Breakbeat, drum and bass, jungle electro and UK garage music are some of the more popular upbeat genres of dance music. Breakbeat music uses sampled drum breaks from funk and soul songs pitched up at an appropriate BPM for dancing purposes.
Psytrance music blends hypnotic beats with atmospheric melodies and psychedelic influences for an otherworldly journey for listeners. There are various subgenres of Psytrance music available, from melodic full-on to the more intense darkpsy styles.
Breakbeat
Breakbeat is a dance music genre composed of sampled drum breaks from funk and soul records that have been pitched up to an energetic beat per minute (BPM), suitable for use in drum and bass tracks or across many genres and styles. Due to its widespread appeal, subgenres such as Miami Bass, Acid Breaks and Big beat have emerged over time. DJs from multiple genres often incorporate breakbeat into their sets since its composition can work seamlessly alongside hip hop, house, electro and jungle genres; notable breakbeat artists include Afrika Bambaata & the Soul Sonic Force; Man Parrish and Cybotron among many others.
Dubstep is a high-energy dance music style featuring distorted kicks and melodic elements, and is widely popular within the hard dance scene. Dubstep music can either uplift or depress depending on one’s mood and is frequently mixed together with different genres such as trance, techno and drum and bass to produce unique tracks.
Ambient music is a soothing and peaceful form of electronic sound used to evoke a relaxed and serene state. Typically featuring dreamy or ethereal tones with female vocals occasionally being added; its structure tends to be sparse. Lo-Fi music employs imperfections from its recording process as part of its aesthetic, such as environmental interference, phonographic distortions and tape hiss as aesthetic elements; these imperfections may include environmental interference, distortions or hisses as part of the aesthetic experience.
Hardstyle
Hardstyle EDM is a subgenre of electronic dance music characterized by hard kick drums and reverse basslines. Originating in the early 2000s from hard trance, Hardstyle later found influence from genres such as techno and hard house; eventually becoming one of the most widely popular forms of EDM and an integral part of many EDM festivals around the world – particularly popular in the Netherlands where its fast tempo music attracts large audiences; subgenres have since emerged such as Euphoric Hardstyle and Hardbass Hardstyle hardstyles have created subgenres within itself such as Euphoric Hardstyle and Hardbass hardstyles!
Hardstyle music is defined by high-energy melodies, offbeat bass stabs, hoovers and crowd cheering samples that blend in. Hardstyle tracks generally range in tempo between 120 BPM and 160 BPM; however some producers have experimented with lower and higher tempos as well.
Hardstyle music stands apart from other dance music genres by using computer-made sequencers to generate distinct sounds. It often shares similarities with rock music but lacks the guitar-driven sounds associated with heavy metal genres.
Hardstyle is an expansive genre with diverse sounds and artists. Although its early roots lie within hardcore culture, hardstyle has since expanded to cover many sounds and musical influences from across genres and subgenres. Popular artists within hardstyle include Headhunterz, Noisecontrollers and Wildstylez; these artists focus on technical production with melodies to uplift listeners while other producers such as Angerfist and Miss K8 play more raw forms of hardstyle music.
Liquid D&B
Liquid DnB (or liquid funk), as the name implies, is a melodic subgenre of drum and bass music that emerged at the turn of the millennium as an alternative to its more aggressive forms and draws inspiration from jazz and funk harmonies and atmospheres for its soundscape. Mellow pad sounds and instruments such as pianos are used often in Liquid DnB to create its rich sonic tapestry; chopped vocal samples may also be employed.
The UK dance music scene is vibrant, featuring an abundance of different genres and artists. One such popular style is drum and bass, which originated as an underground rave culture phenomenon during the early 90s before evolving into an internationally popular genre with global appeal.
Liquid DNB has quickly become one of the most beloved subgenres of drum and bass music, emerging out of a need for softer and melodic sounds in drum and bass music. This genre offers more relaxation than its harder counterparts while maintaining momentum with smooth rolling rhythms that keep beat going without losing its energy. Influences from jazz, classical music and other sources often inspire Liquid DNB compositions that push boundaries beyond electronic dance music genres.
