loop
27 tracksA section of sound repeated seamlessly. Loops, from tape to software, are the building block of hip-hop, house and techno, where change comes from what is added or taken away.
Genre history
kwaito
1 track.
What it is
A South African genre that emerged in Soweto and the Johannesburg townships between the late 1980s and the 1990s: house music slowed down, with deep synthesised basslines, drum machines, catchy melodic and percussive loops and vocals often delivered in a conversational or narrative style. It became the sound of the generation that came of age after apartheid.
Read more on WikipediaRelated concepts
bassline
67 tracksThe lowest melodic part of a track. In dance music it often carries the hook as much as the vocal does, and its rhythm against the kick drum defines the groove.
house groove
45 tracksThe rhythmic signature of house music: a four-on-the-floor kick, off-beat hi-hats and claps on two and four, at roughly 118 to 128 beats per minute.
drum machine
18 tracksAn electronic instrument that plays programmed drum patterns. Its machine-steady time and synthetic sounds became the foundation of hip-hop, house, techno and synth-pop.
Hear it in these tracks
Nonku Phiri
Things We Do on the Weekend
Nonku Phiri's 2015 debut solo single, produced by Narch Beats of PHFat: a sultry tale of a fling gone wrong, set to hazy beats, click percussion and a deep, bass-rooted beat grown from jams on old-school kwaito.