The best years in European rave music were ca 1988-1991, when producers from Belgium, UK, Holland and Germany were fusing the raw power of early Chicago house music with breakbeats, rapping and analog synth lines and the legacy of European industrial music. This was the time when you could go to a party and you would hear house music, electronic body music, rap and hits from the pop charts all mixed up – I remember dancing to a set of Sven Väth in 1989 Frankfurt, in which he dropped Nitzer Ebb, Mel+Kim (!), S.O.S Band, 16 Bit and Twin Hype in one night. It was the “Ursuppe” as we call it in German (= the primal soup), the very source of what we all listen to today. Only shortly after, the music fanned out into the purified genres that would define the soundtrack to 90s European club land, be it techno, Uk hardcore (later called drum n´bass) or trance music. One of the prime tracks of the era though is A Hippie, A Homeboy And A Funki Dredd´s “Total Confusion”, which mixes up the best of three worlds.

Ahhh, those trance-synths! The Chuck D vocal fill in! That breakbeat! Nevermind though that high speed rapping – it sounds well tacky today, but in 1991 this was hot shit.

Dennis DJ is one of Rio´s leading funk DJs. He has produced anthems like  “Tira Camisa”, “Mengão 2000″ or “Cerol Na Mão” and is currently working on his first release on Man Recordings. His contribution in the Baile Funk Masters series will be #5, released in March 2009 (Man 040). See him rocking down the house in Rio De Janeiro:

As a warm up to his upcoming release on Man Rec, Dennis sent us a great Montagem for y´all to shake your booty under the christmas tree. Free download link here, hohohohoo:

Aquecimento Do Natal

Yes I do. Very much so in fact. All kinds of drums too – from machine gun style marching band percussion to tight ticking Kraftwerk beats.

I started liking drums because of the Chinese Lion Dance. The Lion Dance is a traditional Chinese dance that people would perform for festivities.

Berlin enjoyed the first ever Baile Cumbia clash last Saturday at Scala club when Buenos Aires based ZZK sound system came to town to present new heat from the Argentinian capital. DJs El Grant, Villa Diamante and El Remolon got the booties shakin until the morning hours with NY special guest G Rizo blowin up the spot with her short but powerful live P.A., rapping her mouth off like there´s no tomorrow.

Big up to the ZZK crew for making Berlin´s first Baile Cumbia clash so special.

Besides Public Enemy, Paris was one of the other great radical voices in early 90s U.S. rap. Paris became known for his song “Bush Killa”, in which he promoted fantasy lyrics of killing George Bush Sr. and racist police officers. For me though “The Devil Made Me Do It” was Paris´biggest tune. With it´s gutter drenching bassline and it´s radical lyrics the track was a slap in the face to both the romantic Native Tongues rap as well as the emerging West Coast gangster rap.