Like all genres, House is in a state of evolution. Music changes through time. The early house sounds from the legendary “Warehouse” club in Chicago circa 1983 are different in many respects to the sounds of today. This evolutionary process has given rise to branch genres of house. Today you can listen to Vocal House, Deephouse, Hard House, Acid House, Tech House, and many more genres of music that have branched out from the earliest House beginnings. Perhaps it is the existence of these different branches of House that cause the confusion in the general population.
A point that I think is worth making clear to people, is that the traditional House sound still exists. In fact, its incredible how little the sound has actually changed. If you can get passed all the subgenres of House and find a pure House track, you will note a direct similarity to the original House sound.
I have found some sites that I thought would help to make this point:
Wikipedia has an extremely informative article on House music. Click…
Phil Cheeseman wrote this interesting article back in 1995, which covers the origin of House. Click…
And here are a selection of classic house tunes that will further help with the definition. These are hosted on Anthems.com
These are RAM files, and require REAL player.
Enjoy these classic sounds 
Listen to: Shirley Lewis - Feel Aright
Listen to: Smallage - People of all Nations
Listen to: Eden - Do you Feel For Me
Listen to: Opus III - Its a Fine Day
Listen to: Gat Decor - Passion
Brent Silby (2005)
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Its interesting how different mixing for radio is compared to mixing in a venue with a large sound system. I find myself continually turning up the volume on the speakers to make things feel better for myself. Its also interesting to start beat mixing again after a few years away from it. Its a fun process and I’m really enjoying getting back into it.
Enjoy the mix and have a happy Christmas
Stream the mix (32kbps quality)
Download the mix (right click, Save Target As). This is the high quality 128kbps file, approx 48meg.
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This is a nice selection of tunes–mostly new records, which I’ve bought over the last month. Enjoy…
Stream the mix
Download the mix (right click, Save Target As)
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SheDjCat started DJ’ing in 1995 soon after her first turntable purchase. From there her skills developed and she found herself DJ’ing in clubs and parties. SheDjCat currently DJs in Switzerland.
Stream the mix (Note: This is a .ram file, so you’ll need Real Player)
The show is hosted by Jason Barham, and features Jason and interm members, Corrado C and Dennis Ibarra of House of Joy Productions. If you like underground soulful house, then you’ll enjoy Soul Fusion. Soul Fusion is broadcast on Garagehousemusic.com as are many other great mix shows.
This mix is from May 2005, and is a nice example of what Soul Fusion is all about.
Stream the mix (This is a RAM file and requires REAL player)
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I have been experimenting with the system. This short set was an experiment to get the recording direct into the computer set up correctly. I think the volume is not quite loud enough, but nevermind. An interesting mix of tunes here I have compressed it to 32kbps so it should stream fine on dialup modems.
Stream the mix
Download the mix (right click, Save Target As)
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My only disappointment was the fact that the DJ was not playing Vinyl or CDs. He was playing MP3s, which were being run from a pair of laptops. I remember a few years ago I played around with mixing MP3s on a laptop. It seemed to work okay (in fact, with the help of the computer it was perfect), but it didn’t feel as good. Now, the DJ at Capital was mixing between 2 laptops, so there was no automation involved in the mix. So he was demonstrating a skill which is far better than letting a computer do all the work. He told me that he finds it really convenient to move 2 laptops around rather than carry a collection of records or CDs. This is a fair point, but I can’t help feeling that mixing between laptops lacks a certain “coolness”. So in my mind, the Vinyl/CD/MP3 debate is still alive.
Here are my thoughts. When a DJ uses records, you know that he/she has put a lot of effort into tracking down the tunes that he/she wants to play. They’ve searched for them and purchased them. Anyone can download a few thousand MP3s, but it takes dedication to find suitable records. Another point is that mixing with turntables has a “coolness” factor. It looks good, and sounds good too. You know that the DJ has had that intimate contact with the music. Its the actual music on the record, not just a digital representation of the music.
Since getting back into DJ’ing, I’ve been growing my music collection. I had a choice between MP3s, CDs, or Vinyl. I’ve opted for Vinyl despite the fact that its more difficult to get a hold of. I know this is a matter of opinion, and people are welcome to disagree with me, but I have decided that I prefer Vinyl.
Brent Silby (2005)
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Frankie Knuckles has a distinct sound and, as expected, he plays an awesome set featuring new and classic tracks. Keep an ear open for the 2005 remix of “The Whistle Song”. Frankie creates a great atmosphere in this set, and the occassional voice overs from the radio show host helps build the excitement.
This is a nice long mix, which runs for 143 minutes.
Stream the mix
Download the mix (right click Save File As)
Greetings,
Well, this is my first post in this nice new blog. The purpose of this blog is to satisfy my interest (and hopefully other people’s) in House music. I have DJ’d in clubs off and on since 1990, and have become quite discerning about music. My genre of choice is House.
At the time of writing this first entry, my DJ’ing is focused on recording live mix sets for Metropolis radio 88.2, Pulzarfm 88.7 Christchurch city–and any other station that will take them My plan is to put these sets up on this blog making a kind of a collection of podcasts. These will be downloadable or streamable.
I also plan to link to sets by other House DJs. There’s a lot out there and I would like to collect the best of it for this site. Its a big job, and hopefully I can keep it working to a high standard. I would like this site to be a place for people to visit regularly to get up-to-date exposure to that smooth, sexy, groove we call “House”.
Enjoy your visit, and please check back again soon.
Brent Silby