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.)

Liaisons Dangereuses - Welcome to the Pleasuredome - 15/06/1989 tape recording

Alessandro Adriani LIVE set @ DT CAMP 2023

Jokubas Bajorinas DJ set @ DT CAMP 2023

The GF series is back this week with Ayshel. The young, Athens-based DJ is part of the Stegi Radio team and hosts her show CALL NOW for over four years. Her show features artists such as Pi Electronics resident Zorz, LVRIN, and others. When she's not playing Athens staples like Astron Bar, which sadly closed, she has been making the rounds at festivals like Healthy Summer Fest and others. Her selections are located somewhere between tribal beats, hypnotic melodies and industrial sounds. Her mix is no exception. Lock in for an hour from one of Athens' hottest up-and-coming DJs.

@aysh3l

Galactic Funk Podcast 134 - Ayshel

Ian Martin - Operator 59th show

The recording of my Operator Radio show on December 9th with Juanpablo Frigio of Frigio Records is up. Includes some Tamburi Neri, classic Anne Clark, some Frigio cuts, Antonio/Raw Ambassador and Daniel Holt on Marguerite Records, classic Steven Julien, David Meiser, Andi and Machina, Honour, a bunch of Pinkman, and more. Was great to be at Operator as always and had an equally great time at Laak in The Hague after with JP and the rest.

@frigio-records

Bertram @ Operator w/ Juanpablo Frigio - 9-12-2023

DT Podcast #209 is here. For the newest edition, we are delighted to welcome Los Angeles-based producer, hardware sound aficionado, and designer Michael Padgett, a.k.a. Ole Mic Odd. Having grown up on a jazz music diet, he later shifted his focus to tinkering with synths and drum machines. Today, he's renowned for his immersive live performances, delivering a gritty and evolving electro sound. His releases on Kraftjerkz, Zement, Source Material, and Hilltown Disco speak for themselves.

In this podcast, Ole Mic Odd has recorded a live set that vividly portrays the scenario of aliens landing on Earth via robotic sonic perspective. Tune in, drop out.

Read the full interview at home: https://digital-tsunami.org/music/dt/209-ole-mic-odd

Digital Tsunami 209

Interview

Digital Tsunami 209 - Ole Mic Odd Live

Produced almost entirely using the MPC One. Microfreak, JU06, and Augmented Strings were also used. Sample taken from an audiobook of 'The Communist Manifesto'.

A video of the live performance of the track found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0WId99wUFM&ab_channel=DVSNME

Unreleased DVS NME

DVS NME - Bourgeoisie & Proletariat

Timothy J. Fairplay back with another edition of Dungeon Module. This month including new
music by Grizzly Knuckles, Jordan Zawideh, Ole Mic Odd, 
The Kid & Cliff, William Kincaid, 
The Exaltics and lots more.
 As always there is some new music in there by Timothy too.

Timothy J. Fairplay pres. Dungeon Module [12.03.2024]

JNY
@ the woman cave | edition #9
Outskirts of Oslo | May 18th 2024
Simple one take, no grand plan or mastering of any kind
--

That's it really.
Happy to be here.

--
TRACKLIST

[1] The Exaltics - Sieben (Gesloten Cirkel Remix) [Solar One Music - 2024]
[2] Chino - VNTBLK (Marco Segato Remix) [Pinkman - 2024]
[3] Vertical67 - Static [brokntoys - 2022]
[4] Fragedis - Intersection 4 [Modal Analysis - 2019]
[5] Credit 00 & Wolf Müller - Urban Utan [Rat Life - 2023]
[6] Industrial Bass Machine - Devastate the Planet [Battle Trax - 2023]
[7] DJ Overdose - RaZor [L.I.E.S. - 2020]
[8] Kamikaze Space Programme + Emika - Choke [TRUST - 2015]
[9] J Frank - Mechanical Sensei [Pyramid Transmissions - 2024]
[10] Kraftwerk - Nummern / Computerwelt [EMI - 1981]
[11] Gesloten Cirkel - Chasing Away The Night [Viewlexx - 2015]
[12] Massive Attack feat. Mos Def - I Against I [Virgin - 2002]
[13] Acidulant - Institutionize Planet X [Zodiac Commune Records - 2023]
[14] Andrew Red Hand - In The Cemetery (The Exaltics Remix) [Rotterdam Electronix - 2024]
[15] Claro Intelecto - Hurt [Delsin Records - 2017]
[16] Vema Diodes - Dark Ambition [Util Records - 2018]
[17] Univac - Atoms Complot [Pinkman - 2022]
[18] Lost Trax - Life Out Of Balance [Frustrated Funk - 2018]
[19] Alessandro Adriani - Ecstatic Feeling [L.I.E.S. - 2022]
[20] Clan of Xymox - Stranger (2004) [Pandaimonium Records - 2004]

Liaisons Dangereuses - Welcome to the Pleasuredome - 15/06/1989 tape recording

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