- published: 16 Mar 2016
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Tech house is a subgenre of house music that mixes elements of techno with house music. The term tech house developed as a short-hand record store name for a category of electronic dance music that combined musical aspects of techno, such as "rugged basslines" and "steely beats," with the harmonies and grooves of progressive house. The music originally had a clean and minimal production style that was associated with techno from Detroit and the UK. In the mid to late 1990s a scene developed in England around club nights such as Heart & Soul, and Wiggle, the latter run by Terry Francis and Nathan Cole. By late 2000 London nightclub The End, owned by one time Shamen rapper Richard West (Mr C) and Laylo Paskin, was considered the home of tech house in the UK. Other DJs and artists associated with the sound at that time included Charles Webster, Blake Baxter, Bushwacka!, Dave Angel, Herbert, Funk D'Void, Ian O'Brien, Derrick Carter, and Stacey Pullen.
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.