Influences: Losoul

This one is from 1984 and we used to listen to that breakdance/electro/rap stuff back then. It was pretty much a big hit in that genre – you could easily buy it in many record stores and it was played on many parties, even on the radio. So it happened that I never bought it for myself as I tend to avoid too well-known music in my collection as well as in my sets.. I thought ‘Hey it’s a good record, everybody knows it and you can buy it everywhere. I’m going to get that one later for sure.’ In the meantime I sometimes look it up on discogs to see if I can still get my copy and maybe I should finally buy it. It won’t be available forever, especially in decent condition. And prices are going up, too..
By the way some of Whodini’s tracks were produced by German studio legend Conny Plank.

Next to some early electro and rap music. There was some great pop music happening especially in the early and mid 80s. This one was of course a major commercial project but at the same time an amazing production. How I did love those sharp as a knife beats and bassline licks, the arrangement and finally that resulting cold atmosphere in it. Producer Trevor Horn had enough resources at hand to give everything a larger than life appearance. Well, we were young and looking for everything new and there it was – even if obviously artificial and irrational. And you can say electronic pop music of the Eighties really made a giant step forward with the new technologies coming up back then. Many of these are still in used today for many reasons.

For us this was the beginning of something new! Sure, we were listening to a lot of dance music: Seventies and Eighties Funk and Soul, Disco, Rap and Electro.. but what was that?
It was so pure, so abstract, without using any of typical sounds, clichés, instruments.. But at the same time it was so fresh! Without even claiming to be something big it was a hit in the clubs but also the charts. I still love it.

A german production from 1982. When I was at school in the Eighties we were doing school parties and one of the djs was playing more Rock and Independent music and when the party was reaching peak time he played this track: a mix of Rock, Funk, Disco, Jazz and Ethno vibes clashing together in one manic groove. Did they know that this kind of music – with a little more electronic sound design – would make so many people dance and party and have extraordinary experiences in the future?

Back then most of my hiphop friends had their favourite bands or style. Some went for Run DMC, Public Enemy or Miami Bass tunes, others digged more jazzy stuff like Gang Starr or 3rd Bass, again others liked the hippie-ish sounds of De La Soul or finally rougher styles with BDP or Beastie Boys.
I was mainly into the Jungle Brothers. They were kind of being aware and in all their realness they never became too serious about themselves. I kinda liked that. Also I found their casual way of sampling very amusing.
Well, and then there also was their hit ‘I’ll house U’ which was another kind of fun track they did but that’s another story for sure..

Chris&Cosey were part of the seminal Throbbing Gristle. The group’s members did several side projects among each other. This one was one of their better-known works and maybe that’s how I got to know it back then. In the later Eighties I also got a bit more into EBM and Industrial. There you would expect more harsh and spaced out sounds but here I did like the strange if not psychedelic vibe and the slow and subtle rolling groove that took my attention much more.. It still does.

To some this is one of the best house records ever. It was produced by Mad Mike Banks and released in 1992 on Happy Records, the house label of Underground Resistance. It has almost the same musical elements in it as the better known UR techno tracks but with a more smooth and soulful atmosphere made up by this deep organ-like synth, a few piano chords, background strings and, of course, Davina’s passionate voice. An intensive song about love and related things. This is basically where many things finally head to – here still without leaving reality behind or getting corny. A masterpiece.

After the genre-founding Basic Channel releases the M series was the next chapter of Moritz von Oswald’s and Mark Ernestus’ approach to deeper sound in electronic music. The tracks were more atmospheric now and a slight bit more housy if you can say so – still stripped down to the basic elements of groove and focussing on the abstract qualities of sound. Of course the main reference stayed, the production techniques and sound aesthetics of dub reggae. My favourite was the M6 as it had the best balance between its groove and deep layers of atmosphere for me. The progression and subtle modulations paired with a massive and authentic sound-engineering make it one of the monuments of the genre. It fitted perfectly in my already pretty reduced and rhythm-driven dj-sets at that time. In a casual conversation back then I once described my earlier Losoul tracks as ‘Basic Channel disco’ and I guess that’s what some of them sounded like..

White New York Funk at around 1980. I always liked the consequent energy in here oscillating between pure presence and a darker but contemplative background. Bill Laswell is originally a bass player but he did a lot of collaborations and production with an unbelievable variety of musicians since then. There was an album where Brian Eno and Whitney Houston were both involved (her first ever release) and he was involved in projects with Electronic, Punk, Disco, Jazz, Turntablist and over all Avantgarde artists which all benefitted from his progressive edge in production. Nowadays he is exploring the more dub and ambient areas of music. I do understand that.

This is my favourite Miles Davis piece and it contains many things in music that I think it’s worth going for: the groove, the vibe, the flow, the intensity, the evolution of atmosphere.. Released in 1969 it is a 18 minute jam performed by the man himself and some more of the best jazz musicians around back then. Miles guides its progression and variation in such a mysterious and spectacular way and it totally keeps your attention to its groove and musical shades. To be honest I heard this record for the first time in the very late nineties (while I knew Miles’ main albums before) and if I knew this one earlier I might not have done my earlier Losoul jams the way I did them now as I might have felt like following too close what was done on this record.