‘BUSTIN’ OUT 3: 1983’ - Various Artists

LABEL: YEAR ZERO

RELEASE DATE: 4TH OCTOBER 2010

‘Bustin’ Out 3’ is the third installment in veteran DJ Mike Maguire’s sparkling, ongoing series chronicling the seismic developments in electronic based music through the often misrepresented 1980s.

By 1983, electronic instruments were no longer a novelty. Musicians, especially drummers and bassists, were getting nervous as drum machines and synthesised basslines made their presence felt in a big way as producers got more familiar with the machines and would-be studio fiends started seeing the day that music could be created in the bedroom. A spirit of adventure ruled in this brave new world, made possible by new technology which meant nothing was sacred as source material anymore; from Saturday morning kids’ TV to movie soundtracks, inspiring either moods, melodies or mischief.

Following the post-punk foragings of volume one and the follow-up capturing the global groundswell of excitement as electronic music came into its own, the microscope now falls on 1983, when the fallout from the previous year’s ‘Planet Rock’ spawned electro funk in tandem with the emerging hip hop and graffiti cultures, while electronic developments started infiltrating many more stratas of new music, whether disco, punk or even mainstream.

Such was the volume of electronic delights raining into the import bins and up from the UK’s own rapidly-adapting scenes, we can only hope to present an exotic snapshot blend of that year’s titanic deluge. To this end, Mike Maguire has done a brilliant job of capturing the panoramic spirit of a year when New York radio‘s ‘mastermixes’ were like gold bullion in clubbing circles while clubs like Danceteria were providing Damascene moments for visiting groups such as New Order, black music was besotted with the drum machine and, most oddly, Kraftwerk were the biggest influence on dance music.

But the collection also steers clear of the obvious route, kicking off with electro-punk poetess Anne Clarke from Croydon, proceeding with an atmospheric mix of legendary film director-composer John Carpenter’s theme to ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, before hitting New York City’s boiling electro scene with Special Request’s ‘Salsa Smurf’ and later the Jonzun Crew’s ‘We Are The Jonzun Crew’, while Downtown is represented by Liquid Liquid‘s ‘Optimo’. New York’s clubs also massively influenced New Order, as beautifully shown on their ‘Power, Corruption And Lies’ album, represented here by the grand melancholy of ‘Your Silent Face’, while San Francisco’s innovative electronic movement is represented by Twilight 22 [formed by Stevie Wonder’s former synth programmer Gordon Bahary].

Rather than focusing entirely on US developments, the set carries on its tradition of exploring Europe’s often darker use of the new technology, including Belgium’s Front 242 and The Neon Judgement, Denmark’s Laid Back with the enigmatic electro of ‘White Horse’, German goth-punks Xmal Deutschland, while Koto’s dub of ‘Chinese Revenge’ spotlights the burgeoning Italo disco movement. Another standout track comes from German synth duo The Unknown Cases fronted by legendary former Traffic percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah on the rousing Afro-electro of ‘Masimba Bele’. After such a potent, multi-strained hotbed, the UK’s Cocteau Twins make the perfect finale.

1983 was as unpredictable as it was exciting, with musical boundaries falling all the time and clubland on fire with the oddest anthems. At the time the word buzzing around New York summed everything up: fresh. Same goes for the latest gem to appear in this wonderful series, telling the whole story in the celebratory spirit of that amazing era.

futurenoisemusic.com