House of House: Rushing To Paradise/The Rough Half
In the difficult economic times that we currently find ourselves in, people may balk at the idea of paying £15 for an album, let alone a two track 12″ single. But this is exactly what I did last week, and I regret nothing.
New York based label Whatever We Want divide opinion pretty sharply between those who think they are one of the best labels in the world, and those who think their output is little more than beard-stroking Dad-rock. Despite this, their reputation is such that they can sell out entire runs in days and see those releases fetch huge sums on the second-hand market. But House Of House, comprised of Still Going’s Liv Spencer and vocalist Saheer Umar, have just released a single on WWW which should silence anyone who has reason to doubt the label, as it is nothing less than solid musical gold.
A-side “Rushing To Paradise (Walkin’ These Streets)” is the kind of tune that creeps up on you. It immerses you in a wash of hiss and deep bass, offset by the tinkling of improvisational piano, until the five minute mark when something truly incredible happens. A piano refrain emerges from the chaos, and just as the kick drum drops back in, just when you think it’s reached its peak, it gets taken away from you. After a brief moment of calm, the vocals fade in from nowhere, instantly bringing the whole thing to a glorious peak, a peak that comes as if from nowhere. What makes it so incredible is that it feels like a truly organic piece of music; it just seems to grow into this epic form, a form which you never suspect has been created out of a load of loops on a sequencer, giving it a soul which is sorely lacking from a lot of music which is created for the dance floor.
The first reaction when you listen to the B-side “The Rough Half (Don’t Stop)” is probably going to be to feel an inevitable amount of disappointment, but only because “Rushing To Paradise” is just so good. But when you give it a second listen, it is easily as essential as the A-side. It begins with a chunky piano riff, but the tempo is slower, and more emphasis given to the vocals. It’s the really 80s synths that make it though, which, added to the unashamedly bombastic guitar solo make this as sublime a piece of 80s rock as the A-side is a house track. It’s only February, but it’s hard to see how anything else released this year will top this single.
Listen:> House Of House - Rushing To Paradise (Walkin’ These Streets)
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Rushing To Paradise is out now on Whatever We Want
Buy the 12″ from Phonica (While you still can!)
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Trackbacks
- OSCILLATIONS Returns This Friday With The Glimmers, Liv Spencer (Still Going/House of House) James F!@$%^ Friedman & More! | self-titled magazine :: s/t daily
- OSCILLATIONS: While New York Is Away, S/T Comes Out to Play with The Glimmers, Liv Spencer, Cubic Zirconia and More | self-titled magazine :: s/t daily
my copy just arrived! i would have paid twice as much as i did! shipping to australia included!
i don’t understand why this ins’t in an MP3 format anywhere for people to purchase(key word is purchase, not “borrow” or “share”). makes no sense. not everyone is a DJ and not everyone has a record player. fyi, it’s 2009.
Meh, decidedly average, too long of a build up, not enough of a payoff.
I have to say that the traffic I’ve had on this post has surprised me. I’ve had an unprecedented number of people (for this blog at least) coming to it, hoping, i’m guessing, to download an MP3 of this track, simply because you can’t even listen to the entire thing on their myspace page. Unfortunately for most, I simply don’t feel comfortable giving stuff like this away, which is why there is only a stream.
I sympathise with your plight en sea, I’m sure there are more who feel the same way, but Whatever We Want seem to have built their reputation on a supposedly archaic business model, albeit one which has earned them the cult status they currently enjoy. And I get the feeling the lack of this being available in a digital format makes it just that little bit more special.
But given the number of people who probably would buy MP3s of this, it does seem mad that they wouldn’t release any…
OMG…
its funny how the world moves in cicles in several spheres … this is no different from what we have been seing in music, digital vs. analog … of course improvement, evolution is present on each cicle making them somehow unique and different from each other. Its a matter of overshoot back to normal, or mayber a little overshoot to the other side, and back to normality until the next overshoot. Digital, Beatport, Mp3, is overshooting….tons of music being released and getting reached by almost everyone who has the tinniest will to look for it. And mostly not that good music. So in our human conception when things get too overcrowded, a big part of the group makes it even more crowdier (not sure if this word exists) … and a small remaining part whom I believe forms opinions and its more in tune with what matters tries to go out and look for another gang to ride, to make it more special …
Was going so well til the vocal came in!
i fucking LOVE this song. moooooar pleeeease.
Rushing to paradise is an absolutely incredible piece of music, truely unique!! definately think you’ve summed it up correctly about mp3/vinyl, just fortunately enough we can listen to the whole thing hear!!
Wicked track indeed,, matched by a great review, well done guys.
I adore this track. It’s like being wrapped inside warmth.
It really blows that there’s no digital format.
I’m not a DJ and I haven’t bought vinyl since I was about 5 years old.
If you know how, there are ways to get it in a digital format. I’d absolutely love to give them as much money as they’d charge for this track, but because they’re sitting so high on their “morals” or whatever… I gotta do what I gotta do. - It’s a shame.
i love the vocal. but i know saheer and his capabilities. Monkey patch bitches! Slow passive.