House vs Disco

[JSngry]

Because, as pathetically behind the times as I am, I'm just now starting to listen to what is referred to as House, and it sounds a helluva lot like the best Disco.

And I'm digging the shit out of it too. The shit's got slink aplenty, and god knows I dig the slink.

But I always dug the best Disco for that exact reason.

So, is it really the same thing?

And what about the various sub-genres like Deep House, Acid House, etc? Whaddup there?

Or am I asking the wrong people?

Rachel, Noj, anybody, HELP!

[couw]

house is about repitition underneath, disco is about the extravagancies on top.

don't get yourself caught pointing upward while wiggling your hips on the wrong tune!

[Chuck Nessa]

Dennis Hastert / Gloria Gaynor - ya' makes your choices.

[Noj]

I don't know much about house music, but a friend who does recommended the above compilation.

Interestingly enough, during a conversation with an older DJ from the east coast, he said that way back when "house music" referred to the records that were in the house where the house party was taking place...but the definition has since morphed into something else entirely.

When I think of disco, I think of classic dance music from the 70s. I believe disco and house music both serve the same purpose--getting people to dance.

[joeface]

couw already summarized the difference. House is the beat focused, groove infused, sample heavy dance for the sake of dance. No pop story like disco might have.

I prefer deep house because it's usually the most sonically interesting to me. British DJ John Digweed is a great practitioner, though he can get dark as well as saucy. His method of mixing is the smoothest in the world. I like his Bedrock compilation, Fabric 20, Global Underground mixes, etc. Keep in mind this is a direct descendent of acid house and both come out of rave culture, but it's still quality in its own way, imho, if done right.

Edited June 22, 2006 by joeface

[relyles]

I always associate disco with the likes of the aforementioned Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer and Saturday Night Live. When I was in college in the mid eighties and hanging out in clubs in the Village such as the Paradise Garage, we always associated the best house music with a sound that was coming out of Chicago and one of the best djs of so called house music was Larry Levan. Now you are going to make me pull out all those mix tapes I have from my old days.

[rostasi]

During my time as a club DJ in Chicago, House came around '83 with Frankie Knuckles and his ilk.

South side - Warehouse music. Got pretty sick of it by '87. I didn't like the control it (or I ) exerted over people.

Edited June 22, 2006 by rostasi

[(BB)]

couw already summarized the difference. House is the beat focused, groove infused, sample heavy dance for the sake of dance. No pop story like disco might have.

I prefer deep house because it's usually the most sonically interesting to me. British DJ John Digweed is a great practitioner, though he can get dark as well as saucy. His method of mixing is the smoothest in the world. I like his Bedrock compilation, Fabric 20, Global Underground mixes, etc. Keep in mind this is a direct descendent of acid house and both come out of rave culture, but it's still quality in its own way, imho, if done right.

There must be thousands of mix tapes and compilations, I would put the Digweed Bedrock CD at the top of my personal list, but to listen to this music at home is to miss the point. It was created to be played so loud that you mind goes numb and all your body can do is dance with a few hundred of your new best friends. If you weren't there, the movie "Groove" might provide a little taste.

Bill

Edited June 22, 2006 by (BB)

[Shawn]

House music is the shit ya listen to before you get evicted for not paying the rent....which then becomes car music once you're sleeping in the back of your 1977 Ford Pinto station wagon.

[ghost of miles]

Ecstasy vs. cocaine.

[Alexander]

I would imagine that a House Inferno would be worse than a Disco Inferno...

[BruceH]

When I first heard of House music, in about 1990, I instantly thought of dance music played in a "house."

[Man with the Golden Arm]

been revisiting that Masters at Work nuyorican and perusing around courtesy of Jim's rec of the 'Quintero ala natch-urel' release and do like some of them earthy bound rhythms that root this genre...

BUT

is there any of the MAW esque stuff and the like that does NOT remind me of this everytime I hear it? (and hey there's even a ballad)

(maybe i can toss in the Norah Jones Disclaimer that I'm looking for it for the wife?)

[JSngry]

is there any of the MAW esque stuff and the like that does NOT remind me of this everytime I hear it? (and hey there's even a ballad)

I know what you mean, but after having gone digging into the "dance underground" and actually listening to the insides of the music, I've realized that, like all musics, there's people making it who don't get past the stereotypes (the majority) & people who either disregard them or else turn them inside out and make them beautiful.

MAW's secret weapon is a bassist named Gene Perez, who can and does groove just as hard as anybody. Put him on the bottom of a track, and it immediately becomes something else altogether. MAW apparently know this, and build thier tracks so as to let him shine. Some glorious results there!

