Electronic music - styles and genres

Emok

2008-02-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

Emok, Iboga

Mikael Dahlgaard aka Emok, 1/2 of Iboga Records, started his DJ carrier in the last century, playing sets of psychedelic trance and organizing small underground parties around Copenhagen.
Later on, Emok started Phony Orphants with Jeppe and went on to found Iboga records where he currently works as A&R. DJ Emok is one of the top progressive trance DJs in the global scene. He travels spreading the Danish underground sound to parties worldwide.
Official site: http://www.iboga-records.dk/

Link: http://www.progressivetrance.net/

John Digweed

2008-02-29T10:57:00.000-08:00

John Digweed

John Digweed is a DJ and record producer from England. He began DJing at the early age of 13. His first major gig was at the club Renaissance in London after future artistic partner DJ Sasha heard his demo mix. Sasha and Digweed are a known duo for driving the progressive house/trance sound that became popular in Europe and North America in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Digweed is known for his innovative and adaptive new music styles. Compilations mixed by John Digweed are filled with exclusive tracks that go on to become classic dance music anthems. It is fair to say that he is, to this day, one of the most influential figures in modern trance. John Digweed and Nick Muir produce music as Bedrock. Digweed is the founder of the record label Bedrock Records that has released a string of popular records and compilations.

Official site: http://www.johndigweed.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Deep Dish

2008-02-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

Deep Dish

The Iranian-American DJs Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi also known as Deep Dish are amongst the most famous dance duos in the world.Most people know Deep Dish from their famous remixes for the likes of Madona, Cher, Gabrielle, Dido, Janet Jackson, Timo Maas & Kelis (which led to a Grammy), Tina Turner, The Beloved and many others. However, their ever-loyal fans know them better for their distinctive deep house and progressive music DJ sets. This is what gave Deep Dish an underground base to go and take the world by storm later.
The legendary nights and days when Deep Dish tour around the globe dominating the dancefloor and dictating the new music trends are not over. 2007 sees them voted once more in the world's top 10 DJs to noones surprise in the dance music industry.
In addition to the parties, mixes and remixes Deep Dish have layed some strong business foundations with their record labels Yoshitoshi and Yo. Amongst their best personal stuff they have been outputting great new talent giving a promise that they will continue to stay in the forefront of electronic dance music for years yet to come.

Discography
DJ Mix AlbumsPenetrate DeeperDJ's Take Control, Vol. 3Cream SeparatesYoshiesqueGlobal Underground: MoscowRenaissance IbizaYoshiesque, Vol. 2Global Underground: TorontoGlobal Underground: Dubai (by Sharam)Global Underground: Taipei (by Dubfire)
Singles and EPsDeep Dish - "Stay Gold" Deep Dish - "Stranded"Deep Dish - "The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)" (with Deep Dish - Everything But The Girl)Deep Dish - "Mohammad Is Jesus"Deep Dish - "Summer Is Over"Deep Dish - Global Underground: Toronto [12" Single]Deep Dish - Flashdance (He's A Dream)"Deep Dish - "Say Hello"Deep Dish - "Sacramento"Deep Dish - "Dreams" ft. Stevie Nicks
Remix work Scottie Deep featuring Toni Williams "Soul Searchin'" rmx Angela Marni "Slippin' & Slidin'" rmxBrian Transeau "Relativity" rmxJoi Cardwell "Trouble" rmxGena Bess "How Hard I Search" rmxNaomi Daniel "Feel the Fire" rmxScott Taylor "Don't Turn Your Back On Me" rmxJanet Jackson "When I Think Of You" rmxThe Shamen "Transamazonia" rmxe-N "The Horn Ride" rmxAshley Beedle presents Revolutions In Dub "Jumpin' At the Bar"De'Lacy "Hideaway" rmxAquarhythms "Ether's Whisper" rmxDajae "Day By Day" rmxPaula Abdul "Crazy Cool" rmxSwing 52 "Color Of My Skin" rmxEverything But the Girl "Wrong" rmxThe Beloved "Three Steps To Heaven" rmxGlobal Communication "The Deep" rmxPet Shop Boys "Se a Vida é (That's the Way Life Is)"Lisa Moorish "Mr. Friday Night"Sandy B "Make the World Go Round"All-Star Madness "Magic"Victor Romeo "Love Will Find a Way"Dangerous Minds "Live In Unity"Kristine W "Land Of the Living"Tina Turner "In Your Wildest Dreams"Alcatraz "Give Me Luv" remix Gusto "Disco's Revenge" remix BT featuring Tori Amos "Blue Skies"D-Note "Waiting Hopefully"The Rolling Stones "Saint Of Me"Adam F "Music In My Mind" remix Michael Jackson "Is It Scary" remix Love and Rockets "Resurrection Hex"Danny Tenaglia featuring Celeda "Music Is the Answer"Eddie Amador "House Music" remixDJ Rap "Good To Be Alive" remix16B vs. Deep Dish "Falling" remixBrother Brown featuring Frank'ee "Under the Water"Morel "True (The Faggot Is You)"Gabrielle "Rise"Billie Ray Martin "Honey"J.D. Braithwaite "Give Me the Night"Beth Orton "Central Reservation"Amber "Sexual (Li Da De)"Madonna "Music"Sven Väth "Barbarella"Dusted "Always Remember To Respect and Honour Your Mother"Dido "Thank You" remix iio "Rapture (Tastes So Sweet)"N'Sync "Pop" remix Planet Funk "Inside All the People"Delerium "Innocente" rmx Depeche Mode "Freelove"Justin Timberlake "Like I Love You"Timo Maas featuring Kelis "Help Me"Beenie Man featuring Janet "Feel It Boy"Elisa "Come Speak To Me"Dido "Stoned"David Guetta "The World Is Mine"Paul van Dyk "The Other Side"Eddie Murphy "Party All the Time" (Sharam remix)

