Musical Languages
Descriptions are below the videos. Click on name for Wikipedia article
Kraftwerk Numbers (1981)
The most important track for me ever. It’s a separate category.
My friend Troy introduced me to this track and he was a DJ at the time, I was just a kid in Brooklyn, NY. He had LOTS of other 12″ singles but it was this one that I had to hear over and over again and to this day have never gotten tired of it.
Consider. It’s an extremely simple track. Electronic drums, a speak and spell and vocoders used for counting numbers, A distorted synthesized melody. It’s not even a song and there were many other experimental electronic tracks in the 70’s. No mention anywhere, not even in Wikipedia…BUT, if you hear this one, that beat, you will recognize it immediately and every artist does too. The entire album was visionary, predicting computers will be central in “Crime, Travel, Communication, Entertainment, Business, Numbers, Money, People, Love”. Not to mention no one could ever make counting to eight as cool as this.
This track has singlehandedly influenced everyone and their dog that ever made dance music, rap, new wave, techno, industrial, IDM, etc., etc., after 1981. So many people have sampled the beats, melodies and even the individual drum sounds, and many, many more from the entire album “Computer World’
Back in 1981, the band would bring the entire studio to the gigs and hated touring. The concerts are literally 4 men standing in front of computers, tweaking knobs and pressing buttons (an anti-concert) but seeing them live is amazing and they have an extremely devoted fan base.
Merengue (70’s)
Johnny Ventura. The most complex AND danceable rhythms in Merengue but you can clearly see the James Brown influences on the band. Everyone likes this guy’s tracks.
Perico Ripiao (1850-current)
The simplest and most ‘raw’ version of Merengue. One of the best videos on YouTube to represent this style.
Disco (70’s)
Donna Summers and Giorgio Moroder’s ‘I Feel Love’ was voted the best dance song of all time. I have not found a video with both of them together but it was made with a Moog Modular very close to this one. Disco is Funk + German experimental.
Freestyle (80’s)
Trilogy: Red Hot. This track IS the PERFECT Freestyle track. It’s not my favorite but those drums sound like explosions! Latin rhythms, 16th note high hats, depressing lyrics.
New Wave/SynthPop (80’s)
New Order – True Faith. This was the first New Wave song that meant anything. My neighbor used to mix it with Freestyle tracks perfectly. Depeche Mode would be the other band but there are more than enough links to those guys.
Techno and Electronic Dance Music (90’s)
LeftField – Song of Life. I have yet to find the exact version that influenced me on YouTube but it’s really close to this one.
Goa/ Trance (90’s)
Astral Projection: Flying into a Star. The best manipulation of synths since Walter Carlos the 70’s. Just listen to those filters and LFO’s…
Dubstep (2000’s)
This one is interesting because the beats are 130-140 BPM but the downbeats make it seem half as fast 65-70 BPM. You can dance at 140 or CHILL at 70…Clever! How to identify: WAWAWaaaa… Simple
Tabla (13th Century)
The secret is the black spot. That spot is a mixture of special pastes made of ??? and iron filings. That allows for all sorts of harmonics not found anywhere else. Simply, the most sophisticated drums. The girl there can play 64th notes at 130BPM. I need an 808 to do the same.