ALBUMS

MAJOR FORCE WEST - THE ORIGINAL ARTFORM
(Mo' Wax)

The third day of 1998 a compilation album, released late 1997, with beats and breaks from Tokyo based label Major Force, comes into my way. The compilation is called "Major Force West" and contains thirty-two hard to get tracks from the end of the 1980īs made by various japaneese beat masters.

I have been spinning these two discs almost every day the last weeks. I really like this music; but I canīt accurately describe the vibe in the music. I believe that The Original Artform is in the making of a classic album - one that you will be happy to have in your record collection a few years down the line. Despite that many of the tracks are ten years old, it still sounds excellent, like as if it was outside time and trends of todays music scene.

Major Force Records must qualify as the hardest to find label. Between the late 80's and mid 90's, the Tokyo based label flourished and created a uniquely Japanese take on hip hop. The original label producers made influential friends and brought the in; DJ Red Alert, Wild Bunch's DJ Milo and Satoshi Tomiie from the Frankie Knuckles team. The records they made during these years was close to impossible to find outside Japan.

The records was quirky expositions on hip hop with cut-up edits and multilayered loops. There were house records, jazz-tinged tracks and lots of funky guitar licks everywhere. Mo' Wax head man James Lavelle has had the foresight to include a selection of these on The Original Artform. Satoshi Tomiie's mix of "Hiroshi's Dub", a 60's psychedelic organ track, "Essential Dub" and "I Will Call You" show a life outside strictly hip hop. Last but not least are the funky "Love and Peace" by Tycoon Tos$h & Terminator Troops with itīs dead cool New York Dollīs sample. This cut has been in the mix since I first heard it that dark and rainy January afternoon.

Although The Original Artform has itīs roots in hip hop and utilises the staples of the genre like "Freddie's Dead guitar-breaks", Lyn Collins and James Brown samples, it is always fresh. The Original Artform is an album to played many times.