It took two decades, but the true genius of the early 80s New York music scene is finally being recognised by a younger generation of fans. And right at the centre of this revolutionary interweaving of punk, disco, rap and soul were four sisters, Marie, Valerie, Renee and Lorraine ‘Sweet L’ Scroggins, and their seminal mini-funk collective ESG. The band's debut album Come Away With ESG, recorded live in a small studio above Radio City Music Hall, is an immutable document of their unique kind of minimal funk that influenced subsequent post-punk, hip-hop and dance music. Reduced to the most basic of drum beats and rudimentary basslines, ‘Come Away’ reinforces the idea that real rhythm is what happens between beats. The staggered gait references post-punk bands P.I.L. or Gang of Four, and the repetitive vocal refrain is reminiscent of doo-wop, the soul of the streets. The more up tempo ‘Dance’ begins with a rhythm that could have been taken from a Motown studio outtake, and ‘It's Alright’ combines primitive single-note guitar lines with equally archaic rhythms and bongo chops. Most memorable is ‘Moody and Spaced Out,’ with its distorted electronic swagger and groovy sixteenth-note hi-hat that propels a rhythm still favoured by dance music-savvy DJs. It's almost impossible to underestimate the influence of ESG, who paved the way for groups as diverse as female hip-hop pioneers Salt-N-Pepa or post-hardcore legends Fugazi. Just as Marvin Gaye's What's Going On captured the plight of Detroit at the turn of the ‘70s, Come Away With ESG is a musical photographic portrait of post-groove, pre-New York in the early ’80s.
- Joshua Glazer - allmusic.com
