Advertisement
Another first Wednesday of house music, a monthly dance party uplifting femme DJs - This month I'm joined by Housefinch of the Orbit crew.Housefinch worships electronic music and rave culture. “Rave Jesus,” a name she’s given to the entity drawing her to the electronic world, has provided her with a career she refers to as “professional raver.” She’s taken this job and run with it, frequenting the biggest events across the country. Hailing from New Orleans, and spending her grad school days in San Francisco, she saw unimaginable lineups. Those experiences led her to the decks in 1998, where she was first drawn to breaks and big beat. But when Hurricane Katrina decimated Louisiana, it took Housefinch’s records with it. Suddenly her relationship to music went from DJ to listener. While also dabbling in production, she began to understand song structure, and began noticing that the genres she was most familiar with were becoming diluted with overproduction and bootie breaks. This is when house became her passion, with its well-produced beats and rhythms, and intricate structures, it was what inspired her to play again. Though once a vinyl purist, she began honing the new skills made possible in the digital world at the beginning of the pandemic. Her Orbit performances are a culmination of raw talent and the sacred bond she has made with electronic music. She is an expert in the art of curation, crate digging until she finds obscure tracks she feels in a profound way. It makes each set a new experience, with fresh sounds that every DJ wishes they’d stumbled upon before she did.
Housefinch’s sets are thumping celebrations of dance music as a whole. Though The Strand features the perfect seating arrangements, even someone who’s completely drained from their work day will find it impossible not to find their way to the floor. Her tech house tracks are all heavy-hitters, traveling from one heart-pumping theme to the next. She pays homage to all house in her sets—she infuses Afro and Cuban rhythms, provides complex build-ups, and uses soulful vocal tracks mixed so cohesively that it seems the songs were created to blend together in the exact order she presents them. With thumping bass and unexpected accents, Housefinch’s music is the bouncy and driven sort that drives the shyest listener to make their way to the dancefloor. But as fun as it may be to play for a packed house, Housefinch revels in that feeling at the end of the night when the dancefloor is sticky, but people are unable to stop dancing right up until they pull the plug. Never danced before? Roll through Orbit on Friday, and Housefinch will cure you of the insecurities keeping you in the seats.
To listen to her unique sound (I particularly suggest doing so while cleaning the house) check out:
https://on.soundcloud.com/C29Pq3JNRh64iRtRA
Her website and a wealth of other mixes can be found at
https://on.soundcloud.com/YYRCBieGA1M6J1J76
https://housefinchmusic.co
Come early for the drag show, stay for dancing!
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
FLASK LOUNGE, 117 Spring St, Portland, ME 04101-3826, United States,Portland, Maine
