The origin story of Chicago house has been retold so many times—and is so irresistible to retell—that the records have become a little stale. By contrast, relatively little has been written about Chicago house's mid-'90s second wave—Green Velvet/Cajmere, Derrick Carter, Glenn Underground, Traxx, Felix da Housecat, Paul Johnson, DJ Sneak and Boo Williams re-fired the city's dance floors and record shops with sharp, mature work that built as much on the streamlined New York house style as it did the stuff Trax and D.J. International released in the '80s. That's partly because much of the mid-'90s stuff hasn't been as widely available—Trax, god love 'em, has been reissuing its catalog with impunity for decades now, cementing its centrality in dance music's historical firmament.
So it's nice to see Ramp Recordings' new reissue arm, Anotherday, lead off with Boo Williams' second album, from 1996. Born Willie Griffin, Williams wasn't an ingenious conceptualist like Green Velvet/Cajmere—whose Cajual label initially released this album—or a down-and-dirty grinder like DJ Funk. Home Town Chicago is the kind of simple, swirling house that sounds great booming out of large warehouses at 5 in the morning, particularly the title track, which overlays a handful of organ parts (a seesaw-drone at the center, piping short notes for seasoning) atop an urgent pulse. "Make Some Noise" features a rough, bustling kick-hat pattern and a latticework of airy vocal samples, as well as some carefully applied filtering and teakettle organ. "Old School Flavor" gets crazy with the hi-hats as a suspended Rhodes chord evokes the rising sun—a wide landscape that Williams tricks up (off-beat claps here, crosscutting synth blips there) to keep things percolating.
Home Town Chicago's buoyancy fits its time frame. It came out in the period when the U.S. rave scene, particularly in the Midwest, began to reach back to its roots. Rave burnt out faster than a lot of scenes—drugs do that—but it also ignited a lot of true-believer fervor. And the future-forward quality that snared so many early-'90s American suburbanites (and make no mistake, rave was a heavily suburban phenomenon in the States) began to relax as the first glimmers of the technology that defines us now began to emerge in the mainstream. "Where does this stuff begin?" a lot of people started to wonder. Fifteen years later, as ever more people wonder the same, it's nice to have this around again to show them—not to mention that it still bumps like a mother.
So it's nice to see Ramp Recordings' new reissue arm, Anotherday, lead off with Boo Williams' second album, from 1996. Born Willie Griffin, Williams wasn't an ingenious conceptualist like Green Velvet/Cajmere—whose Cajual label initially released this album—or a down-and-dirty grinder like DJ Funk. Home Town Chicago is the kind of simple, swirling house that sounds great booming out of large warehouses at 5 in the morning, particularly the title track, which overlays a handful of organ parts (a seesaw-drone at the center, piping short notes for seasoning) atop an urgent pulse. "Make Some Noise" features a rough, bustling kick-hat pattern and a latticework of airy vocal samples, as well as some carefully applied filtering and teakettle organ. "Old School Flavor" gets crazy with the hi-hats as a suspended Rhodes chord evokes the rising sun—a wide landscape that Williams tricks up (off-beat claps here, crosscutting synth blips there) to keep things percolating.
Home Town Chicago's buoyancy fits its time frame. It came out in the period when the U.S. rave scene, particularly in the Midwest, began to reach back to its roots. Rave burnt out faster than a lot of scenes—drugs do that—but it also ignited a lot of true-believer fervor. And the future-forward quality that snared so many early-'90s American suburbanites (and make no mistake, rave was a heavily suburban phenomenon in the States) began to relax as the first glimmers of the technology that defines us now began to emerge in the mainstream. "Where does this stuff begin?" a lot of people started to wonder. Fifteen years later, as ever more people wonder the same, it's nice to have this around again to show them—not to mention that it still bumps like a mother.
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Published /
Thu / 1 Dec 2011 -
Words /
Michaelangelo Matos -
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Tracklist /
01. Home Town Chicago
02. Devil Muzic
03. Make Some Noise
04. Snare Tappin
05. Lazy Mood
06. Old School Flavor
07. Smokin' Acid
08. Evil Ways
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