padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
which is to say that pd/ph is just a way of describing an era

if yall just want to hear a lot of cool records, no problem

proto-house is a different thing, obviously organized around it's relation to house (and techno really, in the beginning things were pretty blurred)

for me that stretches back to disco proper, beginning with people like Bohannon, Patrick Adams, etc and obviously Moroder

as well as crucially edits and mixes by Walter Gibbons, Francois K, Danny Krivit, etc

again, a lot of cool records, if not quite as many, and some overlap with pd/ph, but different in having a specific focus
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
i.e. not everything people posted in here is really "proto-house"

Visual - The Music Got Me, 100% proto-house, huge in both New York and Chicago

somehow manages to sound like both proto-garage house and proto-Chicago house at the same time (again, beginnings are protean)

Laid Back - White Horse, is as well, albeit coming from a completely different direction

stripped back, minimal, repetitive electronic dance music with killer groove

and sometimes it really depends on how you hear a particular track, or there may be only a certain part in it that points toward house and/or techno
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
alright. I'll do what I can now. I'll try to note what's what as I go.

Eddy Grant (yes, the Electric Avenue guy) invents minimal in 1977
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
one of those wot do u call it records that exemplifies what I love about the era. Larry Levan on the mix, always a guarantee of highest quality.

dubbed out, electroish (all that syncopated biz), surprising amount of guitar (another Levan trademark)
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
the greatest diva of them all my queen Gwen Guthrie, Sly + Robbie, Wally Badarou on keys, and Levan again on the mix

i.e. a basically impossible assemblage of talent, and what a result

more Levan trademarks: huge cavernous sound (to match his Garage system), heavy use of dub techniques, complete mastery of individual elements alone + together
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
one of the key distinguishing points between disco and post-disco would be treatment of vocals/vocalist

it's not uniform but especially in the dub mixes, in the p-d era there's ever greater manipulation of the vocals

I believe for reasons of both technology and willingness

Walter Gibbons was a real pioneer in that regard; iirc Loleatta Holloway was less than enthused when she heard his famous mix of Hit + Run

as he'd used her vocals as essentially another instrument in the mix rather than the focal point

the great shift in dance music from songs to tracks

anyway you hear that in this era more and more as years go on

for example, skip ahead to the 7 minute of this Patrick Adams kind of electro wot d u call it jam. blew my mind the first time I heard it, years ago.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
best thing Blondie ever did, easily

it's interesting how maximal many of the dance records of this era are

wicked extended junkanoo style percussion break around the 3 minute mark
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
huge Loft, Garage, Music Box, etc wot do u call it classic

so many of these of records have so many cool flourishes, percussion, fwd synths, whatever, combined w/yr standby rock-solid groove, chickenscratch guitar, etc
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Levan again (always + forever)

the kind of record I imagine Larry Heard hearing and being like "oh yeah I can take this in a direction"
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Carly Simon, produced by the Chic dudes, fucking fire. right in my slow dance music wheelhouse. big Garage tune.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Manchester stand the fuck up! New Order (in their Be Music guise), Dojo from ACR, Mike Pickering, co

it's 1983? it's electro? synth-pop? proto-house? there's something that sounds like an artificial harp? that goddamn bassline.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I reckon a fair number of you might know this one. huge Funhouse tune, as well as Garage etc. this cat played with Ian Dury, so he was involved with some jams.

I like the way it alternates between dark electro vibe (bit bladerunner avant la lettre) and a more hopeful mechanical disco vamp

puts me in mind of this stone cold classic as well, they were truly a force to be reckoned with in their early days
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
in which some impossibly cool NYC art disco types invent the basic vibe of DFA 20+ years before the fact

call it "sex jam not sex jam". for the record it's a (supremely weirded out) cover of an Italian original
 
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