The ironic thing about the best dance music I've come across is that even though it's not designed to be "listening" music, the deep & closer I listen to it, the more intertesting it gets to me. So much subtle detail, so many ins and outs as things are added and removed, sometimes almost subliminally, so much attention to the push/pull of complimentary/contrasting rhythms and tonal colors. The people making this stuff might not be "musicians" in the traditional sense, but the best of them have a musical "ear" that exceeds that of a lot of the "real" musicians I know.

And the best of it really does have an improvisational qulaity into how things are brought in and out of the mix. I'd think that the music's roots in being "created" on the spot in DJ booths in dance clubs would foster that, just as playing for dancers back in the old days helped bands like Basie's develop head charts and such. For such "mechanical" music, there seems to be a lot of spontaneous human spirit being put into how it's going to go at any given moment. And like naything else, there's players, and then there's artists who can improvise in the moment and transcend the genre, the setting, and all that. How can ther not be?

The best of it does, that is, and the best of it really does seem to be underground. I'ver tried looking for this stuff on the radio, or even the cable radio. Very little, if any luck. Just the same old shit like in that SNL bit. Fuck that.

You know who's really caught my ear? A DJ named Ron Trent. This cat does some really heavy mixes where he keeps a constant-yet-shifting "Afro" underpinning going, and the results are more than a little intriguing, since he's not afraid to mix in some material that's got some real meat to it.

This one in particular has got me excited:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&a...10:2m831vj3zzza

Underground as hell, this one is. I've not heard anything like it through media outlets, Dusty Groove doesn't carry it, and I think it was only released in the UK. I suspect that if you put this on in many mainstream dance clubs, people would bug out, and not necesarily in a good way. Music for weekend warriors this isn't.

So this ain't exactly "common" shit, if you know what I mean. But it is good shit, and it is reflective of the fact that there are fresh, invigorating, and creative musical things being done that reach far beyond the stereotypical coked/x-ed out Pavlovian club airhead.

Edited January 22, 2007 by JSngry

[Guest the mommy]

larry levan was the man. more disco than house though things were getting a little more electronic. like his shit with the peech boyz or however he spelled it. but "live at the paradise garage" is a very excellent "snapshot" of a levan set.

i feel like disco was made more with real people/bands (and electronics like sequencers an drum machines) and house is more digital and more about computers and stuff and a german guy with a cheesy moniker creating the tunes.

this is a reason i like disco. i wish i had been around to go to the paradise garage. i mean i was. i lived in new york city. but i was like 4.

throw on some giorgio moroder. i love those keyboard sounds.

there was a band that played "live house" here around new york a few years ago called the new deal. but they were from canada and not very good.

[JSngry]

i wish i had been around to go to the paradise garage.

Go HERE and scroll down the page. On the righthand side there's some tapes of Levan in action, spanning the years 1982-1987. Real Player is required, but the links work.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

re; ron trent - i see that some Trent is e-musicable

http://www.emusic.com/album/10924/10924581.html

this looks to be a "mix tape" but contains much of the list from your rec. hmmm ... sample time. ... some very juju from what i hear.

[JSngry]

re; ron trent - i see that some Trent is e-musicable

http://www.emusic.com/album/10924/10924581.html

this looks to be a "mix tape" but contains much of the list from your rec. hmmm ... sample time. ... some very juju from what i hear.

Yeah, I've got that one too. Best listened to in its entirety, from start to finish. It's a trip, and in more ways than one.

[BruceH]

And I'm digging the shit out of it too. The shit's got slink aplenty, and god knows I dig the slink.

But I always dug the best Disco for that exact reason.

"Slink"?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

And I'm digging the shit out of it too. The shit's got slink aplenty, and god knows I dig the slink.

But I always dug the best Disco for that exact reason.

"Slink"?

Sly funk?

MG

[jbs-tom]

have a try with these artists:

- kevin yost (check "starry night") jazzy house

- ananda project (soulful house)

- the timewriter (deep tec house)

- terry lee brown jr (deep tec house)

- david alvarado

- kerry chandler (world, soulful house

- dennis ferrer (house with world infl.)

- marshall jefferson (where it all starts !)

enjoy your home clubbin '

[JSngry]

And I'm digging the shit out of it too. The shit's got slink aplenty, and god knows I dig the slink.

But I always dug the best Disco for that exact reason.

"Slink"?

Sly funk?

MG

Slink is...slink. Kinda like a Slinky, ya' know. A liquidy push-pull of time and shape.

[JSngry]

http://www.routesinrhythm.com/routes/index.html

Edited January 27, 2007 by JSngry

[.:.impossible]

(edited image)

That's funny. I used that word to describe the way a drummer and bassist were hooking up recently as well. I had to go into what slinky sounded like, which I assumed went without saying.

I ended up leaving it at "its better than log, which as you well know, is better than bad, its good."

Edited January 27, 2007 by .:.impossible

[JSngry]

Slinky, like jazz and whoknowswhatelse, might be one of those things that if you have to ask....

Edited January 27, 2007 by JSngry