going way back, Mike Pickering first likened house to the northern thing, house it was first played in the UK at the Hac and the kool kat in Nottingham. There was a distinctly different sound in the north in the late 80's and early 90's, with a definite focus on soulful vocals and uplifting piano riffs, mainly from the US and Italy, but for me the sound got lost in the commercialisation of house and clubbing by the mid 90's.