Microhouse

Microhouse took shape around the turn of the millennium when house met glitch and decided that a software error deserved a fee. Instead of fat loops came clicks, clipped voices, domestic noise and microsamples; instead of emptiness, precisely measured silence. Philip Sherburne named the aesthetic in The Wire in 2001, while Akufen, Farben, Luomo, Isolée and labels such as Perlon, Force Tracks and Kompakt showed that tiny sounds could command a large floor. It is minimalism with funk: the music economises on everything except judgement. Even its defects passed an audition.