Basement Crates: 17, 18 & 19

Dream Warriors: My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style (Young Disciples remix) (4th & Broadway, 1990)
In the future, music historians will discuss the hits of 1990 and therefore assume, like we do, that they know what the year sounded like. But they'll be wrong, because, for a lot of people (including, obviously, me), 1990 sounded like this. Sampled beats, deftly stroked "vintage" instruments and a general air of self-conscious, vaguely ridiculous cool. In Britain, OK, London, this was a way of marking your difference from the flyer-hoarding, puffa-wearing rave monkeys. We stroked our neatly clipped facial hair and admired a hip take on breakbeat and hip-hop that affected jazz pretensions as long as jazz could be narrowly defined by a few records made between 1968 and 1973. Nobody was allowed to call it Jazz Funk, because that was, and remains, the uncoolest music of all time, but, let's be honest, this is closer to Grover Washington Jr than it is to John Coltrane. Happily, I like GW Jr and JC, so I was happy as Larry. Anyway, in 1990, the Young Disciples were cool enough to basically reprise their own Step Right On track and call it a remix, while Dream Warriors could bang on about "boombastic jazz styles" and wear outlandish wooden jewellery and, for about a month, be considered fantastically outre. Oh, 1990, you are such a long time ago.

ED O.G & Da Bulldogs: Be A Father To Your Child (First World remix) (Urban, 1991)
So, 1991 was kind of odd too. Look at this for instance. Notionally released by the Polydor offshoot Urban - originally home to a slew of rare groove re-releases (and The James Taylor Quartet) - there are five labels listed on the sleeve, one of which is PWL America. In 1991, no one really knew what was going on. Records as melodic and - ahem - conscious as this one still sold across the board in numbers big enough to make the record industry think that the pay days would last forever. Acid house had turned into album sales, hip hop was massive, grunge was coming up fast - would this party never end? Well, yes it would, but not for a few years yet. Of course, Ed and his Bulldogs never really got to enjoy any of the riches as they were propelled to their one hit by a remix. Google reveals them to have no web presence other than a bit of Last.FM and a Myspace page with seven - seven! - friends.

BONUS POST!
Def Jef: God Made Me Funky (Delicious Vinyl, 1989)
This is a bit battered, a bit crackly, a bit jumpy, but it still feels good. Def Jef - great name! - arrived in Young MC's slipstream and was forgotten in about three weeks, but this is a nice legacy. Upright, feel-good hip hop with live bass, hilariously 80s rhyme pattern and a smattering of Troublefunk samples... This sounds like ancient history now.

Enjoy!