Homework (4)

Amsterdam-based duo Homework burst onto the electronic music scene in 2010 with a refreshing take on lush, Chicago-inspired house music, pricking up the ears of some of the most respected underground dance labels such as 20:20 Vision, Made To Play, and Berlin-based Exploited. Their Hudson Square EP – now a vinyl collectors item going for high prices on Discogs – garnered thumbs ups from both critics and peers and, seemingly overnight, turned them into internationally in-demand club djs. Within a year, after being catapulted into the limelight the duo found themselves playing all over the globe, box-checking revered clubs such as Berlin’s Panoramabar, Paris’ Social Club and Studio 80 in their hometown of Amsterdam; winning them a prestigious Dutch night life award, Gouden Kabouter for Best DJ Duo, in the process. One defining feature of these two gentlemen it’s that they are difficult to pigeonhole. Both in their productions as in their dj sets Homework always take an 'anything goes' approach. Their restless straddling of genres and inspirations, testament to years of working in well-known Amsterdam record store Concerto, might lead one to expect their kaleidoscopic oeuvre to be all over the place, but the inherent ‘warmth’ (or: ‘umph’ if you will) that permeates their music runs like a common thread through all their productions. In hindsight it seems logical that, when in 2007 the duo decided to pursue a career in music, they chose the name Homework. There is an interesting duality to be found in their guise: bringing back memories of childhood, restlessly waiting for that summer that never seems to arrive, unable to shake off the shackles of unfinished schoolwork… It combines both playfulness with serious business; nostalgia with immediacy. And so, to reference Kubrick’s The Shining, the two could never be described as “dull boys”.