Friday, October 7, 2011

Examine - Evo District



After having done a bunch of well received single releases, 'Major Minor' is Examine's debut album on the infamous Manual Music label.

"Creativity is useless if it's no fun"; a simple thought that keeps young Zagreb based producer Examine floating on machines, waveforms and virtual instruments for years now. Focused on dancefloor music consumers as much as home listeners, his sound is marked by the words "deep" "tech" "dub" "danceable" and is lead only by his raw feeling of determining good.

His career as a composer didn't start so long ago, it took years for his sound to evolve to the point where no boundaries are set and no stereotypes are followed, the only thing that matters is how the music sounds and what message it bring across to it's consumers.

"Regardless of the club experience as a clubber/dj or some other non-music thing, there is always a part of that specific moment during which your heart stops for a moment, eyes closed, brain frozen, taking your mind taking a snapshot for day after or even a lifetime. I want to recreate these moments in my unique way, want to expeience that feeling again. That's my music."

Links:

Facebook
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Black Ivory - What Goes Around (Comes Around)



Black Ivory was a R&B group from Harlem, which had a number of hits in the 1970s, including "Don't Turn Around", "You and I" (both of which featured Larry Blackmon from Cameo on drums), "I'll Find a Way (The Loneliest Man in Town)", "Spinning Around", "What Goes Around (Comes Around)", "Will We Ever Come Together", and "Mainline."

The group features songwriter and prolific disco producer Leroy Burgess, Stuart Bascombe, and Russell Patterson. They were managed by Patrick Adams, an executive at the Today/Perception record company. Burgess was the lead voice of the majority of their hits in the early '70s. With Today/Perception being a small label, the promotion of Black Ivory's singles scarcely got beyond the East Coast. This lack of exposure, coupled with the rise of disco and the fact Adams was beginning to branch out into other projects, caused Black Ivory to lose steam.

Links:

Wikipedia

Kleeer - Groove With You



Kleeer was an American New York based funk, disco and post-disco band which was formed in 1972 under the name The Jam Band, as a backup group to different disco bands and vocalists. The group consisted of Woody Cunningham, vocalist/percussionist Paul Crutchfield, guitarist Richard Lee and bassist Norman Durham.

After a switch to the name Pipeline in 1975, the group also decided to switch to making hard rock instead of disco. Record labels competed to sign them but, when they finally ended up at Columbia Records, their single "Gypsie Rider" did not fare well commercially.
In 1976 they got the opportunity to become The Universal Robot Band along with underground disco producers Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael. This project was more successful than their former projects. They made the single "Barely Breaking Even" alongside singer Leroy Burgess, and they also recorded an album. The group toured as The Universal Robot Band until 1978.

After 1978, the band decided to make all their music themselves under the new name of Kleeer.

Between 1979 and 1985 the group released seven albums and had several hits in the US Billboard Hot 100 and in R&B charts. The most mentionable are "Tonight's the Night", "Winners", "Intimate Connection", and "Get Tough." The sound was now more focused on 1980s style funk, and electronic instruments, like vocoders and synthesizers.
After the 1985's album Seeekret, the band disappeared for unknown reasons. Most of the musicians continued working with other projects. In the 1990s, however, the group re-formed as Kleeer at some occasions.

The group's influence today is best found in many hip hop songs, where DJs have frequently sampled Kleeer, for example by 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, Lil Jon and The Eastside Boys. "Keeep Your Body Workin", which reached number 54 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart in 1979, was "reworked" into an updated recording by Tony Moran featuring Martha Wash, under the title "Keep Your Body Working." The Moran/Wash version reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in December 2007.
Woody Cunningham died on January 9, 2010.

Links:

Wikipedia

Universal Robot Band - Barely Breaking Even



The Universal Robot Band were an American music group comprising Gregory Carmichael, Patrick Adams, Leroy Burgess, Gregory Tolbert and Woody Cunningham.
They were formed by Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael in 1976, their debut single was "Dance And Shake Your Tambourine" which featured Gregory Tolbert on Keys. They reformed the band in 1982 for 'Barely Breaking Even'.

Links:

Wikipedia

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Quick - Zulu (12'' Version 1982)



Colin Campsie & George McFarlane, the two members of The Quick reached a good level of popularity in the 80' as artists and as producers for acts like Haywoode and Girls Can't Help It, very imaginative in its use of keyboards, "Zulu" is a pure electronic delight, hunting echoed bassline and some tribal elements, they were ahead of their time, the American remix is by another popular name :John Luongo. This is a rare extended instrumental version