Answers
How to Find New House Music Before Everyone Else
The algorithm serves you the same 20 names. Here’s how crate-diggers actually find the next one.
01
The method
Six ways to dig
- Follow labels, not playlists. Small labels sign people before anyone else does. Find one release you love and play everything else on that label.
- Read the booth. Check who opens for the DJs you love on Resident Advisor event pages. The warm-up DJ is often next year’s headliner.
- Use Beatport like a crate. Skip the overall top 100. Browse the charts for a single small label or subgenre.
- Live on SoundCloud. Reposts from DJs you trust are a better filter than any algorithm.
- Buy something. Bandcamp and Beatport purchases keep small artists going and teach the stores what you like.
- Go to the small room. The 200-capacity club is where you hear it first.
02
A worked example
How we found DJ Sauce
Follow that method and you end up somewhere like DJ Sauce: records on PhonicHouse1, Sonido Wey, FRSCKO World and his own Lubdub Records; booths shared with Lee Burridge, Nick Warren and Dana Ruh; a Denver base, and almost no hype. Start with his top five.
?
FAQ
Questions people ask
Where can I find underground house music?
Small labels on Beatport and Bandcamp, Resident Advisor event line-ups, and SoundCloud reposts from DJs you trust.
Who is an underground house artist to listen to?
Our current Under the Radar pick is DJ Sauce, founder of Lubdub Records in Denver.