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12"
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RBSSS 005EP
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Master Plan was the Chicago based dance music project of Pepper Gomez and Tom O'Callahan. Spanning from 1984 to 1986, the groups development is in sync with the dance music scene of Chicago during that era. While their first record "Pushin' Too Hard" is a Windy City version of the NYC club music of the time and its European cross-pollination, "Electric Baile" from two years later down the line is almost a quantum jump into house music. With the engineering help of Matt Warren, it bears the marks of Ron Hardy, Chip E, Farley Jackmaster Funk, or the WBMX dance party craze, if you will. Here you have remastered and updated versions by Enzo Elia and Gerd Janson. The first ones's edit attempt of "Electric Baile" ignited this edition. A custom-tailored main mix is completed by a dub and useful bonus beat version to do, what DJs used to do. Concluded by two edits of "Pushin' Too Hard" by GJ, you get two great slices of yesterday that are still major dance music blue prints today.
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12"
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RBSSS 007EP
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A central theme in the life and work of the British DJ pioneer Greg Wilson, UK electro is a page turner. With the seminal Street Sounds compilation from 1984 being the beacon, there are still a few overlooked corners. "XXXO" by Equip is one of them. Originally intended to be part of said release and produced by Greg Wilson, Martin Jackson, and Andy Connell (like most of the comp), it was turned down at the time. Sounding like a like a proto-house template with a dash of Klein & MBO, it wasn't considered strong enough at the time, but found its way to the public as a one-sided 12" in 2006, it felt like a brand-new track as it perfectly correlated with the electro influenced underground dance music mainstream at the time (Chicken Lips et al.) Here it is again: remastered, rekindled, and unreduced cut to 45rpm. Pressed and released for the first time on this planet though are the "ICA Beats Pt 1" and "Pt 2". Intended to be backing tracks for a UK electro live appearance in August '84, they haven't seen the light of day until now. Both restored and re-edited with some help of label owner Gerd Janson, they are fierce examples of the sound at the time. Sitting between rhythm tracks and experimental drum machine compositions (and a short greeting from their creators' other project Syncbeat), it makes you wonder how one could have lived for so long without them. The history of the past enables you to dream of the future.
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12"
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RBSSS 006EP
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Berlin-based synthoholic and Watergate resident Biesmans steps up for the sixth installment of Running Back's Super Sound Singles series. Taking inspiration from Confetti's 1988 new beat smash "This Is The Sound Of C", Biesmans revisits his Belgian roots and reimagines three gems from Belgium's rich '80s music scene. Firstly, Biesmans gets to grips with synth pop stalwarts Schmutz and their '80s breakthrough "Love Games", polishing the track up with a motorik disco sheen and chunky bass arpeggios. The remix swaps the new romantic vibe of the original for 8-bit arcade game energy, and calls to mind robotic dance moves and freeze frame video. It's a reboot of a long-lost classic that sounds even better the second time round, and will transport dancers young and old alike onto a timeless dancefloor. Next up for reinterpretation is Luc van Acker and Anna Domino's quirky woodblock and piano-led song "Zanna". Biesmans transforms it from a melancholic anthem to lost love, and into a darkly uplifting discotheque burner, as icy melodies, synth pads and guitar licks create the perfect bed for Anna Domino's plaintive vocals to float on top. As per the other versions, the instrumental dub version follows, and highlights just how Biesmans has built each of these remixes from the ground up, existing as standalone tracks in their own right. Rounding off the 12" Biesmans turns his attention to new wave rock band Scooter and their ode to self-reliance "You", slowing it down slightly to a heavier beat, with hi hat triplets and a touch of Radiophonic Workshop atmosphere. By condensing the original to its essential vocal and synth melodies, Biesmans reconstructs a pumping 130bpm monster, certified to supercharge ravers all through the night. It rounds off a neatly balanced EP that sees Biesmans take the emotional core of influential tracks from his upbringing and put them in a different context, reworking them to share with a whole new generation.
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12"
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RBSSS 004EP
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A holy grail of European electronic dance music, and a classic at the Italian disco scene and Hamburg's Front club alike, is finally available again. Produced in 1984 by two mysterious friends during a hazy studio session in the small town of Aschaffenburg, Germany. "Kairo" is all you want from an oddball record: fun and funky, weird and wonderful. For safety reasons, it includes a persecution-proof instrumental version by Boris Dlugosch as well as the original B-side and completely atheistic "Kosak 2000". And to close with Mark Twain: "Man was made at the end of the week's work, when God was tired."
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12"
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RBSSS 003EP
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Originally released in 1984 during the craze that was called UK electro via Streetwave and later licensed to German omnivore Zyx Records. A joint venture between the electro-funk mastermind, DJ pioneer, and edit maestro Greg Wilson as well as Manchester musicians Martin Jackson and Andy Connell. Or to cite Greg Wilson himself from one of his essays on the subject of UK electro: ''The track that received the best response was 'Music' by Syncbeat, which was full of good vibes and could have easily been re-vamped down the line as a house track." Boris Dlugosch with some interpretations.
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12"
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RBSSS 002EP
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Big in the charts in 1985, the Italian queen of "romantic dance'", Valerie Dore, made her second single "Get Closer" a clairvoyant poem about life and love. Think stonewashed jeans, endless summers on Italian beaches, boats coming back to the shore. Remixed by fellow countrymen Tiger & Woods, "Get Closer" gets sandblasted into modern times and the necessary treatment to be the peak, nighttime hug fest, it's always supposed to be. Add a run out tool by DJ Oyster and a gentle DJ-friendly edit by Gerd Janson of the original to the billboard.
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12"
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RBSSS 001EP
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The first one in a hopefully long-lived series of disco and pop influenced Super Sound Singles on Running Back comes courtesy of the Gibson Brothers. Leaving their biggest wedding hits "Cuba" and "Que Sera Mi Vida" aside, the philanthropic and smile-forcing "Ooh, What A Life" gets an extended edit service by Shan and Gerd Janson, who cut away some of the fat and make it fit for fun on contemporary dancefloors. The flip side sees them remixing and sandpapering "Heaven" into a disco-house interbred (filters and looping mandatory). To quote John Lyndon: "Disco sucks? You never heard that from me."
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