The following article is one I wrote when I was working as the systems admin for NetNoir - "The Soul Of Cyberspace". I had previously wrote it for a personnel site of mine in 1996 and they asked me to reprint it online for a Black History month celebration they were doing. Now here it is for all you lovely people to enjoy.

What Is House Music? Plain and simple, House is music to "jack your body" to. According to Candy J., one of the first female vocalists and producers of house music, "Original house was something like sex. People danced so hard that sweat would be everywhere. Literally! No one cared who they were rubbing up against, as people began creating their own love scenes on the dance floor. That's how the word "jack" was created - by the way people danced with one another on the dance floor, jacking their bodies all night long to the beat of the music. You would see some of the freakiest things on the dance floor between four, five, sometimes an entire group of people! This, for me, was the phenomenon of house music."

In its simplicity, the house sound calls for a deep pounding bass kick (usually created by a Roland 909 or 808 drum machine), a snappy snare, hi-hats that are bright in quality or phased to set another dimension, a funky driving bass line, and sampled phrases played in sync with the rhythm track. The typical beats per minute of house music circles around 128 and that can +8 or -8 in any direction at any given time. House tracks are very repetive but raw and melodic enough to lock the individual in the groove and keep he/she dancing for hours.

Some of the original house musicians are Jesse Saunders, Marshall Jefferson, J.M. Silk (Steve Hurley and Keith Nunally), Farley "Jackmaster Funk" Keith, Chip E., Fingers Incorporated (Larry Heard, Robert Owens, and Ron Williams), and Rodney Bakerr.

House music can be divided into several categories; Acid House, Deep House, Garage Sound, Hip House, Sampled House, Techno, and Ambient House.

Acid House is house music with a strong emphasis on creating a trance like feel. This feel is created by relying heavely on the Roland TB 303 bassline and other old analog synths, such as the Minimoog, Pro-One and OB-Xa. These sounds work well when used repetitiously - vocals are usually not a main focus to the structure of the composition. Deep House is house music that relies on lyrics and vocaliztion to create the house feel of the piece; some good examples are Ten City, Carolyn Harding and Ce Ce Rogers.

Garage Sound is considered to be the most original house sound. The beat is pumped from a Roland TR 909 in 4/4 mode and the tracks focus around the beat. Garage is New York's version of Deep House; garage got its name from the legendary club the Paradise Garage and many of the artists and producers have strong ties with New Jersey. Some good examples are Adonis, Marshall Jefferson and Fingers Inc.

Hip House is a combination of rap, house, and samples. The raps usually flow fast and boast in the hardcore rap style, the beat circles between 120 and 128 BPMs and a good sample here and there locks the listener in the groove. The best examples of this style are Fast Eddie, Tyree Cooper, K.C. Flight, and Doug Lazy.

Sampled House, which I consider to be the brooklyn sound, centers around samples from records to recreate a new theme and sound. Most of the samples tend to be from old hip hop and funk records. The instruments of choice are the Emu SP-1200 and Technics MK1200. The best examples are Todd Terry and Frankie Bones.

Techno House is house music that is a combination of acid, deep, and sampled house. This music tends to increase in BPMs (a BPM of 150 is very common - this is usually labled hardcore techno) Techno has it's roots in Detroit with Saunderson, Atkins and May and has expanded in various forms in Europe with some great music pouring out of Belgium, England, France and Italy.

House music is said to have had it's start as earyl as 1981. Starting when Farley Keith formed the Hot Mix 5 organization. Hot Mix 5 was a collection of DJs who included Farley Keith, Mickey Oliver, Ralphie Rosario, Mario "Smokin" Diaz and Scott Key. What this organization did was give dance music a radio outlet in Chicago.

The house sound seemed to have really started slammin' in 1983; with DJs Ron Hardy spinnin at the Powerplant, Farley Keith throwing down at the Playhouse and Frankie Knuckles doing what he does best at the Warehouse; all the clubs were located in Chicago. Frankie would mix '70s soul records from New York and Philadelphia with European electronic acts such as Kraftwerk and New Order. He would throw "after hours" mixes and other DJs would gather after their club gig stopped; soon they noticed a new dance sound developing and everyone jumped on the band wagon. Garage House came into being around this time; NYC was slammin' with Tony Humphries spinning in the clubs and on radio with 98.7 KISS FM.

