It's funny how touchy people get when you remind them that before chillwave, there was emo.
I bring it up, not because they sound anything alike (although one could make comparisons to the two being slightly more accessible counterparts to their origins of techno and hardcore respectively), but because both began as literary terms to describe a scene, soon oft-criticized before ultimate acceptance in the mainstream world as a legitimate genre. So before chillwave catapults into a touring festival, pseudo porn websites and ironic clothing stores in every mall, let's take a look at one of it's latest trends: Couples.
2010 has seen it's fair share of them; Tennis, Summer Camp, Kisses all come to mind. Oddly enough, in the case of Chicago's Houses, that's pretty much all we know — or knew. Reportedly the duo started recording when one of them lost their job and they relocated to a cabin in Hawaii (I believe that's called the hard knock life). The result was a set of field recordings mixed with the tropical beats and isolation of their surroundings they entitled, All Night. The single “Endless Spring” made the blog rounds, and now the full-length will see a release on chillwave purveyors Lefse. They also now have a manager and publicist, so we can expect to hear a lot more about them soon.
This story leads me to ask two questions: Am I the only person who wants to have sex in a tropical field to this song? (Actually, the song is irrelevant to that desire, but it does provide a nice backdrop.) And, am I a dick because I would pay to see a couple band fight on stage? Well, one that doesn't involve Mark E. Smith.
