Outsider house
Other names
  • Outsider dance
  • raw house
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsEarly 2010s[where?]
Subgenres
Lo-fi house
Other topics

Outsider house (originally spawned as outsider dance,[1] also known as raw house[2]) is a subgenre of house music, combining elements of deep house, techno, noise, and ambient, with artists embracing lo-fi techniques rather than the polished cleanliness of mainstream deep house and other EDM genres.[3][4]

The term "outsider dance" was first coined in 2012 by DJ Ben UFO[3] and emphasized by music journalist Scott Wilson,[1] referring to different producers and record labels "operating at the fringes of the fringes" such as Laurel Halo, Anthony Naples.[1] However, Ben UFO himself called the term "off-the-cuff formulation", reacting negatively to the term taking hold and circulating, stating "I'm not exactly happy that it's now being held up as a genre, because I think this outsider thing just doesn't do justice to the artists and their music. ... [outsider house artists] are my friends, we get along well and support each other".[5]

Lo-fi house

Around mid-2010s, outsider house developed into a new form, known as lo-fi house.[6] Producers like DJ Seinfeld, DJ Boring and Ross From Friends combined rough sounds of the parent genre with the aesthetic of melancholy, irony and postmodernism attributed to vaporwave, creating songs "resembling melancholic 1990s deep house recorded to cassette and packaged with a veneer of internet-age irony".[6] While the labels like L.I.E.S., 1080p and Lobster Theremin have carved out a signature sound, attributed to the genre, whereas music is often rough, characterized by muffled drums, fuzzy synths and a gauzy,[7] but also use jazzy piano samples and warm percussion samples.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wilson, Scott (22 October 2012). "Scratching the Surface: Outsider dance". Juno Plus. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  2. ^ Wilson, Scott (1 December 2016). "Has underground house finally run out of ideas?". FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  3. ^ a b Bakare, Lanre (13 September 2013). "How not to name a music genre". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  4. ^ Sherburne, Philip (26 October 2012). "Control Voltage's Friday Five: At the Fringes of the Fringes". SPIN. Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  5. ^ Uhlig, Sascha (2013-10-11). "VON WEGEN AUSSENSEITER Die neue Offenheit im House". Groove (in German). Retrieved 2021-10-24.
  6. ^ a b Ledsham, Ed (2017-08-18). "Irony Is A Dead Scene: A User's Guide To Lo-Fi House". HighClouds. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  7. ^ Williams, Phillip (28 June 2018). "10 tracks that prove lo-fi house is more than a fad". Red Bull. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  8. ^ Plett, Cristina (2017-02-21). "Lo-Fi House: Die Revolution frisst ihre Kinder". Groove (in German). Retrieved 2021-10-24.


Categories