Tuesday, January 26, 2010

ALEEM FEAT. LEROY BURGESS - GET LOOSE


Another classic boogie tune that I picked up for $10 bucks at my local, Northside Records. It's not exactly rare, but I was mighty excited to come across this. Featuring the great Leroy Burgess on vocals (and probably my favorite male vocalist ever) and also on production and writing duties with the Aleems, Get Loose is geared for the dance floor but combines that disco boogie sound with the burgeoning garage sound. It's reminiscent of Serious Intention's You Don't Know in the garage sense, but I could imagine people break-dancing to this, as it also has that whole Electric Boogaloo thing happening in the vein of Midway's Set It Out and Ollie & Jerry's There's No Stopping Us. It's also probably a precursor to the Freestyle genre/sound of the mid to late 80's. And it sounds suspiciously similar to Release Yourself, also by The Aleems featuring Leroy Burgess (and a classic in its own right).
But I digress. The driving bassline propels the track and there is also great use of synths and drum machines here topped off with Burgess's soulful voice. It's a dance-floor monster and it's seminal because it takes the best bits of all the things I mentioned above and makes it appeal to disco, electro and freestlye heads alike as well as, well, everybody really.

Aleem feat. Leroy Burgess - Get Loose

Thursday, January 14, 2010

JASPER STREET COMPANY - A FEELIN'


Gospel house music with a kick today from 1995 with DJ Spen & The Jasper Street Company. This is another classic with an amazingly uplifting production from the halcyon days of garage's golden period in the mid 90's. This was the first release on the Basement Boys Records label out of Baltimore, which has always specialised in gospel house music which some may find to be a bit preachy. However, A Feelin' is still probably the most accessible record Basement Boys has released and is definitely geared for the clubs. And once again it sounds like it could have been released yesterday, always the sign of a classic.

DJ Spen & The Jasper Street Company - A Feelin'

Sunday, January 3, 2010

RINDER & LEWIS - LOVE POTION #9


Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis helped to define the Disco sound that was coming out of Los Angeles in the late 70's with studio projects such as El Coco, Saint Tropez and Le Pamplemousse. Warriors was released in 1979 under their own names, and was the follow up to their Seven Deadly Sins album from 1977 (also released under their own names). I like Warriors because the whole thing is quirky right down to the album cover. Love Potion #9 is my favorite cut off the record, and I think epitomises the genius of Rinder & Lewis. It's a cover of a Liebler & Stoller song. The lyrics are playful, but the beat is hypnotic and solid. It's a nice juxtaposition between the silly (the lyrics) and the sublime (the killer groove). And that is what makes this song and album so good.

Rinder & Lewis - Love Potion #9