What is House?

What is House music?  Essentially, it is Electro-funk, however it is more than that and is much more complex than what first meets the eye (or ear).



The basis for House music is funk and disco set to Electronica.  It also has origins in boogie and soul music and is in a way, a cousin to "Electro" which is also known as electro-funk.  A very famous Electro artist is Afrika Bambaattaa, whose hit "Planet Rock" has become very famous.  This song also samples a couple of songs from Kraftwerk who were like the Beatles of Electronica.


House is a bit different because it is a bit more influenced by disco, especially the French House movement which Daft Punk was a major force in.  They were a force not only in French House, but in House in general.  Thomas Bangalter in particular was the first person to establish a definitive sound for French House and he is one of the two members of Daft Punk.

I guess its a compliment that Daft Punk is one of the most sampled artists by hip-hop artists/rappers with their music being sampled by artists from Kanye West, to Busta Rhymes, to JoJo.
The thing I love about Daft Punk is how diverse their work is.  This for example is one of their early songs called "Da Funk".  It is a very typical House song though in the middle, it gets more of an edge than your typical House song.


Another song I like is "Veridis Quo".  It starts off with a synthesizer that is sounding a bit like a synth-flute.  Like many of their songs, it starts off with one beat and keeps adding another one on after a few measures.  I like this technique because it shows the layering of music and can help draw you in and add suspense.  Unfortunately, I cannot upload the video now and can only link it


This next one is another favorite.  Its got a very classic funk beat at the beginning and may be one of their best sounds overall.  The song itself is nothing completely different from their other works that you can describe, but it just perfectly exemplifies what daft punk is: a House band who is very fun to listen to but also melodic.

One last one I will bring up is "Human After All".  This one is the title song of the album of the same name which was created to find where human feelings reside in music.  A lot of this was come up with too from musical improvisation.  It again features building beats, but this time they start off with a didgeridoo sound. and they keep building up until its more of a classic house song with some definite Electro-Rock tones.  It also ends with a free extra of "one more time", one of their classics.