Future house
Future house (aka UK deep house) is a combination/mix of UK garage and deep house, additionally incorporating EDM elements. With a tempo typically between 120 and 130 bpm, future house is characterized by a 4/4 beat with quite some hi-hat work, metallic, plucked and elastic sounding hooks/melodies, big drops and frequency-modulated basses.
Future house was born in 2013 when French producer/dj Tchami (born Martin Joseph Léonard Bresso) used this term as a tag for his remix of Janet Jackson's 1997 song »Go Deep« on the music/streaming platform SoundCloud. Originally not intended by him as a genre but just used as a term to make his tracks stand out it soon became a genre name used by media and fans. The same year, Tchami released the EP »Promesses«, consisting of the tracks »Promesses« and »Shot Caller« which would be re-released as singles by Ministry of Sound in 2014 and 2015. Tchami is also known as a co-producer for DJ Snake, being involved in hits like DJ Snake’s »Turn Down for What (feat. Lil Jon)« (2013) and AlunaGeorge’s »You Know You Like It (DJ Snake Remix)« (2014), as well as a remixer, known e.g. for his remix of of Marshall Jefferson’s »Move Your Body« (2014).
Two other pioneers of future house are Dutch djs/producers Don Diablo – known e.g. for »Momentum« (2017) – and Oliver Heldens (aka HI-LO). Not only did Heldens have his personal breakthrough with the tracks »Gecko« (2013) and »Koala« (2014) – the chart success of the vocal versions brought mainstream recognition to the new genre. In 2014, »Gecko (Overdrive)«, featuring additional vocals by Becky Hill, went No.1 in the British top 40, »Last All Night (Koala)«, featuring additional vocals by KStewart, reached No. 5 in the British single charts and No.1 in the British dance charts. Oliver Heldens enjoyed further chart success with tracks like »The Right Song« (2016), »Fire in My Soul« (2018)« and »Turn Me On« (2019) and became one of the most popular future house djs. The Dutch label Spinning’ Records – including the sublabel Hexagon owned by Don Diablo – also played an important role in pushing the new genre.
Soon, other artists discovered the new sound and incorporated it into their works – like French dj/producer Martin Solveig with »Intoxicated« (2015, with GTA) or Swedish duo Cazzette (consisting of Alexander Björklund and Sebastian Furrer) whose first future house single »Sleepless« (2014, feat. The High) was a charts success. Other future house artists include Jonas Aden (now known as Aden Foyer), Curbi (born Tobias Paul Curwen-Bingley) who is known e.g. for »Discharge« (2015) and Brooks (born Thijs Westbroek), known for »Byte« (2017, with Martin Garrix), or »Better When You're Gone« (2018, with David Guetta and Loote). Along with Mike Williams (born Mike Willemsen), Justin Mylo (born Emilio Justin Behr) and Mesto (born Melle Kiet Stomp) he is one of the pioneers of the subgenre future bounce which combines the bouncy, party-oriented Melbourne bounce with future house's metallic sounds, like in »Bouncybob« by Martin Garrix feat. Justin Mylo and Mesto (2015).
