| Remember the early days of hip-hop, when b-boys and girls rocked the planet over electro grooves and space was the place to be? Amp Live does. The Bay Area-based producer, best known for his work with Zion-I, boldly ventures back to the genre's Afrofuturist roots on his new solo album, Murder at the Discotech. Like Marty McFly with an MPC and a DeLorean on 22s, Amp Live brings the perfect beat back in the name of science, elevating hip-hop out of its creative doldrums and restoring innovation to the genre. Murder at the Discotech revisits the interstellar aural landscapes of seminal inspirations like Kraftwerk, Jonzun Crew, Soulsonic Force, Gary Numan, Mantronix and ManParrish, yet updates the electrofunk template with contributions from some of the West Coast hip-hop underground's freshest talent. "The album represents my take on electronic music at the moment," says Amp Live. "Electronic bass and melody with knock is what I wanted to express. Nothing too complicated, just bangin' tracks." Three years in the making, Amp says Murder at the Discotech is aimed at both Zion-I fans "and new ones, if they want to come along." The album wears its 80s influences on its cybernetic sleeve, yet it's more than just retro-futuristic nostalgia. This is the next generation of electrofunk; Amp Live is the man-machine with a (mostly) human soul, rocking the dancefloor at warp speed and setting his photon torpedoes to funkitize entire galaxies. | |
