Breakbeat Tuesday – Funky Italy

Okay I’ll admit that I used to be a full fledged member of the “cool guys club.” Yeah, I owned the Major Force Box Set, and I had a subscription to Grand Royal Magazine. Now I was definitely not one of “The Bitches” you heard? But in the late nineties when everyone had their finger on the pulse of everything “INDIE” I also had my finger on the pulse of everything “ALT.” One of the bands at the time I really checked for was Unkle which consisted of James Lavelle (the founder of Mo’ Wax Recordss,) Tim Goldsworthy (who went on to help create DFA Records) and DJ Shadow (who went on to yell at kids to stay off his lawn.)

U.N.K.L.E. was cool, like really cool. Perhaps maybe too cool, because I would play it to people and they would look at me sideways. But I thought it was groovy, and smart, and the beats were crazy knocking. The first song on the Psyence Fiction basically has the right ingredients for a winning song: Hard drums, Star Wars samples and Kool G Rap… and Cosmo is happy.

Fast forward to 2005 and Hurricane Katrina basically became the most terrible thing that many of us ever saw. The dudes over on Soulstrut started up the Heatrocks Campaign (see below for more information about that, or click for the current Heatrock For Haiti campaign) and one of the records that was put up was Tullio De Piscopo’s “Suonando La Batteria Moderna (Modern Drums – A Practical Guide).” I don’t remember if it was my homie Matthew Africa who put it up for charity of if he bought it, but I’ve always wanted that record since I saw it out there. It’s tough because it’s like a $400 Italian record of drum instructions, and that’s kind of a hard purchase to justify. But then again, cuts like these might make the case for dropping that loot. Here’s 2 cuts from the “Suonando la Batteria Moderna” album.

Tullio De Piscopo “Medium Rock” (Vedette, 1974)

Tullio De Piscopo “Samba Carnival” (Vedette, 1974)

Pretty nasty, if I do say so myself. Just goes to show you that you never know who’s got it and who doesn’t But to be honest. how are you gonna tell me this dude don’t got drums?

Breakbeat Tuesday – I Want Action

So for the past several weeks I’ve been raiding the rock crates for some breaks, but for this week’s installment I figured I would go back to the essence of this whole breaks thing and hit you with a true classic Ultimate Break & Beat.

First about the Ultimate Breaks & Beats – For those of you who don’t know, The Ultimate Breaks & Beats series was a bootleg compilation of records that was put together by “Breakbeat Lenny” Roberts and the one and only Breakbeat Lou… So I posted this entry and then my good friend and old roommate Konrad hit me up to set some of the record straight. About Breakbeat Lenny, directly from Konrad:

“As much as Lenny was a motivator behind UBB, Stanley Platzer was the breakbeat guru. He was the guy behind the counter of the Music Factory record store on 43rd and Broadway, back when Russell Simmons was still hustling incense in Times Square. he was this old kind of crotchety guy, typical old school New Yorker for the time. I used to go there as a kid in the early 80’s and you could find Grand Wizard Theodore on any given day grilling Stanley about records. He was a machine… you could describe just about any obscure part of any obscure record from the late 50’s into the late 70’s and he knew what it was and exactly where in that sandcrawler of a shop you could find it. As the story goes, Lenny had the idea to take these records that the bronx record boys were buying and make a compilation. Stanley reluctantly agreed to Lenny’s proposal and street beat records/UBB was born. That was maybe 1984ish. Then the hunt was on, Stanley became THE breakbeat authority after that until he died. His daughter was poised to become the breakbeat queen but the shop (and the block) was closed in the very late 80’s and the rest is Distory. Now it’s where ABC’s morning show is shot (or was it on the opposite side of the street where Planet Hollywood is? my memory is failing me!) This is the legacy of Guliani no one talks about…but don’t get me started!”

Thanks, dude! So these these were the songs that all these “Bronx record boys” – Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, Hollywood, Flowers, Pete DJ Jones – were buying and were playing. This collection of songs – all with pretty notable breaks – ended up becoming the Ultimate Breaks & Beats, and they were as diverse as possible, with funk records, disco, rare latin records, calypso cuts, new wave, even songs from The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones. But they all were accepted under the blanket classification as a UBB. Lenny and Lou put out many volumes of UBBs, and eventually directly from the StreetBeat series, producers in the 80s dug for beats and samples and ended up using the series to sculpt the sound of hip-hop. Pretty dope if you ask me. Lenny Roberts died not too long ago (and I believe Biz Markie ended up with Lenny’s incredible collection) but his legacy lives on. And as a DJ, I’ve always thought that it was an integral stepping stone in the development in your craft – to learn these breakbeats inside and out. Like if you call yourself a DJ and you don’t know your UBBs, I don’t what to say to you, son…

Orange Krush was a group that was founded in the early 80s and was one of the very first records that Russel “Rush” Simmons ever had his hands on. The group consisted of bassist Larry Smith, drummer Trevor Gale and guitarist David Reeves. Larry was the former bass player from the sweet soul group from the South Side of Chicago, Brighter Side of Darkness. Trevor was the drummer for the Leroy Burgess group Convertion. Together they put out what I consider to be one of the finest early 80s proto-hip-hop songs ever, 1982’s “Action.” From the opening 8 quarter notes, which seem custom made for a DJ to cut, the song is propelled into a very unique funky groove that is very different from the funk and R&B of the time, but isn’t quite a rap record.

