House music albums/tracks that changed what you taught House music was/could be capable of...

House music albums/tracks that changed what you thought House music was/could be capable of...

Trackwise I guess I'd say something like So Much Love To Give or Take Me With You by Cosmos were the first records to actually show me that beyond changing my social life by virtue of gaining my interest, house (and music itself) could actually positively change the way I was and the way I felt, perhaps it's a sham and I know that music is still just music, but I do have some faith in the notion that these tracks didn't coincidentally come along as I was going through a transition myself. And it's not as though I wasn't happy before them or anything, far from it, but I never believed the old "this song changed my life" shit until then really. Now I can see it to some degree.

Fish n' LuvConfusion - Chris Gray
Metaphor - Kenny Larkin
Computer World - Kraftwerk

and the trick I most wish to see repeated is what Photek and Robert Owens pulled off with "Mine to Give". And the new Luomo too.

I agree with you Ronan, about the mood enhancing powers of House. Although other music gets me excited (usually its power pop or disco, which build up towards an impressive ending/power chorus/breakdown, usually with lots of strings, although occasionally grimey hiphop and v.occasionally soul) I rarely gain the same euphoria simply by listening with headphones that I get with house and some shades of techno.

Not even idm,electronica does it. I love all the other stuff v.v. much, but what they about "The Power of House Music" must be true.

Even with disco-punk, DFA thig, its the houseyness - the groove - that makes me excited.

Even with this disco-punk, DFA thing, its the houseyness - the groove - that makes me excited.

i'm not sure this counts but i hadnt kept tabs on Felix tha Housekatt for a while and when 'Kittenz And Thee Glitz' came out i found it something of a revelation, that this guy had made a record that wore a broader range of influences on its sleeve than anything else tied to house music since Daft Punk's debut. but it goes beyond that really. first time i heard 'Silver Screen Shower Scene' was on the radio - pretty mainstream radio too (Kiss or XFM, can't remember which) and it reminded me of the time i first heard Armand's 'Professional Widow' rework where i was like "what the hell is that? that is something else" because of the sounds and the structure of the track and everything about it was surreal (tori amos in a club etc.). as soon as i heard 'SSSS' i felt like it was heralding something and its message seemed to be 'turn around and walk backwards' thus fixating on the past but still moving forward - basically a new take on an old method. but 'SSSS' and the recent Felix stuff is great because it synergizes the vibes of punk, disco, electro, techno, house, funk and even jazz and soul (the vocals on the likes of 'Pray For A Star' and 'Runaway Lover') especially to present a work that holds Prince, Kraftwerk, Parliament, Jean Michel Jarre and Derrick May in equal importance. it might not even be as great an album as it SHOULD be in that respect, but what it suggests is enough.

possibly the finest straight-up house track of the last 5/6 years

time for me to hear these albums i think...

Anyway - the one that still blows my mind is:

Introduction - Mr. Fingers

and must i OPO from the godlike Mr. Fingers?

runner up is remedy, although it lags in the second half.

fuck it if these ain't "underground" enough, which usually is just a code word for "tasteful" or "insipid" or "go nowhere."

I think I only ever (knowingly) heard one 12" by Theo Parrish and Moody Man each.. but really jess, they're overrated?

I didn't expect to dig the Blaze album so much, but it really is quite special if you're prepared to open up to the whole vocal/soul thing, its quite rewarding. The production is amazing, esp. on "Wishing You Were Here" and "Another Dae".

Oh yeah, Herbert definitely changed the rules of the House game.

also, herbert's belief that making music out of discarded mcdonald's packaging constitutes any kind of revolutionary act no less misguided than moodymann etc (mind you, that jill scott remix bores me, i don't get it...love summertime is here tho)

i don't think there are all that many great house albums, at least if you want to be at all rigorous (you may wish to substitute anal here) about the definition... underworld are not house in any way, shape or form to my mind... but the obvious one that noone has mentioned yet is Fingers Inc, Another Side

so, i nominate a 12", Altered States by Ron Trent, partly cos nobody ever seems to talk about it, but also may be my all time favorite house track, 13 minutes of raw chicago beats and one soaring synth riff

LFO's first album is a perfect example.

Dubnobasswithmyheadman isn't really hosue, but all the early nineties proghouse (Guerilla records, etc) got into it and fed of what it did with vocal/guitar/indie aethestic/bollox

Altered States rules!

Green Velvet's 'Flash'...ah well, both albums too.

I like Herbert, a lot, but I find Around The House, well, not very good.

