Blame It On The Boogie Part 4

The New York producers took the deep, abstract, Chicago vibe, melded it with the garage classics of their beloved hometown djs and created a utopian robot disco that sprung forth from imprints like Strictly Rhythm, Nu Groove, E-Legal, Nervous, Quark and Bottom Line Records, amongst many, many others. A new era awaited, a new era awaits, and obviously some of the new players have done their homework. Let’s wait and see what comes, if the spirit and optimism of 89/90 is recreated and advanced. And don't laugh at the youtube movie at the top, this was one of the raw, early '90s tracks that really defined the sound and pointed it in the direction that house/garage took, from the sparse MAW dubs that followed to Pierre's Wild Pitch sound and the stripped down and bassy vibe of Kerri Chandler's tracks. If you're tripping on Italo and boogie, you're in no position to laugh believe me, even if you are getting messages from the stars. Ha ha!

And I know what you’re thinking, how can I be doubtful about the retro fixation around boogie yet champion the retro sounds of the early ‘90s? Well, the early ‘90s were a watershed for club music. All the innovation that had been going on since the mid-70s, through the ‘80s with the post-disco and electro –funk/modern soul/boogie sounds and out into the raw sounds of Chicago house and the robo-funk of Detroit techno somehow seemed to come to fruition in the slick sounds emanating from house producers in NY, NJ, and Miami (let’s not forget about Murk).

Another aspect of the ‘90s that separates it from the ‘80s and its raw, analog dance music was that the Europeans jumped wholesale on house and techno. The British really excelled, and the Italians, well the Italians kind of invented house music and so their take on it was as forward looking, inspirational, under publicized, and as hard to find as its Italo disco predecessor. In fact the Italian producers just kept going, and the shift from Italo disco to Italo house was almost seamless like one of Alex Neri’s or Andrea Gemolotto’s transitions on the decks. Smooth was not the word for the early ‘90s, — the late ‘90s yes — slick was the word. Watch it all roll around again!

Orr