Electronic Education Thread
 

I had to fix this grave error. I went looking for one and couldn't find one so I decided to do a little research. I will come back and edit it with suggestions from members that know other sub genres that i'm not familiar with.

Reaching back to grab the grooves of '70s disco/funk and the gadgets of electronic composition, Electronic soon became a whole new entity in and of itself, spinning off new sounds and subgenres with no end in sight two decades down the pike. Its beginnings came in the post-disco environment of Chicago/New York and Detroit, the cities who spawned house and techno (respectively) during the 1980s. Later that decade, club-goers in Britain latched onto the fusion of mechanical and sensual, and returned the favor to hungry Americans with new styles like jungle/drum'n'bass and trip-hop. Though most all early electronic was danceable, by the beginning of the '90s, producers were also making music for the headphones and chill-out areas as well, resulting in dozens of stylistic fusions like ambient-house, experimental techno, tech-house, electro-techno, etc. Typical for the many styles gathered under the umbrella was a focus on danceable grooves, very loose song structure (if any), and, in many producers, a relentless desire to find a new sound no matter how tepid the results.

During the early 2000s, garage rap grew as an unavoidable mutation of 2-step garage, with the role of the MC elevated from support to star. Groups like So Solid Crew, Pay as U Go Cartel, Dem Lott and Nasty Crew (molded in part in the image of rap crews in the U.S.) surfaced as the popularity of the relatively R&B-based garage scene waned in popularity, but one-man-group the Streets was the style's biggest star. Grime, garage rap's younger sibling, was relatively jagged and aggressive - it's where the legacies of hardcore rap and hardcore techno collide -- and is sometimes downright punishing. Though Dizzee Rascal became a breakout star and received moderate print exposure in the U.S. during 2003 and 2004, the style thrived on white label releases and was best documented by the Run the Road compilation.

Examples : Sway , Kano, Dizzee Rascal, The Streets

More a scene centered in West London than an easily fenced-in sound, broken beat looks as far back to '70s Jazz-Funk and Dub Reggae while also containing germs from '80s and '90s movements like house, techno, drum'n'bass, and contemporary R&B. Unlike the polite tendencies of acid jazz -- a movement of the '80s and '90s that also blended several styles -- broken beat takes its inspirations as mere launching points and often utilizes frenetic, syncopated beat structures that sound sputtery and stuttered more often than they sound straightforward. Vocalists, predominantly female, feature in many of the tracks, all of which are bold, bright, and -- for the most part -- full of rhythmic tension. Keyboards are another major factor, often taking cues from the likes of George Duke and Herbie Hancock. Immediately after its late-'90s germination, broken beat underwent a fast growth throughout West London. Several labels (2000 Black, Bitasweet, People, Co-Op, Laws of Motion, Main Squeeze) were started by producers -- producers who often worked under several aliases. The fact that the scene was heavily reliant upon collaborations made the style's family tree all the more difficult to diagram. Outposts have since developed in several other countries, including Canada, Japan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

Ambient

Ambient music evolved from the experimental electronic music of '70s synth-based artists like Brian Eno and Kraftwerk, and the trance-like techno dance music of the '80s. Ambient is a spacious, electronic music that is concerned with sonic texture, not songwriting or composing. It's frequently repetitive and it all sounds the same to the casual listener, even though there are quite significant differences between the artists. Ambient became a popular cult music in the early '90s, thanks to ambient-techno artists like the Orb and Aphex Twin.

Examples: Orbital, The Orb, Shplonge, Groove Armada

Dubstep is a genre of electronic music that has its roots in London's early 2000s UK garage scene. Musically, dubstep is distinguished by its 2step rhythm, or use of snare sounds similar to 2step garage and grime, and an emphasis on bass, often producing "dark" sounds, but just as frequently producing sounds reminiscent of dub reggae or funky US garage. Dubstep tracks are generally produced at a tempo of around 140 beats per minute and in recent years have developed signature half time rhythms, often heavily shuffled or syncopated, and usually, though not exclusively, including only one snare drum hit per bar, often on the third beat. Such factors make dubstep rhythms markedly different from four-to-the-floor rhythms used in other styles of electronic dance music such as house music, which usually have two snare hits accompanying the second and fourth kick drum. Often, the sense of rhythm in dubstep is propelled more by the bassline than by the percussive content.
The earliest dubstep releases, which date back to 1999, were darker, more experimental, instrumental dub remixes of 2-step garage tracks attempting to incorporate the funky elements of breakbeat, or the dark elements of drum and bass into 2-step, which featured as B-sides of single releases. In 2001, this and other strains of dark garage music began to be showcased and promoted at London's club night Forward>>, which went on to be considerably influential to the development of dubstep. The term "dubstep" in reference to a genre of music began to be used by around 2002, by which time stylistic trends used in creating these remixes started to become more noticeable and distinct from 2-step and grime.
Dubstep started to spread beyond small local scenes in late 2005 and early 2006; many websites devoted to the genre appeared on the Internet and thus aided the growth of the scene, such as dubstepforum, the download site Barefiles and blogs such as gutterbreakz. Simultaneously, the genre was receiving extensive coverage in music magazines such as The Wire and online publications such as Pitchfork Media, with a regular feature entitled The Month In: Grime/Dubstep. Interest in dubstep grew significantly after BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs started championing the genre, beginning with a show devoted to it (entitled "Dubstep Warz") in January 2006.