Official site: http://www.deepdish.com/

Link: http://www.progressivetrance.net/

Hernan Cattaneo

2008-02-29T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hernan Cattaneo

Hernan Cattaneo is a progressive tribal house and trance DJ with ever increasing fame. He managed to rise as the 6th top DJ in the world on the DJ Mag poll. In 2004 Hernan released the Renaissance Master's Series Volume One and toured extensively promoting this album. In 2005 Cattaneo released the Renaissance Master's Series Volume 2 which became another hit. Cattaneo supports other South American dance music producers and DJs including Oliverio, MOS, Deep Mariano and Martín García. Hernan is known for his eclectic mixes and for discovering new artists and tracks. In 2005 Hernan Cattaneo appears with a new release on John Digweed's Bedrock Records, remixing numerous tracks as well as extensive worldwide touring. His fourth compilation and his third for the Renaissance imprint, Sequential, is going to be released in 2006.

Official site: http://www.hernancattaneo.com/

Link: http://www.progressivetrance.net/

DJ Sasha

2008-02-27T12:50:00.000-08:00

DJ Sasha

Alexander Coe aka DJ Sasha is a DJ and dance music producer from Wales. He became famous through his collaboration with English DJ, John Digweed. The duo released several DJ mix albums together, including the art piece Northern Exposure a progressive mix of house and trance.
One of the all time best selling mix albums, The Renaissance Mix Collection part 1 (1994) was also released by Sasha and Digweed. Sasha solo Global Underground mix CDs are considered classics for the progressive house/trance music genre.
Sasha has taken the world by storm, playing memorable DJ sets in dancefloors worldwide and driving crowds crazy. He has more than once changed styles, experimenting with house and trance, building his trademark eclectic style.
Sasha was voted 7th most popular DJ in the world in 2006.

Albums
Sasha - Renaissance - The Mix (Renaissance Records) Sasha - Northern Exposure (Ultra Records)
Sasha - Northern Exposure 2 (Ultra Records)
Sasha - Global Underground 009: San Francisco
Sasha - Northern Exposure: Expeditions (INCredible, Ultra Records)
Sasha - Global Underground 013: Ibiza
Sasha - Communicate (INCredible, Kinetic Records)
Sasha - Airdrawndagger (Kinetic Records, BMG)
Sasha - Involver (Global Underground)
Sasha - Fundacion NYC (Global Underground)
Sasha - Avalon Los Angeles CA
Sasha - Involver 2 (Global Underground)
Official site: http://www.djsasha.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Erick Morillo

2008-02-27T12:45:00.000-08:00

Erick Morillo

Erick Morillo is a DJ, music producer and record label manager from the US. He has released music under a number of pseudonyms, including Ministers De la Funk, RBM, Deep Soul, The Dronez, Club Ultimate, RAW and Smooth Touch. But Erick Morillo is most known for his international house music production for the record label Strictly Rhythm. One of the highest moments in his career was the 1993 hit 'I Like to Move It' which he produced as Reel 2 Real. The track went on to be featured in movies, commercials and ringtones.

The young Erick began his DJ career playing on his local party circuit at the very early age of 11, mainly at weddings for family and friends. Later Morillo studied audio engineering. A connection with Latin reggae star El General led to the collaboration of the 'Muevelo' single, a mix of house and reggae music. This single was Morillo's first platinum establishing his name in Latin club music. A subsequent friendship with singer and songwriter Marc Anthony, led to another series of important collaborations with Little Louie Vega, who significantly influenced his sound.

Erick Morillo is now a television personality with appearances on MTV UK, MTV IBIZA, the UK's 2001 Dancestar Awards and a Channel 4 series that followed him to the biggest parties around the world and was seem by millions. His artist album 'My World' features elite collaborations with Puff Daddy, Audio Bullys, Terra Deva and DJ Rap.
Official site: http://www.erickmorillo.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Satoshi Tomiie

2008-02-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

Satoshi Tomiie

Satoshi Tomiie is one the most successful Japanese electronic music producers and DJs. He has written music for soundtracks, including well known Animatrix. Satoshi Tomiie was lucky to have a classical music education and later became involved with various bands throughout high school. An interest in hip hop music and DJ'ing came later and after some appearances was eventually asked by a Japanese cosmetics company to collaborate by creating a track for a Frankie Knuckles show. The veteran recognized Tomiie's potential, and the collaboration result was "Tears" that became a techno classic.

