Philip Sherburne coined 'microhouse' in a July 2001 Wire article to name house stripped to rhythm, soul, and silence

Music journalist and DJ Philip Sherburne invented the term ‘microhouse’ in a July 2001 article (‘The Rules of Reduction’) in The Wire magazine. He recalled that listening to Perlon’s Superlongevity compilation in 1999 gave him ‘the strong impression that House had been stripped down to a trifold essence: rhythm, soul and silence.’ For Sherburne the term captured both the music’s reduced proportions and its semi-underground status, positioned against traditional deep house and mainstream megaclub fare. He traced the sound’s reductionism to Chain Reaction’s minimalism and its groove to Matthew Herbert and Chicago minimalists Moodymann and Theo Parrish.

Examples

The Perlon Superlongevity compilation (1999) was Sherburne’s listening catalyst for the coinage; his ‘trifold essence’ phrase — rhythm, soul and silence — became the genre’s defining description.

Assessment

Who coined ‘microhouse’, in what publication and year, and what was the ‘trifold essence’ Sherburne heard when the genre crystallised for him?