Hard house rulez

tman

I'm opening myself up for ridicule from the beard stroking IDM fans here, but here we go anyway...
I've been a fan of it since I first heard Mark Kavanagh playing some on his Clubmix show on Radio Ireland (Today FM) back in the mid 90s. This post is supposed to be an attempt to educate those of you who base their opinion of hard house purely on a Lisa Lashes mix that they've heard blaring out of some yips modded civic, or some of the absolute gash that Andy Whitby et al play (I'll admit, I ****ing hate that side of it too!)

First of all, and most importantly. Lisa Lashes stopped playing hard house a long time ago, PLEASE stop using her as an example of a scene leader!
Bouncy hard house/donk are still alive and kicking unfortunately, and most people still into the scene do everything they can do distance themselves from travesties like this

It has always been one of the most fun, least thought provoking types of dance music around. Some people may hate it for being just that, but I ****ing adore it for the immediate thrills it gives. There really is nothing like hearing a nice dirty lead come in when you're in the middle of a bunch of sweaty clubbers, absolutely loving every second of it (like the one at 4:25 in the vid below for example)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sjzWJH-cbA

In the past decade, the people who were riding it for the money have gradually disappeared after the boom of 2000-2001, and we've thankfully been left with those who actually give a crap about the music/scene. So if you've been ignoring it for a while, I urge you to try listening again. Get on trackitdown and have a listen to recent tunes by the likes of any of the following;
Dave Owens, Ben Stevens, Jimmy Dean, Frank Farrell, Nik Denton, Jon BW, Paul Maddox/Olive Grooves/Abandon, Defective Audio/Base Grafitti, Richard Toomz, Rich Resonate, Ross Homson, Riggsy, JP & Jukesy/Masmada, James Nardi/Killer Hurts, Chris Comben, Rodi Style, Valex, UK Gold, Dave Curtis or our very own Karl Davis...

From a production point of view, listen to any tracks engineered by Dave Owens, Maddox, Dom Sweeten or James Nardi and try to tell me that there's no skill involved in making it!
If you really want to get a good indication of where the scene is at right now, I'd suggest starting with one of Ben Steven's recent promo mixes;

Warm up - http://fireball-recordings.com/mixes/ben_stevens_warm_up_red_mix_april_2010.mp3

Peak time - http://fireball-recordings.com/mixes/ben_stevens_hard_red_mix_april_2010.mp3

Bit of a random rant, but I'd love to hear some comebacks from hard house haters... Do your worst!

billybigunz

It has everything that makes trance and psytrance **** but minus any of the good stuff.

No melodies.
Not 'hard' in any way.
Liked by the worst forms of scum (around 2000).

eeloe

I started out many years ago listening to hard house, probably first heard it through Mark Kavanagh also, I've actually got nothing against it.

I just progressed in to the music im playing/making now over the course of the last ten years.

billybigunz

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

Defend this.

Diageio_Man

any yolks!

tman

billybigunz wrote: »

No melodies.
Not 'hard' in any way.
Liked by the worst forms of scum (around 2000).

There are plenty of hard house tunes out there with melodic elements, but they usually sound like a bag of **** imo.

Not hard? I'd love to hear your definition of hard music then...

Can't argue with the last part, its sadly all too true in Ireland. Not the case at all over here in London though.

tman

billybigunz wrote: »

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

Defend this.

That's a 10 year old tune, why should I even bother?:p It was embarrassingly cheesy even back then, and time hasn't been kind to this one!
This was a post about the current state of the scene to try to make people aware that it has moved on from that kind of ****e. Both Fergie and BK have turned their backs on hard house long ago

billybigunz

tman wrote: »

There are plenty of hard house tunes out there with melodic elements, but they usually sound like a bag of **** imo.

Not hard? I'd love to hear your definition of hard music then...

Can't argue with the last part, its sadly all too true in Ireland. Not the case at all over here in London though.

Is that track meant to be 'hard'?


This track is fairly hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1il0tW6ti8

or this guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-87UCZNYWlY

tman

So pots and pans percussion and ridiculous amounts of distortion is "hard"? Guess you win this one then...

Kind of refutes the "No melodies." point you made by the way.

Never said it was harder than any other "hard" music out there by the way, but it sure as **** is harder than house.

billybigunz

tman wrote: »

So pots and pans percussion and ridiculous amounts of distortion is "hard"? Guess you win this one then...

Kind of refutes the "No melodies." point you made by the way.

