballet – Dancing Shoes (Instrumental) – Best Record 
3. Jellybean – The Mexican (Funhouse Mix) – EMI America 
4. Nuance Featuring Vikki Love - Take A Chance (Dubapella) - 4th & Broadway  
4. Samson & Delilah – I Can Feel Your Love Slippin' Away (Long Mix & Inst) – Saturn Records 
5. Hugh Masekela – Don't Go Lose It, Baby (Stretch Mix) – Jive Afrika 
6. Colonel Abrams – Music Is The Answer (Dub Version) – Streetwise 
7. The Earons – Land Of Hunger (Extended Version) – Island Records 
8. Wet – That's The Game (Instrumental) – Bellaphon 
9. Circuit – Release The Tension (Dub) – 4th & Broadway 
10. Stephanie Mills – The Medicine Song (Dub Version) – Casablanca Records 
11. Anne Clark – Our Darkness (Remix) – Ink Records 
12. Solo – Girls, Girls (Ah-Ah-Hi) - Next Plateau Records Inc. 
13. 52nd Street – Can't Afford – Profile (on license from Factory) 
14. The Bridge – Love Dance (Industrial Mix) - Second Vision 
15. Stop – Wake Up – Damabi International 
16. Fresh – Dum Dum – Precision 
17. Palais Schaumburg – The Beat Of Two (Extended Version) – Mercury


1984 After Disco (A.D.)

With what was mostly a full and fruitful year for us with many beautiful moments, we now turn our eyes forward to what is looking to be a very exciting year for us at Phonica as we walk into our 20th year of being alive. 2022 saw our mix series get even more killer contributions from artists like Paramida, Sally C, Fred P, Eden Burns, Alex Kassian, Erol Alkan and more. 2023's series line up plans to keep moving up and we have opened this years mix season in the capable hands of two of the finest DJ/Producers doing it right now. Bringing nothing but powerful, euphoric and goddess energies it can only be Octo Octa and Eris Drew of T4T Luv NRG. Amazingly celebrated for their strand of psychedelic, rolling progressive, trancey-house and break rhythms we can't think of two better selector's to take on our series. With an excellently curated compilation and mix for our good friends at Fabric last year as well as two banging cassettes on T4T we can't begin to imagine what this year has in-store for Maya and Eris but we have no doubt it's even more on the upward trajectory! Most likely to the heavens and back! We had a chat with Maya and Eris to see what they have been up to lately and little about how they approached the mix.

Interview Here

Phonica Mix Series 103: Octo Octa & Eris Drew

BBC Radio One Residency Ep. 4 - 'SA'

Another demo for the upcoming Hexparter LP!

Last Rites

The first in an exclusive DJ Booth recording series, featuring A Love from Outer Space's Sean Johnston, recorded Saturday 25th February 2023 at the club.

Some words about ALFOS from Sean Johnston: "ALFOS - charting journeys that pay off gradually but powerfully, as a club-ready antidote to our contemporary culture of instant gratification. Inspired not by what is, but by the brimming potential of what could be..."

Our From The Booth series will return in July 2023. 

phonox.co.uk

From The Booth 001 | A Love from Outer Space (All Night Long) | Recorded Saturday 25th February 2023

Tracklist (Unmixed):

1. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f - Aphex Twin
2. You're the One for Me [Dmitiri Remix] - Strikers
3. Cassette Arabic - Maxmillion Dunbar
4. Fire - Lizzy Mercier Descloux
5. An Intention - Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
6. Interfaces - Marie Davidson
7. Trainmann (Tensnake Franceman Mix) - Lauer
8. He Is Sailing - Jon & Vangelis
9. Foreløpig Bit - Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas
10. I Wanna Rock You - Giorgio Moroder
11. Alpine - Leifur James
12. Love Comes Quickly (Dance Mix) - Pet Shop Boys

Rhythmic Oscillations 19 (2023.06.24)

Backspace Century | Live on HydeFM | 07/06/23

Tracklist (unmixed):

1. Listen to the Music - Quiet Force
2. A Dog in the Night - Mr. Master
3. Ila bkiti nebkimaak - Cheb Hasni
4. Save Our Love - Escape from New York
5. Kakashi - Yasuaki Shimizu
6. Eyes - Clio
7. Era of the Slaves - Edgar Froese
8. Moments in House - Essence
9. Hupendi Muziki Wangu?! (You Don't Like My Music) - K.I.D.
10. Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart - Julee Cruise

Rhythmic Oscillations 23 (2023.08.19)

Broadcast live on WNYU 89.1FM in New York City on October 11th, 2016. 
https://soundcloud.com/andrew-weatherall
http://www.beatsinspace.net/playlists/855
http://www.facebook.com/bisradio
http://beatsinspace.bandcamp.com

www.beatsinspace.net

Beats In Space

BIS Radio Show #855 with Andrew Weatherall

Love flyin' about

CENTER YOURSELF is a podcast series curated by Robert Johnson. Each episode is created by one of our regulars—some are made for this occasion and some are hand-picked from the club's own archive.

@andrew-weatherall
@roman-fluegel

In loving memory, we are happy to share this excerpt from Andrew Weatherall & Roman Flügel's all-nighter recorded at Robert Johnson in 2017.

Center Yourself 05 – Andrew Weatherall & Roman Flügel

Electronic music artist and DJ based in Houston, TX.

Rhythmic Oscillations 19 (2023.06.24)

HTXEdifice (Justin A. Levine)

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