Black Riot (Todd Terry) / Masters At Work The Todd Terry Fourth Floor Sessions

One of house music’s true originators, Todd Terry was first discovered by pioneering New York house imprint Fourth Floor Records. Now the label has collected four of his earliest and most essential productions on to one 12” vinyl. The A-side houses a pair of tracks created under his Black Riot alias in 1988, both featuring his trademark raw, jacking drums. The unmistakable rave stabs on ‘A Day In The Life’ were to reappear on countless hardcore records – testament to the track’s influence – whilst the cut-and-paste sample patchwork of ‘Warlock’ defines the house sound of that era. Meanwhile, the B-side features two tracks as Masters At Work, a moniker that Todd would later pass on to his friends ‘Little’ Louie Vega and Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez. Both ‘Alright Alright’ and ‘Dum Dum Cry’, originally released in 1987, exhibit Terry’s musical roots, combining hip-hop breakbeats, powerful electro-funk and playful freestyle melodies in his inimitable style.