Pete Tong - Essential Decade 1990-2000 - Mixmag - Tech House

Information on the Tech House Genre

Tech house, like progressive house, represents a fusion of house and either techno or minimal. However, whereas progressive house tends to incorporate atmospheric, ethereal, almost ambient sounds and is often mixed to varying degrees with trance and progressive trance, tech-house tends to have more in common with soulful deep house, traditional Detroit-style techno, and contemporary minimal, with which it is often mixed in practice. This style fuses "steady techno rhythms with the soul and accessibility of house.

As a mixing style, tech-house often brings together deep or minimal techno music, the soulful and jazzy end of house, some minimal techno and microhouse (especially with a soulful feel, such as Luomo’s music), and very often some dub elements. There is some overlap with progressive house, which too can contain deep, soulful, dub, and techno elements; this is especially true since the turn of the millennium, as progressive-house mixes have themselves often become deeper and sometimes more minimal. However, the typical progressive-house mix--which might integrate some funky house, trance, and even some hard techno at times--has more energy than tech-house, which tends to have a more “laid-back” feel. Tech-house fans tend to appreciate subtlety, as well as the “middle ground” that adds a “splash of color to steel techno beats” and eschews the “banging” of house music for intricate rhythms. Also in contrast to most progressive house, which tends to have a progression over the course of the mix ending in an ecstatic release of energy at the end, tech-house often aims at achieving an even “groove.” Although there might be dips and peaks in the energy level--any interesting mix will have them, after all--they will be more on the restrained side. As such, tech-house is found to be as enjoyable a "headphone experience" as it is a dancefloor one, a fact not lost on the creaters of such music - a classic release by the duo MRI on the Force Tracks label was their 12" titled "Nightclubbing at Home".

Main exponents of the genre include Mr C (who is said to have first coined the term), Eddie Richards, Terry Francis, Dave Mothersole, Gideon, Justin Bailey,Laurant Webb,Layo & Bushwacka!, Jean F. Cochois aka The Timewriter, John Tejada, Tony Thomas, Lee Burridge, Relentless, Craig Richards, Aubrey, James Zabiela, Laurent Garnier, Ian Pooley, D-Unity, Koen Groeneveld, Gastek,Adam K and Soha & Steve Angello.