Saturday, May 19, 2007

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!

10 comments:

Heidi said...

LOVING Def Jef!!!! I was instantly transported to the year I'd rather forget. I spent it in scuzzy apartments in Brooklyn, NY, smoking TOTALLY LEGAL tobacco, or alternatively in two clubs on the Lower East Side
side, one was called Nations and that's all I can remember. *hangs her head in shame*

Heidi said...

I meant to say that God Made Me Funky is a really good song.
thank you

ally. said...

somehow all this stuff made me pack up all my jangling indie tunes and delve deeper into a passion for italian knitware. i blame gilles peterson and sunday afternoon drinking.

x

Rob said...

Heidi: I think I actually like the DJ track best of all. I've got the album somewhere - I'll try and find it!

Ally: Nice to have you here! I managed to balance a love for Slowdive with a train-spotter's delight in old Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith records, but I know what you mean... I like your blog - shall we trade links?

James Franco said...

Dream Warriors track takes me back a few years!
I dug out a few of my early 90s CDs the other day, cant stop listening to Cantaloupe- Trip Fantasia at the moment.

Was it the Young disciples that did "apparently nothing"?

Rob said...

that's them james. it's also, cruelly, a pretty comprehensive list of their achievements :(

James Franco said...

I quite liked that tune!!
Listening to A tribe called quest now....
Will dig out 3 feet high and rising for this afternoon.
Thanks for taking me back to my youth Rob.

Rob said...

Oh James - I LOVED that band, all I meant was that it never really happened for them, did it? I have more YDs records than is wise, I promise you!

James Franco said...

They never did "break" the hit parade really did they.
I honestly couldn't name any other tracks apart from apparently nothing.
I am not even in your league as a music afficionado Rob.
I know a lot about mobile phones though!

ally. said...

you're all linked up sweeties.
x