I love house music. I also hate it. It’s some of my favorite music to dance to, but a lot of it sounds like shit (made for drug use).
Over the eight years this blog recently turned, we’ve tried to break up house into sub-genres. It’s tough, on the verge of impossible, but it’s important. Genres are more of a shade of something than a hard line, but it’s how we discover music, tie it into a pretty bow, and call it a playlist.
My annual disco mix is probably my favorite. I don’t get enough of the harder bass out, but one’s coming soon. The softer, sexier stuff is probably put out most often, but this one right here is what I would define as straight house.
Even though some of it’s called g-house or tech house. Where the beat sounds slightly stepped back.
I talked about 2017’s Hiero Day with my manager at work, who use to be on Hieroglyphics’s label. We talked festival logistics, from pricing to setting up stages, and what makes a festival last. The one thing Hiero Day has above any other festival is its community.
Not many rap groups get a day commemorated to them by their city, and in turn make it a day of giving local musicians & artists a platform to show off their work. It’s a festival that’s grown from the area rather than copied and planted into the scene like many other festivals.
The first time I heard about Jordan Rakei was through singer Madelyn Grant. The two at the time were recently featured on FKJ’s EP, Take Off. I wasn’t a big fan of his song “Learn to Fly,” especially compared to Madelyn Grant’s “Waiting,” but it gave me my first look into his songwriting skills.
Since then Jordan has been featured on Diclosure’s “Masterpiece,” as well as worked with a handful of other talented producers, but I know of him primarily through his podcast with Tom Misch, Alpha Mist & Barney Artist: Are We Live Podcast. These guys are a powerhouse in the UK music scene, even though Jordan is originally from New Zealand, and their podcast is good insight into their world.
I went to Outside Lands for its 10th anniversary to see the Gorillaz, but I ended up getting too drunk and ruining it for my girlfriend. Fortunately, I turned it around day two and three, so that’s good. Especially day three.
For most long weekend festivals, one day usually has the best performances, often more than the others combined. We started off the last day of Outside Lands with Lee Fields & The Expressions, Khruangbin in the afternoon, and Solange at night, but nothing mattered that day more than Jacob Banks. It was his weekend.