Can't really pick albums so much but these spring to mind as having a pronounced expansive/emotive effect on me the first time I heard them:

- "The Sky Is Not Crying" from that Playgroup mix-album
- The Modernist - "Abi '81"
- Basement Jaxx - "Yo Yo"
- Daft Punk - "Digital Love"
- Herbert's remix of Motorbass's "Ezio"
- Par-T-One's "I'm So Crazy"
- Isolee generally (especially live)
- Jeff Bennett's "Last Breath"

Older stuff it's less easy to pinpoint because I came to it retrospectively, but yeah definitely LFO's first album, 808 State's "Ancodia". "Altered States" is certified brilliance.

m mayer - "amanda" & closer musik - "one, two, three (no gravity)"(mostly because i had never associated the cologne/berlin axis with anything this "pop" before.)

plastikman - consumed (okay, not house per se...or at all, really. but this was the first time i had ever been taken with any "dance" music so minimal. in fact, i grew to realize i hated this album, but it was important as a test/gateway drug.)

basement jaxx - "red alert" (part of a 98-99 surge along with speed garage/2-step which reconnected my metal/hip-hop/jungle ass with mama disco...the combination of the obscenely purple slap bass sound and the almost wincing synth tones.)

lfo - frequencies (linking house with electro as well as IDM, if only retroactively. see also:)

herbert - around the house (a record which stradles the house/IDM line like it weren't nothin but a thang. makes ample use of the multiple metaphors lurking in the word "house" before he got all clever clever with the matmos style sampling techniques.)

luomo - vocalcity (especially the moments where it cracks and the basic channel squiggles and chain reaction vapors ooze out before the beat comes back to spackle over the openings.)

daft punk - "digital love" (just because it's the only track i've heard which has attempted to expand the filter/disco/cut-up format in any way, as well as presenting a vision of house inclusive enough to incorporate van halen. oh, and it's my favorite song of the decade so far.)

isolee - "beau mot plague" (which is what all that godawful afro-brazillian house should really sound like.)

masters at work - "deep inside (dub)" (a long standing fave which strikes me as something of a mini-apex of a certain sound.)

mr. fingers - "can u feel it?" (just beautiful, the laughing stock of house in 5-6 minutes.)

and countless other greats I know I'm forgetting...

notes:
These tracks didn't really change what I thought house could be capable of, but they all stand out in my memory for one reason or another.

I'm going to re-read this later, but having started this thread 6 years ago I reckon its due for a bump.

Fill in the gaps from 2003 - 2009.

FWIW, I'm saying DJ Sprinkles for its politcial subtext and overt beauty, and Round Two "New Day" because it is so perfect (and I've only just heard it)

Herbert "Leave Me Now" because I still hear new things in it after so many years. I *just* noticed the incredibly quiet guitar part that's in one of the breakdowns. Plus, that melody with those lyrics perfectly nails the Mobius strip he's so good at building where everyday stuff becomes heartbreaking. Just a perfect house track.

I think Reggie Dokes is the guy everyone will be ripping off in like 5-6 years when people figure out how to make tracks in his style.

MM/Theo disses in light of what was being talked about in this thread are pretty hilarious.

My escape from the cave of danceaphobia

Akufen - My Way (Dude is why I started listening to house, specifically after hearing a selection of New Process, never knowing that dance music could sound like that)

Luomo - Tessio (Realizing that I could really love even the unabashedly housey sound, which I thought was generally reserved for gay men and people with regrettable hair styles)

I guess Revolution 909 would be in there too.

Larry Heard feat Mr White - "The Sun Cant Compare"

Not for any giant leap but was revelatory hearing it played by electrohouse/bloghouse DJs two years ago when I'd been ignoring house for a while, and all the more delicious for being given a taste of class again.

Also, Matthew Dear - Dog Days

P.S. I'm sorry if I was born in 1988.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2fDXOvAN7g

this untitled song.

i think it's by joshua, but i guess it could actually be a collab between joshua, ron trent, chez damier, and abacus, as the record suggests. it's good enough to include everybody.

Love Inc.: "R.E.S.P.E.C.T."
Paperclip People: "Throw"

Back in 1994, these two tunes taught me that it's not the melody that really matters, it's the sound and rhythm, the driving pulse. That was a big change as before that I'd mostly been listening to melodic trance and dance music. Those two are still among my top 10 house tunes.

Also, Matthew Dear - Dog Days

P.S. I'm sorry if I was born in 1988.

― EDB, Sunday, 28 June 2009 20:53 (Yesterday)

Totally, especially the way its pops, fizzes and gurgles