(11.11.08) ELECTRO has taken many incarnations from its original form. Electro is a sound that grew from the creation of electronic musical instruments, sounds like a pretty effortless synopsis but there’s a little more to it. Such instruments were used to make disco records, but electro came from a much more peripheral place. Electro grew out of hip hop and the ghettoised rawness of American inequalities. But this is only one half of its original physiogamy. Electro grew out of Europe too, taking on a much more clinical visage in the robotic musings of Kraftwerk before moving into the arena of synth pop; but in the case of the latter the genre had once again changed. With the hip hop manifestation, lyrics were a mainstay; as were breaks. Whilst the Kraftwerkian sound focused on the synthesizer, the likes of the Jonzun Crew and Kid Frost set their eyes on voice and beat. One outfit to push this sound that much further were Dynamix II, creating break and beat floor fillers draped in underground vocoders. It is this gritty electro sound that Dominance Electricity is bringing back to speakers across the globe.
In 2000 the German label, Dominance Electricity, inhaled its first synthesized breaths of electro life. Based on foundations of electro and breaks, Dominance Electricity have recreated and pushed the power and energy of bass and beat. This standpoint is summed up in TRV’s Technical Remote Viewing EP. The tracks have a basic, striped down tone, but beneath that they have a rawness and strength; such as in the aptly titled “Unlimited Power.” In 2005 the imprint gave back Newcleus’ cult classic electro stomper “Destination Earth.” The 12″ was a blend of the old and the new, bringing back Newcleus’ 1980s sound with remixes by Sbasssahip and Reeno. As 2006 came to a close Dominance returned, this time with one of the favorites of Ed DMX’s Breakin’ Records: Mandroid. The Futurefunk EP introduced a more cerebral electro sound, one of vocoders and catchy composition.
Dominance Electricity has recently returned to the shelves of your local record shop, this time with Thomas Werner aka Dynamik Bass System. Werner started his journey down the electro path on Gigolo and has now found his way to Dominance with his first full length album: The Mighty Machine. The double vinyl and CD release draws on Dynamik Bass System’s past and present. The LP opens with Werner’s first release, “Arabian Dreams,” this time in the “Final Mix” guise. The track reads like a homage to one of the pioneers of electro, The Arabian Prince. The Arabian Prince, long after departing from N.W.A., released his Innovator EP in 2005. To this EP Dynamik Bass System offered up an amazing remix of “Innovator,” and Dominance have been kind enough to re-issue the track on The Mighty Machine. “Innovator (DBS Mix)” is a floor filling, vocoder drenched, break centered electro powerhouse. This is old skool electro but twisted to new proportions. The 2004 hit, “Don’t Stop, Compute,” is brought back to vinyl; a work of raw electro with a definite influence from Egyptian Lover. The album is vocoder and break packed, serving up well produced electro that gives the sound of the past with a modern underground take. These DJ friendly tracks will fire up any crowd, whilst staying true to the feel and style of the original masters.
Dominance Electricity takes its inspiration from a style of electro that is rarely heard nowadays. The lack of electrofunk and machine b-boys is not because this music is outdated, it has simply lost favour in the dreadful post-house scene of many venues that liberally call themselves clubs. These are tracks that any DJ worth their salt would be proud to spin, tracks that Dominance Electricity are bringing back to the 1210s.
For more information about Dominance Electricity, visit their website at dominance-electrticity.de.
