If you have a few funky house vinyl records in your collection, which you probably should, then you'll know that funky house is a branch or sub genre of house music, incorporating the traditional four-to-the-floor drumbeat, as well as synthesized music, samples and a few vocals. House music in all its various forms has received a tremendously loyal following, and funky house has lifted the lid on the nightclubs, proving just as popular on the street. The chances are high that there's at least one funky house song on most people's iPods!
One of the things which surprises some people is the very fact that a sub genre of music which is still relatively new should appear on vinyl. In today's modern computer revolution where you can slip a compact disk containing a full album of music between the pages of a book, or carry tens of thousands of songs around with you in a device no larger than a box of matches, why should vinyl still be popular, still less used to record such new music?
If you're asking the question, then the chances are that you're either too young to have heard vinyl - in which case you are seriously missing out, or you have little interest in music, or at least the rendition of it. If you don't have the experience to appreciate music in vinyl form, then you have my sympathy! I'm a huge vinyl fan, and although I have stacks of CDs and my hard drive is bulging with MP3 files, I still keep my vinyl record collection, and yes, that does include a selection of new funky house vinyl records.
Let's be honest - is it about quality? I would say yes, but you may well argue and suggest that quality should be about perfection. Vinyl records can be scratchy, they hiss and pop, there are often background crackles, and they may even skip. On the other hand, CDs and MP3s are pure, clean and unblemished. They offer music in a purer, less distracting form, and provide the listener with a more accurate reproduction of the music.
Yes, that's all well and true - to a point. Though I would argue that quality is the same thing as perfection. In some cases, perfection and quality are the same thing, but when it comes to music reproduction, I'm not so sure. If you have a band playing music live, do you think it would sound the same as a dubbed, mixed, rehearsed, practiced, re-recorded, mixed and edited version that comes out of a studio? No, of course not. The live version may well be an entirely unique performance, but one which has soul. Too many recording studios use computers to wipe out the soul. It's as though all those ones and zeros scratch out the imperfections. The trouble is, those imperfections are often the soul of the music.
Who wants to listen to music and feel that they're in the room with the musicians if the music has no soul, because after the musicians performed it, the whole thing was edited and mixed by a computer anyway? Vinyl records let you feel more physically connected to the music. Try this sometimes - get a CD and a record of the same piece of music and hold them side by side. Notice how the CD looks exactly the same as every other CD in your collection?
Now notice how the record looks unique. The grooves create a pattern, becoming deeper as the volume increases, and lighter as it quietens. I once saw a guy who could look at a record and tell you immediately what the music was on it, just from the pattern of ridges and grooves. You can't do that with a CD, and don't even try looking at an MP3!
So when it comes to something new, like funky house vinyl records, it's important to appreciate why true fans of music and musical reproduction see this as a natural fusion of technology and soul. The combination of vinyl and modern, synthesized music is a way of helping keep the soul of the performer intact - a little like having an author's signature in your favourite book. Funky house music uses soulful voices and a traditional rhythm - let's keep the soul in music and hear it for vinyl.
One of the things which surprises some people is the very fact that a sub genre of music which is still relatively new should appear on vinyl. In today's modern computer revolution where you can slip a compact disk containing a full album of music between the pages of a book, or carry tens of thousands of songs around with you in a device no larger than a box of matches, why should vinyl still be popular, still less used to record such new music?
If you're asking the question, then the chances are that you're either too young to have heard vinyl - in which case you are seriously missing out, or you have little interest in music, or at least the rendition of it. If you don't have the experience to appreciate music in vinyl form, then you have my sympathy! I'm a huge vinyl fan, and although I have stacks of CDs and my hard drive is bulging with MP3 files, I still keep my vinyl record collection, and yes, that does include a selection of new funky house vinyl records.
Let's be honest - is it about quality? I would say yes, but you may well argue and suggest that quality should be about perfection. Vinyl records can be scratchy, they hiss and pop, there are often background crackles, and they may even skip. On the other hand, CDs and MP3s are pure, clean and unblemished. They offer music in a purer, less distracting form, and provide the listener with a more accurate reproduction of the music.
Yes, that's all well and true - to a point. Though I would argue that quality is the same thing as perfection. In some cases, perfection and quality are the same thing, but when it comes to music reproduction, I'm not so sure. If you have a band playing music live, do you think it would sound the same as a dubbed, mixed, rehearsed, practiced, re-recorded, mixed and edited version that comes out of a studio? No, of course not. The live version may well be an entirely unique performance, but one which has soul. Too many recording studios use computers to wipe out the soul. It's as though all those ones and zeros scratch out the imperfections. The trouble is, those imperfections are often the soul of the music.
Who wants to listen to music and feel that they're in the room with the musicians if the music has no soul, because after the musicians performed it, the whole thing was edited and mixed by a computer anyway? Vinyl records let you feel more physically connected to the music. Try this sometimes - get a CD and a record of the same piece of music and hold them side by side. Notice how the CD looks exactly the same as every other CD in your collection?
Now notice how the record looks unique. The grooves create a pattern, becoming deeper as the volume increases, and lighter as it quietens. I once saw a guy who could look at a record and tell you immediately what the music was on it, just from the pattern of ridges and grooves. You can't do that with a CD, and don't even try looking at an MP3!
So when it comes to something new, like funky house vinyl records, it's important to appreciate why true fans of music and musical reproduction see this as a natural fusion of technology and soul. The combination of vinyl and modern, synthesized music is a way of helping keep the soul of the performer intact - a little like having an author's signature in your favourite book. Funky house music uses soulful voices and a traditional rhythm - let's keep the soul in music and hear it for vinyl.