Given the opportunity, the rising star DJ moved to New York. He joined the Def Mix crew and became recognized as one of the world's top DJs. Satoshi Tomiie often tours the biggest dance music festivals and established international clubs. In 2000 he created his first CD titled "Full Lick". It was a great success worldwide and especially in England. Tomiie has a series of remixes and music productions, and has released several DJ mix compilation albums. Satoshi Tomiie is the owner of house music record label SAW.
http://www.satoshitomiie.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Paul Oakenfold

2008-02-27T12:35:00.000-08:00

Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold's love for dance music began in 1987 when he first visited Ibiza with friends. Influenced from Ibiza's sound, as well as house and disco, Oakenfold produced Happy Mondays' Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches. He then went on to remix tracks from U2, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Massive Attack, The Cure, Simply Red, Arrested Development, New Order and even The Doors, with his production partner Steve Osborne under the name 'Perfecto'. Most of these remixes were released under his label Perfecto Records.

Paul Oakenfold is a producer and sound engineer. He masters his own tracks. He was one of the first popular DJs that started playing Trance music, a discovery from the hippy beaches of Goa in India. When he played a two hour set in 1994 for BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix he brought trance to the masses.

Paul Oakenfold became Cream's resident DJ from 1997 to 1999 leading to the release of Tranceport in 1998. The album was followed Tranceport with Perfecto Presents Another World. His popularity in North America is significant becuase of his work on the film soundtracks of The Matrix Reloaded, Swordfish, Collateral and Die Another Day.
Discography
Mix and albums
Paul Oakenfold - Journeys by Stadium DJ
Paul Oakenfold - Perfecto Fluoro (album)
Paul Oakenfold - Global Underground 004
Paul Oakenfold - Global Underground 007
Paul Oakenfold - Tranceport (album)
Paul Oakenfold - Another World (album)
Paul Oakenfold - A Voyage Into Trance
Paul Oakenfold - Bunkka
Paul Oakenfold - Creamfields
Paul Oakenfold - A Lively Mind

Remix work
* Transformers: "Cybertron" (The Transformers Theme)
* Dave Matthews Band - "When the World Ends"
* Muse - "New Born"
* N*E*R*D Feat. Paul Harvey & Vita - "Lapdance"
* "James Bond" (Bond vs. Oakenfold)
* The Doors - "L.A. Woman (Paul Oakenfold Remix)"
* U2 - "Beautiful Day (Paul Oakenfold Remix)"
* The Faint - "Glass Danse (Paul Oakenfold Remix)"
* Madonna - "What It Feels Like for a Girl (Paul Oakenfold Perfecto Mix)"
* Madonna - "Hollywood (Paul Oakenfold Full Remix/12" Dub/7" Full Edit)"
* Madonna - "American Life (Paul Oakenfold Downtempo Remix/Edit/Edit w.o rap)"
* Madonna - "Sorry" (Paul Oakenfold Remix/Edit)
* Elvis Presley - "Rubberneckin"
* Michael Jackson - "One More Chance"
* Justin Timberlake - "Rock Your Body"
* Justin Timberlake - "My Love"
* John B - "Mercury Skies (Trance Mix)"
* Björk - "Pagan Poetry"
* Motorcycle - "As The Rush Comes"
* Girl Nobody - "Cages (Lemon 8 Mix)"
* PPK - "Resurrection (Perfecto Edit)"
* Jan Johnston - "Flesh"
* Led Zeppelin - "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"
* Kim Wilde - "Cambodia" (2006)
* Incubus - "Are You In? (Oakenfold Remix)"

Official site: http://www.pauloakenfold.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Armin Van Buuren

2008-02-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

Armin Van Buuren

Armin Van Buuren was born in Leiden, Holland and became fascinated with music at a young age. Armin also gained an interest in computer technology early on and by the age of 14, he had his first sampler and together with his father's synthesizer started making music.
Soon Armin Van Buuren picked up a passion for mixing and started working as a DJ in local clubs. In university whilst studying law he set-up his first real studio and started producing tunes. Touch Me and Communication were produced there. Van Buuren does not like to be confined to a particular style of music although his preference is euphoric, uplifting, melodic, high-energy trance.

His ambition and drive to succeed have seen him studying, producing, and working as a DJ at the same time. His music producing skills have led to a string of hit records and DJ compilations and he is a regular at the largest trance festivals and dance music events across the globe. His name is synonymous with high quality energy trance.
Official site: http://www.arminvanbuuren.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Paul Van Dyk

2008-02-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Paul Van Dyk

Paul Van Dyk aka Matthias Paul was born in Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany. His first touch with music was through smuggled mix tapes in East Berlin, where he grew up. His breakthrough came from his first production, a collaboration with Cosmic Baby that was released in 1992. The following year a remix of Humate's "Love Stimulation" and his DJ residency at Berlin nightclub E-Werk earned Paul world class trance artist status.

Amongst a string of successfull personal albums and DJ sets Paul Van Dyk became famous for capturing the mood and emotion of melodic trance in the British club scene. A residency at Sheffield’s mega trance event Gatecrasher followed.

