Recently I've been listening to and researching Giorgio Moroder. Listening to the song embedded below, from 1977, it's easy to identify elements of modern electronic dance music. Moroder has to be considered as one of the pioneers of music we classify as house or electro.
I've often wondered about the Maritime (or Atlantic Canada) music scene of the 1970s and 80s. Were there groups or performers from the Maritimes using drum machines and synths to create disco/dance/new wave sounding music? Unfortunately, I have never found any information online. Any help?
(on a related note, this lack of digital information reinforces the need to get more people online. We're going to lose a lot of historical knowledge if it's not digitally available.)
I've uploaded the last mix from Gaston Lafleur, I believe it was put together in December 2007 while in Toronto and departs from Gaston's usual sound. Downtempo and ambient, this mix is good for working or relaxing.
Download: Gaston Lafleur - Walden Pond (~66min, ~80Mb)
Tracklist:
Burial - Gutted
Cassius - Nothing
Telepopmusik - Love Can Damage Your Health
Layo & Bushwacka - Isn't This a Lovely Day
Nightmares on Wax - You Wish
Hugh Masekela - Night in Tunisia
Metro Area - Miura
M83 & Benoit Villeneuve - Run Into Flowers (Midnight Fuck Remix by Jackson)
Cassius - Protection
Layo & Bushwacka - Love Story
Trentemøller Feat. Ane Trolle - Moan
Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (Trentemøller Businessman Dubby Games Remix)
Boards of Canada - In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country
I think I'll take over for Gaston from here-on-out. Gaston and his contemporary, Null Hypothesis, were jestful fellows. They engaged in the alter-ego, third-person, over-the-top, self-hyping activities that so many other electronic musicians perform. But is Gaston too well-known to depart? :)
Ten years ago, I was keeping our dial-up modem online all night to download the latest house music, often hearing the songs first on MuchMusic's Electric Circus (remember when MuchMusic was once relevant to music?). Looking back at the 1999 Billboard dance hits chart, it seems that some of my favorite house music songs (definitely not the videos) of all time hit the charts in the summer of 1999.
Last October, I was listening to Ken N on Radio FG and caught the tail end of a nice house track with a great vocal. I whipped up streamripper and caught the last 30 seconds or so of the song. I knew the lyrics contained the words "lonely night". I hunted and hunted. It actually gave me the idea for a book, an obsessed music freak travels the globe to find the name of a song.
I found it. No more looping that 30 second clip. Repeat Michael Gray - Borderline . I'm actually a bit ashamed, Michael Gray is pretty mainstream. I thought I'd have to go to some obscure record shop in Brussels to find it.
