House Music

Garage House

(also known as New York House, New York Garage, US Garage)

A style of House that developed at the Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City and Club Zanzibar in Newark, New Jersey. Much like Chicago House, Garage House evolved directly from Disco, but manages to preserve more elements of the original disco sound, being more noticeably influenced by Soul and Gospel and with smoother production values that lend it a more organic feel.

Ghetto House

(also known as Booty House)

By the mid-to-late 1980s, House music was an established and distinct style in Chicago. However, the house sound of names like Frankie Knuckles was played in the northern side of the city, the upscale clubs. In other parts of Chicago (most notably the slums - the ghettos - in the south and the west), a different style of house developed, seen as rougher and more suited to its locale. These tracks were often call-and-response chanted vocals (with heavy use of looped vocal samples), riddled with local slang and references, on top of 4x4 bass lines and uncomplicated drum patterns, usually at 140bpm.

This style, ghetto house, was almost exclusively released on one of the local house labels; Dance Mania, founded just before the ghetto house sound began to emerge. Dance Mania released many classic tracks by ghetto house pioneers, like DJ Deeon, DJ Funk, DJ Milton, and Jammin' Gerald, throughout the nineties.

Genres influenced by ghetto house include the Detroit equivalent, Ghettotech, the combination of Electro with ghetto house. Back in Chicago, the rising tempos of ghetto house led to a new sound, very much in the style of ghetto house but with highly unusual syncopation and a distinctive production sound; Juke.

Ghettotech

(also known as Detroit Bass, Booty Bass, Booty Music)

The term "ghettotech", coined by Disco D in 1998, is Electronic music that fuses Ghetto House with the Electro of Detroit Techno innovator Juan Atkins' projects and the fast rhythms of Miami Bass (typically 145 bpm minimum). Innovators of the genre include DJ Godfather, DJ Assault, Disco D and DJ Funk.

Gqom

(also known as Gqomu, Igqom)

Gqom is a musical genre that evolved from South African House music in late 2000s, specifically Kwaito, and is often described as a more minimal and raw version, stripped down to only include the beat. The main difference is Gqom's syncopated rhythm used instead of the Kwaito's 4/4 time signature.

Hard House

(also known as UK Hard House)

Hard House is a harder style of House music. It contains compressed hard beats, signature style off-beat basslines and often makes use of the "Hoover" synthesiser sound.

Hardbass

(also known as Russian Hardbass)

Hardbass is a subgenre of Scouse House that originated from Russia in the early 2000s. It's characterized by bouncy hard bass beats (also known as donk bass), fast tempo, usually 150-175 BPM and occasional lyrics or rapping. DJ Snat, Sonic Mine and XS Project are known for being the pioneers. The most notable success of the genre is "Tri Poloski", reaching the mainstream with millions of plays.

e has become a central stereotype of the gopnik subculture, which refers to young men of lower-class suburban areas coming from families of poor education and limited income. It is commonly associated with the use of Adidas tracksuits, squatting and drinking vodka, being part of the genre aesthetic. Due to the genre's growing popularity, hardbass scenes have begun springing up in several European countries in the 2010s.

Hardvapor

Hardvapour is a genre that emerged from the Vapor movement in 2015 on the Dream Catalogue and Antifur labels. Hardvapour is primarily defined by the fusion of elements of Vaporwave music with elements of Techno and IDM, as well as borrowing a large amount of influence from Hardcore [EDM] and its subsequent subgenres like Speedcore and Gabber. The genre originated from the music released under the various aliases of wosX, and was initially conceived as a counter movement to vaporwave, moving away from the genre's more ambient atmospheres in favor of a darker, more aggressive and rhythmic sound. The term was coined alongside the release of Vaporwave Is Dead by Sandtimer (an alias of vaporwave artist HKE), with the track entitled "Welcome to Hardvapour."

The scene would primarily distinguish itself from other vaporwave offsprings by largely being a reaction against its messages and aesthetics, and by less often using or relying on sampling. Artists will often also use Cyrillic characters in their album and song titles to contrast with the use of Japanese script commonly used in vaporwave. While hardvapour's aesthetics are still somewhat rooted in a form of counter-culture to vaporwave, they tend to focus less on Western capitalism and 1980s Pop cliches and visuals, and instead rely more on visuals and cultural artifacts associated with socialism and eastern Europe, as well as prominent tropes of 1990s rave culture.

