Chicago house is the original house style: simple basslines, four-to-the-floor, disco/funk-influenced

Chicago house is identified as the first style of house music, from 1980s Chicago. Its stated signature is simple basslines, four-to-the-floor percussion, hi-hats, and synths, influenced by disco, post-disco, soul, funk, and hip hop. It functions as the baseline ‘classic’ archetype against which other house subgenres define themselves — the machine-driven, minimal end of the spectrum, in contrast to the more song- and vocal-oriented garage house that developed in parallel in New York and New Jersey.

Examples

Four-on-the-floor kick, off-beat hi-hat, minimal synth/bass parts — the stripped, drum-machine-forward template that later subgenres elaborate on.

Assessment

Compare Chicago house and garage house: list three sonic differences a listener or producer could use to tell them apart.