Examples: Digital Mystiks, D1, Skream, Elemental, Flying Lotus, Search & Destroy, Boxcutter

DancePop

Club/Dance music comes in many different forms, from disco to hip-hop. Though there have been various dance crazes throughout the history of popular music, club/dance music became its own genre in the mid-'70s, as soul mutated into disco and whole clubs were devoted to dancing. In the late '70s, dance clubs played disco, but by the end of the decade, disco was mutating into a number of different genres. All of the genres were collected under the catch-all term "dance," though there were distinct differences between dance-pop, hip-hop, house, and techno, among other subgenres. What tied them all together was their emphasis on rhythm -- in each dance subgenre, the beat remains all-important.

Examples : Yelle, Moby, DJ tiesto, Paul van Dyk

Downtempo

Downtempo artists tend to be more beat-oriented than ambience, but are not quite as earthy as trip-hop.

Examples: Thievery Corporation, DJ Shadow, Zero 7, Royksopp

Drum & Bass

Based almost entirely in England, Jungle (also known as drum'n'bass) is a permutation of hardcore techno that emerged in the early '90s. Jungle is the most rhythmically complex of all forms of techno, relying on extremely fast polyrhythms and breakbeats. Usually, it's entirely instrumental -- it is among the hardest of all hardcore techno, often consisting of nothing but fast drum machines and deep bass. As its name implies, jungle does have more overt reggae, dub, and R&B influences than most hardcore -- and that is why some critics claimed that the music was the sound of black techno musicians and DJs reclaiming it from the white musicians and DJs who dominated the hardcore scene. Like most techno genres, jungle is primarily a singles genre designed for a small, dedicated audience, although the crossover successes of Goldie (with his 1995 debut Timeless) and Roni Size (with the Mercury Award-winning New Forms) suggested a broader appeal and more musical possibilities than other forms of techno. Dozens of respected artists followed in their wake, fusing breakbeat with influences lifted from jazz, film music, ambient, and trip-hop.

Examples: DJ Food , Justice, Dieselboy, High Contrast

House

House music grew out of the post-disco dance club culture of the early '80s. After disco became popular, certain urban DJs -- particularly those in gay communities -- altered the music to make it less pop-oriented. The beat became more mechanical and the bass grooves became deeper, while elements of electronic synth pop, Latin soul, dub reggae, rap, and jazz were grafted over the music's insistent, unvarying four-four beat. Frequently, the music was purely instrumental and when there were vocalists, they were faceless female divas that often sang wordless melodies. By the late '80s, house had broken out of underground clubs in cities like Chicago, New York, and London, and had begun making inroads on the pop charts, particularly in England and Europe but later in America under the guise of artists like C+C Music Factory and Madonna. At the same time, house was breaking into the pop charts; it fragmented into a number of subgenres, including hip-house, ambient house, and most significantly, acid house (a subgenre of house with the instantly recognizable squelch of Roland's TB-303 bass-line generator). During the '90s, house ceased to be cutting-edge music, yet it remained popular in clubs throughout Europe and America. At the end of the decade, a new wave of progressive house artists including Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, and House of 909 brought the music back to critical quarters with praised full-length works.

Examples: Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, House of 909, Paul Oakenfold, Benny Benassi,

Techno

Techno had its roots in the electronic house music made in Detroit in the mid-'80s. Where house still had explicit connection to disco even when it was entirely mechanical, techno was strictly electronic music, designed for a small, specific audience. The first techno producers and DJs — Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May, among others — emphasized the electronic, synthesized beats of electro-funk artists like Afrika Bambaataa and synth-rock units like Kraftwerk. In the United States, techno was strictly an underground phenomenon, but in England, it broke into the mainstream in the late '80s. In the early '90s, techno began to fragment into a number of subgenres, including hardcore, ambient, and jungle. In hardcore techno, the beats-per-minute on each record were sped up to ridiculous, undanceable levels — it was designed to alienate a broad audience. Ambient took the opposite direction, slowing the beats down and relying on watery electronic textures — it was used as come-down music, when ravers and club-goers needed a break from acid house and hardcore techno. Jungle was nearly as aggressive as hardcore, combining driving techno beats with breakbeats and dancehall reggae — essentially. All subgenres of techno were initially designed to be played in clubs, where they would be mixed by DJs. Consequently, most of the music was available on 12-inch singles or various-artists compilations, where the songs could run for a long time, providing the DJ with a lot of material to mix into his set. In the mid-'90s, a new breed of techno artists — most notably ambient acts like the Orb and Aphex Twin, but also harder-edged artists like the Prodigy and Goldie — began constructing albums that didn't consist of raw beats intended for mixing. Not surprisingly, these artists — particularly the Prodigy — became the first recognizable stars in techno.

