One of my favorite activities is attempting to describe different electronic music genres to my friends. It usually starts with me rambling about the history of each major genre and ends with me trying to imitate the percussion sounds and rhythms. Subsequently my friends will look at me as if I’m crazy.
But if there’s one thing I’m pretty obsessive about, it’s listening to electronic music. Now I definitely consider myself a lover of all kinds of music, from golden-age hip hop to bebop jazz to black metal mixed with shoegaze. But electronic music has a special place in my heart. It’s one of the few genres that has been at every major point in my life, from grade school until today.
So it’s no wonder I get slightly annoyed when people think “EDM” encompasses all electronic music, or that Sandstorm is what techno sounds like, or that electronic music was invented in Europe (it’s all-American, baby). And after spending years listening to various genres, poring over the legendary Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music, and even reading full-length books on the history of electronic music, I’m excited to finally put down some thoughts into writing.
A few disclaimers: this is a very general guide to four major genres of electronic music – house, techno, trance, and dubstep. There are probably thousands of sub-genres under these main genres, and I could probably write a thesis on each one, but the point of this post is to get a basic idea of the different styles. I tried to pick sample tracks that spanned a nice spectrum within each genre, but they’ll be on the newer side as opposed to older, more classic tracks.
Special thanks to my friend Amy who gave me the original idea for this post! She must’ve wanted me to stop umm-tss umm-tss-ing during one of my rambling sessions. Anyway, depending on how this post goes, I may or may not write some additional ones in the future, diving more into the history and sub-genres of different electronic music types. Hope you enjoy this one!
House
House music is where it all began, modern electronic music as we know it. Of course there was proto-electronic music well before house, but house was when electronic music began forming into the styles we hear today. It started in the 1980s when inner-city black youth in Chicago took disco and used synthesizers and drum machines to create a repetitive, dance-friendly style of electronic music. The genre name was taken from a popular, now-legendary nightclub in Chicago called The Warehouse.
House music arguably spawned many of the other major electronic music genres and is one of the most wide-reaching genres out there, with possibly hundreds of sub-genres. So if you hear an electronic track and have no idea what style it is, house is a great bet.
You can usually tell a house track by the bouncy, laidback vibe. The drum pattern is typically a straightforward 1-2-3-4 (4/4 timing) with a kick and a high hat (umm-tss, umm-tss). It’s also the most organic-sounding genre, since tracks often include soul singer and instrument samples. The track below is a pretty good representation of the house sound.
Since the 2010s, EDM has exploded on the global stage. When you break down most of what’s considered EDM, the tracks are really just a sub-genre of house called electro house (aka big room, dirty Dutch, etc.). I’d consider EDM the mainstream pop of electronic music, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of great producers and tracks under this moniker.
Since I live in the Bay Area, the next track I’ll feature is by a well-known producer on the Dirtybird label, which specializes in a type of house sound known as tech funk or booty tech. It’s more bass-heavy with a funkier sound, but still retains the house beat and tempo.
And just to showcase some other styles of house music, here’s an example of a progressive house track, which is a lot more chill and introspective, with much longer build-ups and progressions (get it?).
In summary, house music has been around since the beginning of modern-day electronic music, has a straightforward beat, and usually gives off a very bouncy, organic vibe. Keep that in mind as we move to the next genre, which is closely related but has some key differences.
Techno
Around the time house was being developed in Chicago, middle-class black youth living in the Detroit suburbs began playing their own style of electronic music. Known as techno, this genre developed alongside house music and used funk and electro influences to create fully electronic music. With a focus on electronic sounds rather than voice and instrument samples, techno was a good term to describe this more robotic, industrial genre.
Techno tracks can be distinguished by a driving 1-2-3-4 beat that puts more emphasis on the kick (bass). You should be getting a machine-like, colder vibe compared to house, with an emphasis on interesting sound and voice effects over a soulful bouncy feel. The track below is a great representation of a current techno sound.
In my humble opinion, techno is probably one of the best genres of any music to experience live. There’s just such a difference between a recorded version playing at home as opposed to the clarity and overall experience at shows. I’ll never forget hearing the beginning notes of this track at a nightclub in San Francisco – it was sublime.
