Big room house

Big room house (also spelled Bigroom house and simply abbreviated to "bigroom") is a subgenre of house music, which combines the melodically rich nature of progressive house and trance music with the minimalistic hard or deep subgenres, such as electro house. It is often characterized by sweeping introductions and breakdowns (featuring piano, string, vocal, and pad sounds) followed by a high-energy climactic build-up and a simplistic bass-heavy section that is often referred to as the drop (which often features bass-heavy kick drums, manipulated supersaws synth leads, and Hoover-like sounds). The term "big room" refers to the reverberated drums and synths often found in the "drops", which create the illusion that the sounds are coming from a large enclosed space.

Structure
The structure of bigroom is similar in terms to that of progressive house/trance, usually inspired from American progressive of the late 2000s. I.e., there are two build-ups complete with breaks, two drop sections, and one or two breakdowns, one of which may or may not include the intro/outro phase. Unlike progressive house, however, bigroom is adapted to radio edited format, and hence, features either the first or the second build-up usually much longer than the other one. In case of remixes, one usually features the whole vocal/riff sample of the initial song, while the other build-up is in fact a simple break that is significantly shorter and prepares the listener for the drop.

The basic characteristic of bigroom lies in its minimalism. One bassline, often aided by one or two highs and lows, creates the mood for the whole composition. This bassline is reverberated so that the echo is cut and spontaneously released only on 1/4 of the tab, usually the last. Unlike in electro house proper, where the bass itself is subject to additional wave effects (such as attack, threshold and sustain) in order to beautify the melody, in bigroom, only the way the sound is released plays a major role. Henceforth, the drum beats are made minimal, sometimes with only a kick/tom and a couple of hit-hats.

Origins and popularity
Big room house first appeared in early 2010 and was influenced by famous early electro house tracks, such as Benny Bennassi's "Satisfaction". The increasing role of American progressive (deadmau5, Kaskade) and the revival of melodic pop in the UK (piano, guitars, etc.) at the same time also influenced the scene significantly. Swedish groups such as Swedish House Mafia and Dada Life were among the first to experiment with bigroom by mid-2010, when it found increasing popularity through international dance music festivals such as Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, and Electric Daisy Carnival.

The implementation of "big room" elements in tracks by producers gained prominence on the level of popular music artists, who by 2012 started to include bits of big room into their songs. Examples of such tracks include "This Is Love" by will.i.am featuring Eva Simons and "Work Bitch" by Britney Spears.

By 2013, bigroom gained international prominence, with its base across Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and Russia. Certain tracks such as "Animals" by Martin Garrix and "Levels" by Avicii have topped the radio charts for over a couple of months, extending well beyond the EDM scene.

Criticisms
Critics of big room have pointed to a purported lack of originality, diversity, and artistic merit within the genre.

DJ, producer, and prominent EDM figure Wolfgang Gartner called big room house "the EDM Apocalypse", saying "real music should have some soul and authenticity to it, and not just be a big kick drum and a trance breakdown with a cheesy one-liner and a 'big drop'".

Artists
The following is a list of some of the most notable and influential artists of the genre in alphabetical order.


 * Afrojack
 * Alesso
 * Avicii
 * Axwell
 * Bassjackers
 * Bingo Players
 * Calvin Harris
 * Clouds Collapse
 * Cazzette
 * David Guetta
 * Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
 * Dirty South
 * Don Diablo
 * Fedde Le Grand
 * GTA
 * Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman
 * Hardwell
 * Hard Rock Sofa
 * Krewella
 * Laidback Luke
 * Martin Garrix
 * Michael Woods
 * Nervo
 * Nicky Romero
 * Quintino
 * R3hab
 * Sander Van Doorn
 * Sandro Silva
 * Sebastian Ingrosso
 * Scooter
 * Showtek
 * Steerner
 * Steve Angello
 * Steve Aoki
 * Swedish House Mafia
 * Tiesto
 * Ummet Ozcan
 * W&W
 * Yves V
 * Zedd

Labels
The following is a list of some of the most notable labels of the genre. Many labels are managed by the artists above, who serve the role of A&R managers. The labels are in alphabetical order.


 * Axtone Records
 * Dim Mak Records
 * Doorn Recordings
 * Flamingo Recordings
 * Fly Eye Records
 * Hysteria Records
 * LE7ELS
 * Mixmash
 * Musical Freedom
 * Phazing
 * Protocol Recordings
 * Refune Records
 * Revealed Recordings
 * Size Records
 * Spinnin' Records
 * Ultra
 * Wall Recordings
 * PRMD Records

Songs
This is a list of big room house tracks among the most famous and significant of the genre.

2010

 * Swedish House Mafia feat. Pharrell - "One"

2011

 * Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin - "Save the World"
 * Michael Chalfan - "Resurrection" (Axwell's Recut Club Version)
 * Sandro Silva & Quintino - "Epic"

2012

 * Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl feat. Georgi Kay - "In My Mind" (Axwell Mix)
 * Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin - "Don't You Worry Child"
 * Swedish House Mafia - "Greyhound"
 * Nicky Romero - "Toulouse"
 * Hardwell - "Spaceman"
 * Hardwell feat. Amba Shepherd - "Apollo"
 * Alesso feat. Matthew Koma - "Years"
 * Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso - "Calling (Lose My Mind)"
 * Tiësto - "Chasing Summers"
 * Nari & Milani - "Atom"
 * Nicky Romero & Nervo - "Like Home"
 * Avicii vs Nicky Romero - "I Could Be the One"
 * Krewella - "Alive"
 * Showtek & Justin Prime - "Cannonball"

2013

 * Carnage & Borgore - "Incredible"
 * Alesso vs OneRepublic - "If I Lose Myself"
 * Lana Del Rey - "Summertime Sadness" (Cédric Gervais Remix)
 * Zedd - "Clarity"
 * Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike - "Mammoth"
 * Porter Robinson & Mat Zo - Easy
 * Armin van Buuren feat. Trevor Guthrie - "This Is What It Feels Like" (W&W Remix or Audien Remix)
 * Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash feat. John Martin - "Reload" (Vocal Version)
 * Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding - "I Need Your Love"
 * Martin Garrix - "Animals"
 * Hardwell & Dyro feat. Bright Lights - "Never Say Goodbye"
 * DVBBS & Borgeous - "Tsunami"
 * Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike - "CHATTAHOOCHEE"
 * Axwell & Sick Individuals feat. Taylr Renee - "I Am"
 * Steve Angello & Matisse & Sadko - "SLVR"
 * Nicky Romero & Krewella - "Legacy (Save My Life)"
 * Hardwell ft. Matthew Koma - "Dare You"
 * Showtek feat. We Are Loud & Sonny Wilson - "Booyah (song)"
 * Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs DVBBS & Borgeous - "Stampede"
 * R3hab, NERVO & Ummet Ozcan - "Revolution"
 * Martin Garrix & Jay Hardway - "Wizard"
 * Hardwell & MAKJ - Countdown
 * MAKJ & Henry Fong - Encore
 * Sandro Silva - Payback
 * Thomas Newson - Pallaroid