Various - The Blank Generation: Blank Tapes NYC 1975-1987 (Strut/DJhistory.com)

Necessity might well be the mother of invention but poverty is the midwife of genius. New York in the 1970s was broke and broken, falling over and burning down, yet gave rise to one of the most creatively fertile periods in popular music. At the centre of much of the music made during this fruitful period was a maverick producer named Robert Blank. His studio, Blank Tapes, was at the centre of the downtown scene throughout much of the 1970s and ’80s, and acted as a busy crossroads for the disco, Latin, jazz and no wave scenes, among others. The Blank Generation this wildly diverse selection together for the first time, including previously unreleased mixes of Mikki's Itching For Love and Sun Ra's Where Pathways Meet. Other tracks include Bob's own Aural Exciters project with Emile (Night Rate), Wax The Van, his collaboration with wife Lola Blank and Arthur Russell and James Blood Ulmer's foray into funky harmolodics with Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher.

ON CD & LIMITED-EDITION VINYL ONLY

• Pre-order the album from DJhistory and get a FREE 60-minute DJ mix by Bill Brewster of Bob Blank classics (offer valid until end of February). Mixtape tracklist here >>

• Includes two previously unreleased mixes (Sun Ra and Mikki).