The fourth Paul van Dyk album Reflections was nominated for an American Grammy in the category of Best Electronic Album. Paul is always touring worldwide, he hosts a show on Radio Fritz and manages hir record label Vandit records.

Paul van Dyk has established himself as one of the most influential figures in the field of trance music over the last decade both as a DJ, and a trance music producer.
Paul van Dyk Releases

* 2003 - Reflections - Paul van Dyk
* 2003 - "Return Of God!" Paul van Dyk MixMag Compilation
* 2004 - Vandit - The Sessions 03 (compiled by Paul van Dyke)
* 2004 - The remixes 94 - 04 (South African Release Paul van Dyk)
* 2004 - Re-Reflections - Paul van Dyk
* 2005 - MixMag Compilation (Paul van Dyke)
* 2005 - DJ Mag Compilation December (Paul van Dyke)
* 2005 - The Politics of Dancing 2 - Paul van Dyk
* 2007 - In Between (Paul van Dyke)
Official site:http://www.paulvandyk.de

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

DJ Tiesto

2008-02-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

DJ Tiesto

Tiesto aka Tijs Verwest was born in Breda, Holland. He is one of the world's leading trance DJs and has been voted top world DJ for three consecutive years from 2002-2004. Tiesto is world known for his hit remix of the Delerium single Silence and for his re-work of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.

Tiesto's musical genious has not only earned him a string of popular releases, remix work and mix compilations but such is his fame that he was invited to play at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Athens with an estimated global audience of 2 billion people.
Remixes

Jose Gonzalez - Crosses (Tiesto Rmx)
Klaus Badelt – He's a Pirate (Tiesto Rmx)
BT – The Force of Gravity (Tiesto Remix)
Cirque Du Soleil – Mel Noire (Tiesto Rmx)
DJ Cor Fijneman – Venus (Meant to Be Your Lover) (Tiesto Remix)
Hampshire & Nysse – Eternal Voices (Tiesto’s Alternative Breaks Mix)
Kane – Rain Down on Me (Tiesto Vocal Mix)
Madonna – Die Another Day (Tiesto Dedicated Remix)
Radiohead – Street Spirit (Tiesto Rmx)
Skin – Faithfulness (Tiesto Mix)
Conjure One – Tears from the Moon (DJ Tiesto's ''In Search of Sunrise'' Remix)
Junkie XL – Breezer (DJ Tiesto Remix)
Kosheen – Hungry (DJ Tiesto Remix)
Lost Witness – Did I Dream (DJ Tiesto Remix)
Mauro Picotto – Pulsar 2002 (DJ Tiësto Remix)
Moby – Extreme Ways (DJ Tiesto's Instrumental Mix)
Moby – We Are All Made of Stars (DJ Tiësto Dub Mix)
Paul Oakenfold – Southern Sun (DJ Tiesto Remix)
Saint Etienne – Action (DJ Tiësto Remix)
Official site:
http://www.tiesto.com

Link: www.progressivetrance.net

Electronic Music History (End)

