Electronica Music - The Many Styles

Electronica consists of a wide range of music designed for various uses such as foreground listening, some dancing styles and background listening. However, this type of music is not meant specifically for dancing. Though it has danceable grooves, the music sounds great on headphones and can be used in relaxation areas. It was adopted in the 1980s and since then many artists have adopted it into mainstream music. This type of music uses electronic technology to produce such as synthesizers. It was able to prosper by taking advantage of the technological progress, such as introduction of personal computers to the general public. Individual artists were then able to record and produce the music in small groups in their own homes.

Successful electronica artists began their recording in the 1990s. Some of the popular electronica artists include David Guetta, Juan Magan, Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk. During this period of the 90s, the artists became famous internationally and began releasing albums and performing at major venues. Influence came from everywhere. In New York, for example, electronica music grew drawing creative works from DJ's and producers in Southeast Asia and Brazil.

House music roots lie in Chicago clubs in the early 1980's.This was the time when disco music was very popular so many other music directions that were similar to it were invented. At that time music equipment became cheap and anyone who wanted to make music had a capability to do so. Many DJ's were playing their records,depending on the city where the party was held the music was called house,disco or techno. Chicago is considered to be the place where house music was born.

When we define house music it is a music which is played in the clubs with high tempo made for dancing. The most common element of each house song is a 4-to-the-floor kick drum combined with progressively evolving synthesizer pads and samples of classic disco music.

Although house music is one form of music evolved out of disco, today it is one of the most popular music genres in the world.

Tech House music is a sub genre of house music. House music is a genre belonging to electronic dance music and originated in the early 1980’s in Chicago. It was popularized in the mid 1980’s when it was played in discotheques.

Tech house music consists of steady techno rhythms and the soul and accessibility of house music. It mixes minimal techno elements into simple 4 to 4 beats. It aims at achieving an even groove unlike progressive house which has a progression in the mix ending in a high release of energy at the end. Tech house music is considered to be as good a “headphone experience” as it is a dance floor one. The term tech house is said to be coined by Richard West better known as Mr C who is a London-born British musician, actor and rapper. Skrillex and Deadmau5, the pioneers of tech house music have been nominated in the 54th Grammy’s Awards for the ‘Best New Artist’ category.

Progressive house music is a type of house music that is noted for a musical progression with melodies and basslines. It has some similar elements with trance and electro house.
Progressive house has its origins in Great Britain in the early 90's. Letfield's first singles, particularly Song Of Life is considered to be the first progressive house record.

The music is produced with the 4 to 4 or four-to-the-floor beat which is characteristic of all house music. Some progressive house is dub influenced and has deeper basslines. The main point in progressive house is expression of feelings through the song. Often,this music genre has many different genres of music mixed to make a progressive house track.

Progressive house is one of the most popular styles in house music and many famous artists are actually progressive house DJ's. Its high tempo and pleasant sounds make this music style one very popular amongst people around the world and lots of modern pop songs that are on the radio top lists are house influenced, such as Britney Spears.

Sizzling synths and reverberating basslines mixed into chunky beats are the hallmarks of Electro House music. Each mix usually lasts anywhere between an hour to two hours consisting of three to five sections from a short intro to a final outro. The lead section introduces the core mix of drum and synth elements often heard throughout the track. The chord progression in each section section shifts around every four, eight or even sixteen bars, which the DJ perfects in detail before laying down the rest of the track.

Electro House music was an offshoot of the eighties club scene. Disco was dead and the indie artists had just discovered new instruments, particularly the vocoder machine. The unique sounds of electronica soon dominated the dance floor, and later spawned sub-genres that include electroclash, dubstep, skweee, techno, drum n’ bass, and ghettotech. Popular artists in this genre include Empire of the Sun, Deadmau5, and Daft Punk.

Trance music is very popular and had a great start in the early nineties in Europe. Today it is one of the most influential music genres in the world. What makes trance so popular is the fact it brings influence well beyond its own bounds, which means it is a very open music genre which constantly changes as time progresses. One could say it transgresses it's own genre even while it reinvents it.