Examples: The Advent, Joey Beltram , Damon Wild, Space DJs, Speedy J

Trance

Breaking out of the German techno and hardcore scene of the early '90s, Trance emphasized brief synthesizer lines repeated endlessly throughout tracks, with only the addition of minimal rhythmic changes and occasional synthesizer atmospherics to distinguish them -- in effect putting listeners into a trance that approached those of religious origin. Despite waning interest in the sound during the mid-'90s, trance made a big comeback later in the decade, even supplanting house as the most popular dance music of choice around the globe.

Inspired by acid house and Detroit techno, trance coalesced with the opening of R&S Records in Ghent, Belgium and Harthouse/Eye Q Records in Frankfurt, Germany. R&S defined the sound early on with singles like "Energy Flash" by Joey Beltram, "The Ravesignal" by CJ Bolland, and others by Robert Leiner, Sun Electric, and Aphex Twin. Harthouse, begun in 1992 by Sven Väth with Heinz Roth & Matthias Hoffman, made the most impact on the sound of trance with Hardfloor's minimal epic "Hardtrance Acperience" and Väth's own "L'Esperanza," plus releases by Arpeggiators, Spicelab, and Barbarella. Artists like Väth, Bolland, Leiner, and many others made the transition to the full-length realm, though without much of an impact on the wider music world.

Despite a long nascent period when it appeared trance had disappeared, replaced by breakbeat dance (trip-hop and jungle), the style's increasing impact on Britain's dance scene finally crested in the late '90s. The classic German sound had changed somewhat though, and the term "progressive" trance gained favor to describe influences from the smoother end of house and Euro dance. By 1998, most of the country's best-known DJs -- Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, Tony De Vit, Danny Rampling, Sasha, Judge Jules -- were playing trance in Britain's superclubs. Even America turned on to the sound (eventually), led by its own cast of excellent DJs, including Christopher Lawrence and Kimball Collins.

Examples: Juno Reactor , Power Source , System 7, Atmos

Epic: Came about in the late 90s and early 00s when trance was commercial. It's known for it's epic, euphoric, and emotional feel. Since it was commercial, it wasn't hard to find and a multitude of producers were making it. Eventually due to the fact that many of the songs started sounding the same, around 04-05 many of the commercial artists started to delve into tech trance and also started incorporating house influences. The first song that really made epic trance the way it was : Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar (Three N' One Remix). It is one of the most remixed songs ever.. and the original song was pretty much overlooked until 4 years later when this version came out.

Artists : Nitrous Oxide, Andy Blueman, Daniel Kandi, Aly & Fila, Oen Bearen
Songs : Age of Love - Age of Love, ATB - 9 P.M. Til I Come, Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar, Armin van Buuren - Communication

Tech : Came about after the very big commercial uprising of trance. It started out being produced by former hard trance producers.. but when hard trance got harder.. and harder.. it ended up being its own genre of Hardstyle. Producers like Scot Project and Cosmic Gate were not interested in it so they began to produce tech trance. However some commercial trance artists got interested in the sound and started to produce it as well because the "epic" sound was getting a bit dated. Then hard trance legends like Scot Project started performing with commercial artists like Mike Koglin and still do today. However hard trance is still being produced today.. it isn't nearly as easy to find.

Artists: Mike Koglin (later releases), Jesselyn, Marcel Woods, Sied van Riel, Kidd Kaos (bordering on hard trance)
Songs: Tiesto - Traffic, Richard Durand - Make Me Scream, Joop - Another World, Fred Baker vs. Greg Nash - Lunar Eclipse

Hard : Since trance originated in the early 90s when hardcore was popular, many trance songs would by today's standards be considered hard. However it wasn't until around 2001-2002 when producers like Scot Project, Cosmic Gate, and Yoji Biomehanika started truly mastering it. As I'd mentioned before.. it got harder and harder until hardstyle was created and most of the artists went their separate ways. Scot Project started to produce tech, Cosmic Gate went commercial and now are producing.. whatever you would consider popular right now (epic trance mixed with techno.. some electro and maybe some house), and Yoji Biomehanika went to Tech Dance like Vandall.

Artists: Kamui (earlier releases.. then went to tech.. now are electro), Scot Project (earlier releases), A.S.Y.S. (earlier releases), S.H.O.K.K., Space Raven
Songs: Cosmic Gate - The Wave, Schwarze Puppen - Tanz, T.O.C.S. - 2, Kamui - Ghosts

Progressive: This started around the mid 90s when commercial trance started becoming popular.. but this was more underground music. Artists like BT, Sasha, John Digweed, and Airwave (or Lolo) were producing it. Nowadays it took off and is still being produced and played by many of the big names. One issue with progressive trance is that progressive house is quite similar. Both can be emotional, both can be uplifting, both usually have breaks, and both are quite popular. If progressive trance sounds good then definitely check out progressive house (artists like Mango and Atlantis Ocean).

