I am starting to think so
― underrated earl sweatshirt fans i have boned (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 16 May 2011 20:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
I have that whole album, the answer is kinda "yes"
― w of in the attic (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 16 May 2011 20:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah I lucked into a copy over the weekend
― underrated earl sweatshirt fans i have boned (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 16 May 2011 20:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
There was that thing in the 70s called Disco and soon after Italo Disco that pretty much is house so I'm going to go with not really.
― jimitheexploder, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
and before disco there was nothing
― underrated earl sweatshirt fans i have boned (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 16 May 2011 20:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
just people banging rocks together iirc
Geeta Dayal wrote a couple of interesting posts on the album: http://www.theoriginalsoundtrack.com/2010/04/thoughts-on-10-ragas-to-a-disco-beat/.
I don't know that much about Indian classical music, but I think the album is almost more intriguing as a condensed way of appreciating the differences between ragas than as proto-house, though of course the acid-y stuff is really cool.
― rob, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
Interview with the guy from last weekend:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/10/charanjit-singh-acid-house-ten-ragas
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
Sorry, week, not weekend.
Having explained that much of the music that Ten Ragas is compared to comes from Chicago, we settle down to listen to the record that arguably started it all – Acid Trax by Phuture. Singh listens intently but seems unmoved by the pulsing, stripped down music – and the signature squelch of the 303. "It's quite simple" he concludes after around three minutes, gently chuckling at the idea that there are similarities between Acid Trax and Ten Ragas. "It's very simple this music," he says. "What I played are ragas – there's a lot of variation."Singh's wife Suparna seems more interested and asks for more detail about the nightclub context that Acid Trax would be most suited to. "Is this very popular?" she asks somewhat dubiously as the record continues to play. As we talk over the music I become increasingly aware of the oddness of the situation – listening to loud acid house at 12.30 on a Sunday afternoon in a suburban house in Acton with a couple of genial 60-year-olds visiting from Mumbai is indeed a strange scenario.
Having explained that much of the music that Ten Ragas is compared to comes from Chicago, we settle down to listen to the record that arguably started it all – Acid Trax by Phuture. Singh listens intently but seems unmoved by the pulsing, stripped down music – and the signature squelch of the 303. "It's quite simple" he concludes after around three minutes, gently chuckling at the idea that there are similarities between Acid Trax and Ten Ragas. "It's very simple this music," he says. "What I played are ragas – there's a lot of variation."
Singh's wife Suparna seems more interested and asks for more detail about the nightclub context that Acid Trax would be most suited to. "Is this very popular?" she asks somewhat dubiously as the record continues to play. As we talk over the music I become increasingly aware of the oddness of the situation – listening to loud acid house at 12.30 on a Sunday afternoon in a suburban house in Acton with a couple of genial 60-year-olds visiting from Mumbai is indeed a strange scenario.
just lute-core and some chanting iirc.
― jimitheexploder, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
This is an interesting record though, I sware it came out way back last year sometime I dunno why I've seen more about it again recently.
― jimitheexploder, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
think this is pretty much my favorite album sleeve ever as of right now
― w of in the attic (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 16 May 2011 20:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
I dunno why I've seen more about it again recently.
I think it came out last summer, but the Guardian piece that Ned linked to showed up in a few of my rss feeds.
― rob, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
"It's quite simple" he concludes after around three minutes, gently chuckling at the idea that there are similarities between Acid Trax and Ten Ragas. "It's very simple this music," he says. "What I played are ragas – there's a lot of variation."
Charanjit Singh OTM
― geir was right (wk), Monday, 16 May 2011 20:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was about India, the singer (La India if you prefer) and her days singing Latin freestyle
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
amazing track up top, need to grip this lp
― bear, bear, bear, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
this album rules
― just sayin, Monday, 16 May 2011 20:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
I wouldn't say there's a massive variance in quality between individual tracks, but fwiw that first track is one of the less exciting imo. try this one too:
― rob, Monday, 16 May 2011 21:05 (2 years ago) Permalink
we talked about it a bit here
Cosey Fanni Tutti: Classic or Dud?
― jaxon, Monday, 16 May 2011 21:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
^Love that ending. To me it sounds more like ragas played on a 303/808 than acid house.
― The Sunspots In Your Eyes Are Actually Cataracts, Mr. Rudich (AWALL), Monday, 16 May 2011 21:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
― ◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝ (Moka), Monday, 16 May 2011 22:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
― The Reverend, Monday, 16 May 2011 23:04 (2 years ago) Permalink
did India invent house music
as an Indian, I sadly have to confirm that no it didn't but it did make some amazing disco tunes. Search: Nazia Hassan, Bapphi Lahiri
― De que estas hablando? (Tannenbaum Schmidt), Monday, 16 May 2011 23:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
this is so fucking great, thanks
― sonderangerbot, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 10:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
I don't think India invented house music although Charanjit Singh may have accidentally stumbled upon it. The album's great but melodically there are significant differences. Reckon it's pretty much impossible to play music on that equipment and NOT have it come out sounding like acid house.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 10:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
impossible to not make the connection i guess but wonder why Singh didn't work the effects at all tho (based on the tracks i've heard from this) which is a major characteristic of acid house and, y'know, the knobs are right there.
