It's that time of the week again. Fake tan, overly tight jeans and ghastly Nike trainers at the ready for 6 hours of shuffling on a sweaty dance floor. Anyway here's a couple of songs i've been listening to this week which I think will get you in the mood for a good knees up in whatever dream factory you may be heading to.
The first song is from Calippo. Found this on Youtube earlier this week, brilliant song, strong bassline, sure to get those heart beats bouncing and heads nodding. The song is called 'Gotta Getaway' and this is the radio mix. See link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMIdRUhSny4
Download on iTunes: goo.gl/uOKHrR
The second song thats been playing on repeat in my house this week is from my favourites, the well known, Disclosure. It's the latest song to drop from their new 'Caracel' album, and is available now with any pre orders on iTunes. Its the second studio album from the young electronic house duo and will be available later in the year. This song 'Willing & Able' features Kwabs, a 25 year old British singer songwriter. His highest chart peaking song was 'Walk' back in 2014, and he is certainly destined for big things if he carries on collaborations like this.
Link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wc3RtxGftA
To conclude my short (and slightly rushed) conglomeration of cheeky house bangers, I'm travelling back in time for something that I have recently found again this week. It comes from a firm favourite of mine, Dennis Ferrer. Titled 'Hey Hey' It originally dropped back in the late naughties. Still a great 4/4 beat and simple lyrics that just keep those feet moving. A classic from one of the great house artists. Hopefully more bangers to come from Dennis.
link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dgimjMhAIk
Anyway, work for me. Stay safe out there!
Sam
Saturday, 15 August 2015
Friday, 14 August 2015
House Music: A Brief History
For those of you studying anything to do with the genre of house or if you're interested in finding out some of the origin of what you're mixing, I'm hoping this will help you out.
House music, which is a form of electronic dance music, originated in Chicago and started to make a name for itself in the 1980's. From Chicago the house scene spread quickly across other American cities such as New York, before spreading it's wings and flying the nest across to Europe and even as far as Australia by the late 80's.
Follow the link below for a great early 80's House track, released on Sound Pak Records, in Chicago.
By the late 80's artists such as Madonna were incorporating the now well known 4/4 house beat into there musk. The majority of these rhythms were provided by drum machines using an off beat hi hat or a deep kick. These would often be accompanied by a low level synthesised bassline. The repetitive rhythm of House music is more important to the song then any monotone lyrics or crude high notes. Keeping the rhythm going, keeps the crowd going!
During the 1990's the emergence of more clubs which hosted specific House nights began to arise. Cream in Liverpool and various Ministry of Sound music venues opened up, allowing more people access to House events at great venues. Major record labels would often approach nightclubs to host evenings, where only their acts would play. These nights still exist today. A modern day example of this would be Eton Messy. Starting out as just a Youtube channel, the boys now have a self titled record label and host nights all around the world, such as their massive boat party at Outlook Festival this year, as well as numerous club nights around the UK.
It was not until the mid 2000's that House music began t become more vocal orientated. Lyrics leading up to a big drop became popular with teens everywhere, who often didn't appreciate the simplicity of basic house rhythms. But as times change, so does the music. Mainstream artists as we know them today started to appear, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Armand Van Helden and Daft Punk really thrust house music towards the top of the charts, each bringing their own recognisable personalities to the table. Whilst the genre may have been becoming more mainstream and filtered towards lyric based music other popular artists such as Dennis Ferrer were continuing to make brilliant tracks, with raw House simplicity.
See below a simple yet brilliant example of a lyric less House song, from the late naughties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCZdvzf8lAI
By the end of the Naughties, huge dance music festivals, such a Creamfields and Tomorrowland were emerging, to rival well established destinations like Ibiza in providing crowds with the best House music has to offer. During this period, progressive house began making a big comeback with artists such as Eric Prydz, Calvin Harris and Porter Robinson all pushing the style hard. Elsewhere Electro House began taking over. Begin the rise of Swedish House Mafia and Avicii. Now household names and chart toppers, they started out with tracks such as 'Leave The World Behind' and 'Seek Bromance' respectively.
