An Interactive Talk at Soho House New York at 6:30pm on Wednesday 12th July 2017 with Nick Nelson of Arcadia Education UK, with musical excerpts demonstrated by resident DJ at Soho House NYC
Please note that this is an event for Soho House Members only, but do contact Nick if you wish to get put on the guest list as a non-member.
This unique event has been devised to chart the history of House Music; the origins of which can be traced back to the early 1980s in New York, via disco and the gay scene. This genesis was kept very much underground, largely confined to a former garage on King Street, New York, namely Paradise Garage. Concurrently, in Chicago, Illionis, The Warehouse started to play club music of a similar ilk, and soon the title ‘House music’ was coined, being short for Warehouse music. This was ostensibly associated with pioneering DJ Steve Silk Hurley in 1986, an example of which is the seminal track ‘Jack your body’. Frankie Knuckles the ‘Godfather of House’ had a defining role in the development of contemporary electronic music, with a street in Illinois Chicago now named after him, such was his impact and is his legacy. Knuckles generated an evocative sound, which is synonymous with the Roland D-50 – he died in 2014. Metropolis life in ’80s America heavily featured urban music or street spirit for the youth, epitomised in 1988, by Inner City’s hauntingly Anthemic ‘Good Life’ from Detroit, which defined the electro sound of the street. A lack of records, played in limited formats, meant DJs and producers mixed in bits, repeated bits, and thus ‘sampling’ began. Importe Records and State Street Records were the main suppliers of such vinyl fusions in the States. Radio WBMX (the letters WBMX-FM (standing for Black Music eXperience) was originally assigned to 102.7 on the FM dial in Oak Park, Illinois (serving Chicago) from 1973 to 1988 and aired this new wave of ‘street’ sound. The software or ‘hardware’ became the Technics 1200s ‘decks’ or ‘wheels of steel’ or the ‘1s and the 2s’ with a cross-fader designed for mixing in tracks seamlessly, and the godly DJ of our more modern era was born. The origin of the terms Acid House and House Music will be traced and demonstrated via musical sound bites. Arriving with a bang in the second ‘summer of love’ of 1988, the impact of the U.S developments coupled with an attempt to revisit the Ibiza vibe of that same year soon hit the UK, in the cathedral of House Music that was The Hacienda in Manchester, England. The talk will then progress on to trace the subgenres and various ‘cousins’ of House, in Trance, Techno Trance and other musical manifestations, namely Drum & Bass, Deep House and Garage. Musical excerpts and short film clips will be built into the presentation to bring the sounds and moves to life – especially via a Soho House live DJ.
Please contact Janel Higgs to book: janel.higgs@sohohouse.com