Warp 9
American hip-hop group
Warp 9, an American sci-fi-themed electro-funk hip hop group, is best known for its ground breaking, influential singles including "Nunk," "Light Years Away," and "Beat Wave," which ranked among the most iconic groups of the electro hip hop era. Described as the "perfect instance of hip hop's contemporary ramifications," Warp 9 was the brainchild of writer-producers Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. The duo wrote and recorded under the moniker Warp 9, a production project at the forefront of the electro movement.
Background
Lotti Golden and Richard Scher were among the early electro production teams in New York City, utilizing the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the casio keyboard, which built its brand of electro by layering multiple keyboard textures over drum-machine tracks, which became Warp 9's signature sound. Although the sound of the Roland TR-808 was the basis for Warp 9's rhythm tracks, Golden and Scher began to introduce live percussion in Warp 9 recordings. For example, on Warp 9's second single, Light Years Away, the Roland TR-808 beats were offset by conga drums."
Golden and Scher used both male and female hip hop rhymes combined with solo and group vocals, an innovative approach in early electro hip hop. The Guardian's writer Rob Fitzpatrick describes "Light Years Away": "This new track was something else, a brilliantly spare and sparse piece of electro hip-hop, LYA traversed inner and outer space, matching rolling congas with vocoder voices and the hiss and sizzle of cutting edge synth and drum machine technology."
Scher played all of the instruments on the Warp 9 recordings, with the exception of occasional overdubs such as congas and/or other percussion. Both Golden & Scher worked out the arrangements together, with Golden contributing to the background vocals along with the group. In preparation for the lead vocals, Golden would sing the guide vocals which were replaced by Warp 9 members on the final recordings. One exception is "Master of the Mix" (from It's a Beat Wave), in which all of the female background vocals were performed by Golden (with the rhymes by Boe Brown).
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