The scene continued to pump through '84 and in 1985 two very significant record labels came into being that showcased Chicago House Music; Trax records from Chicago was headed by Larry Sherman; Trax was resposible for releasing early house classics by Frankie Knuckles, Larry Heard, and Marshall Jefferson; whose song "Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem, became the track to judge all others by. DJ International the other record label, was formed by Rocky Jones and others. They were the label that launched Joe Smooth, Chip E., and Fingers Inc. into the spotlight. They were also responsible for all the Hip House records that were soon to come. Also for that year JM Silk's "MUSIC IS THE KEY" became the first major Billboard house hit. In NYC, Easy St. Records scored success with the hits "You Don't Know" by Serious Intention and "Ma Foom Bey" by Cultural Vibe.

1985 also issussed in a new sound within the Chicago area scene, this was the year Acid House made it's marks with the Roland TB303 bassline producing the trance-like affect that Hypnotized everyone. Pioneers in this sound include Phuture, Sleazy D, Bam Bam, and DJ Pierre.

While house continued to pump hard at the undergound level in Chicago it started spreading fast to its near by cities - enter the birth of the Detroit techno sound.

"Techno shows that within technology there is emotion, that within information access there is overload, that within speed lies entropy, that within progress lies destruction, that within the materiality of inanimate obects can lie spirituality." This is the best summation of Techno that I have ever heard; Thank you John Savage.

Techno is nothing new, it's structure dates back to the 70's with groups like Kraftwerk and Caberet Voltaire. The main idea behind techno is the the fusion of man and machine. Techno is made from technology, man controlls technology; noise (sound) will now exist in time (rhythm). The electronic musician should feel the resonance of technology, speed, travel, the complexity of a city - the techno mind wants the future now - How can I create the future with the electronic instruments at hand? This should always be the main theme when composing?

The Detroit techno sound was founded by the talented musicians Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Juan Atkins. All three techno musicians grew up in Detroit and went to Belville High School together. They eventually got together and showcased each of their individual talents doing a prime-time radio mix on Detroit's WJLB-FM; which they were eventually fired for being "too ahead of their time." In 1981, Atkins with a friend from Michigan named Rick Davies, formed a group called Cybertron and put a single out called "Alleys Of Your Mind", this was to be the first of six singles on the local Fantasy label. Atkins released "No UFOs" in 1985 and "Off To Battle" in 1987 on his own Metroplex label.

At this time Saunderson made his mark by taking soul-pop-words and singer, Paris Grey, and formed the hit-making Inner City duo; who's credits include "Big Fun" and "Good Life". In 1987 Saunderson also collaborated with Santonio Echols and produced some excellent streamlined compositions, with "The Sound" hitting big on the streets. Saunderson, also a top remixer, has remixed projects for Neneh Cherry, Paula Abdul, and New Order. Also in 1987, May started his own label called Transmat and released the techno house classics; "The Dance", "Nude Photo?", and "Strings Of Life". These songs gave May massive exposure all over the world.

Backing up a bit, sees 1986 issuing in the New York club sound, Chicago Deep House, and the sexy seductions of the diva. The East Coast continued it successful sound with some great music pouring through. On Jus Born Records, Disco DJ Walter Gibbons a.k.a. Straffe hit big with the club hit "Set It Off". 2 Puerto Ricans, A Black Man, and a Dominican; better known as David Morales, Robert Clivilles and David Cole had a huge under- ground hit with "Do It Properly". House music's Philly roots came crossing over with Darryl Pandy's "Love Can't Turn Around".

On the Chicago tip was Barney's owned by Ray Barney. Barney was instrumental in distributing early Chicago lables like Bright Star, Westbrook, and Dance Mania. Artists such as Master C&J, Adonis, and Jamie Principal were slammin' at the clubs. Steve "Silk" Hurley had a big crossover hit with "Jack Your Body" and Vaughn Mason had a dancefloor mover with "Jack The Groove". Liz Torres, one of the first House divas, released a killer track called "Can't Get Enough". Deep House made it's appearance at this time with it's airy strings, horns, and vocal seductions. Deep House was making a mark with the classic House group know as Fingers Inc., which was started by Robert Owens, Larry Heard, and Ron Wilson.

peace,

Liquid Acrobat
http://www.liquidacrobat.com/

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