LATIN FREESTYLE: NEW YORK / MIAMI 1983-1992

DIZZYING - PASSIONATE - ULTRA-MODERN.

The early 80s electro sound - an injection of infectious energy from a time and place oozing with creativity and the knowledge of how to weaponise it to limb-swinging effect. Any compilation featuring Lisa Lisa‘s ‘I Wonder If I Take You Home’ deserves its place in this list for that select cut alone. It was the aural equivalent of a can of thirst-quenching Quatro or a Spanish Harlem dance-off, and it became the electronically constructed bridge between disco and house. Freestyle grew out of the electro sound of the early 80s, combined clean staccato rhythms with morse code synth hooks, and topped them off with emotive, usually female, frequently Latina vocals. There was plenty more going on besides: proto-house piano lines, Cuban percussion, high emotion and synth hooks to die for.