The group disbanded after this, but all went on to secure their legacy. David Reeves renamed himself Davy DMX and became the DJ and guitarist for Kurtis Blow. Most notably, Larry Smith went on to produce records by Whodini, Jimmy Spicer, and most importantly, the early Run-DMC records. Arguably one could call Larry Smith one of the most important hip-hop producers of all time, specifically because of his innovations with drum machines and programming.

Orange Krush “Action” (Mercury, 1982)

Breakbeat Tuesday – It’s What I Like

I had a ritual when I lived in Philly about 10 years ago where, before my regular Friday night gig, I would go down to Philadelphia Record Exchange off of South Street. There I would hang out with the dudes at the shop. drink a beer or two with two, talk a lot of shit, while they played records – and pulled joints specifically for me. One Friday night in the summer, Tony V passed this record off to me saying “Hey Cos this is something you might like.” I did, and I gripped it, only to have it get lost within the 15,000+ records that I had spread out between Brooklyn and my mom’s house. This summer though, me and the wife were heading to Costco and we were listening to a Hot 97 all-mix weekend and Grandmaster Flash was in a live all-breaks mix. He played this record, and it was the only time that I’ve heard it played out before, or since, other than when I’ve played it. Guess me and Flash were on to something haha…

Everyday People was the brainchild of Canadian guitarist Bruce Wheaton, and “I Like What I Like” is the leadoff song of their self-titled debut and only record, released in 1971. I don’t think this record is “rare” per se, nor is it really a full-fledged “break beat” in the truest sense of the word. However I thought this would be a cool addition considering the the lane I’ve been in for the past few weeks. Apparently “I Like What I Like” was actually a pretty big record in the gay disco scene back in 1972, which predates the “four on the floor” innovations of Baker, Harris & Young and lends itself more to the Mancuso / Siano school of “party music.” Anyway, enjoy!

Everyday People “I Like What I Like” (GRT Canada, 1971)

THE BONUS BEAT! – There’s a book that I’ve probably purchased at least 15 times in my life. It’s because it’s an incredibly entertaining and informative read. The book is called “Hit Men” by Fredric Dannen. Iit’s probably the most comprehensive read on the way of the music industry available, it’s history and it’s customs, mostly framed in the seventies and eighties with independent promoters and their payola at the hight of their power. Obviously things are a lot different now, but I still think it’s absolutely required reading for anyone in “the business.” So when I would make a reference to the book and someone I knew hadn’t read it, I would immediately give them my copy, and then just get another.

This album is kind of like that book. I would constantly find copies for $2-$3 at thrift stores, and I would always buy them, only to give them to friends of mine when “Oh my god you HAVEN’T heard the Lee Michaels LP?”

Lee Michaels “Tell Me How Do You Feel” (One Way, 1969)

Breakbeat Tuesday – Harder Than A Rock

Whattup, fine folk out there? Here’s the latest breakbeat heater that I’m messing with this week. I just recently put it on my latest Scion Radio mix so you should hear that coming soon-sish, but here’s the raw. Aaight I’m definitely staying in my “rock breaks” crate for the first couple of these installments but I figured that I would lace this one cause I’ve learned to love this song in its entirety lately, not just the drums. It’s really got a great schmaltzy sounding whiteboy blues thing happening, that I used to hate but now find kind of endearing in its corniness and it’s heart. But you just have to love these drums, they smack so incredibly hard, courtesy of  Surprize and their drummer Fred Kieffer. I don’t know much else about this group except I know that it’s a relatively Philly local private press (although I think these cats were out of Cherry Hill maybe…) That local connection was preserved when Kelo used these drums as the basis of their The Roots’ “Clones” (one of my favorite Roots tunes to this day.) It was actually my homie Tony Larson AKA TripleDouble that put me up on this record about 10 years ago, around the time when him and Diplo first got around to recording the first AEIOU tape. Diplo is out there doing his thing and Tony is still holding it down strong for the West Philly massive. Peace to both you dudes hahah. Good times…

Surprize “Sweet Love” (East Coast, 1971)