Bicycle Corporation present Roots episode 37 on Scientific Sound Asia. Scientific Sound Asia is an Asian electronic music radio station, promoter and music-news platform connecting audiences across Asia and internationally.
Bicycle Corporation is the Italian partnership of DJ and producer Marco Mei and Stefano Ugliano, who is also known as 6884. Their catalogue includes more than 50 releases across Deep House, Tech House, French House and Techno.
Marco began his career in the early 1990s as a crew member at house music and techno events including Urban People. He built a profile in Italy before receiving bookings for events around the world.
Born in Torino, Italy, Stefano showed an early aptitude for music and devoted much of his free time to its study. He explored classical piano, percussion and drums, developing an admiration for Chopin and West African djembe.
Electronic music and the work of DJs became especially important to Stefano as a teenager, despite these records being seldom played on Italian radio in the 1990s. The prospect of making those sounds and playing them to large audiences seemed remote, yet it shaped his determination to pursue the work.
Through hard work, dedication and tenacity, that determination helped bring Bicycle Corporation into being. The project draws on the pair's respective musical backgrounds as well as their shared interest in electronic production.
Marco and Stefano have returned to some of their earlier tracks and established a Bandcamp page to distribute them. The archive gives listeners access to material from the duo's earlier period.
Roots explores the records and styles that inform Bicycle Corporation's electronic releases, including Funk, Disco, Soul, Afrobeat, Electro, Rare Groove, Hip Hop and Afrocentric music. Bicycle Corporation are available for booking through the Scientific Sound Asia DJ agency for Asia.
Bicycle Corporation’s Roots episode 37 programme opens with Peter Gabriel’s Games Without Frontiers, a Rock selection released through Real World Productions Ltd. Mike Francis Fest Silent Underdog’s Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag follows with another early change of pace.
Catia’s Quem Vai in the De Franca Edit and E & N’s Jibaro in the Disco Rework bring the programme into edit territory. Fela Kuti’s Masiqalise arrives as an Afrobeat-inflected Disco rework, before Manu Dibango’s Maloko and Lagos extend the African musical thread.
UB40 featuring Ali, Astro and Mickey contribute A Place In The Sun before James Brown’s Get Outta That Thing, issued by Volcano, brings in a firm Funk foundation. Brown’s Don’t Tell It To Me in the Groovebuildner Rework follows, keeping the focus on his work through a contemporary edit.
James Brown’s Cold Sweat in the Black Edit, Funky President in the New York Edit and There It Is deepen that section before Hot Pants appears in its Tropical Extended Rework. Michael Jackson’s I Wanna Be Where You Are in the X-ray Tedit then shifts the selection towards the dancefloor-oriented revisions heard later in the programme.
Harlem Dance Club’s I Love Your Loving, released by Springbok Records, introduces the set’s first explicit Nu-Disco note. Heaven 17’s Play To Win, from Virgin Catalogue, provides a synthesiser-led Synth Pop contrast.
Massimo Vanoni’s Funky Miracle on Spa In Disco brings an Indie Dance edge before Idris Muhammad’s Could Heaven Ever Be Like This in The Reflex Revision returns to jazz fusion, using the revision label attached to the version. Heatwave’s The Grooveline and Boogie Nights, both in The Reflex Revision versions, lead into The Coconut’s The Goldcoast Disco and close the set in a disco-focused register.
Bicycle Corporation Roots 037 show 31st May 2020
Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
Mike Francis Fest Silent Underdog - Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag
Catia - Quem Vai (De Franca Edit)
E & N - Jibaro (Disco Rework)
Fela Kuti - Masiqalise (Afro Disco Rework)
Manu Dibango - Maloko
Manu Dibango - Lagos (Rework)
UB40 Featuring Ali, Astro Mickey - A Place In The Sun
James Brown - Get Outta That Thing
James Brown - Don't Tell It To Me (Groovebuildner Rework)
James Brown - Cold Sweat (Black Edit)
James Brown - Funky President (New York Edit)
James Brown - There It Is
James Brown - Hot Pants (Tropical Extended Rework)
Michael Jackson - I Wanna Be Where You Are (X-ray Tedit)
The New York Community Choir Express Yourself - 1977
Harlem Dance Club - I Love Your Loving
Heaven 17 - Play To Win
Massimo Vanoni - Funky Miracle
Idris Muhammad - Could Heaven Ever Be Like This [The Reflex Revision]
Heatwave - The Grooveline [The Reflex Revision]
Heatwave - Boogie Nights [The Reflex Revision]
The Coconut - The Goldcoast Disco
Listen on Mixcloud here.