In the early days, Trance was considered to be an underground party music, but today it emerged to the point where it is played everywhere, even on music television channels such as MTV and VIVA.

There is no strict definition of what makes Trance music, but usually it is defined as an accessible music with epic and psychedelic qualities. The best way to describe Trance to someone who never heard it is: it's based around synthesizer rifts built into anthems that can be highly energetic one moment, and then totally chilled out the next.
Usually it is played on the parties for people to dance and have a good time.

Dubstep music is a type of electronic dance music and it originated from South London. Its main characteristics are rhythm, bass, and a dark sound with usage of low frequency oscillators and filters.

In the past, it was based around a garage-influenced, two step kick and a snare beat. With time, it evolved, and today there are many tracks containing a half step rhythm (similar to hip hop). This music genre is very similar to drum n bass and many DJ's that play drum n bass also play dubstep music at their gigs. Like all the electronic music genres, dubstep is played in clubs and at the parties around the world for people to start dancing. It's always better when played on a very loud sound system .

There is actually no set method to make a dubstep song. Most of them are made around their dominant, low frequency elements, the bass, and the drum pattern. Emotions and feelings can be expressed through this music with the usage of silence, pads and minor keys. With proper usage of these elements dubstep music can have a strong influence on the person that listens to the track.

Drum and Bass music is a music genre which evolved from jungle music. Drum 'n bass is a music genre with a very high tempo, usually around 160 and 180 beats per minute. The spectrum of the sound of drum and bass music varies from from soulful atmospheric to heavy and pounding.

Usually, the DnB tracks are played on 12" vinyls or CDJ's in the clubs, but of course they are produced and mixed by DJ's in the home or professional studio (like all electronic music). Though bands like Pendulum have managed to create the sound with live instruments. Pioneers of Drum n Bass are Andy C, Fabio, Roni Size, Grooverider and many others that contributed to the expansion of drum and bass. Drum and bass evolved with time and today it is very popular amongst people around the world, young and old.

It is a music genre which evolves all the time while adding many different sounds and styles. The drum beats and the heavy bass element in this music are what define it, and it is always played very loud in the clubs.

A fairly uncommon and complex genre of electronic music, IDM, is an acronym to ‘Intelligent Dance Music’ and was founded in the early 1990s by several artist labels such as Warp Records, Rephlex Records, Planet Mu, Merck, and Ninja Tune Records. Although there is no authentic reason for it, IDM is sometimes also referred to as "artcore" or "bedroom music". Influenced by a number of musical styles, it maintains a rather close affinity to Detroit Techno, a kind of electronic dance music. The term ‘IDM’ was inspired by the IDM list, an electronic mailing list originally created in August 1993 with the purpose of initiating discussions on music by a number of artist labels including those mentioned above. “Artificial Intelligence”, released in 1992 by Warp Records, was a record holding a compilation of music tracks from artists such as Autechre, The Black Dog, B12, The Orb, and Aphex Twin, and is believed to be the foundation upon which the creation of IDM was laid.

Glitch hop music or glitch-core is a genre of electronic music that uses audio hitches to build sounds and songs. Glitch-core music derives from unwanted sonic sounds that often occur in the digital production of music. Conventional producers and studio engineers often view these glitches as anomalies that need rectification but glitch-core artists deliberately use them to build their sound. Glitch-hop, specifically, is glitch-core with major hip hop influences and style.

Some of the common sources of glitch sounds include malfunctioning audio and digital recording devices or implements such as skipping compact discs, vinyl record hisses and scratches among others.

The primary production tool is usually a computer installed with software that can cut and paste together a wide variety of glitches to produce a holistic sound or song. The main aim is to use glitches in place of normal instruments.

Some of the more popular software that facilitate Glitch Hop Music production include Ableton Live, Audiomulch, Bidule, Chuck. FLstudio, Max/Msp, Pure Data, Reaktor, Reason, Super Collider and Usine.