Hip House

(also known as House Rap)

Hip house is a subgenre of House which involves rapping instead of singing. Emerging in the late 1980s as popular nightclub music, it went on to gain substantial chart successes in the 1990s. While largely sidelined in the 2000s by Pop Rap, it saw a mini resurgence in the late 2000s/early 2010s as prominent house artists collaborated with hip hop artists to significant chart success and frequent play in clubs.

Italo House

Italo House is an Italo-Disco influenced style of House that originated in Italy during the late '80s. It makes use of anthemic pianos, diva vocals and Dance-Pop song structures. Other sources of inspiration for the genre are Chicago House and Garage House.

Jersey Club

(also known as Brick City Club)

Jersey club is Newark's equivalent of Baltimore Club. Both genres are centered around 4/4, 130-140 BPM beats with chopped repetitive samples and syncopated kick patterns. The difference between the genres lies in some of the mixing techniques and sounds used; Jersey club uses its own signature harder kick and chops the samples even more, while Baltimore club uses more horns. DJ Tameil is often credited as the genre's pioneer.

Juke

(also known as Jukin' House)

Ghetto House had traditionally been at around 140bpm, but tempos were rising in the late nineties as producers sought new sounds; one of these producers was RP Boo. In 1997 he released a track, Baby Come On, which is generally considered to be the starting point of the subgenre of juke house. Juke is faster than ghetto house, playing at 160bpm, and makes striking use of unconventional drum patterns which differ wildly from other house styles. It is further removed from its predecessors by the absence of sampled drums and percussion, relying entirely on drum machines for rhythms. The genre also has its own dance style, footwork, which is sometimes used as an AKA for the music.

Since its development the juke sound has been popular in Chicago, but remained mostly just a local scene. However, by the very late 2000s and early 2010s it began to receive international attention, and became increasingly popular and influential in Britain, with some British producers producing juke tracks or combining juke with Dubstep and UK Funky. Notable Chicago juke DJs/producers include DJ Spinn, DJ Rashad, and DJ Clent, and Addison Groove is an example of a UK juke producer.

Jungle Terror

Jungle Terror is a sub-style of Electro House. Predating Big Room, it shares many of the characteristics of that genre, such as the same 'build-up' elements and the typical 128-130 BPM tempo, but with snare/military drums performing tribal/murda rhythms and less bass to focus on the characteristic elements to the build-up for the drop.

Wiwek is the most well-known artist of this genre for creating the first songs with this characterization back in 2012. In mid-2014, it gained popularity on websites like SoundCloud, turning it into something more elaborate and stable.

Kwaito

Emerging from South Africa in the early 1990s, Kwaito is a music genre that takes influence from Disco, Hip Hop, and - most obviously - American and British House music. Its songs usually feature deep basslines, looped samples from more traditional styles of African music, and often sung or rapped vocals, which are usually male.

Latin House

(also known as Latino House)

Latin House emerged as a new style of House music in the second half of the 1980s, when artists like Raz & Liz Torres mixed elements of American Latin American Music music with Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, Dominican and Colombian origin. During the 1990s, Proyecto Uno and Sandy & Papo MC developed this style, blending House with Merengue and labels like Cutting Records and Nervous Records broke into this scene with a large number of Latin House releases. The interest for this music was maintained constant in 2000s, when this music was represented mainly by House mixes of old popular Latin songs.

Mallsoft

(also known as Mallwave)

Mallsoft is a subgenre of Vaporwave that first appeared in 2012 that blends the main characteristics of the genre with what can be described as background/elevator music. Mallsoft typically samples music commonly played in malls and other shopping centers, such as Easy Listening, Smooth Jazz or other forms of background or elevator music associated with Muzak, and it sometimes mixes in some elements from Ambient. Mallsoft artists often apply to said mall muzak a heavy use of reverb in addition to other editing practices commonly found in vaporwave.

As a result, mallsoft is made to resemble the ambiance and reverberation of large, crowded malls with huge spaces and hazy atmospheres, sometimes incorporating Field Recordings of actual malls to further achieve this sound. The 2016 album ショップ @ ヘルシンキ by 猫 シ Corp. [Cat System Corp.] is a testament to this, as it includes samples of mall recordings from Helsinki, Finland. Mallsoft albums often elicit these tones in a hazy, dream-like atmosphere, sometimes expressing nostalgia for cruising through popular malls and 1980s-1990s consumerism. Undertones of hyper-capitalism or even anti-capitalism are also common. Alternately, some mallsoft instead uses a more eerie or ominous atmosphere to evoke the feeling of abandoned, empty malls.

An early example of the genre is Hantasi's debut album Vacant Places from late 2012, which mixes muzak with heavy layers of delay and reverb. Other prominent albums which helped to define the sound of the genre in the following years include 슈퍼마켓Yes! We're Open by 식료품groceries and Palm Mall by 猫 シ Corp., with the latter being most noted for its 22-minute title track that blends distant-sounding muzak with the ambient noises of a mall. Kmart 1989​-​1992 by PowerPCME is also notable for its sampled material coming from the tapes of actual music played in a specific store, Kmart.

Melbourne Bounce

(also known as Melbourne Sound)

Melbourne bounce is a style of Electro House that began in Melbourne, Australia in the early 2010s. While it developed in Melbourne, it has spread around all of Australia and even internationally. The tempo is usually higher than most house music, being set at around 128-135 BPM, more often towards the latter. This gives the music a 'bouncy' sound, hence the name. The genre takes influence from many genres such as Fidget House, Dutch House and Complextro with the lead synths, Jumpstyle with its rhythm and even takes influence from Psytrance with it's basslines. The 'drops' in Melbourne bounce usually feature heavily chopped-up and sidechained synths, vocals or horns.

Some of the most notable artists in the genre include Will Sparks (who pioneered the genre), Joel Fletcher, Bombs Away, Timmy Trumpet, Krunk! and Kronic. Even Knife Party's 2015 EP Trigger Warning features Melbourne bounce.

Microhouse

(also known as Minimal House)

Microhouse is a stripped down, minimal form of House music, originating in the late 90s, which takes influence from Minimal Techno, Glitch and IDM. Although often built around a steady 4/4 time signature, it differs from traditional House music with regard to its use of samples: short clips of static, glitches and sometimes even human voices are often included, as opposed to House's common use of drum machine samples, such as hi-hats and kick drums. The genre has increased in popularity over the years, especially within Europe, with artists such as Ricardo Villalobos and Luomo enjoying a strong underground following and critical success.

NRG

(also known as Nu NRG, Hard NRG)

NRG is an Electronic Dance Music style that emerged from Trance and Hard House and became popular with the rave scene. The genre's name was established by the offbeat bass patterns that were inspired from Hi-NRG, which were added over darker and more anthemic trance beats and synths mostly on the 155-165 BPM range, mostly lacking the strong presence of uplifting melodies to give a more rhythmic atmosphere. The genre still follows the traditional trance structure but the atmosphere is cleaner and more minimalistic than Hard Trance.

Nu-Disco

This genre describes a recent musical trend within House music from around the turn of the 21st century onwards, characterised by a renewed interest in the instrumental techniques and aesthetics of 1970s and 1980s Disco, Euro-Disco, and Boogie, as well as the stylistic tropes of mid-1980s Italo-Disco. The result can be described as a combination of elements of Disco and House.

This genre is not to be mistaken for the term's alternate early usage as a descriptor for French House.

Outsider House

(also known as Lo-Fi House)

Outsider House is a gritty style of Deep House music characterised by its DIY nature, intentional use of lo-fi production, and utilising a mix of analogue and digital instrumentation. It stands in opposition to the recent commercialization of deep house by avoiding the polished sounds that have caught on in the mainstream. Ron Morelli's Long Island Electrical Systems label is considered the hub of this sub-genre, paving the way for such producers as Delroy Edwards, Anthony Naples, and Huerco S., coming from various backgrounds and applying Punk or avant-garde ethos to Dance music.

Progressive House

A heavily Trance influenced strain of House music that grew to prominence with the rise of the British rave scene of the early 90s. It often includes many dramatic builds, crescendos and breakdowns.

Before Trance's rise to wide popularity in the mid 90s it was often used interchangeably with Progressive House.

Scouse House

(also known as Bouncy House)

Scouse House is a subgenre of House music that features an upbeat and energetic sound often described as being "bouncy", influenced somewhat by Happy Hardcore (which is often sampled by Scouse House producers). The genre originally developed in Liverpool and the other cities in the northwest of England. Examples of Scouse House producers include The Blackout Crew and Hyper Deejays.

Tech House

A fusion of House with Techno where the atmospheric or minimal production tendencies of some house subgenres combine with the minimal qualities of techno to form a more melodic and introspective genre. The genre takes influence from a variety of related, minimal house and techno subgenres such as Progressive House, Deep House, Microhouse and Minimal Techno.

Tribal House

Tribal house fuses multiple types of electronic music, adding tribal drum patterns for percussion and has a fusion of various styles of electronic dance music. The music ranges from uplifting and cheerful to dark and aggressive in mood. Some examples of artists who have released music in this style are Danny Tenaglia, Junior Vasquez, Peter Rauhofer, DJ Vibe and This Morn' Omina.

Tropical House

(also known as Trop House, Summer House)

Tropical house is a style of House that emerged in the early 2010s, developing on the established Deep House sound. It has a lighter and more relaxed sound, and sets out to create summery or beach-like atmospheres. Tropical house artists often use organic instruments (whether they're recorded, sampled or just synthesisers set to sound organic) such as trumpets, marimbas, pan flutes, saxophones, various percussive instruments, guitars (often palm-muted), etc.

Thomas Jack coined the term. In an interview with Thissongissick, Thomas claims the genre was initially meant as a joke, but he decided to stick with it. Since then, other artists have been matching this style in their own releases of tropical house music, and the genre has grown larger and spread to a wider audience around the world through various electronic outlets.

Utopian Virtual

(also known as Midijams, Muzakcore)

Utopian virtual is a style of Vapor music which evolved as part of the Vaporwave scene in the early to mid-2010s. The genre focuses on the sound and aesthetics of commercial Electronic music of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly corporate-associated background music such as Muzak which vaporwave and Mallsoft artists also utilize. The genre takes inspiration from a variety of sounds, particularly the sonic moods of New Age, Easy Listening, and Smooth Jazz, with compositional influences from Hypnagogic Pop and Synthpop. This wide array of influences is brought together with a limited sound palette inspired by the "tacky" sound of late 20th century synthesizers, ringtones, and sample-based synthesis as found in Sequencer & Tracker music from early game consoles and home computers.

The genre's name comes from the genre-defining 2011 album Far Side Virtual by James Ferraro which built on the nostalgic atmosphere and technological utopian themes of previous Ferraro and Spencer Clark works within hypnagogic pop, specifically iAsia, Pixarni, and The Spectacle of Light Abductions. Although much of the same themes are shared between Ferraro’s hypnagogic pop and utopian virtual releases, the latter would eschew the lo-fi, repetitive, long-form ambience in exchange for hi-fi, layered arrangements that sought to emulate the sound of uncanny valley.

Although it evolved in parallel to vaporwave and utilizes similar aesthetics, utopian virtual does not typically sample recordings of the period wholesale, and its artists instead rely on emulation of this sound for their original compositions. Even as it remained a fairly niche style, prominent vaporwave artists dabbled in utopian virtual, like Vektroid under the alias PrismCorp Virtual Enterprises who built nostalgic atmospheres by recontextualizing MIDI arrangements of actual corporate and easy listening music from decades past. Other artists like Eyeliner and Graham Kartna would take the sound in a more Pop-oriented direction with influences from Chillwave and even Electro-Disco. The genre would also leave its mark on the experimental and Progressive Electronic music of the 2010s, particularly releases on Orange Milk Records and by artists like Giant Claw and Nico Niquo.

Vapor

Vapor is a term used to describe an internet-based Electronic musical movement that arose in the early 2010s, beginning with the rise of Vaporwave. The 2010 release of Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1 by Daniel Lopatin under his Chuck Person alias is commonly recognised as the beginning of vaporwave as a genre as well as the vapor movement as a whole (and "eccojams" is sometimes used as a name for this original style). The album would soon be followed by Macintosh Plus's Floral Shoppe and James Ferraro's Far Side Virtual in 2011, bringing greater exposure to the sound of vaporwave and its associated aesthetics.

Most early vaporwave releases were based around processed and manipulated samples of corporate mood and background music, particularly of 1980s and 1990s Pop, Contemporary R&B, and Smooth Jazz, combined with influence from Chopped and Screwed editing techniques (slowing down and cutting up) and the psychedelic, hauntological trends that cropped up in the late 2000s: Hypnagogic Pop, Chillwave, and Witch House. The use of looping, glitching, pitch-bending, panning, and echoing these samples came to define the sound of not just the original vaporwave style but also the derivatives and variations which soon emerged, giving this music a hazy, surreal, and often atmospheric quality. The original "vaporwave" name itself comes from the concept of "vaporware" (a software or hardware project that fails to be released to the public); as such, the movement alludes to a disconnection or separation from reality presented through its original form (heard by a song's manipulation vs. its original source). Also, Far Side Virtual would introduce the usage of retro MIDI-esque electronic instruments to evoke muzak with a focus on hyperreality, and the album is considered to be a defining work in the substyle known as Utopian Virtual.

In addition, vaporwave birthed a distinct aesthetic that would come to be associated with the term and, subsequently, the whole of the vapor movement. The visual side would already be established with early releases, which had artwork that incorporated elements of media and culture of the 1980s and early 1990s, as well as related subcultures like cyberpunk and anime, and tracklistings using uncommon symbols, full-width characters, and Japanese script. In conjunction with the manipulated, often intentionally degraded sound of vapor music, much of this artwork also featured VHS-like image distortion or digital artifacts and glitching, embracing the limitations and flaws of past technology and positioning it within the broader post-internet art landscape. This aesthetic, alongside the music, has also been associated with satirising and critiquing consumer capitalism and the culture surrounding technology, particularly in the past decades it draws material from, though often with a heavy dose of irony.

The vapor movement would explode in 2012 due to the relative ease of creating vaporwave in digital audio editors, the decentralised online nature of the movement, and more mainstream exposure through websites like YouTube and Reddit, along with interest in the connected "seapunk" aesthetic. Thousands of new producers and aliases would pop up on sites like Bandcamp and SoundCloud, as would netlabels like Beer on the Rug, Dream Catalogue, and DMT Tapes FL that provided audiences for many of these new artists. Vaporwave also fractured into many directions, with the vapor community being quick to identify and name new subgenres based on specific visual or musical aesthetics. Some of these remained closer to the original vaporwave style and its usage of manipulated samples, such as Mallsoft with atmospheric reverb intended to evoke the soundscape of a mall, and Broken Transmission which typically takes the form of a Sound Collage based around Radio Broadcast Recordings.

Yet other trends brought in influences from other music genres, transforming the vapor sound and aesthetic to the point where it has been argued that they may no longer be vaporwave proper. One of the earliest and most popular of these is Future Funk, which combined the editing techniques with a more sped-up dance sound based on Nu-Disco as artists like Saint Pepsi and マクロスMACROSS 82-99 pioneered the style with sampling focused more explicitly on Japanese City Pop. Other offshoots include, but are not limited to, the aforementioned utopian virtual; Vaportrap, which was pioneered by Blank Banshee and incorporates percussion influenced by Trap; Dreampunk, originating in the work of 2814 and HKE on Dream Catalogue, which applies vapor aesthetics to Ambient; and Hardvapour, a style of abrasive Electronic Dance Music that emerged as a direct reaction and intentional opposition to the original vaporwave sound, as prominently showcased on the various artists Hardvapour. album in 2016. Though these genres ditch some of the core musical elements of vaporwave, including its hazy atmosphere and even the use of sampling altogether, they are still commonly considered part of the vapor movement due to their shared aesthetic and common origin, and fittingly many of these artists release their music on vaporwave netlabels.

After vaporwave gained mainstream exposure in the mid-2010s, some would (often jokingly) refer to the genre as "dead", but the vapor movement has lived on both in its original vaporwave style and its many variants and offshoots. Even as it has faded out from mainstream prominence, there still remains a vibrant underground of artists and netlabels, and in 2019 the influential vapor artist George Clanton hosted the first 100% ElectroniCON, a music festival dedicated to vapor music. The vapor movement has also influenced and been influenced by musical trends through the 2010s that emerged alongside it, like Cloud Rap, chillwave, and Lo-Fi Hip Hop, as well as the retro aesthetic of Synthwave.

Vaportrap

Vaportrap is a genre in the Vapor movement that incorporates a blend of Trap percussion set to the re-utilisation of old samples, such as 1990s pop culture or old computer library sounds. Vaportrap often uses samples from old computer software, as evident in Blank Banshee's Blank Banshee 0. These samples have helped guide the direction of the genre, whilst the influence of vaporwave's aesthetic is kept strong through theming, art and presentation. As the 2010s progressed, vaportrap became distinct from the Vaporwave genre, as artists like Vaperror incorporated new influences into the genre, like Juke or Footwork.

The influence of 1990s cyber-culture and technology remains an important aspect of the genre, as evident with old computer screens being featured in the artwork of vaportrap releases like Computer Dreams, or the old Windows logo gracing the album art of ２４０ｐ.

Vaporwave

(also known as Eccojams)

Vaporwave is a sample-based genre characterised by heavily synthesised and processed manipulation of corporate mood and background (elevator) music; though the source material can also include genres such as Pop, Contemporary R&B, Synth Funk, Smooth Jazz, and Exotica. Technically it generally consists of brief sketches or motifs altered by utilising Chopped and Screwed editing techniques (slowing down and cutting). Looping, glitching, pitch-bending, panning, and echoing are commonplace editing practices, and many use medium to heavy reverberation to create Ambient pieces out of the source material.

Initially referred to as "eccojams", as noted on one of the earliest and most notable releases Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1, vaporwave became the most common term for the style once more producers took to the editing style. The name itself is a spin on the 1980s term "vaporware" (a software or hardware project that fails to be released to the public); as such, vaporwave alludes to a disconnection or separation from reality presented through its original form (heard by a song's manipulation vs. its original source). The sound results in a sacred, mystical, sultry, dreamy, hyper-real, and/or crystal-clear caricature of mass media from the late 1980s, to the popularity of the home computer of the mid-to-late 1990s, and onward. After a few years in the underground, from 2012 onwards thousands of releases began springing up, as many new (and old) producers took to the style to showcase their own spin on the genre. The release of James Ferraro's Far Side Virtual and Macintosh Plus' Floral Shoppe were a large part of the new exposure, and both are still regarded as prominent examples of the genre's varied sound.

Even as early as the 2012 rise of the genre, many producers began to use vaporwave as a catalyst to create hybridised and experimental new genres, many giving them their own names to discern them from the "traditional" sound. A common example is the use of Trap production, where the sampling is used to create the backing atmosphere behind the rhythmic section. Blank Banshee and Vaperror were notable in developing such a style, and many other producers have followed suit in what is now called Vaportrap. Another common spin on the original sound was the use of French House and/or Nu-Disco style editing and rhythms, pioneered by Saint Pepsi and マクロスMACROSS 82-99. This style was eventually dubbed Future Funk, and became its own separate scene.

As the genre grew and more people took to creating music in its style, the original sound of the genre would be developed far beyond its original bounds. Many producers created music that was fairly distant from the original sound, though they used the visual aesthetic developed by vaporwave and often released on associated netlabels, and retained specific attributes like its hazy atmosphere, the use of sampling, or simply 1980s and 1990s nostalgia. The self-satirising and countercultural overtones of the scene have also lead to many microgenres (and relevant scenes/cliques) being formed, often causing dissent within the overall scene. These styles, along with the original vaporwave sound, would eventually be recognised as the larger Vapor movement through the 2010s and beyond.

Witch House

(also known as Drag, Haunted House, Screwgaze, Crunk Shoegaze)

Witch House is type of dark Electronic music influenced by Chopped and Screwed, Darkwave, Drone and Shoegaze. Altered and slowed down samples, both vocal and melodic, are frequently employed in combination with drum machine beats. The genre initially grew out of Chillwave, where SALEM pioneered a sound that would be foundational for Witch House. Other important artists of the genre include White Ring, Balam Acab and oOoOO.

Definitions courtesy of rateyourmusic.com

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