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Material - One Down (82 ^ 88mb)
One of the most high-profile projects of the endlessly prolific bassist and producer Bill Laswell, Material pioneered a groundbreaking fusion of jazz, funk, and punk that also incorporated elements of hip-hop and world music well before either's entrance into the mass cultural consciousness. Formed in 1979, the first Material lineup consisted of Laswell, multi-instrumentalist Michael Beinhorn, and drummer Fred Maher, all three staples of the downtown New York City underground music scene. After Material's debut LP under their own name, Temporary Music, the group's ranks swelled to include figures ranging from Sonny Sharrock to Henry Threadgill to Fred Frith, additions which yielded 1981's superb Memory Serves.
Their next album "One Down" marked a distinct shift in sound for Material, the avant-garde downtown ensemble organized around bassist Bill Laswell and keyboardist Michael Beinhorn. The edgy experimentalism that characterized earlier efforts like Temporary Music and Memory Serves is downplayed here in favor of funk and disco tunes delivered with less weirdness. Laswell is a master of funk bass, and with guests like drummer Yogi Horton, guitarist Nile Rodgers and singers Nona Hendryx and Whitney Houston (just before she became a superstar on her own), he didn't really have much chance to go wrong. Highlights include"Take a Chance" and the strutting "I'm the One"; if you want something a little more challenging, check out Archie Shepp's squalling sax solo on the Houston vehicle "Memories." This is straight-ahead turn-of-the-80s funk at its old-fashioned best.
Laswell finally reassembled the troops in 1989 to record the atmospheric Seven Souls, which spotlighted the spoken word performances of the legendary William S. Burroughs. 1991's The Third Power brought the group back to its soulful roots, with guests including Herbie Hancock, Sly & Robbie, Maceo Parker, and the Jungle Brothers; after 1994's Hallucination Engine, another four-year hiatus preceded the release of the remix collection The Road to the Western Lands. Intonarumori followed in 1999.
01 - Take A Chance (Voc.Nona Hendryx) (4:29)
02 - I'm The One (Voc. Bernard Fowler) (5:24)
03 - Time Out (4:51)
04 - Let Me Have It All (5:24)
05 - Come Down (Voc. Bernard Fowler) (4:42)
06 - Holding On (4:43)
07 - Memories (Voc. Whitney Houston) (4:00)
08 - Don't Lose Control (4:15)
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Nona Hendryx - Nona (83 ^ 98mb)
One-third of the pop/soul act Labelle (their big hit was "Lady Marmalade"), Nona Hendryx, by far and away, made the hippest solo records of any member of that group (the others being Patti LaBelle and Sarah Dash). After Labelle called it quits in 1976, Hendryx released her self-titled debut record, which was an amazingly strong amalgam of soul and hard rock. It also went almost completely ignored by critics, soul fans, and even Labelle fans, and Hendryx took her strong, clear, booming voice and did lots of session work in the late '70s and early '80s. It was here that she fell in with a hip crowd of musicians, specifically as a result of her time singing backup for Talking Heads. In the early 80's, Hendryx fronted her own progressive art-rock group, Zero Cool. Simultaneously, she sang with experimental funk group Material, achieving a giant club hit with "Busting Out," which can be described as "disco with a hard rock edge." . Bill Laswell, who, along with his band Material, helped Hendryx put together a second solo record entitled Nona. A strong album that's not as wild-eyed as her debut, with extra musical emphasis provided by Sly Dunbar, Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Nile Rodgers.
Nona did spark greater interest in Hendryx's considerable talents, she was recruited by RCA to record songs for various soundtracks, including: the theme for Moving Violations; "I Sweat (Going Through the Motions)," a commercial hit for Hendryx from the Jamie Lee Curtis film Perfect; and "Transparent" from the Eddie Murphy vehicle, Coming To America.And after that, her solo career flourished to the point where she no longer needed studio work to supplement her income.
Although some of her late-'80s records sound a little formulaic, Nona Hendryx is a dynamic, daring, and extremely talented performer, who, as is often the case, didn't receive the credit she's due. Hendryx took a detour from commercial music with Skin Diver, new age-record produced with long-time Tangerine Dream-member Peter Baumann. The album was generally greeted with positive feedback from critics, though commercially unsuccessful. She remains in high demand for musical collaborations, both for her vocals and her songwriting. Currently, Hendryx is still touring and has written plays and formed her own record label with Bobby Banks, Rhythm Bank, in 2005
01 - B-Boys (5:28)
02 - Living On The Border (5:27)
03 - Keep It Confidential (5:46)
04 - Design For Living (5:10)
05 - Transformation (5:27)
06 - Run For Cover (4:26)
07 - Steady Action (5:11)
08 - Dummy Up (4:20)
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Shango - Shango Funk Theology ( 84 ^ 93mb)
Shango Funk Theology is another collaboration between hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa and the "1000 project man" Bill Laswell, featuring the usual suspects like Michael Beinhorn and Nicky Skopelitis. The music is a cross between the Material disco-funk from the time and Bambaataa's hip-hop workouts, with weird chants, rapping and (for the most part) programmed breakdance beats. There's a cover of Sly Stone's "Thank You," featuring ultra-groovy clavinet playing by Beinhorn; the other tracks are originals, including the short but catchy "Soca Fever," where Nicky Marrero's percussion blends extremely well with the DMX beats, and the irresistible "Let's Party Down," which has Laswell, Beinhorn and the rest of the crew at their funkiest. Deep bass, tasty synths, bold horn charts and clever grooves -- anyone who's into Laswell's similar ' 80s music might have to track this down immediately. Unfortunately, the album has never been reissued on CD; the vinyl pressing can still be found, however. (Vocals by Amad Henderson , Bernard Fowler, Fred Fowler and Jimmy Mac)
01 - Shango Message (7:39)
02 - Thank You (7:28)
03 - Soca Fever (2:27)
04 - Zulu Groove (9:01)
05 - Let's Party Down (11:09)
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VA - Rap It ! (83 ^ 94mb)
The frontcover is a painting by Keith Haring. The record is a Celluloid label collection of 6 separetely released 12"s connected by rapper Shahiem and the music and production work from the Material Crew with Martin Bisi. Originally the backcovers of these maxi's contained a detail of a painting by Futura 2000. Putting these 6 details together gave the full painting. Most mixes here are (slightly) different than the mixes on the 12"s. I'm not sure but it must have been one of the first official mix albums aswell.
01 - Grandmixer D. ST. - Cuts It Up (7:43)
02 - Shahiem - Rap (0:09)
03 - Fab 5 Freddy (Ft Material) - Change The Beat (7:32)
04 - Shahiem - Rap 2 (0:10)
05 - Smurfs, The (Ft Bernard Fowler) - Smurf For What It's Worth (7:01)
06 - Futura 2000 (Ft The Clash) - The Escapades Of Futura 2000 (6:33)
07 - Shahiem - Rap 3 (0:09)
08 - Phase 2 (Ft Material, Grandmixer D. ST) - The Roxy (4:57)
09 - Shahiem - Rap 4 (0:14)
10 - B-Side (Ft Material) - Change The Beat (3:37)
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All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !
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