Ears To The House

2 Minutes

News

Juan “Originator” Atkins would have you believe that he created the entire genre of techno – but an unearthed interview he gave nearly 30 years ago shows much more humility…

Ears To The House Team 5 December 2023

Over the past year or so, the three members of the so-called Belleville Three have been trying to claim they started techno. Derrick May spent many years telling the world this message – it’s...

2 Minutes

News

Why IS dance music getting faster once again? Italy’s Sam Paganini – who’s been in this position at least once before – posts an intriguing theory claiming social media is the explanation…

Ears To The House Team 4 December 2023

Anyone who’s been listening to dance music for even just a few years will notice trends – and one of those is that the music speeds up and slows down during certain periods. For...

2 Minutes

News

That’s at least one thing that hasn’t gone all wrong! As Pete Tong’s Radio 1 show gets ready for its 33rd birthday in January, how has his show survived whilst all the others fell?

Ears To The House Team 28 November 2023

Buried deep within BBC documents is the remit of Radio 1 – as founded back in 1967 to counter Britain’s pirate radio stations at the time. In their own words, “the remit of Radio...

2 Minutes

News

Does anyone know what Simon Trask is doing these days? It’s the question posed by Michael James in his quest to find an illusive hack – apparently not seen since the mid-90s…

Ears To The House Team 23 November 2023

If someone decides that they want to disappear off the grid, they’re going to need certain things in order to do it. They’ll need some cash to get started – unlike credit and debit...

2 Minutes

News

As another Thanksgiving Day begins in America, Detroit’s techno scene goes unseen at the city’s parade today (wonder who’s to blame for that?) – but plans might be afoot to remedy this in 2024…

Ears To The House Team 23 November 2023

Today is the fourth Thursday in November – and at the time of publication, America is just starting to wake up to another Thanksgiving Day. For many, it’s the beginning of a lead-up to...

2 Minutes

News

Consistency isn’t a strong point here! DJ Pierre criticises those who didn’t learn their craft on a set of Technics SL-1200s – but also points out he doesn’t miss carrying around big boxes full of vinyl…

Ears To The House Team 22 November 2023

Every generation seems to be convinced that the way they learned to do things was the best one – and that most methods that followed afterwards were inevitably inferior. Cue the truly wearisome debate...

2 Minutes

News

Just how many founding fathers DOES Detroit techno have? Ahead of their next party on Friday night, Detroit Beatdown add Eddie Fowlkes’s name to the already crowded list of originators…

Ears To The House Team 22 November 2023

How many founding fathers is too many? It depends on who you ask and how widely you define “founding fathers”. For example, historian Richard Morris says that there are seven founding fathers to what’s...

2 Minutes

News

Was parroting this rubbish part of the deal? Now Beat Music Fund are doing Kevin Saunderson’s bidding – and recouping their money – by wheeling out Derrick May on social media…

Ears To The House Team 20 November 2023

Back in June, Ears To The House started reporting on a curious new phenomenon in dance music – called Beat Music Fund. Set up by Armada Music, it calls itself “dance music’s first investment...

2 Minutes

News

“Everything he touches is still turning into s**t!”: Kevin Reynolds’s gamble to go on PBS show with Derrick May backfires as the network makes decision not to broadcast – at least for now…

Ears To The House Team 16 November 2023

Ever since multiple allegations of sexual abuse against Derrick May hit the press three years ago, the Detroit techno scene have been far from united in their response. The most common one was to...

2 Minutes

News

As Nervous Records gets busy promoting Josh Wink heading to New York’s LGNDS on December 16th, a pertinent question – did ANYONE actually like his 1995 release “Don’t Laugh”?

Ears To The House Team 12 November 2023

In the world of dance music these days, the work never seems to actually stop. Time was that much of the industry worked from Tuesday to Saturday – anyone trying to get hold of...

2 Minutes

History of House

Is this the worst DJ mix EVER recorded onto CD? Danny Rampling did this 22-track set for Journeys By DJ in 1993 – and the transitions range from bad to utterly comical…

Ears To The House Team 12 November 2023

There are few things more well-received within the dance music world than a great mix from a DJ. Exactly what constitutes a great set varies depending entirely on who’s playing – but traditional factors...

3 Minutes

News

The Warehouse’s Robert Williams is launching a series of events to “celebrate the global impact of Chicago house music” – so why on earth is Detroit’s Juan Atkins invited?

Ears To The House Team 10 November 2023

It’s been a fairly good few months for those fighting to preserve Chicago’s history with house music – a welcome relief in a city that has often shown great hostility towards a genre that...

2 Minutes

News

Do we really have to be the ones to point this out? Kenny Carpenter posts an old photo with Don Welch from the mid-90s at Sound Factory NYC – and says “we were still playing vinyl”…

Ears To The House Team 7 November 2023

Back when house music was starting to become a thing, there was no such thing as a career in it. You did what you did, and you might have some successes – or you...

2 Minutes

News

House music’s roots within the gay community are hardly a secret – but unearthed footage from the 1950s suggests the link goes back further than first thought…

Ears To The House Team 5 November 2023

A lot of parts of dance music’s history are being contested right now – things like literal whitewashing of the past and the Belleville Three being exposed as a marketing myth come to mind...

1 Minute

News

They certainly didn’t have these in 1988! People who’ve been out clubbing can now take “post-rave wellness packs” – a sign of just how much things have changed over the years…

Ears To The House Team 30 October 2023

There was a time when anyone who’d been to a rave or something similar might feel a bit worse for wear the next day. This might be because of excessive alcohol consumption the night...

4 Minutes

News

DJ Pierre complains about white people colonising dance music – so WHY did he collab on a new version of “Acid Trax” with Paul Van Dyk, one of Germany’s most famous ever DJs?

Ears To The House Team 29 October 2023

Few people would try to dispute that the Black community weren’t central in house music’s creation. Yes, there were a number of white influences involved – the likes of Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder being...

history of house