1981 music
Related: 1981 - 1980s music
The 'Hot Mix 5' [...]
The 'Hot Mix 5' were an eighties DJ-team who had hosted a house music radio show on WBMX, Chicago. The original members were Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Mickey "Mixin" Oliver, Scott "Smokin" Silz, Ralphi Rosario and Kenny "Jammin" Jason. They first went on air in 1981.
Ayers, Kuti
Roy Ayers started a collaboration with the Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, which he had gotten to know on a nine city long tour of Nigeria in 1981.New Wave
For the 1981 Village Voice Pazz and Jop Critics' Poll, Lester Bangs turned in a blank ballot, protesting the worthless state of rock and roll. "New Wave has terminated in thudding hollow Xeroxes of poses that aren't even annoying anymore," he wrote. "Rap is nothing, or not enough. Jazz does not exist as a musical form with anything new to say. And the rest of rock is recycling various formulae forever. I don't know what I'm going to write about - music is the only thing in the world I really care about - but I simply cannot pretend to find anything compelling in the choice between pap and mud."Singles
- The Clash - Magnificent Dance
- Burundi Black - Rusty Egan
- Exodus - Together Forever
- Raw Silk - Do It To The Music
- Gwen McCrae - Funky Sensation
- Logg - I Know You Will (Levan 12" Remix)
- Inner Life - Ain't No Mountain High Enough
- Class Action - Weekend
- Taana Gardner - Heartbeat (12" Levan Mix)
- Secret Weapon - Must Be The Music [Prelude records]
- ESG - Moody
- Stone - Time
- Esther Williams - I'll Be Your Pleasure (Levan Remix 12")
- Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper
- Hi-Gloss - You'll Never Know
- Patti Labelle - The Spirit's In It
- Grandmaster Flash - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
- D Train - You're The One For Me
- Nick Straker Band - A Little Bit Of Jazz
- Jamaica Girls - Need Somebody New (12" Levan Remix)
- Empress - Dyin' To Be Dancin'
- Strikers - Body Music (12" Levan Remix)
- Unlimited Touch - Searching To Find The One
- Donald Byrd - Love Has Come Around
- Jimmy Ross - First True Love Affair (Levan 12" Mix)
- Tom Tom Club - Le Elephant
- Powerline - Journey
- Inner Life - Make It Last Forever (Levan Remix)
- Syreeta - Can't Shake Your Love (Levan Remix)
- MFSB - Love Is The Message (14 min. Tom Moulton Remix Vers.)
- Ednah Holt - Serious, Serious Space Party (Levan 12" Mix)
- Mona Rae - Do Me
- 80's Ladies - Turned On To You
- Logg - You've Got That Something
- Frontline Orchestra - Don't Turn Your Back On Me
- North End - Happy Days
- Conversion - Let's Do It
- Salsoul Orchestra - 212 North Street
- Rainbow Brown - Til You Surrender
- Arthur Adams - You Got The Floor
- Blue Feather - Let's Funk Tonight
- Ethel Beatty - It's Your Love
- Lesette Wilson - Caveman Boogie
- L.A. Boppers - Give Me Some
- Chaka Khan - I Know You I Live You
- Material - Secret Life
- Whatnauts - Help Is On The Way mixed Tee Scott
- A Number Of Names - Sharevari
- King Sunny Ade - Ja Funmi (Island)
- Liaisons Dangereuses - Los Niños del Parque
- Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay - How Much Are They?
- Ian Dury - Spasticus (Autisticus)
- Brian Eno - Jezebel Spirit
- Heaven 17 - (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
- Grauzone - Eisbär
- Pigbag - Papa's Got a Brandnew Pigbag
- DAF - Der Mussolini
- Material - Bustin' Out Tee Scott mix
CDs
- Alles Ist Gut (1981) D.A.F. [Amazon US]
It's been said that the pioneering German electronic duo DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) directly influenced the assault of bands such as Front 242. But while it's true that DAF could be unrelentingly stern at times, they could also be unequivocally sexy, sighs and moans intertwined with basic Teutonic beats in orgasmic ecstasy--no wonder singer Gabi Delgado-Lopez and instrumentalist Robert Görl posed drenched in sweat on Alles Ist Gut's cover. This 1981 album, their second, remains a dark jewel of backroom thrusts ("Mein Herz Macht Bum") and dance-floor stomps ("Der Mussolini") feeding on provocation. At a time when electronica is exploding into hundreds of shards, it's nice to remember a band that was able to concentrate its power into such dense, self-contained nuggets. --Elisabeth Vincentelli for amazon.com - Computer World - Kraftwerk [1CD, Amazon US]
This is the album pundits like to point to when they accuse Kraftwerk of being digital-age visionaries; an all-too-easy assessment to make in the face of tracks such as "Home Computer" and "Computer Love" (not an ode to one-hand typing!). But to saddle the band with the reputation of sages is to completely miss the low-key wit and all-too-human playfulness of this album. "Pocket Calculator" and "Numbers" (the lyrics: numbers one to eight--period) could be read as tongue-in-cheek ripostes to too much bad "educational" programming, but that would smack of creeping punditry. Computer World is Kraftwerk's most lovable bundle of contradictions: at once its most technologically obsessed album and its most human. --Jerry McCulley - Scientist Rids The World Of The Curse Of The Evil Vampires - Scientist
[1 CD, Amazon US]
1. The Voodoo Curse 2. Dance Of The Vampires 3. Blood On His Lips 4. Cry Of The Werewolf 5. The Mummy's Shroud 6. The Corpse Rises 7. The Night Of The Living Dead 8. Your Teeth In My Neck 9. Plague Of Zombies 10. Ghost Of Frankenstein
LS: What impact has reggae music had on mainstream music?
Scientist: "Reggae is the only music that can successfully test any audio equipment. The way that they mix hip-hop and rock-n-roll . . . [it] doesn't have the type of frequency response to really adequately test audio systems. I've worked at some of the best recording studios here in the U.S., and they fail in comparison to the sound you get from studios in Jamaica—like Channel One. Most American studios just can't produce that sound—only the ones with the major European brands like Telefunkin and Tanoys. Only me, Tubby's, or Jammy's have the expertise to modify the existing equipment to reach that certain sound. The industry here in America learned from us big time; they don't want to admit it. I remember Tubby's and I would send records here to America to get mastered . . . and a lot of people didn't want to master it because it would make the cutting heads go crazy, the bass would make the transmitter over-modulate, speakers would start to flapping, especially when Santa Davis played the flying cymbal." [...] - ESG - A South Bronx Story [Amazon US]
Early eighties New York No Wave. Compilation on Soul Jazz records. Moody is the track and the bassline you all know.
Track listing: 1. You're no good 2. Moody 3. UFO 4. It's alright 5. Moody (spaced out) 6. Tiny sticks 7. My love for you 8. Come away 9. Dance 10. Parking lot blues 11. Chistelle 12. About you 13. Erase you 14. Get funky 15. Hold me right 16. I can't tell you what to do