Comment by sahara | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sahara | Hacker News Reader

Bruce Haack was a genius. There are songs on The Electric Lucifer[1] that would sound ahead of their time if they came out today (and that record was released almost 50 years ago). Of late he seems to have been canonized as one of those auteurs who is totally unappreciated in his time but winds up influencing everybody.

The experimental children's records mentioned in the article are absolutely worth your time, as well as the aforementioned Lucifer, but anyone interested should also hear "Party Machine"[2] (co-produced by Russell Simmons) and the 32 minute epic "Icarus"—both bonus tracks on Haackula[3], a 2008 collection of previously unreleased material. There's also some really good stuff on Bruce Haack Remixes[4] which came out on Stones Throw in 2012.

One of my favorite rap songs in recent memory is Micah James' "Blow Job (Give Up)"[5] which samples and builds on a Haack song by the same name.

[1] http://www.discogs.com/Bruce-Haack-The-Electric-Lucifer/mast...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cox-6Lwx0Nw

[3] http://www.discogs.com/Bruce-Haack-Haackula/release/1377215

[4] http://www.stonesthrow.com/store/album/various/bruce-haack-r...

[5] https://micahjames.bandcamp.com/track/blow-job-give-up

Well that was quite cool. Theres that drum beat that you expect to kick in any moment but never does, which is kind of disappointing, but still its a cool track (just begging for a remix).

I have to say though, that video was weird. You've got Mr. Rogers who, judging by the looks, sells vacuum cleaners for a living, joined by Mr. Bruce, who would not look out of place in a Tarantino movie about a guy selling drugs in Las Vegas truck stop parking lots. Then in waltzes a scantily clad lady that proceeds to perform weird movements with kids who have apparently no idea whats going on, but decide to play along due to a lack of other options. I feel I've been missing out in my youth.

She's not scantily clad. Her leggings go almost down to her ankles. Her suit is probably brightly-colored and only looks scandalous in your brain when you fill in a different color. e.g. http://www.dancewearsolutions.com/leotards/cl1270.aspx?posit...

I will not let facts mess with the scandalousness of my memories. At least I've Learned Something Today about leotards.

> There are songs on The Electric Lucifer[1] that would sound ahead of their time if they came out today

Uh. When was the last time you listened to this stuff?

I don't know if I would call it ahead of it's time today, but I definitely think it's on par with a lot of electronic music today. It's actually quite good!

This is a great post. I cannot believe "Party Machine" is from '78. Holy crap, that's unbelievably contemporary.

It kind of goes to show how similar many of the music making tools are today, but here's a guy putting together an amazing jam and Carter was still in office.

Speaking of rap/hip hop I wasn't born in 1968 but I a Canadian kid was on a vacation in NY in 1977 but it was in August.

I thought it would have been interesting if I had been there in NY city in July 1977 when the big blackout occurred. Apparently looting of stereo equipment is what (maybe) spurred the new art form of hip hop sure it's debatable but it sounds cool. I'm not even a fan of rap or hip hop but it would have been fun to have been there for it.

It's also interesting that rap/hip hop was born about a month before Elvis died it's like to ages of music colliding one birth and one death.

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