The popularity of these artists, led to several fusions of House music and pop to create Dance Floor drivel such as 'Scream & Shout' by Britney Spears and will.i.am.
The Deep house scene really kicked off in the charts in 2014, with the emergence of artists such as Dukes Dumont, whose 'Need U 100' smashed the charts, shortly to be followed by other artists such as SecondCity who reached No.1 on iTunes with 'I Wanna Feel', which also peaked at No.9 in the UK singles chart.
Taking a look at House music now in 2015 we can see that not a lot has changed. Although some mainstream chart House may have adopted a more lyric based attack, you can still find in there your basic 4/4 beat, hi hat and kick. Nowadays we have many branches of House music as well, including deep house, tech house and electro house. If I were to link my favourite House song at the moment it would have to be The Beatangers with 'What's That Sound'. Might not be the most recent, but it's been keeping me pumped this summer. See link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdfSIRLFVwA
It's come a long way from Chicago back in the 80's and is only set to get bigger with more people mixing at home and so much access to great record labels via Youtube and Soundcloud. House music is here to stay.
Sam
During the 1990's the emergence of more clubs which hosted specific House nights began to arise. Cream in Liverpool and various Ministry of Sound music venues opened up, allowing more people access to House events at great venues. Major record labels would often approach nightclubs to host evenings, where only their acts would play. These nights still exist today. A modern day example of this would be Eton Messy. Starting out as just a Youtube channel, the boys now have a self titled record label and host nights all around the world, such as their massive boat party at Outlook Festival this year, as well as numerous club nights around the UK.
It was not until the mid 2000's that House music began t become more vocal orientated. Lyrics leading up to a big drop became popular with teens everywhere, who often didn't appreciate the simplicity of basic house rhythms. But as times change, so does the music. Mainstream artists as we know them today started to appear, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Armand Van Helden and Daft Punk really thrust house music towards the top of the charts, each bringing their own recognisable personalities to the table. Whilst the genre may have been becoming more mainstream and filtered towards lyric based music other popular artists such as Dennis Ferrer were continuing to make brilliant tracks, with raw House simplicity.
See below a simple yet brilliant example of a lyric less House song, from the late naughties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCZdvzf8lAI
 |
| Tomorrowland 2014 is a vast sea of Dance lovers |
By the end of the Naughties, huge dance music festivals, such a Creamfields and Tomorrowland were emerging, to rival well established destinations like Ibiza in providing crowds with the best House music has to offer. During this period, progressive house began making a big comeback with artists such as Eric Prydz, Calvin Harris and Porter Robinson all pushing the style hard. Elsewhere Electro House began taking over. Begin the rise of Swedish House Mafia and Avicii. Now household names and chart toppers, they started out with tracks such as 'Leave The World Behind' and 'Seek Bromance' respectively.
The popularity of these artists, led to several fusions of House music and pop to create Dance Floor drivel such as 'Scream & Shout' by Britney Spears and will.i.am.
The Deep house scene really kicked off in the charts in 2014, with the emergence of artists such as Dukes Dumont, whose 'Need U 100' smashed the charts, shortly to be followed by other artists such as SecondCity who reached No.1 on iTunes with 'I Wanna Feel', which also peaked at No.9 in the UK singles chart.
 |
| Duke Dumont, with his No.1 for 'Need U 100' in 2014. |
Taking a look at House music now in 2015 we can see that not a lot has changed. Although some mainstream chart House may have adopted a more lyric based attack, you can still find in there your basic 4/4 beat, hi hat and kick. Nowadays we have many branches of House music as well, including deep house, tech house and electro house. If I were to link my favourite House song at the moment it would have to be The Beatangers with 'What's That Sound'. Might not be the most recent, but it's been keeping me pumped this summer. See link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdfSIRLFVwA
It's come a long way from Chicago back in the 80's and is only set to get bigger with more people mixing at home and so much access to great record labels via Youtube and Soundcloud. House music is here to stay.
Sam
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