IMUSIC CLUB SHOWCASE

Few artists have had the same impact on contemporary pop music as Kurtis Mantronik. Starting from the mid-80ís, Kurtis wrote and produced a string of hip hop-based tracks that would forever change the style and substance of hip-hop, r&b, dance, and rock.

Songs such as Hungry for Your Love by Hanson and Davis and Come Into My Lifeî by Joyce Sims foreshadowed the emergence of New Jack Swing and the Uptown sound. While tracks like Bassline and Who Is It?, featuring the decidedly novel fusion of big analog-synth sounds with raw breakbeats, laid the groundwork for successive generations of electro and techno producers (i.e. chemical beats, big beat, digital hardcore, etc.). And king of The Beats, an incredible journey through funky beats and other rhythmic coolness, is revered today as a classic hip-hop anthem. Little wonder then that samples of Kurtis music figured prominently in the success of international hits by the likes of Snap, Redman, and Beck.

Born in Jamaica and raised in Canada and the US, Kurtis first got into music while working at the now defunct New York DJ record store, Downtown Records, in the early 1980s. With $80 he saved from his record store/DJ gigs, he produced his first record, Fresh is the Word, which became his first hit when the owner of Downtown Records introduced him to Will Sokolov of the legendary Sleeping Bag Records. Other hits on Sleeping Bag soon followed, including such classics as Bassline, Ladies, Cold Getting Dumb, and Who Is It? By late 1980s, Kurtis signed to Capitol Records, where he produced a series of chart-topping singles like Gotta Have Your Loveî and the aforementioned King of the Beats. While at Capitol, Kurtis also produced several lesser known projects including Indiaís (of Masters at Work fame) first record Right From the Start, with a then newcomer David Morales, and Cuban Gigolo by Sound Factory, a prototype of the house/hip hop fusion sound that had only recently gained popularity with the Jason Nevins/Run DMC collaboration.

Family obligations kept Kurtis away from music during the mid-1990s. By late 1996, however, Kurtis re-emerged and begin to record and produce again in earnest. His releases on OMW last year, the Bass Machine Re-tuned single and Music For The Dusted EP, have variously been described by US and UK press as floor destroyer and massive, and have set the stage for his first album in years, I Sing the Body Electro.

I Sing the Body Electro (a coy play on the title of a Walt Whitman poem and a groundbreaking Weather Report album from the 70s) is Kurtis attempt to bridge the beat culture of the 80s with that of the 90s. Reflecting the diversity of sound in contemporary dance music, the selections on this album touch on everything from hip-hop to electro to rock to drum and bass. His renown complex and imaginative rhythm programming are best appreciated on such beat-head tracks as Bass Machine Re-tuned,Original Electro, On the Beatbox, and a follow-up to the classic King of the Beat, King of the Beat V.3.0. Hip-hop aficionados will vibe with Mad, Cow Bites Man, and a revisit to the old-skool with Push Yer Hands Up (can you spot the samples?). All three rap tracks feature the incendiary delivery of NY, NY B-girl and new Mantronik protegee, Traylude. And Seek and Destroy, Baby, You Blow My Mindand Hush show an artist at peak creative form, concocting genre-fusion gems and rhythm experiments that should help perpetuate the Mantronik legend well into the new millennium. In spite of the variety of flavors found in this project, there is still an unifying Mantronik sound ñ a sound that is precise, complex, and above all, funky.

Clearly, Kurtis follows the beat of a different beatbox when it comes to production, and his sound, ever kinetic, funky, experimental yet accessible, is just as relevant today as it was ten years ago. Last years remix of Future Sounds of Londonís We Have Explosives,for instance, was hailed by the UK music press as one of the essential tunes of the year. Similar praises have been heaped on his remix of BTs Love, Peace and Greaseand The Gospel Truth by Jocelyn Brown. More recent remixes such as Strictly Businessby EPMD (Priority/Parlophone), Say What You Mean by D-Note (Virgin), and Initiate the Creativeby The Quest Project (Island) are all being met with overwhelming enthusiasm by the notoriously jaded British press and are currently enjoying considerable pre-release radio exposure.

In an industry known for its fickle nature where stars fade as soon as they arrive, Kurtis is proving himself to be not only a survivor but also an artist with incredible musical resources, diversity and depth. The King of the Beat is back by popular demand, and he had just issued his latest edict to the faithful: dance!

source - www.imusic.com