Artists: Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz, Ashley Wallbridge, Lolo, Breakfast
Songs: Annie Lennox - The Saddest Song I've Got (Kuffdam & Plant Remix), Solarstone - Seven Cities (Armin van Buuren Remix), Robert Vadney - A Day in Heaven, Markus Schulz & Carrie Skipper - Never Be the Same Again

Progressive

House music had reached the mainstream by the late '80s (more so in Britain than anywhere else), and while several early house hits were by genuine pioneers, they were later overwhelmed by the novelty acts and one-hit wonders dominating the charts around the turn of the decade. As well, ambient, techno, and trance made gains early in the '90s as electronic styles with both street cred and a group of young artists making intelligent music. A generation of house producers soon emerged, weaned on the first wave of house and anxious to reapply the more soulful elements of the music. With a balance of sublime techno and a house sound more focused on New York garage than Chicago acid house, groups like Leftfield, the Drum Club, Spooky, and Faithless hit the dance charts (and occasionally Britain's singles charts). Though critically acclaimed full-lengths were never quite as important as devastating club tracks, several Progressive House LPs were stellar works, including Leftfield's Leftism, Spooky's Gargantuan, and the Drum Club's Everything Is Now. By the mid-'90s, the innovations of progressive house had become the mainstream of house music around the world.

Examples: Sasha, Mike Dierickx, Armin Van Buuren, Brian Transeau

It's not a genre I'm much involved in at all, but was an interesting read nonetheless. Kudos, good thread.

I always been into Electronica..........Cool, nice work bro

chameleon, I found a thread that has a major list of artists that go with your descriptions of genres and subgenres that people can checkout, hope you dont mind.

https://www.musicbanter.com/showthread.php?t=37162

Very broad area of music that I've been delving deeper into over the last month or so, so it's good to have a lot of the areas accounted for in one thread. Great read, top thread. Do you want this stickied btw?

I really hate the term 'electronica' being used as an umbrella term for all things electronic. :(

I always associate 'electronica' with more well-known acts like Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx, Chrystal Method, Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, etc. even The Orb and Orbital.

But at least we're not calling it all techno. :laughing:

I understand what you mean but I kind of went along with calling it that because of the Forum header and the idea that they all involve some form of electronic.

yeah, I recently decided to jump head first into the genre after listening to B.E.P. of all groups. they were my gateway drug into the genre.
Yes, sticky this please. Could you do me a favor and change the title to Electronic. now that I think about it, Sidewinder is right.

Yeah I meant to do that....put some recommendations/examples of artists....ty for that thread I'll go through and edit some in

All done. :) Thanks for the thread as well.

Yeah...exactly why I always use the term 'electronic' as the umbrella term, while 'electronica' seems more specific.

But I know where you're coming from...you didn't make up the forum header. ;)

Chameleon, you may want to add Breakbeat, as it's a common sub-genre of electronic music that's not to be confused with "Broken Beat". You'll find info on Wiki.

IDM may be another one to add.

Also, when you get more time, you may consider delving into the types and styles of these sub-genres and the notable characteristics of each.

Breakbeat could do with a mention. Maybe dubstep too. Not so sure about IDM - personally I've always thought of it as more of an umbrella term for the more experimental sides of electronic music. I could be wrong though.

where would electrofunk groups like Chromeo fall under?

I like the section on trance.. but you could maybe add more examples of more types. Epic (Aly & Fila, Andy Blueman, Daniel Kandi), Tech (Jesselyn, Fabio Stein, BK), Hard (Wragg & Log:One, Kidd Kaos, JTB & DJ Chuck-E) Electro (Marcel Woods, Ferry Corsten, Marcus Schossow).

Does Deadmau5 count as trance, or is his music just strictly house?

House, from what I've heard. Although, varied forms of it.

Yeah, most of his work is progressive house.

I added in Dubstep and for breakbeats I have a whole section for that because it has all of the sub genres...I'm going to let Freebase read it over before I post it and see if I can trim some of the fat.

After I post the Breakbeats section then I'll expand the Trance section.

Electro funk is also it's own little sub genre but it's a small niche and not too many artists do it but I will also add that

It's a great thread, and I've been busy delving into a lot of electronica, mainly dubstep, trip-hop, and down tempo. It would be nice to see some suggested artists or examples for the Broken Beat section, though.

Yeah he used to be into electro and house.. now he's moved onto progressive and minimal tech.. which is what's in demand right now so he's just changing with the times.

Ypu should put down EBM (Electronic Body Music) as well. I'm slowly starting to get into some of that.

