Thursday, April 4, 2024

It Began In Anglika

Slough, to be precise

"Gary Numan. Man he was dope. So important to us. When we heard that single, "Are Friends Electric?" it was like the aliens had landed in the Bronx. We were just throwing shapes to this tune, man. More than Kraftwerk, Numan was the inspiration. He's a hero. Without him, there'd be no electro."

— Afrika Bambaataa

I love this type of quote, to the point of collecting them when they turn up - Derrick May going on about being influenced by Cabaret Voltaire and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, that kind of thing. 

You never know when you'll need them, when you'll be confronted with some idiot claiming that Kraftwerk got all their ideas from The Isley Brothers. 

The idiot is - almost always - a white person. Usually a Brit too.

Most Black electronic musicians are happy - more than happy - to talk about the inspiration they got from weirdo Anglo-Euro electro



Bought this single when it was just outside the Top 40





"Techno Classic 80's Style" says one YouTube poster


Actually, it's a "Techno Classic late '70s style" - first released 1979 as the B-side to "Tar", Visage's first single.

A dance mix version was released a few year later 


Discogs commenter comments: 

"Both "Mind Of a Toy" and "We Move" are cool slices of Visage's trademark eccentric post-punk/new romantics pop, but the exclusive 12" track "Frequency 7" is something altogether different; a pumpin' proto-techno instrumental that sounds a bit like Drexciya (at least if Drexciya made music a decade earlier and wore outrageous make-up). Apparently a big favourite in Detroit at the time (1981), this is essential stone age techno"





1 comment:

steevee said...

Kima Hibbert's short film AFRICANS WITH MAINFRAMES riffs on this idea. It's a mockumentary in which African-Americans in 1930s Mississippi created modern electronic music.