walking upstream…
Green Velvet
photo: basic_sounds (flickr) · cc by-sa 2.0 ↗Green Velvet
Curtis Alan Jones began releasing bruising, minimal house as Cajmere before splitting off a more theatrical, punk-inflected alter ego, Green Velvet, in the early 1990s — scoring Chicago house's most enduring anthems with "Flash," "Answering Machine," and "La La Land." A trained chemical engineer who abandoned graduate school for a sixty-dollar keyboard and a cheap drum machine, he's spent three decades running Cajual and Relief Records while keeping Chicago's original house sound in global club rotation.
the sound in question
1995
FlashGreen Velvet
walk the tributaries ↓
Frankie Knuckles1980s · House / Disco
Jones came up on Chicago's mid-'80s house scene absorbing Frankie Knuckles's soulful, disco-schooled DJ sets, and Knuckles's blend of gospel-inflected vocals over a stripped drum-machine pulse is the foundation Green Velvet builds his own tracks on top of.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia — Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk (cited alongside Frankie Knuckles as a Green Velvet influence) ↗
1991
The Whistle SongFrankie Knuckles
1997
Answering MachineGreen Velvet
listen forUnderneath Green Velvet's more abrasive, cartoonish surface is the same warm, disco-rooted four-on-the-floor Knuckles pioneered — listen for the deep low end holding down even his weirdest tracks.
Farley Jackmaster Funk1980s · chicago house / acid house
Jones's style has been described as inspired by Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's work (alongside Frankie Knuckles), particularly the raw, drum-machine-driven "jacking" sound Funk helped popularize on Chicago radio and vinyl in the mid-1980s.
listen: upstream & here
1986
Love Can't Turn AroundFarley Jackmaster Funk
2001
La La LandGreen Velvet
listen forThe relentless, mechanical "jack" rhythm — a stripped drum-machine pattern built purely to move bodies — runs straight through from Funk's mid-80s productions into Green Velvet's own bouncing basslines.
Kraftwerk1970s · Electronic / Krautrock / Synth-pop
Green Velvet's sound has long been described as drawing on Kraftwerk's cold, mechanized electronic pulse alongside disco and Chicago house, feeding the more robotic, minimal-synth strain of his production.
listen: upstream & here
1981
NumbersKraftwerk
2013
Bigger Than PrinceGreen Velvet
listen forListen for the icy, repetitive synth patterns and deadpan, semi-robotic vocal delivery — a straight line back to Kraftwerk's rigid electronic minimalism.