Google+ Beathearts: Beathearts rewind #1: Nu Yorican Soul - The nervous track

4.25.2010

Beathearts rewind #1: Nu Yorican Soul - The nervous track


We really like Spinemagazine's Friday Throwback concept where they highlight old classic tunes. Tracks that might have been forgotten but still shines. So in ode to Spinemagazine we present:

Beathearts Rewind #1

First off, the true story behind Nu Yorican Soul's The nervous track. One of the most amazing percussion tracks of all time.

I found a cassette (!) the other day with an old interview with Kenny Dope Gonzales and appearantly the story behind the track was this:

Tuesday night and Kenny's bored in the Masters at Work Manhattan based studio. Listening to a some strings recorded earlier by his partner Louie Vega he flips through some old jazz records in search of inspiration. An old Shelly Manne record on Philips gets his attention. Samples the break, loops it and continues through the record piles until he find three more beats including Louie Benson, Willy Bobo and Paul Humphries.

Kenny feels he's onto something and adds layer after layer on Vega's strings using several drumloops at the same time to build the amazing beats in different channels.

Louie Vega calls Mike Weiss (founder of Nervous records) at 3:30 am on that same Tuesday night and says: "Yo get your ass over to the Studio, Kenny and I have to play you something!"
Mike wonders if maybe they can wait until breakfast and Louie answers that if he wants the track he has to go there now! Mike goes over and finds the track that will be forever linked with the label, hence 'The Nervous Track'.

If Kenny Dope can drop bombs like these when he's bored, I wonder how many future classics are made this lazy sunny Sunday afternoon?


Nu Yorican Soul - The nervous track (1993)

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