By now you’ve probably picked out the more machine-like sound of techno, which might make you falsely believe the genre is limiting. However, I think techno is one of the more free-form genres, where producers are often more experimental with their beats and tempo, along with sound effects and song structure. Here’s an example of a less beat-driven but just-as-cool techno track.
So a recap: when you think techno, think a driving four-count beat that sounds a bit more industrial and a bit less soulful than house. Of course, with some wide-ranging techno styles, this isn’t always the case, but it’s a good rule of thumb. Another note is that many producers will often create electronic music influenced by both genres, so the tracks often straddle the line.
Trance
After house and techno migrated across the pond to Europe in the late 80s and exploded in popularity, a new genre emerged from that continent in the early 90s. This melody-heavy, emotional, and uplifting electronic music often put dancers into an euphoric or trance-like state, which is how the name trance came to be.
Many early producers of trance took part in beach dance parties that are now the stuff of legends. So it’s pretty easy to identify trance tracks, which will typically evoke images of dancing on a beach during sunset. With a quicker four on the floor beat, trance is also very melodic, oftentimes using piano or synth sounds along with angelic female voices. Here’s a classic track to illustrate the sound.
In my opinion, trance has probably changed the least through the years and it’s hard to push the envelope on such a specific style. And with the explosion of EDM many trance producers have had to adapt to a bigger sound and more build-drop anthems. Still, I never leave a trance show feeling sad. How could you with tracks like this one?
Even though I mentioned that it’s tougher for the genre to break out of its established sound, I have to highlight some other older trance styles. These aren’t very common today, but there were darker trance sounds from Goa and psytrance, which started from hippy beach parties in India. Here’s a remix of a classic psytrance track.
To review: trance usually puts listeners in a euphoric mood. It typically uses angelic voices, piano melodies, and build-ups and drops to evoke emotions. And with a quicker tempo than house and techno, trance is pretty easy to pick out.
Dubstep
Dubstep is one of the most recent electronic music genres, having started in the mid-2000s. Impressively, it’s also distinct enough for many people to consider it a genre on its own. I’m lucky to have observed much of the development and progression of this genre firsthand, and I still get to see and hear about some of the forefathers of this genre in popular culture today.
You might link the beginning of dubstep with Skrillex, but you’d be surprised to learn that dubstep actually started at grimy basement parties in South London. Early producers took some house sub-genres popular in the UK (such as 2-step) and mashed it with Jamaican dub reggae – hence the name dubstep. They broke the beat out so that there was a kick and snare hit, then slowed the tempo to half-speed. Finally, they included the now-infamous wobble bass.
Within several years, dubstep moved from the dark basements to larger shows and arenas. The sound became a lot bigger and a lot louder, with artists exaggerating the wobble bass effect so that it came to the forefront as opposed to the background. Here’s a track around the time dubstep started getting wider notice.
And then came Skrillex. Dubstep made the jump from Europe to the States with a much more aggressive, chaotic, in-your-face sound. As much as Skrillex gets hate for popularizing the derisively-labeled “bro-step” flavor of dubstep, he definitively changed the face of dubstep, electronic music, and popular music as a whole. And I’ll admit, I still remember the moment I first came across this track. I was enthralled – it was unlike anything that I’d heard before.
While dubstep could sound like a bunch of angry robots fighting or a bunch of chilled-out partiers dancing in a grimy basement, the genre as a whole has several distinctive giveaways. Dubstep has a slowed-down, broken-out, and syncopated beat, and the tracks will typically have some form of wobble bass, whether it’s lightly applied or in-your-face.
Whew, that turned out to be an essay. But I had a blast writing this post and re-listening to a lot of great tracks from through the years. I hope you found it helpful. And remember, this is a basic guide and a lot of it is my humble opinion. If you have any thoughts, questions, or requests for future music post topics, feel free to drop a line in the comments!
Want to read more about electronic music? Check out my friend Ki’s guest post on an introduction to UK electronic music.
And check out one of my favorite recent house festivals, Splash House in Palm Springs.
If you’re planning to hit up a show or concert soon, give my comprehensive guide on concert earplugs a read!
Love at www.RandomTidbitsofThought.com.
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