New York, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Ultra Records) - Welcome to Armand Van Helden's Ghettoblaster, to release on Ultra Records. An incendiary call to arms, Ghettoblaster, from the unambiguous title to the thrilling sounds contained therein, is an unapologetic throwback to dance music's joyous infancy. A time before house ate itself; a time when you could play Inner City next to Mantronix next to The
Clash next to Rob Base and Easy Rock and no one would blink an eyelid.
Indeed, as Armand puts it: 'On this album I was going for a retro throwback 1985-89 soul up-tempo urban type sound. Chicago meets Miami meets New York City kind of thing. Or to put it differently, house meets freestyle meets hip-house meets club meets new wave.'
Of course, being one of dance music's most endearingly perverse characters, Armand is well placed to execute this resurrection of sound. 'I am the dude to do this,' he boasts. 'People expect it from me'.
'I want to bring it back round to a time when things were more soulful and song driven,' he states. 'Before the onslaught of underground dance music.'
And in any case, Armand says these classic era-defining sounds have been slowly creeping in for some time now. 'The snare sounds Prince used, the keyboards from Expose and those old 808 drums, I've noticed them coming back. I keep my ear to the street.'
One person who won't be shocked by Armand's sonic space hopping is his mum. As a young kid Armand was always getting into trouble with Mrs Van Helden for digging in the trash.'But me and my gang always found cool stuff,' he recalls years later, 'and that's what I'm doing on this record, this is the sound of my first nightclub. When I was in the studio writing and recording this album that was the feeling I was aiming for. I would close my eyes and immediately the neon lights would come rushing back. The cars out on the wet streets, the city lights shining on the people queuing up, that feeling of anticipation. I was also thinking of the fashions of the time: this was the accessory era - the bracelets, the crosses, the gloves, the earrings. All of that is captured on this record.'
'That's just a natural by-product of me,' he says. 'I'm not fascinated by intelligence, I don't get a kick out of minimal techno. I don't want my music to be intelligent. I like making sex records.'
Welcome back, Armand. It's been too long.
Full album tracklisting:
1. Go Crazy! (feat. Majida)
2. Touch Your Toes (feat. Fat Joe & Bl)
3. I Want Your Soul
4. NYC Beat
5. Playing House (feat. Kudu)
6. This Ain't Hollywood (feat. Will 'Tha Wiz' Lemay)
7. Still In Love (feat. Karmen)
8. Playmate (feat. Roxy Cottontail + Lacole 'Tigga' Campbell)
9. Je T'aime (feat. Nicole Roux)
10. To Be A Freak (feat. George Llanes)
11. All Nite (feat. La Roka)
12. A Track Called Jack