― school of seven bellhops (blueski), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 10:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
^^ I think this is it. To me in the Guardian interview Singh appeared to be uninterested with the limitations of the machines and couldn't imagine a social context in which people would be interested in lots of music that sounded (to him, at least) the same. If I were him I'd dig out some old tapes and get them to labels for remixing. Ame made good use of one of his tracks on their Fact mix I think.
― mmmm, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 10:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
To my ears it seems he wanted to create a sympathetic sound. He probably didn't imagine people jacking to the rhythms of his electronic ragas.
― mmmm, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:01 (2 years ago) Permalink
American ILXors will of course be unfamiliar with the character in "Goodness Gracious Me" who claims Indians invented everything
― Tom D has taken many months to run this thread to ground (Tom D.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
this is still one of my fave proto house things. from 1970. if i was an acid house dj i would totally be spinning it.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
oh but i meant to say also that i too want that ten ragas album. so great and so very cool.
I remember this being reissued, re-edited and framed as proto-acid house a few years ago but Ten Ragas goes much further.
― We need to talk about Bevan (DL), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
On a proto-house tip, I don't remember seeing this thread before - looks good.
this is the proto-house youtube thread
― We need to talk about Bevan (DL), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
its just the same tech that he used. thats all. the actual content is nothing like acid/house cos hes playing ragas. he wasnt interested in fucking with the knobs and gear cos to him he was just using it as drum machines as a backing for the melodies etc, not as the whole entire song. i mean, if acid ended up in chicago with a lot of indian influences, then i could say yes, india invented house. but he was just early with using the tech. which does make him forward thinking. pretty novel to be using that gear so early and giving it such prominence. but its just sort of like an indian take on instrumental electronic disco. i do really like what ive heard of the album though.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 11:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
re the re-edit of the paul macca track. was it this :
― mark e, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 13:01 (2 years ago) Permalink
but its just sort of like an indian take on instrumental electronic disco....that sounds to many people like it prefigures acid house by several years
weird resistance on this thread to giving this guy his props
― w of in the attic (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 13:49 (2 years ago) Permalink
thing is the relationship to acid house is barely there because he doesn't use the 303 in the same way people did (better) later - it just sounds quite thin and cheap here and just of novelty value. the composition and structure is the more interesting aspect but presumably no more than the more traditional sounding ragas? i do like the last track on the lp tho.
― school of seven bellhops (blueski), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:00 (2 years ago) Permalink
xpost. No, it's the Radioslave one.
― We need to talk about Bevan (DL), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:08 (2 years ago) Permalink
he doesn't use the 303 in the same way people did (better) later - it just sounds quite thin and cheap here and just of novelty value
But this is only the sort of conclusion you can only come to 30 years later and when critiquing it as acid house, so it seems a bit off.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
my favorite moog house track. it's pre-disco so no big beat but almost there, if Lucifer had only squelched the rhythm section...
― herbal bert (herb albert), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
looking at genealogies is always so depressing and serves no purpose
― THAT'S LIGHTWEIGHT DICKERY (dayo), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:32 (2 years ago) Permalink
just lean back and put on some house tunes or maybe this album or maybe anything you like and enjoy it
~~~~~~~~~
― THAT'S LIGHTWEIGHT DICKERY (dayo), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:36 (2 years ago) Permalink
I mean, life is lovely, love is life, ayo house dudes from india circa 1982, say what up to u mans and dem
― THAT'S LIGHTWEIGHT DICKERY (dayo), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:40 (2 years ago) Permalink
Bring down the babylon facebook... Write your friends a lettah....
― broodje kroket (dog latin), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
xp not AS acid house, but in relation to it. the 303 sound is not really what makes this sound good when it does, but sure the context is interesting and noteworthy mainly because you don't hear much (about) 303 use before dj pierre (i figure this is mainly because big producers at that time from rodgers to jones to eno to hannett weren't seeing these cute little white boxes as serious studio equipment and it took the price drop for bedroom producers to gain access).
― school of seven bellhops (blueski), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 14:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
i def give the guy his props - he was doing interesting, out there, succesful experiments with house gear before others were, which makes him a clear innovator and forerunner, but i dunno if its house per se. but this is all splitting heirs really isnt it. if we can say that italo and moroder and them were basically making early house then we can say the same for this guy. the albums great in any case.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 15:18 (2 years ago) Permalink
― THAT'S LIGHTWEIGHT DICKERY (dayo), Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:32 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
In this case, entirely.
