February: 9 electro releases you need to hear this month

Various 'Electro Compiled By Joey Negro' (Z Records)

In the 1980s, America was a cacophony of different emerging electronic sounds. Chicago was bumping to house, Detroit was chugging to the metallic thrum of techno and New York was grooving to electro-funk. The latter was a scene which would prove pivotal in the evolution of electronic music: it was the sound that ushered in the computer age, thanks to the onset of drum machines, synthesisers and samplers.

For Z Records’ latest compilation, Joey Negro delivers his own personal take on electro-funk’s journey from New York’s Fun House to Manchester’s The Haçienda. His choices highlight the importance of seminal tracks such as Hashim’s Kraftwerk-like ‘Al Naafiysh (The Soul)’, which was the very track used to introduce the Haçienda to this edgier, more robotic sound emanating out of the Big Apple. Elsewhere on the comp, Negro spotlights Tyrone Brunson’s ‘The Smurfs’, which would later be sampled by Armand Van Helden for his 1997 track ‘Break Da 80s’, and Dynamix II’s ‘Just Give The DJ A Break’, which he credits with instigating Miami’s electro bass scene.

9/10