2008-02-26T11:40:00.000-08:00

In Britain, further experiments in the genre boosted its appeal (and gave the opportunity for new names to be made up).House and rave clubs like Lakota and the original C.R.E.A.M began to emerge across Britain, hosting regular events for people who would otherwise have had no place to enjoy the mutating house and dance scene.The idea of 'chilling out' was born in Britain with ambient house albums like the KLF's Chill Out. A new indie dance scene was being forged by bands like the Happy Mondays, The Shamen, Meat Beat Manifesto, Renegade Soundwave, EMF, The Grid and The Beloved. Two distinctive tracks from this era were the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" (with a distinctive vocal sample from Ricky Lee Jones) and the Happy Mondays' "Wrote for Luck" ("WFL") which was transformed into a dance hit by Paul Oakenfold.The Criminal Justice Bill of 1994 was a government attempt to ban large events featuring music with "repetitive beats". There were a number of abortive "Kill the Bill" demonstrations. Although the bill did become law in November 1994, it had little effect. The music continued to grow and change, as typified by the emergence of acts like Leftfield with "Release the Pressure", which introduced dub and reggae into the house sound. In more commercial areas a mix of R&B with stronger bass-lines gained favour.The music was being moulded, not just by drugs, but also the mixed cultural and racial groups involved in the house music scene. Tunes like "£10 to Get In" from Shut Up and Dance used sped-up hip-hop break-beats. With SL2's "On A Ragga Trip" they gave the foundations to what would become drum and bass and jungle. Initially called breakbeat hardcore, it found popularity in London clubs like Rage as a "inner city" music. Labels like Moving Shadow and Reinforced became underground favorites. Showing an increased tempo around 160 bpm, tunes like "Terminator" from Goldie marked a distinct change from house with heavier, faster and more complex bass-lines: drum and bass. Goldie's early work culminated in the twenty-two minute epic "Inner City Life" a hit from his debut album Timeless.UK Garage developed later, growing in the underground club scene from drum and bass ideas. Aimed more for dancing than listening, it produced distinctive tunes like "Double 99" from Ripgroove in 1997. Gaining popularity amongst clubbers in Ibiza, it was re-imported to the UK and in a softened form had chart success: soon it was being applied to mainstream acts like Daniel Bedingfield and Victoria Beckham.4 Hero went in the opposite direction - from brutal breakbeats they adopted more soul and jazz influences , and even a full orchestral section in their quest for sophistication. Later, this led directly to the West London scene known as Brokenbeat.Back in the US some artists were finding it difficult to gain recognition. Another import into Europe of not only a style but also the creator himself was Joey Beltram. From Brooklyn his "Energy Flash" had proved rather too much for American House enthusiasts and he need a move to find success. The American industry threw its weight behind DJs like Junior Vasquez , Armand van Helden or even Masters at Work who appeared to churn out endless remixes of mainstream pop music. Some argued that many of the formularic remixes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, U2, Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, Spiller, Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy, Elvis Presley, Vengaboys and other bands and pop divas did not deserve to be considered house records.During this time many individuals and particularly corporations realized that house music could be extremely lucrative and much of the 1990s saw the rise of sponsorship deals and other industry practices common in other genres.To develop successful hit singles, some argued that the record industry developed "handbag house": throwaway pop songs with a retro disco beat. Underground house DJs were reluctant to play this style, so a new generation of DJs were created from record company staff, and new clubs like Cream and the Ministry of Sound were opened to provide a venue for more commercial sounds.By 1996 Pete Tong had a major role in the playlist of BBC Radio 1, and every record he released seemed to be guaranteed airplay. Major record companies began to open "superclubs" promoting their own acts, forcing many independent clubs and labels out of business. These superclubs entered into sponsorship deals initially with fast food, soft drinks, and clothing companies and later with banks and insurance brokers. Flyers in clubs in Ibiza often sported many corporate logos.Many UK clubs were playing much the same music as the commercial dance shows, as were many bars, supermarkets, and television advertisements. Dance music was perceived by many young people as being increasingly outmoded. Many older DJs seemed to be playing year after year, leading to the term "Dad house". House music became racially segregated, in contrast to its inclusive beginnings; some major UK clubs were reportedly refusing to book black DJs. MDMA became less popular than cocaine but created an entirely different atmosphere. Ketamine and GHB also appeared on the club scene during this time.As of 2003, a new generation of DJs and promoters were emerging, determined to kickstart a more underground scene and there were signs of a renaissance in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and other racially-mixed cities, as well as in Canada, Scandinavia, Scotland and Germany. The key to house music was re-invention. A willingness to steal or develop new styles and a low cost of entry encouraged innovation.Techno was primarily developed in basement studios by "The Belleville Three", a cadre of African-American men who were attending college, at the time, near Detroit, Michigan.The budding musicians -- former high school friends and mixtape traders Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson -- found inspiration in Midnight Funk Association, an eclectic, 5-hour, late-night radio program hosted on WJLB-FM from 1977 through the mid-1980s by DJ Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson. Mojo's show featured heavy doses of electronic sounds from the likes of George Clinton, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream, among others.Though initially conceived as party music and played at Detroit all-ages clubs such as the Music Institute, techno began to be seen by many of its originators and up-and-coming producers as an expression of Future Shock and