Music Monday: House Music

So for my first installment of my ‘Music’ Monday series…(well, the new music mondays that is), I will blog about a particular genre of music. This weeks genre? House music! This one is sort of a request from my boyfriend who is more into house music than I am…or at least has listened to it more than I have. However, I am always up for a challenge…and this Music Monday’s aren’t meant to be me harping on and on about the stuff that I listen to everyday. lol So, on with the post ~

A bit of history first…(and I”ll keep it short and sweet, nobody is here for a history lesson per say):

House music is a genre of music originating from the GREAT City of Chicago (since I’m a Chicagoan…naturally this pleases me :P) around the 1980s. It was at first more so associated with certain minority groups (African-Americans, Latinos, Homosexuals) but has increased it’s range to listeners of all kinds since it first emerged. This is particularly so in major cities in the United States and Europe.It eventually hit the UK mainstream market in the mid-to-late 1980s. It continued to spread throughout Europe and globally until it became a world wife phenomenon (early-to-mid 90s). Some artists used House music to their advantage and incorporated some of it into their music. Ex: Madonna and Bjork. The genre still remains popular today, but with more finesse and sub-genres mixed in between from progressive house to pop house. There are also many other genres of music that have been ‘fused’ with this genre, giving it a different sound (alternative dance, techno, etc). There are many people who probably have never (or think they haven’t) heard of House music. However, you might have heard more than you think. Some of the more noted artists of today: Daft Punk and Deadmau5 (who is categorized as progressive house and/or electro house) are a bit more ‘mainstream’ and well known even to House “n00bs”…like myself 😛

A bit on the music itself….

House is an uptempo kind of music made for dancing, although by modern dance-music standards it is mid-tempo (at least). Typical instruments you will find included in any track include some of the following: sampler, drum machine, synthesizer, turntables, sequencer and/or personal computer. A major component to house is a kick drum on every beat. This is known as a ‘four-on-the-floor’ beat and is usually generated by a drum machine or sampler. Also, artists use many different sound-sources for their bass sounds in house. Last note…electronically generated sounds from other genres (jazz,blues, etc) are often added to the drum beat. Some house songs may include vocals and additional percussion such as a tambourine (or other).

House in the Now: (Some samples for your ears…)

Not much to say here…I really liked it. It was really catchy lol Really upbeat, so I think I’d actually want to listen to this on a regular basis lol

This one…a bit too light sounding and down tempo in the beginning, got better starting at the “chorus”, the end was a bit weird sounding. Didn’t like it overall but I liked some particular parts to it.

A bit too….disco…y lol

Too much going on, a big mashup of sounds. wasn’t all that catchy…but was good for Bourne identity movie.

Really catchy. fast paced, nice club sounding. speeding up in song was a bit weird. but otherwise alright

These selections were given to me by my boyfriend…I will end it with something from Deadmau5 <3…

Ghosts N Stuff ❤

I hope that this is something that people will enjoy…I will try to pick a different genre every week…or a band/album/something. If there is a particular one that you want me to blog about, feel free to mention in the comments. That will do it for this weeks Music Monday…let me know what you think. ❤