So, I’m 19 and I’m a house DJ. I play music produced from about 2010 onward. I’ve just started looking into the older stuff in the genre and I’ve come across people like Frankie Knuckles, 808 State and The Housemaster Boyz. I’m looking at getting my own collection of vinyl together of house tracks, mainly deep house and acid house so I was wondering where/who I should be looking at to find these styles.
The earliest Juno goes back to is '99 but I was looking for stuff from earlier. I’ll definitely be looking at what Juno has but I was wondering what your favourite artists/records were from anywhere between the birth of house up until now, specifically tracks that were released on vinyl that I can look at and eventually buy.
To get a feel of what I’ve been listening to, I’ve put together a Spotify playlist of all the releases I could find on there (obviously some of the tracks I’ve liked haven’t been put on there). Spotify – Web Player
Also, where would be some places to buy older acid/deep house vinyl in Australia?
I commend you on getting your head into the history of house music
I don’t know if discogs can help you in Oz but have a look because they have a ton of stuff you will like. I’ve been buying the ones I missed first time round from there. I always liked Farley Jackmaster Funk, Steve Silk Hurley et al. Labels like Strictly Rhythm and Junior Boys Own might also be up your street.
For Acid House, find a copy of Phuture “Acid Tracks” and A Guy Called Gerald “Vodoo Ray” and go from there.
This is scripture
Labels:
Strictly Rhythm, Henry Street, Murk, Hard Times, DJ International, Trax, Black Market, House Jam, Junior Boys Own, Fresh Fruit, 4th & Broadway, Nervous, Shelter
Artists/remixers:
Masters at Work, Larry Heard, Red Zone, Chez Damier, Todd Terry, David Morales, Roger Sanchez, Mood II Swing, CJ Macintosh, Kerri Chandler, Terrence Parker, Kenny Dixon Jr., X-Press 2, DJ Pierre, Romanthony
For older deep house, get Larry Heard and branch out from there.
For acid, get Soul Jazz Records Acid - Can You Jack Vols 1 & 2, and branch out from there.
Really old Chicago House (many of the first Chicago house records, including acid) was primarily DJ International and Trax labels. Nicky’s list of artists is spot on for some of the older, great producers, although I’d also add Boo Williams, Gemini, Green Velvet/Cajmere and DJ Sneak. Relief Records became another big Chicago house label in the early 90’s. Nervous and Strictly Rhythm were the bomb back then.
Listen to old sets and check the tracklistings people have compiled online on the oldskool forums then buy the vinyl from discogs m8
The house of hits history of house music and the history of the house sound of Chicago are 2 big ol compilation box sets that contain a lot of the early chicago and detroit stuff to you started.
Sometimes when I go through my old vinyl I’m like “wow this sounds like crap. I use to play this track?”
Some of it really doesn’t hold up.
Still feeling this :
This^^^.
I have most of the early Paper 12"s - they are local to me and are a legendary imprint.
‘Downtime’ is one of my favourite house tracks of all time…I’ve posted it on here numerous times IIRC.
There’s lots of good 80ies/90ies stuff being reissued at the moment. Apart from the stuff Nick H mentioned, you should definititely have a look at Nu Groove Records, one of the greatest labels ever from NYC. I’d also like to Imnotdeadyet’s recommendations of Boo Williams and Gemini. Brilliant stuff. In that direction also check out Glenn Underground. Or Mike Huckaby, Theo Parrish, E-Dancer (one of Kevin Saunderson’s monikers) and others from Detroit. You could also have a look at Aiden D’Araujo’s “House Hunting” column on www.theransomnote.co.uk, always good stuff.
And to finish this short post off, here’s my favourite Trax release.
Are you looking to buy that actual vinyl of these songs? Good luck. A lot if this can be found on iTunes. Once I discovered this… I spent a lot of money.
Oh wow there’s a lot of responses. I’ve only had the chance to listen to a few of the suggestions like Masters at Work and a couple of the compilation albums. The family decided to move our holiday forward a week so I haven’t had much of a chance to look into it this week. I’ll be home tomorrow though so I’ll definitely be having a look then.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys, I really appreciate it!
First of all R.E.S.P.E.C.T. not a lot of Young guys care about where todays Music Comes from.
Then a few advices on how I work when I try to discover a new genre of Music and artists related to it:
YOUTUBE: Watching for a good channel on Youtube related to that genre. This has 2 Advantages #1: You can listen to the song directly #2: The serious channels mostly will have a comment about release year or Label.
Amazon: I search on Amazon for genre related compilations in the section “CDs” mostly on the bottom of the product page you have a Playlist with track & Artist Name.
Well on how you can get the tracks on Vinyl in Australia, I can’t help you Sorry as I am from Europe and do not work with Vinyls.
BTW…you mentioned Knuckles, as he was from Chicago and that the City is the birthplace of House, I can recommend to Google for record Shops in Chicago. I remember years ago I could find several ones having a Website with an online-Shop and shipping worldwide.
Good on ya for checking back. It’s something that I’ve always done.
A little word of warning - you don’t need to go TOO in depth with your historical research. It can take up a LOT of time, and can end up being more of a distraction than a benefit…
You won’t need to become a house music historian - just a couple of great tracks from each year (plus all/most of the classics), along with your collection that you are already building and maintaining, is all that you need.
Absolutely. I loved AvH back in the mid-90’s. Dunno if I’d call him old school (because I am old…), not like Rythim is Rythim/Derrick May, Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Juan Atkins, etc…
I consider proper old school house as 80’s and into 90/91/92 - but that’s just me, and it’s DEFINITELY open to interpretation.
Did anybody mention Masters at Work (MASTERS AT WORK!!!) yet?
Also Nice N Ripe for classic house / garage with a touch of UK flavour. 1994 bidniz. Very much on a Strictly Rhythm tip.
Anything from Grant Nelson round that time was dope. You can listen to the tracks on his store wyze then look on discogs for the vinyl (or buy the mp3 on Wyze).
G.O.D Limited was my personal fave of his from around that time.
