da sauce

the other key nyc record shop for me is rock ‘n’ soul electronics, located about a block north of macy’s on 7th ave. it’s a place where you can marinate in ny’s rich music culture, especially on friday afternoons, when djs prepping for weekend gigs would crowd the store, head-bopping to the latest joints.

i have always known rock ‘n’ soul as an incubator of local emerging sounds. in the mid-‘80s, influential indies like sleeping bag, def jam, fever, cutting, nu groove and vp, vied for rack space with weekly releases that ranged the full spectrum of the nyc party groove - from house to dancehall, latin hip hop to rap.

it was at those rock ‘n’ soul hang sessions that i first learned how style transcends flavors, and how a talented and determined producer can thrive in an environment of perpetually shifting tastes by constantly tweaking his “sound” and changing, radically if necessary, with the trends. that’s where i first heard “little” louie vega migrating from 1018-style latin hip hop to house, rick rubin dropping def jam for slayer, kenny “dope” gonzales straddling both worlds, and bobby konders moving from downtown deep house to flatbush ave. dancehall reggae.

of all the hot beatmakers at the time, konders had by far the lowest profile, either by choice or just the way things worked out, it’s hard to tell. a confirmed outsider, he showed little interest in mainstream acceptance. as a member of the influential wild pitch crew, he was nevertheless well respected as a dj (including a choice weekly mixshow on wbls) and producer in the vibrant underground scene. i see the appeal of his better known work, such as “the poem” from the seminal “bobby konders’ house rhythms” ep (nu groove, 1990), with its massive groove and generous helping of dub poet mutabaruka at his most righteous. but it’s the stripped down dub or “version” that stays with you. everything about it – the rickety beats, the echoing percussions, throbbing synths, and a deep, deep bassline – speaks to something more fundamental.

“version” is the sound of a late night spent cruising the lower registers of nyc clubs. a konders production is never about peak-hour, hands-in-the-air anthems; indeed, “version”’s walking bassline and swinging hats evoke the hazy, mellow vibe of afterhours clubs, where deep grooves of all persuasions merge flawlessly from one into the next, insinuating themselves into the subconscious.

even after konders dropped out of “dance music” in the early '90s to focus exclusively on dancehall and hip hop, you can still hear the distinctive echoes of his “house rhythms” days. on supercat’s “ghetto red hot” (columbia, 1992), for instance, konders wisely let the classic breakbeat dominate from the get-go and rode its hypnotic intensity across genres to pure groove glory.

supercat – ghetto red hot (hip hop mix)

Posted by cellpharmer at August 30, 2004 05:33 PM