Progressive House
House · 1990 · 125 to 132 BPM · also known as Prog House, Epic House, Leftfield
Progressive house is the English sound of 1990 to 1992 that stretches house music into long tracks, built in layers that rise in stages rather than through verses and choruses. Round basslines, discreet tribal percussion and stacking pads turn the record into a journey rather than a song. The label Guerilla and the sets of Sasha and Digweed fixed the aesthetic, which ruled the clubs of the 1990s before diluting into the mainstream of the 2010s.
10 reference tracks
- Happy Mondays: W.F.L. (Think About The Future) (1990)
- Lost: Baz De Conga (1990)
- The Farm: The Groovy Train (1990)
- Meduza: Piece of Your Heart (2019)
- BT: Flaming June (1997)
- Sasha: Xpander (1999)
- CamelPhat & Jake Bugg: Be Someone (2019)
- Hardwell: Dare You / Never Say Goodbye (2022)
- Young Marco: What You Say? (2023)
- Swedish House Mafia, Alicia Keys: Finally (2024)
At a glance
- Tempo: 125 to 132 BPM
- First appeared: around 1990
- Machines: Roland JP-8000, Access Virus, Akai S3000, Steinberg Cubase
- The sound: Basse ronde en séquence, Nappes empilées, Percussions tribales, Delays synchronisés
- Labels: Perfecto, Deconstruction, Hooj Choons, Guerilla, Anjunadeep, Sudbeat
- Key artists: Leftfield, Sasha, John Digweed, Underworld, Hernán Cattáneo
Producing Progressive House
Work at 126 to 128 BPM, dead-straight kick, only a light 52 to 55 percent swing on the percussion. Think in long forms: 32-bar phrases, 64-bar builds, tracks running 8 to 10 minutes with a single peak two-thirds through. The rhythmic core is a tribal percussion layer, congas, bongos and sampled shakers looped over two bars and doubled by dotted-sixteenth delays, entering one instrument at a time, under a round 909 kick and a discreet clap on one and four. The bassline is a filtered saw or square turning like a wheel, its two-bar motif changing one note every eight bars, lightly sidechained, cutoff automated open across 32 bars. Stack two or three pads in held chords, each opening its own filter at a different speed, washed in delay and reverb.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Progressive House?
Progressive house is the English sound of 1990 to 1992 that stretches house music into long tracks, built in layers that rise in stages rather than through verses and choruses. Round basslines, discreet tribal percussion and stacking pads turn the record into a journey rather than a song. The…
What tempo is Progressive House played at?
Between 125 and 132 BPM.
Who are the key Progressive House artists?
Leftfield, Sasha, John Digweed, Underworld, Hernán Cattáneo.
In the same family
- Chicago House
- Acid House
- Garage House
- Deep House
- Soulful House
- Lo-Fi House
- Hip House
- UK House
- Italo House
- Hard House
- Disco House
- French House
Listen to Progressive House in the atlas · Cette page en français
