Album Review: Triple J – House Party Volume 2
3 min read
I have to admit, I had pretty high hopes for Triple J’s House Party Volume 2. I listen to House Party on Triple J every Saturday night and I think Nina Las Vegas is just ridiculously cool, not to mention I had last year’s House Party compilation on repeat for at least four months, and it’s still one of my favourites. The upcoming House Party Tour, featuring Nina Las Vegas, Flight Facilities, Cassian, Tyler Touché and Wave Racer, sold out the Sydney 18+ show and Melbourne show, and played to packed crowds at it’s all ages Sydney show, and Brisbane, Perth, Fremantle and Adelaide shows. So I think it’s pretty safe to say the latest offering of party tracks mixed by Las Vegas is going to be beyond popular, and for good reason.
For those that don’t know, House Party is a radio show on nationally networked Australian alternative/indie radio station, Triple J. It’s on every Saturday night from 6pm, and host Nina Las Vegas offers up the latest in dance and electronic music to get you pumped for the night ahead; “party till you puke”, as House Party’s webpage says.
Last year, Triple J put out their first ever House Party compilation, Triple J’s House Party Volume 1. It was a huge success, as was the accompanying tour. So this year they decided to do it all again.
House Party Volume 2 gets down to business from the very first track. The first CD opens with the intensely dramatic electronica of French artists Gesaffelstein, before lightening up a bit with Rudimental featuring Ella Eyre’s song Waiting All Night, and then plunging you straight back into some dirty dance beats in ShockOne’s Lazerbeam. This CD has a bit more of a hip-hop/R’n’b vibe than disc two, but with tracks from both international and local acts it creates the perfect party atmosphere. The music weaves through artists such as Drapht and Pusha T, to Empire of the Sun and Tame Impala, to Major Lazer, The Bloody Beetroots and Flux Pavilion, and it always keeps you guessing.
Disc Two is more dance-centric and poppy, and reads a little more like a standard Triple J hitlist. It starts out with Touch Sensitive’s Pizza Guy and Hayden James’ Permission to Love and continues through hits from Jagwa Ma, AlunaGeorge, HAIM, Robert DeLong, Flight Facilities, The Presets, and a host of other names you’d be more than familiar with if you’re a regular listener of House Party.
The thing that really makes this compilation is how Nina Las Vegas seamlessly mixes new and old. There are the standard hits that everyone is familiar with now, and then there are those occasional oldies that she throws in the mixture that you never hear anymore but that everyone loves, such as Tiga’s You Gonna Want Me, Benny Benassi’s Satisfaction, and Riot In Belgium’s La Musique. The compilation even ends with a throwback to OutKast’s 2000 hit B.O.B. that will have many a listener both embarrassed and ecstatic that they remember all the words.
House Party Volume 2 is the perfect soundtrack, not only for a house party but for anything. It even makes doing the dishes fun. Sure, you’ll probably get over it in a couple months, but then you’ll go back to it a few months later when they’ve stopped overplaying all the current hits on the radio, and remember just how great this compilation is. And then you’ll do the same thing with Volume 3, 4, 5, etc., because Nina Las Vegas is a genius.
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