Electronic » House » Microhouse

Coined in a 2001 article in The Wire by writer and DJ Philip Sherburne, microhouse was a term used to categorize dozens of largely German producers whose approach to house music emphasized subtleties and space as much as deep house producers relied on anthemic hooks and emphatic vocals. Even so, microhouse productions found a meeting point between deep house and minimal techno. The stern rigidities of the latter were forsaken while the sensual and boisterous capabilities of the former were embraced; to flip the scenario, microhouse took a cue from minimal techno’s “less is more” doctrine, regularly abandoning deep house’s excessive ornamentation. Emphasis tended to fall on cushiony kick-drum thumps and the accompanying hi-hats, with faint textures provided by synthetic strings and dreamy keyboard tones. Throughout the late ‘90s and early 2000s, several small labels thriving on this approach cropped up. A fair percentage of the output from already-established labels like Playhouse (Isolée, Losoul), Kompakt (Sascha Funke, M. Mayer) and Klang Elektronik (Farben) made for some of microhouse’s most thrilling moments. Other labels -- such as Force Tracks (Luomo, MRI), Perlon (Ricardo Villalobos, Pantytec) and Trapez (Akufen, M.I.A.) –- were virtually all-microhouse in scope.