Bloghouse (also known as bloghaus) is a loosely defined scene and microgenre of house music and electronic dance music that rose to prominence during the early 2000s. Initially emerging on the Internet similarly to other early blog-related music scenes such as blog rock and blog rap. Bloghouse was characterized by its fusion of electroclash, house music, New rave, electro house, electro dance, electro hop, nu-disco, French touch, new wave
The bloghouse era went on to become an influence on the hyperpop
Etymology
The term "bloghouse" was coined by Carles, the anonymous writer behind the
Music blog and culture blog,
Hipster Runoff. He used the term in a post titled
"WTF is Blog House?", published on July 10, 2008, to describe several prominent
electronica-related acts that emerged in the early 2000s.
In the article Carles, listed several artists as part of the bloghouse umbrella, including prominent acts like Justice and
Crystal Castles, alongside artists that would later be more closely associated with the
blog rock movement, such as
Black Kids. Artists like Interpol from New York's post-punk revival scene were also mentioned. Over time, the sound of bloghouse became more narrowly defined, describing a proliferation of
electronic music artists that were associated with the early online musical
blogosphere.
Characteristics
During the bloghouse era, artists gained popularity primarily through the early stages of online music discussion on MP3 blogs and
like
Hype Machine, Music for Robots and
Blogspot.
In 2021, author Lina Abascal defined the bloghouse era as being
Bloghouse was defined not by sound but by distribution. Rather than relying on traditional labels, tracks were shared by independent
Bloggers, frequently using platforms like Blogspot paired with file-hosting services like
MediaFire or
Zippyshare.
Listeners now learned about new artists through blogs before encountering them in clubs or at shows. Promoters booked acts based on online attention.
’s Dave 1 stated: "It was
Billboard versus Hype Machine: the mainstream press covered them, the blogs covered us".
History
2000s
Origins
During the early to mid‑2000s, the widespread adoption of home computers and dial-up internet contributed to a new form of musical distribution,
. By 2003, nearly 60% of Americans had internet access, compared to just 40% in 2000.
Bloggers began to post daily streams of new tracks on sites like
Hype Machine.
In 2004, photographer Mark Hunter launched a party blog known as "Polaroid Scene", which posted photos of late-night parties, such as Cory Kennedy. The site allowed anyone on the internet to have access to the emerging hipster subculture.
Revival
During the late 2010s to early 2020s, the bloghouse era became an influence on
hyperpop artists such as SOPHIE
and
Charli XCX,
alongside artists associated with the emerging "
indie sleaze" aesthetic, such as
the Hellp,
and the Dare.
's 2019 track "Don't Start Now" has been described as "bloghouse-esque",
while artist
Grace Ives was labelled a "bloghouse revivalist".
Additionally, the bloghouse era has been recognized as an influence on the 2020s underground rap scene, with Pitchfork describing rapper Fakemink's 2025 single "Easter Pink" as "Bloghouse meets cloud rap".
See also
