Various Artists

Various Artists

Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997
Strut; 2014
By Andrew Gaerig; February 11, 2014



Club music is straightforward to mock. the majority apprehend somebody skeptical or dismissive of it, a category clown-type who'll derisorily mimic a cut by huffing "uhnt-chk-uhnt-chk-uhnt-chk" whereas goofily unerect his head. Heed this warning: Paul Johnson's "Feel My M.F. Bass" are a boon to the present person. Shrill and stone-stoopid, the song's refrain repeats as such: "Feel my moth-er-fuck-ing bass in your face/ Feel my moth-er-fuck-ing bass in your face." The rhythm, composed on a then-cheap, most likely discarded drum machine, goes "uhnt-chk-uhnt-chk-uhnt-chk" except once it goes "unt-uhnt-uhnt-uhnt." The bass line looks like...well, there's no bass line. however if you born this small chunk of swingy coal on the South or side of Chicago in 1994, or if you drop it around anyplace in Europe in 2014, folks go wild.
"Feel My M.F. Bass" may be a standout track from Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997, the first-ever compilation to honor Chicago house music's coarse, brilliant, and suddenly stylish prodigal son. Best famed for lewd, raw, high-tempo tracks—a vogue famed then and currently as ghetto house—Dance Mania churned out dozens of classic singles that seldom on the loose the Middle West. The label was, primarily, ready to run as a modest little business: attract an avid, native following by victimisation its paltry resources to shake as several asses as attainable.
Ray Barney and Duane Buford started Dance Mania in 1985, running it through the Nineties. once Barney resurrected the label recently, he did it for identical reason he created such a large amount of of the alternatives that formed Dance Mania: it appeared like a sensible business call. European DJs, it clothed , were paying many greenbacks for Dance Mania 12"s, and Barney had shelves packed with unbought records in his basement.
This dealing in quality found influential Russian DJ Semitic deity Kraviz spoken language things like, "Sometimes i believe that my solely purpose of DJing is to play Dance Mania records!" to anyone United Nations agency would listen. (Her amative, abstract lyric to the label, "Ghetto Kraviz", was a smash.) Boysnoize curated a concept album. once art-damaged anomaly role player toured America late in 2013, he brought Dance Mania mainstay Parris Mitchell with him. The label's earliest shoutout remains its biggest: "Teachers", haywire Punk's 1997 lyric to their producer heroes not solely namechecks several of Dance Mania's principals, it overtly apes the Parris Mitchell Project's "Ghetto Shout Out!!"
The first third of Hardcore Traxx traces DM's early years, once it absolutely was emotional smart however acquainted first-wave Chicago house: diva-scorched anthems that pray you to jack your body and submit yourself to "house nation." when failing to land the sort of European hit that buoyed peer labels like Traxx and DJ International, Barney—who, when faculty, helped flip his father's well-liked side record store into a record distribution hub—leveraged his network of DJs to cater to the native market. Unable to afford studio time, Dance Mania producers recorded their tracks in their homes, usually with very little over a drum machine and a sampler. The unrefined mantras required not attractiveness to radio jocks ANd helped attract an audience progressively curious about hip-hop.
Like garage rock or blues or any art that is attempting to accomplish lots with little or no, a stunning quantity of strangeness ensued. there is uncountable inarticulate and unhealthy on Hardcore Traxx; rappers sound like cartoons and MCs like carnal preachers. Dance Mania may be a testament to the facility of the riff. within the best DM tracks each single component functions as a hook: Uhn-chk-Uhn-chk-Ride-me-baby. whether or not you discover ballroom music so much too repetitive otherwise you live for previous Traxx 12"s, you may bear in mind Dance Mania's tracks, as they're among the catchiest and most brazen of their kind, alternately hypnotic and tumultuous.
For a lot of of the 90s, DM's native focus protected it from Europe's abandonment of first-wave yank dance musics. The label simply unbroken churning out tracks, eventually fostering ghetto house offshoots juke and footwork (footwork legends RP Boo and Traxman recorded for the label). Declining vinyl sales shuttered the label in 2001, however even that feels like a blessing. Dance Mania is one in every of the few early house labels to stay on smart terms with most of its artists.
The success of ghetto house and Dance Mania was engineered on a very easy conception. you'll hear Traxmen & Eric Martin's "Hit It from the Back" in an exceedingly field rave in Wisconsin for identical reason you'll hear it in an exceedingly seedy Chicago club: it absolutely was (and still is) dedicated at creating folks grind their bodies against each other. The surge in quality overseas little question stems partially from the actual fact that ghetto home is maybe the sole massive yank dance subgenre to not are co-opted by Europe within the Nineties. however the native flavor—that of a vicinity shop—persists. to listen to "Ghetto Shout Out!!"'s decision and response—"Cabrini-Green during this motherfucker? Hell yeah!"—is to listen to however DM helped get off lots of individuals United Nations agency extremely, extremely required to urge off. and people United Nations agency did not got to get off, too. Say this regarding anyone United Nations agency mocks "Feel my M.F. Bass": he are feeling this lethally catchy, with modesty formed motherfucking bass in his face for days.