House Dabble

I've always been more of a techno man rather than a house man, but it is good to dabble sometimes. Dip the toe in, so to speak.

And so I went on a bit of house mini trip via YouTube the other day, thanks in part to Joe Goddard's Essential Mix.

Together - Together

As I made my way down Churchill Way on the X1, Goddard dropped Together. How the flamin' heck I missed a collab between Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk and DJ Falcon from the filter house golden era of 2000 is beyond me. Beyond I tell you! Together can seen as the forgotten little brother to the worldwide smash that was Stardust's Music Sounds Better With You, another Bangalter collaboration (this time with Alan Braxe) from 1998. For all its cheesiness and simplicity, I just love that filtered French house sound and it remains a joy.

DJ Boring - Winona

The first recommended video after Together was some geezer called DJ Boring. Well I just had to give it a go, especially as it had over a million plays. Clearly I'd missed something here. Winona is made up of snippet of a Winona Ryder interview and a load of sounds, textures and tricks from late 90s deep house. I'm not complaining, I mean anything along the lines of Deep Burnt is OK by me, and this really chugs along nicely. I'm just a little surprised that this sound is back in and in a big way. And that it is made by someone with a jokey name like DJ Boring.

Turns out the name thing is a bit of a meme in this new lo-fi house scene. I only know this thanks to a takedown article by Fact from back in December. DJ Seinfeld and Ross From Friends are other leading lights in this sound. From the few tracks I've heard, I don't really get the scorn that was thrown at lo-fi house in that article. OK, it's not the most original progression in the history of dance music but it sounds pretty good to these ears. Been listening to a few DJ Boring mixes as I worked from home today and it makes good working music. That's not a back-handed compliment. If you got something that needs doing, chuck on this mix, let it bump away and get your stuff done.

Midland - Final Credits

Final Credits was held up in that previously mentioned Fact article as something much more deserving of praise and plays than the efforts of DJ Boring et al. Thing is, this sounds as retrogressive as the lo-fi stuff. The other thing is that it is also really bloody good house music. It's just so damn danceable, I could cut some serious rug to this, a phrase that clearly indicates I haven't been, nor should I be allowed near, a club anytime soon.

And here endeth my house mini tour.