Breakbeats

The use of a non-straightened 4/4 drum pattern is one of the defining attributes of the Breakbeat genre. The genre essentially grew from the usage of two sampled drum beats: "Amen, brother" and "Funky drummer (The Winstons, James Brown, respectively). The core element of Breakbeat began with electronic elements centered around the use of those specific samples in terms of identifying attributes, and eventually grew to be unified by the type of drum pattern those breaks represented . Numerous sub-genres spawned in the wake of this genre including; Big beat, Breakcore Broken beat, Funky breaks, Hardcore breaks, Nu Skool breaks and Progressive breaks.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, hip-hop DJs (starting with Kool DJ Herc) began using several of these essential "breaks" (the part of a funk or jazz song in which the music "breaks" to let the rhythm section play unaccompanied) in a row to use as the rhythmic basis for hip-hop songs. Kool DJ Herc's breakbeat style was to play the same record on two turntables and play the break repeatedly by alternating between the two records (letting one play while spinning the second record back to the beginning of the break). This style was copied and improved upon by early hip hop DJs Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Wizard Theodore. This style was extremely popular in clubs and dance halls because the extended breakbeat was the perfect backdrop for break dancers to show their skills.
In the early 1990s, acid house artists and producers started using breakbeat samples in their music to create breakbeat hardcore, also known as rave music. The hardcore scene then diverged into sub-genres like jungle and drum and bass, which generally had a darker sound and focused more on complex sampled drum patterns. A good example of this is Goldie's album 'Timeless'.

In 1992 a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out, trance-like state that the standard, steady 4/4 beats of rave enabled.
In recent times, the term breakbeat has become synonymous with the many genres of breaks music which have become popular within the global dance music scene, including big beat, Nu Skool breaks and Progressive breaks. DJs from a variety of genres, including house and techno, work breaks tracks into their sets. This may occur because the tempo of breaks tracks (ranging from 110 to 150 beats per minute) means they can be readily mixed with these genres, whereas the comparatively fast speed of jungle and drum and bass (160-180 bpm) may have restricted the utility of these subgenres to DJs playing slower-tempo music. Some artists well known for breakbeat include Frankie Bones, The Freestylers, NAPT, Soul Of Man, The Breakfastaz, Ctrl Z, Freq Nasty and the Plump DJ's.

Big Beat

Rescuing the electronica community from a near fall off the edge of its experimental fringe, Big Beat emerged in the mid-'90s as the next wave of big dumb dance music. Regional pockets around the world had emphasized the "less intelligent" side of dance music as early as 1994, in reaction to the growing coterie of chin-stroking intellectuals attached to the drum'n'bass and experimental movements. Big beat as a distinct movement finally coalesced in 1995-96 around two British labels: Brighton's Skint and London's Wall of Sound. The former -- home to releases by Fatboy Slim, Bentley Rhythm Ace, and Lo-Fidelity Allstars -- deserves more honors for innovation and quality, though Wall of Sound was founded slightly earlier and released great singles by Propellerheads, Wiseguys, and Les Rythmes Digitales. Big beat soon proved very popular in America as well, and artists attached to City of Angels Records (the Crystal Method, Überzone, Lunatic Calm, Front BC) gained a higher profile thanks to like-minded Brits. Other than Fatboy Slim, the other superstar artists of big beat were the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy, two groups who predated the style (and assisted its birth). Both the Chemical Brothers and Prodigy were never tight fits either, given productions that often reflected the more intelligent edge of trip-hop, and rarely broke into the mindless arena of true big beat.

The sound of big beat, a rather shameless fusion of old-school party breakbeats with appropriately off-the-wall samples, was reminiscent of house music's sampladelic phase of the late '80s as well as old-school rap and its penchant for silly samples and irresistible breaks. Though the sample programming and overall production was leaps and bounds beyond its predecessors, big beat was nevertheless criticized for dumbing down the electronica wave of the late '90s. Even while recordings by the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, and Fatboy Slim hit the American charts and earned positive reviews -- granted, from rock critics -- worldwide, many dance fans rejected the style wholesale for being too reliant on gimmicky production values and played-out samples. Big beat lasted a surprisingly long time, given the constraints of a style reliant on the patience of listeners who've heard the same break dozens of times, as well as the patience of DJs to hunt local thrift stores to find interesting samples on old instructional records.