post-industrial angst. It also took on increasingly urban, science-fiction oriented themes.The music's producers were using the word "techno" in a general sense as early as 1984 (as in Cybotron's seminal classic "Techno City"), and sporadic references to an ill-defined "techno-pop" could be found in the music press in the mid-1980s. However, it was not until Neil Rushton assembled the compilation Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit for Virgin UK in 1988 that the word came to formally describe a genre of music.Techno has since been retroactively defined to encompass, among others, works dating back to "Shari Vari" (1981) by A Number Of Names, the earliest compositions by Cybotron (1981), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), and the more danceable selections from Kraftwerk's repertoire between 1978 and 1983.In the years immediately following the first techno compilation's release, techno was referenced in the dance music press as Detroit's relatively high-tech, mechanical brand of house music, because on the whole, it retained the same basic structure as the soulful, minimal, post-disco style that was emanating from Chicago, New York and London at the time. The music's producers, especially May and Saunderson, admit to having been fascinated by the Chicago club scene and being influenced by house in particular. This influence is especially evident in the tracks on the first compilation, as well as in many of the other compositions and remixes they released between 1988 and 1992. May's 1987-88 hit "Strings Of Life" (released under the nom de plume Rhythim Is Rhythim), for example, is considered a classic in both the house and techno genres.A spate of techno-influenced releases by new producers in 1991-92 resulted in a rapid fragmentation and divergence of techno from the house genre. Many of these producers were based in the UK and the Netherlands, places where techno had gained a huge following and taken a crucial role in the development of the club and rave scenes. Many of these new tracks in the fledgling IDM, trance and hardcore/jungle genres took the music in more experimental and drug-influenced directions than techno's originators intended. Detroit and "pure" techno remained as a subgenre, however, championed by a new crop of Detroit-area producers like Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Drexciya, Robert Hood, and others, plus certain musicians in the UK and Germany.May is often quoted as comparing techno to "George Clinton and Kraftwerk stuck in an elevator", even though very little, if any, techno ever bore a stylistic resemblance to Clinton's repertoire.For various reasons, techno is seen by the American mainstream, even among African-Americans, as "white" music, even though its originators and many of its producers are Black. The historical similarities between techno, jazz, and rock and roll, from a racial standpoint, are a point of contention among fans and musicians alike. Derrick May, in particular, has been outspoken in his criticism of the co-opting of the genre and of the misconceptions held by people of all races with regard to techno. In recent years, however, the publication of relatively accurate histories by authors Simon Reynolds (Generation Ecstasy aka Energy Flash) and Dan Sicko (Techno Rebels), plus mainstream press coverage of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, have helped to diffuse the genre's more dubious mythology. The genre has further expanded as more recent pioneers of the scene such as Moby, Orbital, and the Future Sound of London have made the style break through to the mainstream pop culture.Stylistically, techno features an abundance of percussive, synthetic sounds, studio effects used as principal instrumentation, and a fast, regular 4/4 beat in the 130-140 bpm range. It is very DJ-friendly, being mainly instrumental, relatively atonal (often without a discernible melody or bass line), and produced with the intention of being incorporated into continuous DJ sets wherein different compositions are played with very long, synchronized segues. Although several other dance music genres can be described in such terms, techno has a distinct sound that aficionados can pick out very easily.There are many ways to make techno, but a typical techno production is created using a compositional technique that developed to suit the genre's sequencer-driven, electronic instrumentation. While this technique is rooted in a Western music framework (as far as scales, rhythm and meter, and the general role played by each type of instrument), it does not typically employ traditional approaches to composition such as reliance on the playing of notes, the use of overt tonality and melody, or the generation of accompaniment for vocals. Some of the most effective techno music consists of little more than cleverly programmed drum patterns that interplay with different types of reverb and frequency filtering, mixed in such a way that it's not clear where the instrument's timbres end and the effects begin.Instead of employing traditional compositional techniques, the techno musician treats the electronic studio as one large, complex instrument: an interconnected orchestra of machines, each producing timbres that are at once familiar and alien. These machines are set in motion one by one, and are encouraged to generate the kind of repetitive patterns that are more 'natural' to them. Depending on how they are wired together, they sometimes influence each other's sounds as the producer builds up many layers of syncopated, rhythmic harmonies and mingles them together at the mixing console.After an acceptable palette of compatible textures is collected in this manner, the producer begins again, this time focusing not on developing new textures but on imparting a more deliberate arrangement of the ones he or she already has. The producer "plays" the mixer and the sequencer, bringing layers of sound in and out, and tweaking the effects to create ever-more hypnotic, propulsive combinations. The result is a deconstructive manipulation of sound, owing as much to Debussy and the Futurist Luigi Russolo as it does to Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream.The techno producer's studio can be anything from a single computer (increasingly common nowadays) to elaborate banks of synthesizers, samplers, effects processors, and mixing boards wired together. Most producers use a variety of equipment and strive to produce sounds and rhythms never heard before, yet stay fairly close to the stylistic boundaries set by their contemporaries.

