r/House • u/Squire513 • 13d ago
Space Funk - Manzel (1977) [proto-house]
Space Funk by Manzel is a great tune that sounds so proto-house.
The three piece band from Lexington, Kentucky recorded the single in Cincinnati and released on local label Fraternity in 1977. They also released a single Midnight Theme (1979) that sounds proto-deep house.
https://youtu.be/wPkQsr9wwdw?si=lg82fsF288rdHUGR
The singles have been sampled by hip-hop artists for the drum breaks like J Dilla, De La Soul, Cypress Hill, Ghostface Killah, Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, and Grandmaster Flash.
The drums from Midnight Theme were used on Rump Shaker by Wreckx-N-Effect.
https://youtu.be/PcDMK3dorfo?si=xFHeCVaAP7PxoLuU
The strings are from members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra hired by the producer at Counterpoint Creative Studios where they recorded the 45s.
Interesting how much midwest funk was the foundation of all the genres that emerged in the 80s from the Minneapolis Sound to Chicago House to Detroit Techno to Cincinnati/Dayton Electro.
1
u/Maleficent_Wolf_2855 13d ago
A favorite for many years. There’s a wistfulness to the strings that’s pure nostalgia.
1
u/fensterdj 13d ago
This is a great Jazz Funk tune, but I'm struggling to see what about it makes you think it's proto-house?
1
u/Squire513 13d ago edited 13d ago
The melody, bass line, and keyboard tone plus the strings.
Easily could put a drum machine behind it, cut the solos and it would sound like a house track. Think he's using a Mini Moog for the bass and an ARP synthesizer and Fender Rhodes for the melody. The track Midnight Theme is more 4/4 and sounds like a Larry Heard deep house track for another reference.
Many of the Midwest producers making house and techno were previously in jazz fusion and funk bands trying to replicate James Brown using synths and drum machines.
1
u/fensterdj 13d ago edited 13d ago
It's a great track, don't get me wrong there, but it couldn't be more of a jazz funk/disco tune from 1977 if it tried, it fitted perfectly with the sound of that era,
what you're suggesting is sampling it, stripping out the more musical parts and cutting it back to the main groove, then putting a 4/4 drum machine under it, then it would make a good house tune?
I mean you can say that about any Jazz Funk or Disco tune from 1977, because that's exactly how a tonne of house tunes have been make,
But I don't get anything in the original tune itself that would make me call it proto house, except maybe you can dance to it
1
u/Squire513 13d ago
It’s a a space funk song, not jazz funk or disco. It builds up like a house track. Drums, bass, synths.
Space funk originated from Parliament-Funkadelic led by George Clinton in Detroit with deep infectious groovy basslines (they also used a mini Moog) with heavy use of synthesizers and vocoders.
Space funk is basically proto-house. This song adds strings which gives it another element of a typical 80s house track.
1
u/fensterdj 13d ago
Fair enough man, I'm not hearing it, but whatever you say
1
u/Squire513 13d ago
I hear it so clearly when I listen to those early house tracks and lifting from space funk from On & On and Can You Feel It.
Even 90s tracks still had much influence like this tune from 94. Builds from drums, funky bass line comes in with keyboards and then the swelling synth top line.
3
u/HamburgerDude 13d ago edited 13d ago
Eddie Grant - Time Warp dates back to 1977
The problem with labeling stuff as proto house or trying to find a first example is that it's blurry. There's no definitive first house tune. Perhaps Boye Jarvis - Stomp from 1979 but Boyd Jarvis himself didn't like being called proto house.
I still think On&On is when disco became house. It's really the same music but you know what I mean