Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey
Read about about DJ’s searches for elusive vinyl in Africa here.
Category: music
Secret Disco: The Funhouse
Earlier in the year I created a series of posts based on the book, Turn the Beat Around: The Secret History of Disco. I finally got around to finishing some of the entries I left hanging.
The Funhouse logo
This installment is focused on the New York City danceclub The Funhouse. According to Turn the Beat Around, this nightclub was inspired by the infamous Paradise Garage, the avant-garde answer to the glitzy drug-fueled Studio 54. All the clubs were in New York, of course, ground zero for nightlife in the 70s and 80s.
The Funhouse became known for introducing the club-set to new 80s genres like electroboogie and freestyle. It’s also well-known for one it’s most famous DJs: John “Jellybean” Benitez, who later went on to become an internationally famous producer and is well-known for his collaborations with Madonna. Madonna, coincidently is said to have earned Jellybean’s attention by hijacking the DJ booth one night and playing one of her demo tapes which was well-received by the dancing crowd.
Below are a few songs Jellybean Benitez was known to throw into his mix set.
Jimmy Bo Horne – Spank (12″ Disco Version) 1979
I never knew this song by name but the opening organ-y melody was well familiar to me upon hearing. The heavy bass drum in the beginning is definitely the first step on the road to House music which would come into being 10 or so years later. What got my dancing shoes moving was the charming sound of a real drum-kit churning out those awesome pre-House beats. The handclaps are cute in a disco way but man, that driving, relentless bass line. I always say who needs guitars in dance music? The message of the song, “spank!” and the “do it, do it” refrain…well, that’s up to you to interpret in any way you see fit.
Man Parrish – Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop)
So I guess this song received a bit of resurgent popularity due to a scene in the movie Shaun of the Dead. Uh, I wouldn’t know. I can’t watch any movie with zombies or zombie-like creatures because I won’t be able to sleep for days afterwards. I’m not kidding, it’s ridiculous. So I’ll just take other people’s word on this. Oh my, I just got creeped out writing about zombies. Ay, should I delete this paragraph? Okay, easy now, breathing…
Man Parrish was always known to me as the creator of one of the silliest songs of the Italo Disco/Hi-NRG genre, Male Stripper. Please click the link to listen, please, it’s quite fun.
Anyways, there is some debate on whether Hip Hop Be Bop song is considered hip-hop (as in old school b-boy New York, 80s hip hop) or if it’s considered electro (as in 80s electro). Turn the Beat Around refers to it as “electro.” Listening to this song brings on images of breakdancers, ghetto blasters and all that other b-boy style like it’s right there in front of me. Whoosh, I’m in New York, 1982! What a time it must’ve been!
By the way, anyone catch the Magnificent Seven bassline line around 1:28? Or is that a nod to Kraftwerk?
Wide Boy Awake-Slang Teacher
This one I remember from my kid days in the 1980s, when I’d listen to KROQ obsessively on my little pink Sony radio. It’s one of those cross-genre songs of the time, music that oscillated between new wave, hip hop and freestyle like One More Shot by C-Bank, another KROQ hit. Most of these songs got incorporated into East LA DJ sets due to the prominent break dancing beat. If it sounded sorta new wave all the better for getting the button and trench coat set on the dancefloor. According to Youtube comments and Turn the Beat Around, it was a Jellybean Funhouse favorite.
Also in the same vein is New Order’s Confusion…
New Order-Confusion
Here it is, The Funhouse danceclub, a small moment of disco/freestyle history captured in an obscure New Order video. There are glimpses of Jellybean in his clownface DJ booth and producer of Confusion, Arthur Baker. Baker was also a well-known engineer of all those elecro beats. The sneaky party girls were real Funhouse clubbers named Mama Juice and Eva.
This video is a classic, even recently payed homage to by the band Holy Ghost! The remake sadly proves what little real joy is left in the world, it feels pretentious and awkward, a poor tribute. I found it depressing actually. So don’t watch it unless you wanna see how far we’ve fallen.
Next up, Freestyle and electroboogie, the genre credited to Jellybean Benitez and known locally on the Eastside as plain ‘disco.’
Favorite Song of the Day: I Wasn’t Made for This World
Thee Headcoats – I wasn’t made for this world
My sometimes theme song sung by one of my all-time favorite bands, Thee Headcoats.
I don’t want to live under the clock
I don’t want to climb to the top
I wasn’t made for this world!
