From the father of HBFS (Boba's Blast From The Past)

Edwin Birdsong, some very interesting stuff this guy does. Not only did he create the wonderful loop in the background of Harder Better Faster Stronger, Cola Bottle Baby, he also put out many other releases which truly didn't get enough attention. The poor guy was overshadowed by The Brothers Johnson and Zapp and Roger, and left in the indie funk scene.

Edwin Birdsong was born in 1950 in the city of LA, son of a minister. Birdsong fought in Vietnam, where upon returning, he left for Germany to play in clubs. He later moved to New York to pursue a more serious music career where he fronted a blues trio and attended Julliard as a composition major. He put out five records, the first in 1971, the last in 1981. Although his personal recording career ended there, he did not stop his profession, and went on to produce for other artists and even played sessions for Stevie Wonder.

Over the last several months, I've been gathering funk and disco compilation bootlegs from across the web, and in doing so, I've found a rather nice collection of Birdsong's work.









Now... now I must vent. Thursday night was my school's formal. Before the dance started, I noticed the DJ setting up and went over to talk to him. In fact i talked to him so long that I entirely missed the dinner. But the guy was really nice, and he'd been DJing since the 1980's, when he had "red hair and long, black fingernails". Since I was there, he gave me permission to flood the request form with songs I wanted. Normally they limit the number of submissions at these things, but I think this guy was genuinely pleased to find a kid who's definition of 'dance music' isn't Katy Perry, Kanye West, or Lady Gaga.

Fifteen minutes into the dance, the first of my requests comes on! Digital Love! Right now, it happens to be my favorite song. I get up from the table, and walk over to the dance floor, some of my friends getting up and coming too... and what I found mortified me. No one was dancing. They were all silent, and either staring at the DJ in disapproval, or at me, because I was singing along, which was the only sound in the room.

"..and it looked like everyone... was... not having fun. *sigh*" I looked at the DJ and he shrugged back and fiddled with his laptop, walked over to his mixer and faded in What Is Love, and the party promptly started again.

This tells me something... I will not be able to DJ one of these dances. The music that I love to dance to is not the music they like to dance to, and I swear to God there will be NO LADY GAGA ON MY FRICKING PLAYLIST.

Annoyed-ly yours,
Boba

P.S. How about a hostile takeover of the event planning committee and put forth a Disco Ball next year? Heh? PUN!

Shiny Things Amuse Me

I'm going to level with you here. The Golden Silvers aren't really all that electronic. Sure, there's no guitars here, but that's meaningless in a world where picking up a synth instantly makes you better than The Beatles. However, what they are is the funkiest thing since Daft Punk first got their hands on a Scott Grooves remix kit, and theyre getting a lot of well deserved buzz at the moment.

Golden Silvers · Golden Silvers - True Romance (True No.9 Blues)

Golden Silvers · Golden Silvers - True Romantic Re-Fix

Just as an FYI, that weird bit at the end of the remix is intentional, as far as I know.

Keep it shiny,

Joe

People with Discogs accounts: I need your help!

Yeah, this is kinda taking advantage of my posting abilities, but oh well! It's for a good cause! As many of you know, we have some pretty close ties to The Daft Club Records. Well, today, I started putting together a Discogs for the label.

http://www.discogs.com/label/The+Daft+Club+Records

If you would be so kind as to vote the submissions as correct so that I can add bios on the artists and stuff, that would be great. Thanks!
-boba

Looks like synthpop's making a comeback...

Remember the 80s? No? Good, because now you won't need to. Today I'll be blogging about two british artists who are bringing the 80s back with their slick brand of electro synthpop.



First up is Leeds based trio Heads We Dance. Signed to This Is Fake DIY Records, HWD always find a way to sneak some kind of technological love triangle into their tracks. "You Are Never Alone With Model 21" is essentially a commercial jingle for a robotic wife, and when asked to do a cover song for Buffetlibre's Rewind project, it's only natural they would choose "Computer Love" by Kraftwerk.

They've had their work remixed by some of the hottest new names in music right now, such as Louis La Roche, Tepr, Frankmusik, Charlie Fanclub and Sidechains. They also make fine mixtapes as Heads We Dance DJs. Their Sci-Fi Mixtape has a tracklist full of galactic delights, each one given just long enough to shine and no longer. Wonderful.







Next is Elly Jackson AKA La Roux, NME Radar Tour headliner and daughter of Trudie Goodwin, actress in The Bill. Her synthpop melodies are just as fun and quirky as the story of how she found her name (apparently, she found a book of baby names in a bin and La Roux was the first one she found, which, after a bit of research, turned out to come from the French meaning "red-haired one"). Strictly speaking though, La Roux is actually two people. In the studio, Elly sings and plays synth, while the second half of La Roux, Ben Langmaid, co-writes and co-produces. Live, Elly sings while Ben plays the instrumentals underneath.

Having recently been confirmed as the support act for Lily Allen's UK tour, Elly and Ben have just released their new single "In For The Kill" on Polydor, which features a brilliant remix from dubstep pioneer Skream, which starts out as a sinister downtempo murmur, and finishes with an all-out breakbeat assault. The new single has been a big move for La Roux, as it's not often a band gets to switch from indie label to major label after just one single (the previous single "Quicksand" was released on Kitsune).

La Roux Official · In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix)

Keep it funky,

- Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo