Electro house is a music genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute.
Characteristics
Simon Reynolds described electro house, as a style attributed to artists like
Zedd,
Erol Alkan and
Bloody Beetroots.
Electro-house is typified by its heavy bass.
This is often in the form of buzzing
,
such as those created with
and distortion.
It is also often in the form of large
bass drum sounds
in a four-on-the-floor pattern.
The
tempo of electro house is usually between 125 and 135 beats per minute.
Electro house sometimes resembles
tech house,
but it can contain melodic elements
and electro-influenced samples and
Synthesizer.
In contrast, Reynolds stated the genre had "little relationship with either
House music or electro".
History
Reynolds described the sound as being influenced by
Discovery by
Daft Punk and further developed by Justice and Digitalism.
The sound was popularized in the United States by deadmau5 and noted the style's distinct style had a "dirty bass" with "grinding and whirring sawtooth b-lines".
By 2011, the word "electro" had come to be seen as an adjective denoting "hard electronic dance music".
Early songs that have been labelled retroactively as electro house include "Dark Invader" (1996) by Arrivers and "Raw S*it" (1997) by Basement Jaxx.
Andy Kellman of AllMusic described "Satisfaction" (2002) by Italian DJ Benny Benassi as being a precursor to electro-house.[ ( English translation)] and Dada Life have emerged.
Subgenres
Big room
In the early 2010s, a type of electro house known as
big room began to develop, particularly gaining popularity through EDM-oriented events and festivals. Big room songs resemble
Dutch house, often incorporating drops, minimalist percussion, regular beats,
sub-bass layered
Bass drum, simple
Melody and
Synthesizer-driven breakdowns.
The layout of a big room track is very similar to the layout of a typical electro house song.
Complextro
Complextro is typified by glitchy, intricate
and textures created by sharply cutting between instruments in quick succession.
The term, a
portmanteau of the words "complex" and "electro",
was coined by
Porter Robinson to describe the music he was making in 2010.
He has cited video game sounds, or
, as an influence on his music along with 1980s analog synth music.
Other producers of the genre include
Adventure Club, Kill the Noise,
Jon Gooch,
Knife Party, The M Machine,
Madeon,
, Savant,
Virtual Riot, Deadmau5 and
Wolfgang Gartner.
Dutch house
Dutch house, sometimes referred to as 'Dirty Dutch', is a style of electro house that originated in the
Netherlands and found prominence by 2009,
mainly pioneered by
Vato Gonzalez,
Afrojack and
DJ Chuckie. It is primarily defined by complex rhythms made from Latin-influenced drum kits, a lower emphasis on basslines and squeaky, high-pitched lead synths. Influences on the subgenre include
Detroit techno, hip hop and other urban styles of music.
Fidget house
Fidget house, or
fidget, is "defined by snatched vocal snippets, pitch-bent dirty basslines and rave-style synth stabs over glitchy 4/4 beats."
It contains influences from
Chicago house,
Detroit techno,
Baltimore club,
Kuduro and hip hop.
Purveyors of the genre include The Bloody Beetroots, AC Slater, Danger, Hervé,
Jack Beats and Switch. The term fidget house was coined by DJs/producers Jesse Rose and Switch, "as a joke, which has now gone a little too far."
Melbourne bounce
Melbourne bounce is a subgenre of electro house originating in
Melbourne, Australia, characterized by the progression from the
uptempo, horn-infused Dutch house style,
tech trance synths, electro house stabs, and
scouse house-influenced bass lines,
sometimes also including elements of
acid house or psytrance.
The genre is generally characterized by a standard 128 bpm, although in some cases up to 150 bpm. The term has been used to describe the 2012 to 2016 music of some DJ/producers, including
Deorro,
Joel Fletcher,
Will Sparks,
Vinai, and TJR. It is composed of bouncy offbeat bass, whiny vocal cut/saw lead, raucous horns, 8-bar snare fills before the drop.
It often features a repetitive beat structure with some amount of build-ups and mild drops throughout. It started as a cross between elements, and underground Melbourne house/
Microhouse style. Melbourne bounce gained popularity around mid to late 2012 and had a steady rise from 2013. In 2014, productions of
Joel Fletcher,
Will Sparks, and Uberjak'd were playing both domestically and internationally, and influencing the EDM style of
Steve Aoki, TJR, and more.
Further development
Jungle terror
Jungle terror is a music genre that developed in the 2010s. It is often described as a "chaotic" mix of house with grime and drum 'n' bass rhythms.
There are also animal noises as well as vocal cuts and percussions. The Dutch DJ and music producer
Wiwek is named as the founder of the genre,
who made the style popular in the EDM scene between 2013 and 2016.
Skrillex,
Diplo and
KURA are also associated with the genre.
Moombahton
Moombahton came as a mixture of slowed-down Dutch house and
reggaeton.
Its identifying characteristics include "a thick, spread-out bass line; some dramatic builds; and a two-step pulse, with quick drum fills",
but it has "no real rules beyond working within a 108 bpm range."
A
portmanteau of "moombah" and "reggaeton", moombahton was created by DJ
Dave Nada when he slowed down the tempo of the
Afrojack remix of the Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie song "Moombah" to please party-goers with tastes in reggaeton.
Other producers of the genre include
Dillon Francis, Diplo and Munchi.
Moombahcore is a style of moombahton with elements of breakcore, dubstep, techstep and newstyle hardcore.
See also
-
List of electro house artists
-
List of electronic music genres
-
List of electronic dance music genres
Notes and references
