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Plastikman - Smak (Sheet One, Plus 8, 1993)
“The planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us. Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light — the light of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves, and each other.”
— Closing narration, The Outer Limits S1:E1 “The Galaxy Being” (1963)
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Shut Up & Dance ft. Ragga Twins - Lamborghini (Lamborghini, Shut Up And Dance, 1989)
Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) set to breakbeats, with the Ragga Twins toasting over the top. Acid magic.
Shut Up & Dance’s brazen sampling eventually caught up with them after Raving, I’m Raving, featuring ex-dancehall DJ Peter Bouncer, hit number two on the British charts in 1992. The success brought copyright lawyers from at least six major labels, responding to obvious transgressions against their artists. SUAD spent two years of legal wrangling, in similar fashion to American hip-hop contemporaries like Biz Markie and De La Soul. The hassles eventually bankrupted their label. [1]
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Rum & Black - Fuck The Legal Stations (Fuck The Legal Stations / I’m Not In Love, Shut Up And Dance, 1990)
Shut Up & Dance’s PJ and Smiley as Rum & Black — 100% vol., without ice. Samples from Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy and Ice Cube’s Turn Off The Radio.
Philip ‘PJ’ Johnson and Carl ‘Smiley’ Hyman ran their own small North London sound system along with friend DJ Hype. Initially the music had been strictly Reggae but after Smiley had visited his mum who lived in New York in 1986, they began to drop the occasional hip-hop tune into their set. This developed further as they then started MCing in Jamaican style over the breaks. By 1988, PJ and Smiley had begun to make records as Shut Up & Dance. As avid hip-hop dancers both PJ and Smiley initially wanted to make what they called ‘fast hip-hop’, (mirroring the speed of the break in old funk tunes) so they were somewhat surprised when a friend told them that a record they had made was being played at an acid house club. It was indeed true and soon they began to hear their music being played on all the pirate radio stations. Although they never really got involved in the rave scene they started to make records for it. In their own minds they made records with ‘one-side house, one-side hip-hop’. In fact they were making proto-jungle and when they joined forces with their MC heroes from their youth, The Ragga Twins, they paved the way for the union of Rave and Reggae culture. [1]
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E-Z Rollers - Retro (Retro/Subtropic, Moving Shadow, 1997)
“It’s sad… In the 20th century, in the 1990’s we have to still go the same bullshit route that other artists have had to go to get acceptance. Black artists, because we are not entertaining bouffant idiots, we have to go someplace else to be accepted, and that’s absolute bullshit. If it wasn’t for the independents, if it wasn’t for the small little dinky little cities, and the few little ghetto black guys trying to make music it would have never happened. As quiet as it’s kept, some of these guys will never make a dime. Some of these guys will be poor and die alone. But in the process, they’ve been the true renegades. And the true rebels always walk alone anyway.”
— Derrick May (Dancing in the Street [ep. 9 on YouTube], BBC, 1995)
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Señor Coconut Y Su Conjunto - Autobahn (Cumbia Merengue) (El Baile Alemán, Emperor Norton, 2000)
Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” as covered by Uwe Schmidt and his imaginary Latin band.
Check out Strictly Kev’s Kraftwerk Kover Kollection Vol. 1-6 for more — 6-odd hours of Kraftwerk covers for the true fan.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
F.U.S.E. - Infusion (From Our Minds To Yours Vol. 1, Plus 8, 1991)
According to the liner notes, this was mixed live at Confusion, 19 March 1991 by Richie Hawtin, John Acquaviva and Speedy J. F.U.S.E.’s later Theychx (Dimension Intrusion, Warp, 1993) is another 13-minute workout of samples from George Lucas’ 1971 sci-fi film THX 1138.
Find out more about the early 90’s connection between North America and Rotterdam in this article about Speedy J / Jochem Paap on RA.
What’s wrong?
(preview via m-nus.com, excuse the quality)
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Aisha - The Creator (Dancing Time/The Creator, Ariwa, 1986)
Produced by Mad Professor (born Neil Fraser), with roots reggae singer Pamela Ross on vocals. The dub version was later sampled by The Orb on “Blue Room” (Blue Room, Big Life, 1992). Fraser is considered one of the leading producers of dub music’s second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. [1].
Fast forward into dub.
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Visage - Frequency 7 - Tar (Radar/WEA, 1979)
Spiralling into the future, the vocal version of “Frequency 7” on Visage’s debut single. This version has never been re-released and is a rarity [1]. The more commonly-circulated “Dance Mix” doesn’t have the excellent vocoder action. Detroit techno legend Carl Craig later channelled some “Frequency 7” in “Frequency Finale” [preview] (4 Jazz Funk Classics, Planet E, 1991).
The future is still out of control.
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This is either a metal, or… if it is a metal, then it’s painted… cold surface… This is either a metal, painted, or could be a plastic… Colorful, there are… Bright… Seems like… is this a toy, probably? The surface is smooth, but… there are some bumps on it… Even the finger stucks in it… Probably it is… some marks, or is this a letters?… Or just a bumps… Looks like a toy… Colorful metal, or a plastic… painted metal… That’s all.. Stop.
In the sample, Russian telepath Karl Nikolaev is sitting in a room, trying to guess which item is lying on a table which is situated in a room two floors above him. More here.
Biosphere - Kobresia - Substrata - All Saints