Psytrance
Psytrance, otherwise known as psychedelic or Goa trance, takes listeners on otherworldly journeys through its combination of hypnotic arrangements of synthetic rhythms with complex melodies. It has many substyles to fit various moods and tempos of music listening experiences; from full-on style upbeat tunes to dark Twilight Psy tempos.
Drum and bass (DnB), commonly abbreviated to DnB, emerged from UK breakbeat and rave scenes during the ’90s. Characterized by fast broken beats and deep bass frequencies, DnB can often be quite intense. Dubstep stands out as an innovative club EDM style which blends elements from 2-step music with dub music. Dubstep stands out with its distinct wobble bass tones and syncopated rhythms which create an irresistibly head-nodding experience for listeners!
Trance music originated in the ’60s and ’70s as an amalgamation of electronic and rock sounds, often drawing comparisons to progressive house. But its sound differs significantly; for instance, its melodies tend towards being full-on and its moods range from full-on uplifting all the way down to dark Twilight Psy hypnotic tracks; its subgenres include psychedelic chill and psybient styles.
Big beat
Big beat music became widely popular during the late 1990s and early 2000s. It is an electronic genre characterized by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops, often featuring other musical styles like rock or hip hop. Popular examples of big beat include The Prodigy and Fatboy Slim who achieved mainstream success; since then, its style has evolved into both trance and progressive house genres.
Psytrance is an electronic dance music genre combining hypnotic beats with complex soundscapes and psychedelic influences to produce otherworldly melodies and themes that transport listeners on otherworldly journeys. Psytrance has gained considerable traction in Europe over recent years; its intense beats and otherworldly textures have inspired several genres including dubstep and hard house.
While some dance music fans view downtempo as an imitation of IDM and ambient, others maintain that it helped keep techno from losing its edge as its scene became larger and more corporate. Today’s leading producers and DJs include Jamie Jones, Aril Brikha, Joris Voorn, Solomun, Maceo Plex. Downtempo techno can typically be found with BPMs below 100; characteristic elements include soft pads with delicate vocals as well as lead melodies.
Drumstep
Drumstep is a subgenre of drum and bass music that combines elements from dubstep with half-time beats. Its rhythms draw inspiration from heavier types of dubstep while maintaining the fast feel characteristic of Drum and Bass; its tempo ranges between 120 to 160 BPM with basslines featuring distortion as well as clap patterns creating head nodding sounds; metalstep is its latest variation, featuring increased dubstep wobbles mixed with heavy metal music elements for an energetic head nodding soundscape.
Breakbeats are samples of real drum loops from soul and funk tracks, pitched up so as to be danceable. Their tempo ranges between 132-140 BPM, often featuring an interspersing of repetitive snare patterns every third beat in each bar – making this genre perfect for club goers.
Dubstep is a form of electronic dance music characterized by low-frequency and heavily distorted bass sounds that originates in 2-step, UK garage, and dub. The genre’s most distinctive characteristic is its non-standard rhythmic pattern ranging between single and double time formats; dubstep can range from aggressive to soothing melodies depending on its creators.
Brostep is an Americanized version of dubstep music that consists of faster yet softer beats with catchy melodies and distorted kicks for added hardness, popular among artists like Skrillex.
Hard house
As its name implies, hard house is an intense form of dance music with roots spanning numerous genres such as Belgian and German techno, American disco sample-based house and handbag house, hard trance and hard house. Characterized by upbeat energy with heavy use of pipe samples to represent classic donk sounds (Tony De Vit being one such pioneer of this style in UK), tech drum and bass is another more modern take on hard house that adds raw percussive sounds into this organic genre; Break, DLR and Konflict being among its major names within this genre.
Hardstyle dance originated in the Netherlands in the 1990s and features fast-paced beats and distorted kicks. It quickly garnered its own fan base and eventually led to subgenres such as Rawstyle and Euphoric hardstyle.
Dubstep, which has experienced exponential growth over the past decade or so, is a hardcore form of house music that combines reggaeton’s tribal feel with house and techno drum patterns, as well as huge displays of bass design wizardry.