Fenster’s Funky Sevens

Just in time for Halloween, I cover a dark subject in this episode; the stories of seven plane crashes and the famous musicians who lost their lives in them.

Seven songs thar feature spelling in the lyrics

From Motown to Boystown: A History of HI-NRG (1957-1989)   In this episode I look at the genre of electronic dance music known as Hi-NRG, and how innovators like Giorgio Moroder, Patrick Cowley, Bobby Orlando,  Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench took this form of electronic disco from the dancefloors of gay nightclubs to the pop charts around the world.  We also trace the origins of this sound back to Hitsville. USA, the home of Motown Records. Featuring tonnes of music and interviews with the main characters.

Jamaican Sound System Culture and its influence on British Music 1950 - 1991  Using Soul II Soul's massive 1989 hit Back to Life as a starting point we trace how Sound System Culture has played a fundamental part in shaping British Music; taking in early Jamaican Sound Systems and the American RnB t hey preferred, through Ska. Reggae, Roots. Dub, Lover's Rock, and Dancehall. Northern Soul, Jazz Funk, early Electro, Rare Groove, Acid House,  Street Soul, acid Jazz and Trip Hop Contained lots of great music and interviews with the Musicians,  DJs, Producers. DJs, promoters and Soundmen involved. 

The story of how dubstep developed; from US Garage to UK Garage, through speed garage, two step, break step and on into grime and dark garage until the underground dubstep sound went overground around 2005 and how it continued to develop into the 2010s.   The podcast features tonnes of music, and interviews with the people who created the sound .

In this episode we explore the origins of disco music in the early 1970s, in the gay dance clubs of Boston; The Other Side and the 1270.  The episode features excerpts from a series of interviews with first generation disco DJs conducted by Brian Halligan of Boston LGBTQ organisation, the History Project. In particular I focus on one DJ, Jimmy Stuard, I feel Jimmy's contributions to the craft of DJing have been overlooked.    The History Project YouTube   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFZZB_pNhTXOlRAt0i_2Tg   Brian Halligan on Bluesky   https://bsky.app/profile/briandhalligan.bsky.social       The Other Side Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/share/1FiCasptnX/   1270 Facebook group   https://www.facebook.com/groups/803649106339832/?ref=share     Steven Burke's Podcast   https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/djstevenburke   Carol Mitro's podcast   https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/carilmitro   Bobby Busnach's Mixcloud   https://www.mixcloud.com/bobbybusnach/   Wendy Hunt's Mixcloud    https://www.mixcloud.com/djwh8/   Jimmy Stuard - Live at 12 West - New Year's Eve 1976 (6 hour set)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6bCL0VB_G8   Danae Jacovidis - At Midnight Melody 2     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wItGs9Dzdxk  

What we're gonna do here is go back... back to first evidence of human artistic expression, back to the dawn of civilisation and back to the enduring human need to be, both physically and spiritually. free.    As we voyage across the millennia, Let's uphold the fundamental right of all the peoples of this earth to write their own histories.    And never forget to embrace that unquenchable desire, found in every man, woman and child, to dance together under the stars to some funky ass tunes.   Seven songs about the Ancient World

Fenster's Funky Sevens- Ep 28 - A History of House Music Covering the time period between two UK pop chart entries;  George McCrae's number one "Rock Your Baby" in June 1974, and Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk "Love Can't Turn Around" in August 1986;  the first disco hit and the first house music hit.  I look at how Disco developed over the 70s until its "death" in 1979.  Then how, with Funk and Post-Disco and European influences, Disco was reborn on the dancefloors of Chicago as House Music.  We also take in the stories of the first House Music records and  young ambitious (and sometimes unscrupulous) characters involved in their creation.  

An update to episode 19 - Irish Hip Hop - 1979 to 1999   Some exciting revelations about Ireland's first ever rap record and an overlooked vibes man supreme

A continuation of Ep 24, where I retroactively created a genre called Dude Hop. Dude Hop is a particular type of indie rock influenced hop hip that was made by white dudes with hangovers in the mid 90s,  In this episode I talk a little about the mid to late 90s US punk and ska scenes and show the connections between these scenes and how the sound of Dude Hop evol also introduce a cousin of Dude Hop; Haze Hop. Dude hop timeline playlist   https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4dNXabIDPDFwQ00UwK06Gr?si=t5odFGTDSL6jwHBoMgsPcg&pi=DEGJhS-ZQx6aZ

The history of the Californian Punk Scene from 1976 to 1994; covering the early LA punk scene, the beginnings of hardcore, the influence of hardcore on metal, ska and funk, Westbeach Recorders, Epitaph Records, Gilman Street, Lookout Records and the rise of punk to mainstream pop culture

A introductory guide to a particular type of alt-rock infused hop hip made by white dudes with hangovers in the mid 90s, a genre I have decided to call Dude Hop. 

A look at how Jamaican music influenced British culture from the early 60s until the late 70s Ska Revival period/2nd Wave Ska.  Taking in; Mento, RnB, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Dub and Roots. And travelling through; Soho mod clubs, Island records, Trojan records, rude boys, skinheads, smokey bears, punks and 2 Tone. and connecting the dots along the way 

A history of breakbeat music from Bronx DJs in the 70s, to Electro, tape cut ups, Chicago hip house, early hardcore, big beat, the California desert raves, Florida Breaks, UK Garage and through to the hotbed of breakbeat creativity that was London in the late 90s; showing the development of the New School Breaks sound over seven foundational DJ mixes  

Third and final part of Irish Hip Hop history, with a focus on MCs, from 2000 to the early 2010s ,taking the form of a road trip around Ireland;  stopping off in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Norn Iron.

A look at the Irish hip hop scene from the year 2000 to 2010 with a focus on DJs and the MCs they worked with, including:  Collie, DJ Flip, Tuki, MJEX, The Gudmen, Rob Kelly, Urban Intelligence, Ri Ra,  Captain Moonlight, White Noise, All City Records and plenty more 

The Irish hip hop scene from 1979 to 1999, taking in breakdancing, the first Irish rap records, early MCs, DJs and producers the music they made.   DJ Laz-E's story of his life in hip hop https://www.mixcloud.com/djlaze/plastic-attack-radio-show-last-orders/

In this episode I look at the history of the seven inch 45rpm single, and play some of my favourite funk and soul b-sides

This is an episode of two parts, the first part is a history of Sampling, from the tape manipulation techniques of Musique Concrete in the 1940s to  stem separation of today. The second part is a selection of seven "Preset Hits": popular hit songs that are built around a preset setting from a synth, drum machine or sample pack 

Looking at my journey through hardcore, jungle and DnB in Dublin, Ireland in the 1990s with a focus on the clubs Quadraphonic and Bassbin, and their records labels