Afro House BPM

The original house sound from clubs like The Warehouse and Music Box. Drum machine patterns (TR-707, TR-909), Roland bass, and disco DNA. Pioneered by Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, and Larry Heard.

A smoother, more atmospheric take on house. Warm pads, jazzy chords, and subdued vocals create a hypnotic, late-night feel.

Blends house groove with techno's minimalism. Punchy percussion, rolling basslines, and stripped-back arrangements dominate the dancefloor.

Long, evolving builds and breakdowns with layered melodies. Tracks develop gradually over 7-10 minutes with emotional peaks.

Defined by the squelchy, resonant sound of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer. A pivotal genre in rave culture.

Big, distorted basslines and aggressive synth leads. High-energy festival sound with dramatic drops. Distinct from classic 'electro' (electrofunk).

Infuses house with funk and disco elements. Groovy basslines, filtered samples, and uplifting energy.

Filter-driven house pioneered by Daft Punk, Cassius, Stardust, and the Ed Banger crew. Heavily filtered disco and funk samples, sidechain pumping, and phaser sweeps.

House built on disco loops and live instrumentation feel. Strings, horns, slap bass, and four-on-the-floor uplift. Overlaps with French and funky house.

House with gospel-rooted vocals, jazzy keys, and live-feel arrangements. Defined by labels like Defected, Soulfuric, and artists like Louie Vega and Kerri Chandler.

The New York/New Jersey vocal house sound from Paradise Garage and Tony Humphries era. Soulful, gospel-tinged vocals over swung drums. Direct ancestor of UK garage.

Bouncy, metallic-bass house pioneered by Tchami, Oliver Heldens, and Don Diablo. Mid-2010s Spinnin'/Mixmash sound bridging UK garage swing and big-room drops.

Aggressive, bass-forward house drawing from UK bassline and dubstep. AC Slater, Joyryde, Habstrakt territory. Heavy mid-range growls over four-on-the-floor.

Gangsta-house: tech house with West Coast hip-hop samples and gangsta rap acapellas. Pioneered by AC Slater, Amine Edge & DANCE, and the Night Bass label.

Stripped-down festival house built around massive kick-driven drops. Hardwell, Martin Garrix, W&W era of Mainstage EDM at Tomorrowland and Ultra.

Slow, sun-soaked house with marimba/steel-drum leads, panflutes, and tropical instrumentation. Popularized by Kygo, Thomas Jack, and Matoma in 2014–2016.

Plucked, slap-bass-driven house with downtempo trap-influenced energy. Brazilian Bass evolution: Imanbek, VIZE, Alok. Massive in 2019–2021.

São Paulo–born deep house variant with prominent slappy bass and minimal arrangement. Alok, Bhaskar, and Vintage Culture defined the sound that birthed slap house globally.

Glitchy, micro-sampled minimal house pioneered by Akufen, Ricardo Villalobos, and the Perlon/Kompakt circle. Granular textures and click-house grooves.

UK rave-era hard house with pumping kicks, hoover synths, and crowd-rallying energy. Tidy Trax, Trade nightclub heritage. Tony De Vit, BK, Lisa Lashes.

Late-80s Italian house with piano stabs, female diva vocals, and synth strings. Black Box's 'Ride on Time' and 49ers epitomize the sound.

House laced with congas, timbales, and Latin/salsa percussion. DJ Disciple, Erick Morillo, Roger Sanchez crossover sound.

Raw, sexually explicit Chicago house with stripped 808/909 patterns. Dance Mania label sound: DJ Funk, DJ Deeon. Direct precursor to juke and footwork.

Cut-up disco-loop house with chopped vocal stabs and bouncy swung drums. Strictly Rhythm/Defected territory. The 'jacking' references original Chicago house dance.

Raw, lo-fi, outsider-art house from labels like L.I.E.S., Mood Hut, and 1080p. DJ Sotofett, Huerco S., Anthony Naples. Tape hiss and DIY production aesthetics.

Raw, tape-saturated house with intentionally degraded sound quality. Vintage samples, dusty drums, and DIY aesthetic. Ross From Friends, DJ Boring, Mall Grab.

Fuses house music with African rhythms, percussion, and melodic elements. Rich in polyrhythmic patterns and organic instrumentation. Black Coffee, Keinemusik.

Tech house variant with African percussion layers, log drums, and organic textures. Sits between Afro House and tech house: Themba, Black Motion sound.

Layered, percussive, melody-soft house championed by labels like All Day I Dream and Crosstown Rebels. Bedouin, Sébastien Léger, Tinlicker, Bona Fide. Subtle, warm, organic textures over deep grooves.

Anjunadeep-adjacent, emotional, melody-led house. Innellea, Massano, Cassian, Anyma, Argy. Distinct from melodic-techno: groovier, slightly slower, more song-like.

Percussion-heavy house with congas, djembes, bongos, and chant vocals. Pier Bucci, DJ Chus, Stephan Hinz territory. Different from Afro House: tribal is more global drum focused.