Link: www.uploud.com

Electronic Music History (Part 7)

2008-02-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

In 1983 the Muzic Box club opened in Chicago. Owned by Robert Williams, the driving force was a DJ, Ron Hardy. The chief characteristics of the club's sound were sheer massive volume and an increased pace to the tunes. The pace was apparently the result of Hardy's heroin use. The club also played a wider range of music than just disco. Groups such as Kraftwerk and Blondie were well received, as was a brief flirtation with punk, dances like "Punking-Out" or "Jacking" being very popular.Two tunes are arguably the first House music, each arriving in early 1984. The tune that was chronologically first was Jamie Principle and Frankie Knuckles' "Your Love", a huge hit in the clubs, but only available on tape copies. The second, "On And On" by Jesse Saunders was later but on vinyl (Shapiro, 2000).By 1985 house music dominated the clubs of Chicago, aided by the musical electronic revolution - the arrival of newer, cheaper and more compact music sequencers and drum machines (such as the legendary Roland TB-303 in late 1985) gave House music creators even wider possibilities in creating their own sound, indeed the creation of Acid House is directly related to the efforts of DJ Pierre on the new drum machines. Of equal importance was the rise in Chicago of the Trax record label, founded by Larry Sherman (the owner of the only vinyl pressing plant in Chicago). This was something of double-edged sword. In its favour Trax was very fast to sign new artists and press their tunes, establishing a large catalogue of House tunes, but the label used recycled vinyl to speed the pressing process resulting in physically poor quality records. Also disappointing was that many artists signed contracts that were rather less favourable towards them than they hoped.Trax became the dominant House label, releasing many classics including "No Way Back" by Adonis, Larry Heard's "Can You Feel It" and the first so-called House anthem in 1986, "Move Your Body" by Marshall Jefferson. This latter tune gave a massive boost to House music, extending recognition of the genre out of Chicago. Steve 'Silk' Hurley became the first house artist to reach number one in the UK in 1986 with "Jack Your Body". This and other tracks such as such as "Music is the Key" and "Love Can't Turn Around" helped moved house from its spiritual home to its commercial birthplace - the United Kingdom.In Britain the growth of house can be divided around the "Summer of Love" in 1988. House had a presence in Britain almost as early as it appeared in Chicago however there was a strong divide between the House music as part of the gay scene and 'straight' music. House grew in northern England, especially Manchester, as an extension of the 'Northern Soul' genre. The key English club was the Hacienda in Manchester, founded in 1982 by Factory Records. But until 1986 the club was a financial disaster, the crowds only started to grow when the resident DJs (Pickering, Park and Da Silva) started to play House music. House was boosted by the tour in the same year of Knuckles, Jefferson, Fingers Inc. (Heard) and Adonis as the DJ International Tour. Amusingly one of the early anthemic tunes, "Promised Land" by Joe Smooth, was covered and charted within a week by the Style Council. The first English House tune came out in 1986 - "Carino" by T-Coy. Europeans embraced House music, and began booking legendary American House DJs to play at the big clubs, such as Ministry of Sound, who's resident, DJ Harvey brought in Larry Levan. (...)(...) But house was also developing on Ibiza. A hippy stop-over and a site for the rich in the 1970s by the mid-1980s a distinct Balearic mix of house was discernable. Clubs like Amnesia where DJ Alfredo was playing a mix of rock, pop, disco and house fueled by Ecstasy, began to have an influence on the British scene. By late 1987 DJs like Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling were bringing the Ibiza sound to UK clubs like Shoom in Southwark (London), Heaven, Future and Purple Raines Spectrum in Birmingham. But the "Summer of Love" needed an added ingredient that would again come from America.In America the music was being developed to create a more sophisticated sound, moving beyond just drum loops and short samples. New York saw this maturity evidenced in the slick production of disco house crossover tracks from artists such as Mateo & Matos. In Chicago, Marshall Jefferson had formed the house 'super group' Ten City (from intensity), demonstrating the developments in "That's the Way Love Is". In Detroit there were the beginnings of what would be called techno, with the emergence of Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. Atkins had already scored in 1982 with Cybotron and in 1985 he released Model 500 "No UFOs" which became a big regional hit, followed by dozens of tracks on Transmat, Metroplex and Fragile. One of the most unusual was "Strings of Life" by Derrick May. The NME described it as "George Clinton and Kraftwerk stuck in an elevator". It was a darker, more intellectual strain of house that followed it's own trajectory. "Techno-Scratch" was released by the Knights Of The Turntable in 1984 which had a similar techno sound to Cybotron and is possibly where the term techno originated, although this is generally credited to Atkins, who borrowed the term from the phrase "techno rebels" which appeared in writer Alvin Toffler's book Future Shock (see Sicko 1998).The records were completely independent of the major record labels and the parties which the tracks were played at never played any commmercial pop music.The combination of house and techno came to Britain and gave House a phenomenal boost. A few clubs began to feature specialist House nights - the Hacienda had "Hots" on Wednesday from July 1988, 2,500 people could enjoy the British take on the Ibiza scene, the classic "Voodoo Ray" by A Guy Called Gerald (Gerald Simpson) was designed for the Hacienda and Madchester. Factory boss Tony Wilson also promoted acid house culture on his weekly TV show. The Midlands also embraced the late 80s House scene with many underground venues such as multi storey car parks and more legal dance stations such as the Birmingham Institute (now Sundissencial's 'The Sanctuary').Rather than be confined in the clubs ambitious promoters took the music to large temporary sites such as fields, handling up to 30,000 people in a single illegal event, called a rave. Promoters like Sunrise, Energy, Biology, Fantasia and World Dance held massive events in defiance of the police and music industry. Unlike many nightclubs they were open to all ages and races.The press lead the general public to believe that the events were shaped soley by the consumption of ecstasy, but others pointed out the music was refreshing and intoxicating enough without consumption of drugs. The British tabloid press helped publicize the scene, generally portraying rave parties in a negative light, which tended to alarm institutions such as the government and the police. Many tunes became hits from these events such as "Everything Starts with a E" by the E-Zee Possee," which was created by a savvy music producer rather than a band, "The Trip" by S'Express and "NRG" by Adamski who became the first rave superstar. (...)(...) The publicity and the knowledge that these events could make significant amounts of money led more professionally criminal groups to take an interest in raves. The police became more active in preventing or closing down raves. As the second "Summer of Love" arrived in 1989 the police became even more oppressive, culminating in a 1990 Act of Parliament. This was counter-productive, it both forced raves back underground and increased the criminal presence in organising raves. But the music continued, one of the longest lasting and influential groups grew out of the rave scene, named Orbital after the M25 motorway. Their British hit "Chime" was snapped up by Pete Tong's FFRR label. By the end of 1989 House was mainstream music in Britain, it charted regularly with "Ride on Time" from Black Box being at number one for six weeks.Although some venues in Wales (such as Wentwood Forrest near Newport) were still successfully holding outdoor raves well into the early 1990s, the majority of outdoor raves from the Midlands, the North West and South East were gradually closed down by the police, this did not deter the events organisers and new indoor venues were once again sought. Large country venues that were used to entertain many hundres of revellers and smaller (up until then) weaker commercial inner city nightclubs were exploited to fill the House scene gap. These events were fueled by illegal pirate radio stations, the mass production of flyers and word of mouth.The most significant revolution in house music took place in the very early 1990s with bedroom musicians like Unique 3, LFO, Nightmares on Wax, N-Joi, 4-Hero, Shut Up 'N' Dance, Ryhmatic and Altern8. These Rave musicians were counted by their hundreds due to the way sampling had become affordable to the masses (thanks to Akai), hundreds of other one off white label artists enoyed instant fame like The Prodigy and Zero 7, this unusual version of house steered away from the monotonous Balearic beats that prevailed at the time and eventually jungle music, drum and bass and breakbeat eventuated by musicians who experimented with live breakbeats as oposed to the usual Roland 909 Drum Machine kick and snare.Back in America the scene had still not progressed beyond a small number of clubs in Chicago and New York, Paradise Garage was still the top club, although they now had Todd Terry, his tune "Weekend" demonstrated a new House sound with hip-hop influences evident in the quicker sampling and the more rugged bass-line. While hip-hop had made it onto radio play-lists, the only other choices were Rock, Country & Western or R & B.Influential gospel/R&B-influenced Alias released "Time Passes On" in 1993 (Strictly Rhythm), then later, "Follow Me" which received radio airplay as well as being extensively played in clubs. Other US hits which received radioplay was the ghettotech single "Time for the Perculator" by Cajmere. Although these are generally grouped in with classic house now, the early 1990s sound was different from the early 1980s Chicago house WBMX sound - due at least in part to digital audio improvements.

