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There is pretty much nothing that I love more than great electronic music. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't ever get into electronic music because it is something that you really have to seek out, because like any other type of music, most of it sucks. Add to that the fact that there is a very limited radio audience, only a handful of credible domestic labels, and very little marketing associated with the good stuff, and you have a recipe for putting in more work than the average fan has time for. Electronic music is also notoriously confusing because of the absurd level of specialization and ridiculous array of genre-labels. Over the next few articles I will be discussing the ones that matter, and will hopefully inspire you to check out some music that you would not have otherwise tried. If I prevent anyone from ending up at a trance club when what he or she was looking for was house music, I will feel like I have done my job.
Let's begin with house music. House and techno are the two big genres that are mistakenly applied to all sorts of music that is neither. I start with house because it is what gave birth to the modern era of dance music. I offer that if you like to dance, I mean really like to shake your ass, then you should love house music. It's made for you.
Photo and painting by ©.
Full rundown after the jump.
What does house sound like?
House music essentially picked up where disco left off in the late 1970's. House is characterized by a straight four-on-the-floor beat, typically in the 120-130 beats-per-minute. Soulful deep house, for example, will tend towards 120 BPM, while funky house or tech house will be closer to 130 BPM. Anything in that tempo range with a 4/4 kick drum is house music, and most non-four-on-the-floor funky tracks in this tempo also qualify. Sounds easy enough, right?
The problem arises because there are a million different kinds of house music. Here are the ones that you should care about at first.
Deep / soulful house often has a soul vocal, and typically uses traditional instruments like piano and bass guitar. Because of this, a lot of deep house has very few artifacts of being machine music, with the notable exception of the ever present Roland TR-909 kick drum, a fixture in electronic music of all genres to this day. Deep house is on the mellow end of the modern dance music spectrum, and has a warm, groovy sound.
Disco house is, as one would imagine, made up of modern versions of disco elements. Disco house can be either instrumental or with a vocal, often in the form of a small vocal sample used as a hook. Expect huge horns, strings, and lush production rooted in creating a euphoric sound. Disco house tracks are typically arranged like their predecessors, around a big hook of some sort, and can be straight or funky.
Progressive house relies less on song structure, hooks, and flash than deep house or disco house. Progressive house is structured more around longer builds made up of lots of layers of organic and synthesized sounds, often using atmospheric or ambient backgrounds. Progressive tends to be a big catch-all genre for house tempo tracks that take the listener on a journey. On the lighter side, progressive tracks with tribal drums are uptempo, but still pretty mellow. On the heavier side, progressive house sounds and song structure eventually spawned a faster sibling that we now know as trance.
Tech house is simply uptempo house made with techno sounds, that is, sounds that are primarily synthesized. Tech house is usually funky, employing breakbeats in place of the typical straight 4/4 kick pattern and is usually vocal-free.
Acid house is the most esoteric of the major house genres. It was one of the first types of house, and is something that you either love or hate. It also paved the way for techno music and a whole army of musicians that took the distinctive acid sound and applied it to every imaginable type of beat. Acid is characterized by the presence of the Roland TB-303 Bassline, a failed 1982 synthesizer that was terrible at accomplishing its intended task, that is replicating the sound of a bass guitar, but turned out to be the perfect dance music synth. By tweaking the filter on the 303 while synched to his 909 drum machine, producers in the late 80's created a cult-like following that spawned countless followers who continue to take the acid sound to all new levels. Acid house can be stick straight or funky as hell.
What should I check out?
Unfortunately, few house producers have put together bulletproof full albums. Cassius' 1999, while drifting into the downtempo region from time to time, is a superb house album from front to back, as is the Basement Jaxx' first album, Remedy. Finally, if you don't already own a copy of Daft Punk's Homework, you need it for no other reason than to listen repeatedly to Da Funk, a quintessential acid track.
Otherwise, house music is definitely the domain of the DJ and the indie label. A straight ahead house primer would include people like Doc Martin, DJ Dan, Miguel Migs, and Carl Cox. All of these DJs have commercially available mixed CDs that you should be able to find with no problem. Better yet, get yourself to a place on Melrose that sells DJ vinyl and ask the guy behind the counter for the hottest house mixes they have.
The best house music, though, is going to be heard in your local house club or party, on huge speakers, with a couple of hundred other people ready to shake asses.
Enjoy! ©
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Ah man what a great idea for a segment. For a while the only way to learn about electronic music was through Ishkur:
http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html
LA is just about the worst target audience for anything house.
I mean the electronic music scene in this country is appallingly small, proportionally. But LA's can't even rival that of, say San Francisco or Miami.
I was a house DJ for a number of years here, and all I can say is that rock has a stranglehold on this city. Maybe it's because most of the major record labels are based here, maybe it's because people here are so shallow (aka unwilling or unable to appreciate anything for its merits, but rather for its popularity)...
The bottom line is that people in LA inherently reject most DJ music.
Felix da Housecat or Derrick Carter can probably fill a medium-sized club here in LA. In Europe, they're playing stadium-sized venues and filling them to capacity.
Not everyone understands House music; it's a spiritual thing; a body thing; a soul thing.
Luomo's cd from about 5 years ago is amazing Soul house too.
Bob -
Thanks for your comment. LA's scene is definitely not on the surface like it is in SF or Miami...
There has always been a thriving underground scene in LA, at least as far as I go back. I started spinning in 1990 and have been to hundreds of electronic music parties throughout Southern California since then. Some have been a lot better than others, of course, but if you look hard enough, I think you can still find some good stuff. Some of the best parties I have been to have been very small (100-200 heads, but there are huge massives going on all the time too, and pretty much everything in between.
Peace. ©
The Defected.uk label is probably my favorite for gospel/soulful house. I'd also recommend Mark Farina's stuff as required repertoire. In addition to Da Funk, I'd pick an obvious example for 303 craziness Josh Wink's Higher State of Consciousness. :)
As far as scenes, every city's got their own flavor, but it seems to me L.A. was a receiver of the migrant child that is house and other types of electronic music. Techno from Detroit, House from Chicago and New York, the Breakbeat movement from Miami, if you get my drift. Then of course you have Crystal Meth and whatever they called it (Big Beat?) in Vegas. The same could be said for the UK but when they got their share, they're definitely the ones who took off with it running. Especially drum n bass.
Bottom line is, though, if you really look for a good scene you can find it. L.A.'s just too big to have a non-existent scene.
Los Angeles has one of the best EDM scenes in the world. Wake up.
Thank God for the Internet and cable - it's a great place to find House, Trance, Techno from around the world via Radio webcasts. Another great way to find NEW music is some of the great web sites for indie and unsigned artists, literally plugging away some nice dance music. They are out there and are quite good...
Artistopia.com