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Planet Rock VibeZ

 





In 1982 Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force took Kraftwerk’s cold German melodies, ran them through a Roland TR-808, and gave the Bronx something new: electro. “Planet Rock” opens this set because the rest of it comes from that record. It’s machine funk that still makes bodies move. 

 The seven tracks cover a decade. Yarbrough & Peoples’ “Don’t Stop the Music” and The S.O.S. Band’s “Take Your Time (Do It Right)” were both 1980, and they show R&B already leaning toward the drum machine. They’re slow and patient, and the bass carries the whole song. The Gap Band’s “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” brings the explosive side of that sound. Planet Patrol’s “Play at Your Own Risk,” with the same Tommy Boy studio team behind it as “Planet Rock,” sits between doo-wop harmony and electro pulse. Club Nouveau’s “Rumors” takes the formula into 1986 and turns it into gossip and street commentary. 

 Then the set crosses the Atlantic. Soul II Soul’s “Back to Life,” with Caron Wheeler’s voice over that loose, rolling London beat, shows where electro-funk ended up by 1989: slower, warmer, and diasporic. It’s a fitting close. The graffiti in the photo above says London, and that’s where the journey lands. Forty-two minutes, no filler. Play it loud.

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