Breakcore

Breakcore is an electronic music style that brings together elements of industrial, jungle, hardcore techno and IDM into a breakbeat-oriented sound that encourages speed, complexity, impact and maximum sonic density. It adheres to a loose set of stylistic rules.
As the early days of "hardcore techno" or just "hardcore" began to settle in Europe, breakcore as a genre began to take more concrete forms in other parts of the world. Inspired by new labels such as Addict, from Milwaukee, USA; Peace Off from Rennes, France; Sonic Belligeranza from Bologna, Italy; and Planet Mu, from London, began to take a new shape, adding in more elements of mashup and IDM to the hardcore sounds. Each of these labels began to draw in aspects of their own social and aesthetic scenes into their music, allowing for an even broader definition of what was possible in the music.
One of the most controversial issues in breakcore is that of the mere existence of the genre. Because it pulls liberally from other musical genres, there is not a consensus on what is and what is not breakcore, or even over the usefulness of the term itself. Because of the fragmentation, the breakcore scene is not centered in any one geographical location, but is rather scattered into disparate groups. Perhaps the one place where breakcore's "voice" can be heard is virtually, through the internet and various online forums, such as those at C8 and Widerstand (Eiterherd's website, now defunct).
According to Simon Reynolds, of The New York Times, breakcore is "purveyed by artists like DJ/Rupture and Teamshadetek, the music combines rumbling bass lines, fidgety beats and grainy ragga vocals to create a home-listening surrogate for the bashment vibe of a Jamaican sound system party. Others within the breakcore genre, like Knifehandchop, Kid 606 and Soundmurderer, hark back to rave's own early days, their music evoking the rowdy fervor of a time when huge crowds flailed their limbs to a barrage of abstract noise and convulsive rhythm. It's a poignant aural mirage of a time when techno music was made for the popular vanguard rather than a connoisseurial elite, as it is today.
In Europe, the breakcore genre was solidified by raves and club events such as Belgium's Breakcore Gives Me Wood featuring local acts such as UndaCova, Sickboy and Droon; Breakcore A Go Go, in the Netherlands, which was run by FFF and Bong-Ra; as well as Anticartel, in Rennes, the seat of PeaceOff, and later, Wasted in Berlin.

Hardcore breaks

Hardcore breaks is a genre of electronic music written in the style of old skool rave music or breakbeat hardcore using modern technology. The music is composed of from looped, edited and processed breakbeat samples, intense bassline sounds, staccato synthesizer riffs, and various vocal samples (frequently taken from old house records). The speed of this genre typically falls between the range of 140-150 BPM, although there are exceptions within a 10 BPM buffer on each side, and the DJ will often change the speed when playing at a rave. Originally being produced by a small group of artists with the vision of carrying on where oldskool hardcore left off before the jungle/happy hardcore split using new production techniques and technology, its appeal has now expanded to include artists from the original breakbeat hardcore scene creating new productions. Many large rave promotions now include hardcore breaks on the line up and it is recognised as its own entity. Hardcore Breaks together with Rave Breaks and J-tek is considered to be part of the Nu-Rave scene.

Jungle

Presently the difference between jungle (or oldschool jungle) and Drum and Bass is a common debate within the "junglist" community. There is no universally accepted semantic distinction between the terms "jungle" and "Drum and Bass". Some associate "jungle" with older black sounding material from the first half of the 1990s (sometimes referred to as "jungle techno"), and see Drum and Bass as essentially succeeding Jungle. Others use Jungle as a shorthand for ragga jungle, a specific sub-genre within the broader realm of Drum and Bass. In the U.S., the combined term "jungle drum and bass" (JDB or JDNB) has some popularity, but is not widespread elsewhere.

Proponents of a distinction between jungle and drum and bass usually argue that:

* Drum and Bass has an integrated percussion and bass structure while jungle has a distinct bass line separated from the percussion.
* The relatively simple drum break beats of modern Drum and Bass (generally a two-step beat) are less complex than the 'chopped' 'Amen' breakbeats of jungle
* The usage of ragga and reggae vocals differentiates Drum and Bass from Jungle, but then again not all jungle has ragga/reggae vocals, some have other samples and some have no vocals.

The truth is more complicated than this, however. An often mistaken view of the difference between jungle and drum and bass, is that of making a distinction between two-step beat drum and bass and amen breakbeat drum and bass. This is really a distinction between tech-step drum and bass and the new style of drum & bass which occurred especially late-1994 and 1995. Drum and Bass really first referred to the increased attention to breakbeat editing. Perhaps the first track to explicitly use the term "drum and bass" to refer to itself as a different style was released in 1993.The producer The Invisible Man described it:

"A well edited Amen Break alongside an 808 sub kick and some simple atmospherics just sounded so amazing all on its own, thus the speech sample "strictly drum and bass". A whole new world of possibilities was opening up for the drum programming... It wasn't long before the amen break was being used by practically every producer within the scene, and as time progressed the Belgian style techno stabs and noises disappeared (thankfully!) and the edits and studio trickery got more and more complex. People were at last beginning to call the music Drum and Bass instead of hardcore. This Amen formula certainly helped cement the sound for many of the tracks I went on to produce for Gwange, Q-Project and Spinback on Legend Records. After a while, tracks using the Amen break virtually had a genre all of their own. Foul Play, Peshay, Bukem and DJ Crystal among others were all solid amen addicts back then too."

