This month marks the annual Red Bull Music Academy Festival New York, and with a series of events coming up, RBMA is also premiering a new documentary series, beat:repeat NYC, which will celebrate a number of New York City anthems, and the drum machines responsible for them. The eight-episode long series will feature a ton of artists who will introduce the beat, the story behind it and the inspiration behind the classic anthem.
RBMA is also hosting a drum machine exhibition at Red Bull Studios New York with author and collector Joe Mansfield, which is open to the public on Wednesdays through Sundays throughout the month of May from 12-7pm, starting May 3rd.
Arthur Baker and John Robie spent six months crafting an 808 odyssey that ended up as the foundation to Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force's "Looking for the Perfect Beat." The 1983 track was the follow-up to "Planet Rock," and served as a warning to anyone who thought they had the producers pegged based on their first hit single. "Looking for the Perfect Beat" pushed boundaries and re-imagined the possibilities of the drum machines utilized in the creation of the song.
Watch episode five above.
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