I’m pretty sure the Gridface blog has been mentioned on here before – it’s in our links anyways – and it continues to be one of the finest blogs for quality electronic dance muzaks. Recently Jacob has posted interviews with a couple of major players in the early Chicago house scene, Vince Lawrence and Chip E. Both are really enjoyable reads irregardless of how much of the history you know of the scene. Similarly to Detroit there is always a bit of clouding of facts and myths and what not about who started what and made what first and here Chip makes his claim for first house record and also some ownership on the term “house”. I mention Detroit also because when the Bleep43 site posted an interview with Juan Atkins a few months ago it kicked off a little bit in the comments section due to what was percieved as Juan’s toying with the facts from what went on back in the day. For those who missed it first time around, you can read it here. I’m not saying that Chip E is wrong or making things up – or Juan – but these music’s histories is, amusingly I find, full of contradicting stories and arguments from various people and is always pretty interesting.
I know I mentioned Convextion in my last post but since that, the latest podcast from Bodytonic is from electronic music’s bestest Kevin Bacon look-a-like and it can be grabbed here. There aren’t many of Hansen’s live sets knocking about the internet so I thought it was worthy of linking here. His sets truly are exceptional, and even though when he plays live he looks like he’s reading a particularly uninteresting page from wikipedia he resculpts and morphs his amazing productions – as well as playing some unreleased material – into a deep, engrossing thing of wonder. Enjoy!
Thanks for the links, Kenny! I too find the contradictions interesting. I think some people play up their roles, but for the most part it’s just a matter of perspective. Who can say for sure that one artist was more influential than another? We all find our inspiration in different places. It does help that there are plenty of old mix tapes around, so it’s a bit easier to tell what was actually getting spun in a given city.
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hey kenny. also have alot of time for gridface. the Leonard “Remix” Rroy interview is also a very interesting perspective on the origins of house.
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i have to say, Gridface is consistently the blog that gets me fucking EXCITED for a new post. Jacob is absolutely killing it, the Chip E interview is outstanding.
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Cheers for the heads up on the juan atkins interview Kenny, hadn’t seen that before. Very interesting to see the old school Detroit heads coming out the woodwork to question him on mass, makes a change from the usual pandering that goes on with the legends (and Juan is a legend, obviously).
And Gridface is the business, as Pipecock said, that blog is doing things properly.
So, who do you fancy for the lead role in Juan Atkins the movie then?
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deeperthandisco reply on March 2nd, 2010 4:25 am:
great story, detroit cat fight. is there any chance the dude who wrote it maybe heard thing incorrectly? just wondering.
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