Favorite Song of the Day: Letter to Wendel
Mock & Toof with Pollyester – Farewell To Wendo
One more great summer song, so far the only other piece of music I’ve been cheerleading this season was Primary 1’s The Blues. Now, I found a new song to bombard my friends with. How can you not like a song the asks the listener to “murder me with orgasms”? Sure Letter to Wendel is a bit melancholy but it fits with the troublesome times of 2010. The languid vocals, the discordant harmonies and the eastern instrumentation are reminiscent of The Knife.
Pollyester (I mess up your post!!!wawawawawa! Looodydydlooddydloo!- message from chimatli’s house pest guest*) is a German performance artist and musician. Mock and Toof are British DJs known for their remixes of famous boring artists like Madonna. Despite this, the inspired collaboration between Pollyester and the Mock and Toof has resulted in a very excellent tune!
*Be careful when stepping away from your computer in the middle of a post. You never know what can magically appear on the screen.
Favorite Video(s) of the Week: Copy and Paste
Xeroz (or Zerox), Polaroids, copy and pasting…songs about mundane tasks and objects made all the more interesting by a bit of guitar and an electronic beat or two.
Adam & The Ants – Zerøx (1979)
This was a previously unreleased video, towards the end there are some strange outakes. Perhaps it was a bad copy? har har. Early Adam Ant sounds fresher than the later pop-ier, pirate themed stuff. Another favorite is his take on bondage, Whip in My Valise.
Ruth – Polaroid Roman Photo (Synthwave France, 1985)
From The Boomar Blog:
Ruth was an 80’s synth/artsy new wave group from France consisting of Thiery Müller, Phillippe Doray and Ruth Ellyeri. From what I can gather, they only released one full-length LP, also titled Polaroid/Roman/Photo on the ultra-obscure Paris Album records. The record was out of print for quite some time, but has since been reissued by UK label Infrastition Records
Plastic Operator – Folder (2005)
As someone who does a lot of blogging, I think this tune could be a potential theme song. Always copying and pasting, editing, cropping…come to think of it, isn’t love the same?
From the Plastic Operator website:
Plastic Operator are the perfect pop group for our times. Internationally minded, technically savvy and most importantly blessed with the ability to sculpt sublimely soulful pop moments from raw digital clay, Plastic Operator may exist in a parallel space to the tired pop pap in the Top 10, but what a wonderful space it is.
Favorite Videos of the Week: Melody Variétés
Melody Variétés was or still is a French variety TV program featuring musical acts popular for the time. Perhaps the show only ran in the late 1960s-1970s as most of the videos I’ve found come from that era.
F.R. David – Symphonie (1967)
Claude Dubois – En Voyage (1976)
Claude Dubois
Three Degrees-Giving Up Giving In
Favorite Song of the Day: Some Velvet Morning
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood-Some Velvet Morning (1967)
Favorite Video(s) of the Week: Les Négresses Vertes
Zobi La Mouche- Les Négresses Vertes
There was a time in the early 90s when I didn’t have a job. I scavenged, weaned and gleaned from the excesses of consumer society. I didn’t need much – friends, homemade food, dance parties, books and music were my sustenance.
Les Négresses Vertes made up a big chunk of the soundtrack to this bit of my life. I listened to them constantly. They were the background music for two of my favorite books at the time: Letters of Insurgents and Song from the Forest.
With exuberant songs such as “Zobi la mouche” and “Voilà l’été” Les Négresses forged their lively ‘get up and dance’ style. The group’s unique sound was basically a musical melting-pot, created by fusing a variety of musical influences from their extremely diverse origins. Spanish and Gypsy rhythms were fused with traditional French dances and rai sounds and strung together with lyrics which appeared light and innocent on the surface but were, in fact, full of innuendo and hidden meanings.
Read more here.
L’homme des marais – Les Négresses Vertes
Favorite Song of the Day: The Blues
Primary 1 feat. Nina Persson – The Blues
It’s been awhile since a new song has really excited me but finally a new bit of music to savor and I’m swooning! The other day my ears perked up when I heard the melancholy strains and driving beats of Primary 1’s The Blues. The vocals are amazing too and whoa, its a duet! Nina Persson formerly of The Cardigans is a guest vocalist. I’ve always had a thing for male/female duets perhaps it started with Human League’s Don’t You Want Me but it’s continued on with songs like The Postal Service’s Nothing Better and Kings of Convenience’s Know How. The Blues is another to add to the list. There are echoes of 80s new wave bands in this song but who? Berlin? The Motels? Whatever, this is my song for the summer, and will probably end up as a reminder of my melancholy 2010 days.
Check here for Primary 1’s blog. They are also offering The Blues as a free download!
Oh la la!
This is why Mexico beat France in their last World Cup game. All the talented French kids (with berets!) are busy dancing tecktonik in their parent’s basements instead of paying attention to football.