Since the term jungle was so closely related to the reggae influenced sound, DJs and producers who did not incorporate reggae elements began to adopt the term "drum and bass" to differentiate themselves and their musical styles. This reflected a change in the musical style which incorporated increased drum break editing. Sometimes this was referred to as "intelligence", though this later came to refer to the more relaxed style of drum and bass associated with producers such as LTJ Bukem.

Nu Skool breaks

Nu skool breaks (often abbreviated to nuskool) is a term used to describe a sub-genre of breakbeat. The sub-genre is usually characterized by its darker and heavier bass lines that are normally dominant throughout the track, and tear-out style synths with frenetic energy. Typically, tracks range between 125 to 140 bpm.
The term is widely attributed to Rennie Pilgrem and Adam Freeland, who used it to describe the sound at their night Friction, which was launched at Bar Rumba in 1996, with promoter Ian Williams. In 1998, the label was used on two compilations, Nu Skool Breaks, Volume 1 and 2, compiled with Danny McMillan and released through UK based Kickin Records. The first volume of these was recorded live at th e aforementioned London club night Friction
Recognised nu skool producers include Plump DJs, NAPT, Überzone, Freq Nasty, Ils, and Stanton Warriors. The major producers have remixed and/or produced tracks for acts such as Orbital, Fatboy Slim, 'N Sync, Kelis and New Order.
In the UK the scene has been dominated by acts such as Stanton Warriors, Plump DJs, Evil Nine, Adam Freeland and more recently NAPT, The Rogue Element, The Breakfastaz, The Wrongstar Society, CNTRL-Z, Storm Troopaz, and Far Too Loud. In the USA, known for its more acid-based breaks sound, the sound has gained popularity, especially on the West Coast. North American artists include Pillform, and Überzone. Australia also has a burgeoning scene with popular artists including Kid Kenobi and Dopamine.

Progressive breaks

Progressive breaks essentially grew out of nu skool breaks and progressive house. Due to its origins in those genres, progressive breakbeat typically features atmospheric pads and melodies, lush soundscapes and an unhurried, evolving progressive structure. Most artists working in this genre also work in other closely related genres such as breakbeats and progressive house. Hybrid is one of the most popular artists in this genre. Other popular breaks artists include Digital Witchcraft, Luke Chable, Momu, Nubreed, Plastic Shell, and Way Out West.

Trip Hop

Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music. It began in the mid-1990s, growing out of England's hip hop and house scenes, including that of the Bristol underground. It has been described as "Europe's alternative choice in the second half of the '90s", and a fusion "of Hip-Hop and Electronica until neither genre is recognizable.
Trip hop originated in the mid-1980s in Bristol, England, during a time when American hip hop started to gain increasing popularity there along with the then exploding popularity of the house music and dance scene. The originators of hip hop music in the 1970s had been Jamaican-born New Yorkers, but new US regional forms of MCing and DJing arose, and the genre's rise to mainstream success quickly severed it from direct Caribbean antecedents. The UK hip hop scene tended to sample more deeply from Jamaican influences, due to the larger Caribbean ancestry of the British black population, and the existing mass British popularity of reggae, dancehall and dub in the 1980s. Under the influence of American hip hop from the 1980s, both black and white British youth became consumers of hip hop. Hip hop in the UK, unlike the US, was immediately fused with black soul (R&B) and elements of dancehall.
In Bristol, once one of the most important ports in the Atlantic slave trade and now among Britain's most racially diverse cities, hip hop began to seep into the consciousness of a subculture already well-schooled in Jamaican forms of music. DJs, MCs, b-boys and graffiti artists grouped together into informal soundsystems. Like the pioneering Bronx crews of DJs Kool Herc, Afrika Bambataa and Grandmaster Flash, the soundsystems provided party music for public spaces, often in the economically deprived council estates from which some of their members originated. Bristol's soundsystem DJs, drawing heavily on Jamaican dub music, typically used a laid-back, slow and heavy drum beat ("down tempo").

In the 90s, Massive Attack pretty much brought Trip Hop to the Mainstream.
Massive Attack's first album Blue Lines was released in 1991 to huge success in the UK. Blue Lines was seen widely as the first major manifestation of a uniquely British hip hop movement, but the album's hit single "Unfinished Sympathy" and several other tracks, while their rhythms were largely sample-based, were not seen as hip hop songs in any conventional sense. Shara Nelson, an R&B singer, featured on the orchestral "Unfinished," and Jamaican dancehall star Horace Andy provided vocals on several other tracks, as he would throughout Massive Attack's career. Massive Attack released their second album entitled Protection in 1994. Although Tricky stayed on in a lesser role, and Hooper again produced, the fertile dance music scene of the early '90s had informed the record, and it was seen as an even more significant shift away from the Wild Bunch era.