Hardly. If you are going to forgo melody at least do it right.

I've started a new thread for tracks that will put you in a grave.

seannash

was a bit partial to some hard house but only if it bordered on the industrial/almost techno side of things.

used to love this track

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kvOieYuqqU

wouldnt go near the stuff now though.bit like happy hardcore,i can appreciate it but wouldnt be into any of the new stuff that doesnt hold any sentimental value to me

copeyhagen

hoovers + mediocre beats = hard house!

used to love it, played it from about age 17-21 maybe

my fav tunes of that genre were:

12" thumpers - dont cross the line
banana boys remix of warp 69
cortina - music is moving
mark kavanaghs remix of rock your body
signum - what you got for me
tony de vit - i dont care
john kerrigan - bowchy bow
ingo starr - dial p for phat

would probably be willing to part company with my hh vinyl collection if anyones interested, have a few hundred.

tman

copeyhagen wrote: »

12" thumpers - dont cross the line
banana boys remix of warp 69
cortina - music is moving
mark kavanaghs remix of rock your body
signum - what you got for me
tony de vit - i dont care
john kerrigan - bowchy bow
ingo starr - dial p for phat

There are some less embarrassing tunes in there than hoovers and horns, but again this was supposed to be more about how much the scene has moved on, not where it was 10 years ago (I don't care is a 14 year old tune now!)
None of those names, apart from John Kerrigan and Ingo are still part of the scene really.
Try listening to this or this as an example of how Ingo's sound has changed

seannash wrote: »

wouldnt go near the stuff now though.bit like happy hardcore,i can appreciate it but wouldnt be into any of the new stuff that doesnt hold any sentimental value to me

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from there. Then again, I'm a bit of a hypocrite and can't ****ing stand modern hardcore!
Always preferred the OD404 mix of that tune too...

Diageio_Man wrote: »

any yolks!

A balanced, incredibly well thought out post. Thank you so much for participating!

es-cee

i listened 2 that 1st vid and i have 2 say it was pretty decent.

just d/l those mixes now and will let ya know as son as i listen 2 em what i make of the new scene

es-cee

yep i like it, just listenin 2 the Ben Stevens hard red mix and its pretty god damn bangin, nice1. kinda reminds me of me youth in the crypt, god i miss that place.

es-cee

any more mixes like that man??? the hard 1 is kickin lad love it.;)

tman

Glad you're liking it (a small victory, but a victory nonetheless...)
Here's a few more to keep you going. Adam's is nice and hard, with a fairly unique (for the genre) mixing style
Adam M - Red mix 3 (March 2010)
Nik Denton - Toolbox mix March 2010
Ben Townsend - April 2010
James Nardi - April 2010

dubsbhoy

I work with teenagers, they all like hard house - sums it up for me

but

each to their own

Scubadevils

Its kind of what I expect to hear blasting out of the likes of this... (while I'm stopped at lights stroking my chin to the sounds of the twin :pac: )

es-cee

tman wrote: »

Glad you're liking it (a small victory, but a victory nonetheless...)
Here's a few more to keep you going. Adam's is nice and hard, with a fairly unique (for the genre) mixing style
Adam M - Red mix 3 (March 2010)
Nik Denton - Toolbox mix March 2010
Ben Townsend - April 2010
James Nardi - April 2010

nice1 man, the ben townsend mix is invalid, but got the other 3 cheers.

always liked a bit of HH, couldnt give a rats what people think, i like what i like and thats the way its always been. not gonna change now, 2 old lol.

thanks again man, cheers;):D

tman

dubsbhoy wrote: »

I work with teenagers, they all like hard house - sums it up for me

but

each to their own

Seems to have a totally different fanbase over here really. Every time I've been out to a night recently (Twist, Requiem & Hi Oktane London) the crowd have been around the same age as myself - mid to late 20s - and more importantly, not a single piece of scum among them!

Do they like proper hard house, or Whitby type stuff like the Donkey Kong tune I linked to in the first post?

dubsbhoy

tman wrote: »

Seems to have a totally different fanbase over here really. Every time I've been out to a night recently (Twist, Requiem & Hi Oktane London) the crowd have been around the same age as myself - mid to late 20s - and more importantly, not a single piece of scum among them!

Do they like proper hard house, or Whitby type stuff like the Donkey Kong tune I linked to in the first post?

Donkey Kong all the way

tdv123

dubsbhoy wrote: »

Donkey Kong all the way

Thats not really Hard House tho.