Seeds & Stems: How House Made Its Way To Melbourne

In partnership Bose's Sounds of Summer, we take a look at how musical subgenres spread beyond geographical borders in our Seeds & Stems series. Here we take a look at how house went from early 80s Chicago into the Melbourne underground.

As the sun set on disco's reign over dancefloors during the 1970s, the seeds of house began to be sewn within the clubs and airwaves of Chicago with experimentations incorporating tape edits and synth drum embellishments to create the beginnings of a resilient new sound that would echo for decades to come.

The more ostentatious flair of disco was stripped back with a strong focus on solid 4/4 rhythms, with house unafraid of embracing repetition as electronic production techniques became increasingly available to the vanguard of pioneering house producers. Legendary DJ-Producer Frankie Knuckles, who earned the title "Godfather Of House", set the scene in the early 1980s from Chicago venue The Warehouse (which provided house with its name, according to legend), which built a community of Chicago's gay, black scene.

House soon proliferated across America, particularly with regional variations blossoming in Detroit – which then birthed techno thanks to visionaries Derrick May (whose seminal track "Strings Of Life" was named by Frankie Knuckles), Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson.

House went on to branch into countless subgenres, shaping the history of electronic music, making an impression on the commercial mainstream while never outstaying its welcome.

While house made its way across the globe during the 1980s, dance music didn't really make its impact on Australia until the early 90s, with strains of UK rave making its way into clubs and warehouses with a communal sense of love and celebration. Progressing into the 90s with the explosion of more easily accessible computer technology, the aesthetic shifted further and further into abrasive cyber-delic territory. While electronic music exploded in countercultural circles in Australia, there was never an embrace of traditional house.

The mid-2000s saw Sydney produce breakthrough dance artists, with crossover success from the likes of Paul Mac and The Presets, Melbourne seemed more focused on the nu-rock explosion featuring bands such as Jet and Wolfmother. The guitar focus seeped into club nights, with live bands performing and DJs indulging in spinning rock and indie.

In the wake of nu-rock's inevitable demise in the late 2000s, as well as an oversaturation of the large-scale electro favoured by production outfits, Melbourne's underground began retreating back to the source. Producers and DJs such as Francis Inferno Orchestra, Fantastic Man, Andee Frost, Kate Miller and more embraced the fundamentals of the genre, developing Melbourne's reputation as a source for quality house music – a reputation that holds strong to this day.

Following on from Melbourne's embracement of house, many of its proponents – including Kate Miller and Fantastic Man – have gone on to make a name for themselves with relocations to the global club capital, Berlin, showing that Melbourne has what it takes to stand strong on the world stage.

Lead photo: John Donges / Flickr