“House” has become a dirty word in these United States. Drop it in casual conversation and most people’s minds will drift directly to dusty European warehouses or geeked 13 year olds at overpriced DayGlo festivals. A more careful consideration of the genre reveals a deep and diverse history. Instead of the corny commercial product we’ve got propagating in our contemporary pop culture, house was initially defined for it’s unconventional energy and countercultural bent. The warehouses of Britain and clubs in Germany undoubtedly played a role in its transformation but it started in the discothèques of Chicago as an unholy hybrid or disco, funk, hip-hop and electronic pop – a simultaneous celebration of those components and “fuck you” to whatever anyone else was listening to.
I’m not about to call the rest of the genre stale (any UK-based music fan could list 100+ producers still doing it right) but goddamn if it isn’t nice to hear what’s coming from the Body High camp. Whether every record released through the LA-based outfit perfectly matches the BPM count or aesthetic of the tracks selected in those early raves seems largely irrelevant; the fact that they’re producing weird music geared towards destroying dance floors is why many people are turning to them as the torchbearers for the next generation of American house.
Out of the ashes the LOL Boys, Jerome “LOL” Porter teamed with young Samo Sound Boy to found Body High, releasing the collaborative Stadium Status EP under the name DJ Dodger Stadium.
Next on the roster is DJ Funeral, a man mentioned in reverence by the likes of Sinden and Brodinski but widely regarded on message boards as a total mystery. Until that one time he showed up to the Boiler Room…
and hunched over the tables like the Disney version of Quasimoto so we couldn’t see his face. At least he threw down, allowing most of us to leave it at that and get back to more pressing topics of discussion.
In case you wanted to hear the hook to Wale’s ‘Bait’ on repeat for two and a half minutes (and let’s be honest, you did), here’s DJ Sliink and Brenmar’s skittering juke-indebted take on the track.
And let’s not forget the time that the god Todd Edwards went through Body High to bless us with the Shall Go EP out of nowhere.
Most recently the label’s seen releases from a few younger producers, including this sexy ass single from Myrryrs’ Southside Horror EP. Is that Marvin Gaye or Pharrell on that “WOO” sample? I don’t even know anymore.
Meanwhile Jerome and Samo keep leading by example, putting out solid solo work as well as mixes under the DJ Dodger Stadium name.
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