Focus On Music: Post Punk

ESG (Emerald, Sapphire and Gold) are a band from the South Bronx, New York, U.S.. The band originally consisted of the Scroggins sisters Maria (congas, vocals), Renee (vocals), and Valerie (drums), and friends David Miles (guitar) and Leroy Glover (bass). A later incarnation of the band consisted of Deborah, Maria (congas, vocals), Renee (guitar, vocals), and Valerie Scroggins (drums). ESG have been influential across a wide range of musical genres, including hip hop, post punk, disco, and dance-punk.

ESG's music is centered around complex polyrhythms, a funky bass and pop-flavored guitar. During their first incarnation, the group signed with 99 Records and issued a debut self-titled EP in 1981 that featured three live (recorded at Hurrah) and three studio songs, the latter produced by English post-punk producer Martin Hannett (Joy Division, etc.). 1982's ESG Says Dance to the Beat of the Moody EP continued in a similar vein, as did their first full-length album, 1983's Come Away with ESG. ESG disbanded shortly thereafter, but re-formed in the early '90s, heralding their comeback with a self-titled 1991 compilation of previously released material. The group's work had become popular among hip-hop artists searching for samples, with such acts as TLC, the Wu-Tang Clan, the Beastie Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Gang Starr, Tricky, Jay-Dee (J-Dilla) on his Donuts album, and indie rockers like Unrest and Liars. The group addressed this issue on the 1992 12" EP Sample Credits Don't Pay Our Bills. The album, ESG Live!, was released in 1995 and featured both old and new material.

The band played their final show on Friday, September 21, 2007 at Chicago's Abbey Pub, during the Estrojam festival.

The band announced that they reformed and will be playing their first returning show at NYC's Santos House Party on September 13. They also claim that both more shows and new music will emerge in the future.

Instead of focusing on the music of ESL, we decided to focus on their influence of bands like

Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti, Millionyoung and Toro Y Moi.

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Focus On Music: Metronomy

Named after the musical term for the measurement of time by an instrument, Metronomy are the dance-meets-rock project of London-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Joseph Mount. The live version of Metronomy also include keyboardist/saxophonist Oscar Cash and keyboardist/bassist Gabriel Stebbing. Prior to Metronomy, Mount and Stebbing played together in bands such as the Upsides, a pop group the pair described as "The Original Busted," and "The Customers", with whom they played in university. Using an old computer that his father gave him, Mount started Metronomy in 2002 as a side project to the other bands he played with. When his cousin Cash joined Metronomy, it became the trio's main project. With a sound inspired by everyone from Devo and David Bowie to N.E.R.D. and Pavement, Metronomy earned buzz for their engaging live show as well as official and unoffical remixes of tracks by Gorillaz, Architecture in Helsinki, Sebastien Tellier, Kate Nash, U2, and Britney Spears.

 

Metronomy's latest The English Riviera is due out April 11, 2011 and features the songs The Look and The Bay.

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