I mean, if your going to base the quality of the record on its being proto-acid house, your probably just going down a dead end. It's very much possible to read it outside of straightjacket narratives about the development of specific movements that, ultimately, have more to do with the context of a time, place, and situation then what whether something sounds like it conforms to what emerges from that.
I mean, props giving be directing at the fact "he was doing interesting, out there, succesful experiments with house gear before others were," and not in his ability to take the take the crown from pierre et als heads.
― EDB, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:02 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah i mean, i like the music on this album, but you couldnt play this in a house set without a few 'huhs'. and im saying this as an indian disco fan who thinks nazia hassan made some of the greatest disco songs of anywhere ever.
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:04 (2 years ago) Permalink
plenty of 70's electro disco stuff that sounds like house music. this guy was sleeping. why'd he wait until the 80's to come up with this stuff.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
no 303s in the 70s
― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
yeah i was kinda kidding.
this stuff is still awesome. i love the sound so much. how many records did he make like this?
― scott seward, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
One, I think.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
iirc, the liner notes indicate that it didn't sell anything, so he moved on
― rob, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
damn, so no unreleased jams i guess.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
reminded that Orange Juice's 'Rip It Up' features a 303 so a useful thread for dot-joining in that respect
track id - acid from 1981 or earlier, sounds like the knife
― blueski, Tuesday, 7 June 2011 20:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
ah shit, am listening to this for the 1st time tonight, and as it winds down, i'm wanting MOAR. what was the last 'classic album' you got and were knocked out by? THIS. holy hell. "raga malkauns" ffs!
don't hear this as house per se, though plenty of the signifiers are there. more as spiritual kin to moroder, cerrone, gottsching, etc.
― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 05:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
― jaxon, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 18:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
yes, i saw that! great stuff, so much better than the guardian interview that came after.
― geeta, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 18:11 (1 year ago) Permalink
charanjit singh performing in london next month!
http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?415728
― jabba hands, Friday, 19 October 2012 12:54 (7 months ago) Permalink
How cool!!!!
― nice suit (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 19 October 2012 13:40 (7 months ago) Permalink
1982, pfah.
Delia Derbyshire (of Dr. Who theme fame) in 1963:
― ‽ Interrobang You're Dead ‽ (Sanpaku), Friday, 19 October 2012 22:18 (7 months ago) Permalink
that is not a house beat
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 19 October 2012 22:20 (7 months ago) Permalink
it is true that James Brown invented jungle tho
― stop swearing and start windmilling (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 19 October 2012 22:22 (7 months ago) Permalink
it sounds like half of the songs that ricardo villalobos puts out
― elan, Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:13 (7 months ago) Permalink
this wld probably be a really weird gig
― ogmor, Saturday, 20 October 2012 17:24 (7 months ago) Permalink
It's just as much a house beat than Charanjit Singh's IMO.
Anyway, 1981:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wzH7_bMnFuo
― Chewshabadoo, Saturday, 20 October 2012 18:11 (7 months ago) Permalink
But it's more about acid, than house isn't it? However without the tweaking of filters it ain't acid to me.
― Chewshabadoo, Saturday, 20 October 2012 18:15 (7 months ago) Permalink
Also the combination of A + B + C, gear-wise
― nice suit (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 20 October 2012 18:21 (7 months ago) Permalink
Sorry for lowering the tone, but that Delia Derbyshire track reminds me I asked someone if they'd seen the video of her in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop mixing tape recordings the other week, and without a beat they replied, "it's part of my wank bank".
― Chewshabadoo, Saturday, 20 October 2012 18:26 (7 months ago) Permalink
ha ha ha...
― mmmm, Saturday, 20 October 2012 19:01 (7 months ago) Permalink
what is the song the little indian dude is dancing to?
― the late great, Saturday, 20 October 2012 20:06 (7 months ago) Permalink
Holiday Rap - Dj Sven and MC Miker G.
― Chewshabadoo, Saturday, 20 October 2012 20:12 (7 months ago) Permalink
shank u
― the late great, Saturday, 20 October 2012 20:52 (7 months ago) Permalink
he was pretty amazing last night - apparently getting some help from the mixing desk, and I presume some advice at some point about how to make things dancefloor friendly (or maybe not?) but much better than I would have guessed. really pretty special.
― toby, Saturday, 3 November 2012 21:04 (6 months ago) Permalink
If we're talking about proto-house, Imagination's "Burning Up" (from 1981) is a better example of "the first house tune" than the others mentioned here. Unlike them, it wasn't just an anomaly that we now retroactively connect to house music, as it was actually played at Chicago clubs, and probably was a direct influence to the first house producers.
― Tuomas, Saturday, 3 November 2012 22:21 (6 months ago) Permalink
yep, it was seriously great on friday. just totally out there. didn't know whether to dance or zone out to it, and most ppl there seemed similarly confused tbh, and so did he. loved it.
― jabba hands, Monday, 5 November 2012 00:03 (6 months ago) Permalink