Let me preface this article by stating that I hate applying genre titles to music. In a lot of cases, it can be a bloody hard task. Artists are blurring the lines – taking elements of one genre and fusing it with another (or multiple) to create something new. Before you know it, there’s not just Soul and R&B, but neo-soul, country soul, alternative R&B, indie R&B, PBR&B, and numerous others. And don’t get me started on hip-hop/rap. Like the Wu-Tang Clan once mused, it used to be all so simple. Fast forward 20-odd years and now we have Crunk, Trap, Trip Hop, Gangsta Rap, Conscious Rap, Nerdcore, Hyphy, and a million other styles for what was once referred to as just plain old Rap music. Applying a genre title to a song or artist can be quite subjective, and let’s face it, in the current climate of modern music, the genre lines are so blurred and blended, who really knows half the time what pot things fall into. And God forbid I make a mistake and name a song one thing when concensus says it’s another thing. Check this link to see how convoluted music genres are today. So, the following article is about my recent discovery of what I call “Chill House”, but don’t shoot me if I’ve got it wrong. What I can tell you is, the music I’ll be referring to is definitely electronic in nature (though there are some organic elements too), and is for the most part, lo-fi, quite melodic and soulful, and has a BPM of anywhere between 120-180. But have a listen to some of the songs and call it what you want – I’ll just call it good music.

Those that really know me, know that my tastes in music are quite eclectic. However, one of the few genres I’ve never really delved into has been house music. There are several reasons behind this – 1) I’ve been so immersed into hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz and other genres I’m so much more invested in, that I’ve never really had the time to learn more about any house music that I might be able to happily wrap my ears around; 2) Although, in 1999, a friend put me up on Pnau’s “Sambanova”, which I got quite into, nothing that I’ve stumbled upon since has given me the same positive reaction (which revolves back around to #1 again); and 3) I never quite got into the whole club drug scene that probably would have endeared me more to dance and house music.

People say music isn’t the same as it used to be. And yes, you could say they’re right. Music, as does most things, evolves. We’d almost certainly complain if it didn’t. It’s a bit of a “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” scenario. In any case, when people say “it’s not like it used to be”, they’re usually initmating that music today is not as good as it once was, which I don’t believe to be true. Yes, past decades have produced innumerous enduring classics, but music today can be just as engaging, daring, imaginative and delightful. For example, just in this current decade, we’ve had such widely regarded classics as Kendrick Lamar “To Pimp A Butterfly”; Frank Ocean “Channel Orange”; Kanye West “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”; Daft Punk “Random Access Memories”; and Beyonce “Beyonce”, to name but a few. Then, in terms of my own tastes and to highlight some lesser known gems, you have D’Angelo and The Vanguard “Black Messiah”; Freddie Gibbs and Madlib “Pinata”; Jamie XX “In Colour”; Tame Impala “Currents”; Run The Jewels “Run The Jewels 2” and the list goes on. These are all example of albums that will, at least for me, stand the test of time just as much as classics of yesteryear.

But just like everything else in modern society, people are expecting their music to come easily to them, that it be spoon fed to them. They expect that they’ll turn on the radio and be inundated with sounds that blow their minds. Perhaps that happens for some people, but in my experience, if you want good music, you’ve gotta put in some effort, do some homework and researching. That’s not to say you can’t find good music on the radio. Triple J still plays decent stuff sporadically, as do several community and smaller radio broadcasts. But if you expect to turn the dial to 2Day FM or Nova or the like and think you’re going to hear anything other than the hourly rotation of over-played repetitive pop music, you’ve got a lot of living to do. So, if you’re one of said people – Branch out a little. Listen to a different channel. Spend some time on the World Wide Web. Investigate and experiment with new fandangled things like Soundcloud and Spotify. Talk to like-minded individuals. I’m sure you’ll find a bunch of stuff that appeals to you that you might not have heard through your usual channels.

So, on that note, and with some more time on my hands due to my sabbatical from work, I decided to spend a day scouring Soundcloud to see if I could arouse my aural tastebuds with the sounds of house music. And whaddya know, there were a whole host of things that caught my attention. I’ve compiled them into a playlist that I hope you take the time to check out. When you glimpse the number of spins on some of these songs, you get quite a range – from just 96 to 144K. So, some are rather obscure and unknown, and others are somewhat relatively popular. But I don’t discrimate. Like Common says on the seminal hip-hop classic “I Used To Love H.E.R.” – good music is good music and it’s all good. If you don’t have time to listen through the whole playlist, my favourite titles are: “Remember” by Tom Misch; “je suis en vie” by lowrangeraw; “Cinnamon Flavour” by Ethyene; and “Want Me Too’ by Billy. Open your mind and be exposed to something new, and most importantly, something good!