Album dossier / 1985

Mantronix: The Album

Mantronix · Electro-Funk/Hip-Hop

Kurtis Mantronik has described in interviews (Reverb, 909originals) how most of The Album was built at Al Cohen Studios in Chelsea on an 8-track, working alone with a Roland TR-808 he'd just gotten hands-on for the first time -- deliberately keeping the drum programming raw and unprocessed in contrast to the heavily layered 808 work on Afrika Bambaataa's 'Planet Rock.' He'd make beats first, then bring in MC Tee to record vocals once a track felt right, describing the sessions as 'spur of the moment' creativity rather than planned arrangements. Discovered after Sleeping Bag Records founder Will Socolov heard a demo of 'Fresh Is the Word,' the duo's dense, machine-precise scratch-and-drum-machine sound became a direct blueprint for the sparser, more mechanical branch of electro-hop that fed into Detroit techno.