Garage house | |
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Cultural origins | Early 1980s, New York City and New Jersey, United States |
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Garage house (originally known as "garage music"; also "New York house") is a dance music style that developed alongside house music. Garage, which had a more soulful R&B-derived sound, was developed in the Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City and club Zanzibar in New Jersey, USA, during the early-to-mid 1980s. There was much overlap between it and early house music, making it difficult to tell the two apart. It predates the development of Chicago house, and according to AllMusic, is relatively closer to disco than other dance styles. As Chicago house gained international popularity, New York's garage disco scene was distinguished from the "house" umbrella. DJs playing this genre include Tony Humphries, Larry Levan and Junior Vasquez.
Garage led to other styles of music such as speed garage and UK garage.
In comparison to other forms of house music, garage is more polished, and it includes gospel-influenced piano riffs and female vocals. The genre was popular in the 1980s in the U.S. and 1990s in the United Kingdom.
Dance music of the 1980s made use of electronic instruments such as synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines. These instruments are an essential part of garage music. The direction of garage music was primarily influenced by the New York City discothèque Paradise Garage where the influential DJ Larry Levan (1954-1992) played records. Levan got his start alongside DJ Frankie Knuckles at the Continental Baths, but was best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City nightclub Paradise Garage. He developed a cult following who referred to his sets as "Saturday Mass". Influential post-disco DJ François Kevorkian credits Levan with introducing the dub aesthetic into dance music. Along with Kevorkian, Levan experimented with drum machines and synthesizers in his productions and live sets, ushering in an electronic, post-disco sound that presaged the ascendence of house music.