Various

Electro: Compiled By Joey Negro

Loving homage to genre that sired house and techno.

Joey Negro – aka Dave Lee, stalwart DJ and genre-hopping dance music producer – says this isn’t the definitive electro compilation. It is, however, a fine documentary of a genre that, in the early 1980s, shone brightly and relatively briefly, but left a lasting legacy. Negro picks out records that soundtracked electro’s accompanying breakdancing explosion, like Al-Naafiysh, Hashim’s jerky, snarling anthem for floorrocking aficionados, and Tyrone Brunson’s The Smurf, a marriage of slinky, slap bass and soaring Prophet 5 synth lines. One lesser-known entry is Two Sisters’ High Noon, produced by Man Parrish; a New Yorker whose performances at Studio 54 attracted audiences including Warhol, Jagger and Haring, he would become, perhaps, electro’s best-known name. Born out of disco, funk and synth-pop this music was the jump-off point for the hip-hop, house and techno to follow.