Octave One – Influences

Music

As you'll already be aware Detroit techno brothers, Octave One aka Lenny and Lawrence Burden made their first appearance on Derrick May's Transmat label in 1989 with ‘I Believe’. They went on to remix Massive Attack, Joey Negro and Inner City before releasing their biggest commercial success, ‘Blackwater’ in 2002. Our very own Mike Boorman ran into the guy who played strings

So there you go.

Anyway, they’ve continued their familial approach to music production with Random Noise Generation (RNG), a collective that involves three further brothers.

Here, they impart all that has shaped their sound.

Octave One play Ministry of Sound this weekend

LISTEN

Electrifying Mojo, Midnight Funk Association

This is the man, the myth that ran Detroit radio when we were coming up and programmed our minds to be creative and to think outside the box. Urban radio had no one like him at that time and no one like him till this day! Hats off Please!!!

Electrifying Mojo, Midnight Funk Association

This is the man, the myth that ran Detroit radio when we were coming up and programmed our minds to be creative and to think outside the box. Urban radio had no one like him at that time and no one like him till this day! Hats off Please!!!
Boblo Island

This is the amusement park that we think everyone in the city of Detroit had to have went to at one time or another. The boat ride was a blast and we looked forward to going almost for years until…
Detroit Homes And Neighborhoods Rarely Seen On Youtube

These are some of the neighborhoods that our mother used to drive us through when we were young and we all would just dream of what it might be like to live in one of those big ol’ house smh! Little did we know she was dreaming too…later on my parents bought in one of these areas!
Belle Isle Sunday- Final Detroit City Limit Series Vid

This was thee park to hang out on and we see it still is for some. Its funny but this island had a lot of great things about it (i.e., golf courts, swimming pools, baseball fields, aquarium, nature park, etc) but this was always the area that excited us the most…caution: it ain’t for the faint at heart 🙂
The B-52'S - Rock Lobster (Official)

For many, many years this had one of the biggest songs that was played at every party you went to in the city of Detroit. We bet they probably sold as much in Detroit as the did throughout the states…
Faygo: "Faygo Remembers" Commercial © 1970

This soda pop was born and raised right in the city of Detroit and about person born and raised in the city had to have a some Faygo at one time in there lives…Redpop, Rootbeer and RockNRye still got to be our favorite flavors:-)
Detroit Street Racing / Castle Days

This was Lawrence’s and probably every guys pastime if you thought you had a fast car or motorcycle and had something to prove. And fear not, they seem like they want to fight but thats just the dance before the main event which was putting your money down for the race!

This truly embodies the heart of guys from the D no matter what race (Black, White, Hispanic or whatever), if push some of those smiling faces enough this just might reappear:-)

*Explicit Langauge
Slave - Just A Touch Of Love

Although we think “Watching You” was the biggest hit from Slave that we’ve enjoyed, this song was the very first song that was purchased for the record player by one of us. Still remember that 45”…memories!
Sir Graves Ghastly (1 Of 4)

This was the TV show to watch on Saturday afternoon in Detroit…used to scare the crap out of us in the middle of the day. Now we just laugh at how crazy it was smh.
The Brothers Johnson - Stomp!

There are a lot of reasons why this band, song and just there whole attitude and approach to making this track are influential to us, but life is now fun without at least some mysteries…right?! Enjoy!!!