Tech house is a subgenre of house music that mixes elements of techno with house music. The term tech house developed as a shorthand 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.[1][2] The music originally had a clean and minimal production style that was associated with techno from Detroit and the UK.[2] 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.[1] Other DJs and artists associated with the sound at that time included Charles Webster, Bushwacka!, Dave Angel, Herbert, Funk D'Void, Ian O'Brien, Derrick Carter, and Stacey Pullen.[1][2] By late 2000 London nightclub The End, owned by the former Shamen rapper Richard West (Mr C) and Laylo Paskin, was considered the home of tech house in the UK

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.[3]

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.

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