ESG
ESG
Album · Rock · 1991 · Fire Records
When the Scroggins sisters from the South Bronx began recording as ESG in the early '80s, they became darlings of the New Wave/no wave/post-punk scene. But their music always existed in its own rarefied realm. With an ultra-minimalist sound that sometimes consisted only of bass, vocals, and drums, they combined primal-but-danceable grooves with simple, often chant-like lyrics for a kind of playground funk vibe that was simultaneously stark and sweet. They initially released only one full album before splitting in the mid-'80s, but they reconvened in the early '90s for this self-titled album.
The record nods significantly to the past by including the band's two biggest '80s singles, the lonely but beat-happy "Moody" and the spaced-out, much-sampled instrumental "UFO," neither of which were included on ESG's 1983 debut LP. But the new tracks pick up perfectly where the early ones left off.
The sisters added full-time guitarist David Miles to the mix, but he wisely keeps his riffs as minimal as the rest of the band's skeletal sound, adding punctuation and color but never overwhelming ESG's all-important open sonic spaces. And when that deadpan bassline drops on "I Wanna Dance," or drummer Renee Scroggins' economical beat makes "Get Funky" move, the decade that separates these tunes from the aforementioned singles seems to evaporate. ESG's on-again/off-again status meant that another decade would pass before their third album appeared, but their second makes it clear why this perennial cult band's pioneering punk-funk so influenced alt-rock and hip-hop alike.
The record nods significantly to the past by including the band's two biggest '80s singles, the lonely but beat-happy "Moody" and the spaced-out, much-sampled instrumental "UFO," neither of which were included on ESG's 1983 debut LP. But the new tracks pick up perfectly where the early ones left off.
The sisters added full-time guitarist David Miles to the mix, but he wisely keeps his riffs as minimal as the rest of the band's skeletal sound, adding punctuation and color but never overwhelming ESG's all-important open sonic spaces. And when that deadpan bassline drops on "I Wanna Dance," or drummer Renee Scroggins' economical beat makes "Get Funky" move, the decade that separates these tunes from the aforementioned singles seems to evaporate. ESG's on-again/off-again status meant that another decade would pass before their third album appeared, but their second makes it clear why this perennial cult band's pioneering punk-funk so influenced alt-rock and hip-hop alike.
ESG
ESG
When the Scroggins sisters from the South Bronx began recording as ESG in the early '80s, they became darlings of the New Wave/no wave/post-punk scene. But their music always existed in its own rarefied realm. With an ultra-minimalist sound that sometimes consisted only of bass, vocals, and drums, they combined primal-but-danceable grooves with simple, often chant-like lyrics for a kind of playground funk vibe that was simultaneously stark and sweet. They initially released only one full album before splitting in the mid-'80s, but they reconvened in the early '90s for this self-titled album.
The record nods significantly to the past by including the band's two biggest '80s singles, the lonely but beat-happy "Moody" and the spaced-out, much-sampled instrumental "UFO," neither of which were included on ESG's 1983 debut LP. But the new tracks pick up perfectly where the early ones left off.
The sisters added full-time guitarist David Miles to the mix, but he wisely keeps his riffs as minimal as the rest of the band's skeletal sound, adding punctuation and color but never overwhelming ESG's all-important open sonic spaces. And when that deadpan bassline drops on "I Wanna Dance," or drummer Renee Scroggins' economical beat makes "Get Funky" move, the decade that separates these tunes from the aforementioned singles seems to evaporate. ESG's on-again/off-again status meant that another decade would pass before their third album appeared, but their second makes it clear why this perennial cult band's pioneering punk-funk so influenced alt-rock and hip-hop alike.
The record nods significantly to the past by including the band's two biggest '80s singles, the lonely but beat-happy "Moody" and the spaced-out, much-sampled instrumental "UFO," neither of which were included on ESG's 1983 debut LP. But the new tracks pick up perfectly where the early ones left off.
The sisters added full-time guitarist David Miles to the mix, but he wisely keeps his riffs as minimal as the rest of the band's skeletal sound, adding punctuation and color but never overwhelming ESG's all-important open sonic spaces. And when that deadpan bassline drops on "I Wanna Dance," or drummer Renee Scroggins' economical beat makes "Get Funky" move, the decade that separates these tunes from the aforementioned singles seems to evaporate. ESG's on-again/off-again status meant that another decade would pass before their third album appeared, but their second makes it clear why this perennial cult band's pioneering punk-funk so influenced alt-rock and hip-hop alike.