Examples: Massive Attack, Howie B, Naked Funk, Red Snapper, Portishead,Tricky

Post-Trip Hop

After the success of Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky albums in 1994 and 1995, a new generation of trip hop artists emerged with a more standardized sound. Notable "post-trip-hop" artists include Morcheeba, Sneaker Pimps, Alpha, Mudville and Cibo Matto. They integrated trip hop with other genres - including ambient, R&B, breakbeat, drum 'n' bass, acid jazz, and new age. The first printed record for the use of the term "post-trip hop" was as late as October 2002 when British newspaper The Independent used it to describe Second Person and their hybrid sound. Trip hop developed into a diversified genre that is no longer limited to the "deep, dark style" of the early years, eliminating the original impression of trip hop as "dark and gloomy".

Trip hop has influenced artists outside the genre, including Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Travis, Beth Orton, Bitter:Sweet, Deftones as well as Icelandic singer Björk, who utilized the genre throughout her 1993 album Debut and her 1995 album Post. Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue's 1997 album Impossible Princess featured strong trip hop styles on several tracks, as well as also mixing in sounds of rock and jazz

As you can see BreakBeats has all of its own sub genres so I added that in and I'm going to work on the other suggestions.

I love techno go techno it just makes me want to dance

ive never been in here but that was really informative. i have a cd that has an intro, which has some bits and pieces of info thats not there, not much, not anything important, just interesting stuff, ill dig it out if you want :)

wow I never knew there were so many genres I never heard of!!!

I have to say your listed artist for Techno are all what I would consider pop dance & house not techno at all. But then Im a total techno afficianado :)

Ohhh goodie! Maybe you can help me! I've been trying to track down stuff like this:





And these:





But without much success thus far :(

Got to say that Sor track by tommy47 is one of my faves this year. Love the brutality of the sounds. Ok dude here are some good resources for techno.

http://technomusicnews.com/ - Good general news, album releases & mixes source.

CLR Podcast One of the best new techno podcasts out there run by Chris Liebing.

WHITENOISE - Dave Clarkes whitenoise podcast this tends to be harder and with more of a focus on detroit techno & daves liking for old school afrika bombata style electro comes out occasionally.

My favourite mix of the last year or so...

http://technomusicnews.com/phil-kier...e-clr-podcast/

Phil Kierans album Shh is well worth checking out too.


here is a list of techno artists Ive been listening to a lot over the last few years...

Adam bayer
Apperat
Audio Injection
Ben Klock
Ben Simms
Billy Nasty
Booka Shade
Brian Senhaji
Carl Cox
Chris Finke
Dave Clarke
Damon Wild
Drumcell
Function
James Ruskin
Joey Beltram /JB3
Marcel Dettmann
Mark Broom
Magda
Modeselektor
Monika Kruse
Monoloc
Pan-Pot
Perc
Phil Kieran
Pfierter
Ricardo Villalobos
Richie Hawtin / Plastickman
Robert Hood
Slam
Space DJs
Speedy J
Stephan Bodzin
Surgeon
Terence Fixmer
Tommy Four Seven
The Advent
UMEK
Wighnomy Brothers

Search em out and enjoy...

I added a few of the names you suggested there under the Techno category. I was off a bit. Thanks for the correction and helping to make this thread better.

Nice HQ thread, i learned allot

I think you need to include Trip Hop i.e. Massive Attack and Dub i.e. DDub as a genre too. Dub is not listed on Wiki but in NZ we have just dub which covers a lot of groups here.

yes that's a minor oversight about Trip Hop and I will work on that but I do have Dubstep listed there right on the front page. Unless you are talking about something else like a sub genre of Dubstep.

I also would like to add that "Jungle" is slightly different from "drums n' bass".

"Jungle", in its early form, is merely very fast reggae toasting. Even is it's rhythmically siimilar to "drums n' bass", "d n b" rapping is leaning towards hip-hop, not reggae toasting.

okay I will add Jungle as well as a sub genre under d&b

Jungle, Trip Hop and Post-Trip Hop added.

Hardcore techno is for little 'teenie boppers' who suck on plastic passifiers and wear fluorescent clothing. They emulate their own 'cool' version of techno.

Forget about hardcore. It seems that all the DJs who make it have Turner's syndrome.

Most relevant hard techno producer/DJ: Andreas Kremer.

The only real techno, and by real, I mean captures the true essence of what techno has always wanted to be, is schranz.

Schranz: Tomash Gee, Sven Wittekind, Torsten Kanzler, Weichentechnikk, Jason Little, Xenex

If you have not heard schranz, then for certain, you have not heard techno.

By the way, djchameleon, you forgot to mention Richie Hawtin and John Digweed. I really hope you get into schranz. I have a colossal collexion, so I can send you the best...if you want.

YouTube is blocked here in China, but I will send you the best real hard techno you have never heard via sendspace.com, or something like that

Sure, send me what you have in a private message and I'll listen.

I will also add those names in as well as suggest artists a little bit later thanks.

My opinion as well -- though I'll add in happy hardcore...

A good Trip-hop-Glitch artist is DJ Tipper