| Acid House | |
| Stylistic origins | House, Disco, Hi-NRG, Synth-Pop, Indian |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins | Chicago (US) Bombay (India) 1980s |
| Typical instruments | Roland TB-303, Drum Machine, Synthesizer, DAW |
| Derivative forms | Ambient House, Electro House, Hard House, Microhouse, Techno, Trance, Goa Trance, Psychedelic Trance, Breakbeat Hardcore, Big Beat, New Beat, Trip Hop |
| Subgenres | |
| Acid Techno, Acid Trance, Acid Jazz | |
| Regional scenes | |
| EU, India, UK, US | |
| Local scenes | |
| Bombay, Chicago, Detroit, London | |
Acid house is a subgenre of house which generally emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house instrumentation typically consists of an analog bass synthesizer, predominantly the Roland TB-303, along with 4/4 beats (typically from a Roland TR-808 or TR-909), pop vocals enhanced with a large amount of echo and reverb, symphonic choirs, claves loops, and in many cases, effects similar to radio tuning. Acid house is often played at clubs and raves, and has also created acid house parties.
History[]
Bombay[]
Early forms of acid house emerged from several Indian musicians in Bombay's disco scene during the early 1980s. This is largely due to Bombay musicians being the first to combine disco music with the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer and Roland TR-808 drum machine, several years before Chicago producers would do the same.
Charanjit Singh's album Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, featuring Indian ragas fused with disco, was released in 1982.[1][2] It prominently features a Roland TB-303, with Singh being one of the earliest musicians to use it on a commercial release, along with a TR-808 drum machine.[2] The record predates the famously known "Acid Tracks" by five years. It was initially a commercial failure in India and eventually forgotten. Following its rediscovery and eventual re-release in 2010, it has since been considered the first example of acid house.[1][2][3]
Charanjit Singh influenced Bollywood composer Bappi Lahiri to combine the TB-303 with the TR-808 in several film songs during the early 1980s, including short acid-like interludes in the 1983 songs "Aah Ha Oonh Hun" from Do Gulaab and "Tum Tum Tumba" from Karate. The song "Koi Lutera" (1983), composed by Lahiri and sung by Asha Bhosle for the film Wanted: Dead or Alive, features a squelching TB-303 bassline with 4/4 beats on the TR-808, making it an early example of acid house.[4][5] Other examples feature repetitive acid/trance-like basslines with 4/4 drum machine beats like acid house and/or trance music.
Examples of Bombay acid house in the 1980s:
- Charanjit Singh's album Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat (1982)
- "Raga Bhairavi" and "Raga Lalit"
- "Raga Todi" and "Raga Madhuvanti"
- "Raga Malkauns" and "Raga Bairagi"
- Bappi Lahiri productions
- Asha Bhosle's "Koi Lutera" (1983) in Wanted: Dead or Alive
- Usha Utthup's "Main Gul Badan" (1984) in Locket
- Bappi Lahiri's "Habiba" (1988)
- "Pee Pee Pee Pyare Dil Laga Ke" (1984) by Babla & Kanchan in Meetha Zehar
- Sapna's "Pyar Do Pyar Lo" (1986) composed by Kalyanji–Anandji
- Electra's "Love Technology" (1989) produced by Biddu in Goonj (1989)
Chicago[]
Sleezy D's "I've Lost Control" (1986) was the first acid house record from Chicago to be released on vinyl, but it is not certain which track was created first.[6]
The Chicago-based group Phuture are typically considered the pioneers of the genre. They defined and popularized the acid house genre with the release of "Acid Tracks" in 1987, originally recorded as "In Your Mind" some time between 1985 and 1986.
Europe[]
Acid house spread to the United Kingdom during the Second Summer of Love in the late 1980s and then to continental Europe, where it was played by DJs in the acid house and later rave scenes. In the late 1980s, copycat tracks and acid house remixes brought the style into the mainstream, where it had an influence on pop and dance styles.
Influence[]
Acid house has led to the subgenres acid techno, acid trance, and acid jazz. Related genres include acid rap and trip-hop. Nicknamed "the sound of acid", acid house's influence on dance music is tangible considering the sheer number of electronic music tracks referencing acid house through the use of its sounds, including trance, Goa trance, psytrance, breakbeat, big beat, techno, trip-hop and house.
Examples[]
- Phuture - "Acid Tracks" (1987)
- Technotronic - "Pump Up The Jam" (1989)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pattison, Louis (April 10, 2010). "Charanjit Singh, acid house pioneer". The Guardian.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Aitken, Stuart (May 10, 2011). "Charanjit Singh on how he invented acid house ... by mistake". The Guardian.
- ↑ William Rauscher (May 12, 2010). "Charanjit Singh – Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat". Resident Advisor. Retrieved June 3, 2011.
- ↑ https://www.redbull.com/in-en/tb-303-synthesizer-bollywood-bappi-lahiri
- ↑ https://www.discogs.com/release/3294939-Bappi-Lahiri-Anjaan-Wanted-Dead-Or-Alive
- ↑ Cheeseman 1992. "I've Lost Control" was made by Adonis and Marshall Jefferson and was certainly the first acid track to make it to vinyl, though which was created first will possibly never be known for sure.