This formed the backbone for "Clear," as it did for so many other classic electro tunes. The influence of the four Germans is also apparent in the "Home Computer"-like climbing chromatic sequence that forms the repeating motif for "Clear," the 1983 dance floor bomb by Detroit's Cybotron.Ĭomprising future techno architect Juan Atkins and Vietnam veteran Rik Davis, Cybotron took their electronic experiments to the next level after hearing "Planet Rock" on a trip to New York and buying an 808. The Egyptian Lover has described his music as Kraftwerk meets Prince. "Planet Rock" combined "Numbers" and "Trans Europe Express" into one potent whole. The influence of Kraftwerk is strong in classic electro. His new solo album will be released later this year through The Orchard/Sony. "I saw it at Kingdom Sound Studios (coincidentally named) and the engineer, 'Can we do a take with this?'"īahary is still active in music and has just built Electric Kingdom Studios in New York, complete with the new Rupert Neve 5088 automated console and 24-track tape. I recall the anticipation for a small file to be loaded." The harpsichord, however, was not sampled, but real. "The E-Mu sampler was used for voices," Bahary says.
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"Electric Kingdom" is full of choral sounds and orchestral percussion as well, like timpani. I wanted to take the most opposite musical ideas and combine them." "My parents are from the Middle East, and these types of melodies were always playing in the house as a kid. Very fat sound and great filters." All of those unique melodies were inspired by his childhood. When asked if he used a polysynth on the record, Bahary says, "Yes, the (Sequential Circuits) Prophet-5 for harmony on the lead melody. So the harder I pressed, the louder the sound, or the filter would open, or both, giving it expression," he says. I had created a touch-sensitive keyboard before they were manufactured. "The ring modulation was done with the ARP. The Odyssey also allowed Bahary to create ring modulation sounds for use as accents. I created a kick and snare on the ARP." The Odyssey was also used to provide the bassline (played live!) as well as the lower sound that underpins the 808 kicks. We were at IAM Studios in Irvine, California recording his followup to Songs in the Key of Life. "I had created a drum machine long before they were actually manufactured," he explains. However, Bahary augmented the rhythms from Roland's machine with some sounds that he made with an ARP Odyssey synthesizer. No surprises that the drum machine the duo used was the TR-808.
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We got in touch with Bahary to get the story behind the song. The men behind the music were Gordon Bahary, a keyboard whiz who had previously worked with Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock, and Joseph Saulter, who provided vocals along with Bahary. Not "Electric Kingdom." Released by Twilight 22 in 1983, the track is a real tour de force, packed full of synthesizers expertly played. Most of the electro cuts on this list are fairly minimal, with just a drum machine and a single synth to provide a skeletal melodic motif.
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The "Planet Rock" sessions also yielded the backing tracks for Planet Patrol's "Play at Your Own Risk," a vocal-lead R&B number that kicked off the R&B/electro crossover movement. Heavy 808, cold synths, snappy bass, minimal arrangement, and robotic vocals-the basic building blocks of "Planet Rock" would be used again and again in the next few years, and beyond. While often misidentified as a vocoder, the vocal effect in "Planet Rock" is actually Bambaataa rapping through a Lexicon PCM 41. (The beat was also influenced by Kraftwerk, specifically "Numbers.")Īdditional instrumentation included bass from a Moog Micromoog (played, as with the Prophet-5, live by Robie) and the soon-to-be ubiquitous orchestra hit banged out on a Fairlight that they found in the studio. It was played live by Robie, purposely aping Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express," one of Bambaataa's favorite records at the time. The polyphonic Prophet-5 would go on to appear on a ton of classic electro tracks (see below). These came courtesy of future New Order producer John Robie and his Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. "Planet Rock" is pretty minimal-another defining element of electro-with little but glassy synth strings to provide musical accompaniment.