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Electronic Music History (Part 6)

2008-02-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

The breakbeat is what loosely speaking defines the music as drum and bass. Generally speaking, this rhythm stripped down to its raw bones is played using a kick drum sound and a snare, the tempo being at around 160 - 180 beats per minute with the beats on the 1, 3, 6, 7 quaver (or half) beats, alternating between the kick and the snare.Drum and bass is also known as Jungle, a moniker stemming from a rough area in Kingston, Jamaica originally known as Concrete Jungle. It was likely named after this area due to the harshness or roughness of the beats and rhythm. By the mid-1990s, the term Jungle on the British scene had come to refer to a rougher, darker style of drum and bass influenced by the raggamuffin dance hall tradition and favouring ragga-style MCs, repetitive sampled drum loops and distorted bass (rather than the melodic vocals, programmed drums and floaty synthesizer ambience common in so-called 'intelligent' drum and bass). Modern 'dark' drum and bass showcases highly programmed and complex beats running between 160 and 180 BPM, with synth leads that strongly emphasize the sub-bass frequencies, and frequently make use of various cuts and breaks in order to keep the dancing audience from becoming bored and losing energy.There are many views of what constitutes "real" drum and bass as it has many scenes and styles within it, from heavy pounding bass lines to liquid funk and downright 'chilled out' elevator music. It has been compared with jazz where the listener can get very different sounding music all coming under the same music genre, because like drum and bass, it is more of an approach, or a tradition, than a style. Drum and bass, however, progresses at a rapid pace, tunes sounding old and of dated style after only a few years.Recently the drum and bass genre, evolving in the same manner as other electronic music sub-genres such as house, and Goa trance, has become much more specific as a genre and minimal. For example, whereas many rhythms and samples were utilized in older drum and bass (such as the "amen break"), most modern drum and bass features exclusively what is known as the funky drummer rhythm, and distorted bass lines with less melodic elements.Intelligent dance music (also known as "IDM"), popularized by Aphex Twin, features many of the same types of rhythms used in drum and bass and is generally focused on complexity in programming and instrumentation. Amongst its main proponents include Squarepusher.House music, techno, electro and hip hop musicians owe their existence to the pioneers of analogue and sample based keyboards like the Moog and Mellotron that enabled a wizardry of sounds to exist, available at the touch of a button or key.Although most people perceive house music to have originated from Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", fully formed electronic music tracks actually came before house. Early American Sci-Fi films and the BBC Soundtrack to popular television series Doctor Who stirred a whole generation of techno music lovers like the space rock generation during the 1970s, influenced by the psychedelic music sound of the late 1960s and bands such as Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Amon Duul, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and the so- called Krautrock early electronic scene (Tangerine Dream and Klause Schulze). Shunned by many as a "gimmick" or "childrens music", it was a genre similar and parallel to the Kosmiche Rock scene in Germany. Space rock is characterized by the use of spacial and floating backgrounds, mantra loops, electronic sequences, and futuristic effects over Rock structures. Some of the most representative artists were Steve Hillage's Gong and Hawkwind.Kraftwerk's 1970 classic "Ruckzuck" mixed live instruments with electric that culminated in a monotomous epic of bass, wild drums and strange sound effects. Pink Floyd's 1971 album, Dark Side of the Moon, was highly influential on acid house with steady beats and Moog flurries.The mid-1970s saw a spattering of techno- inspired music usually through ambitious producers wishing to experiment with Moog and Mellotron type keys on more conventional rock bands such as Steve Miller's 1975 track "Fly like an Eagle" which was later heavily sampled by Nightmares on Wax in 1990.The late-1970s saw disco utilise the (by then) much developed electronic sound and a limited genre emerged, appealing mainly to a gay and/or black audience, it crossed-over into mainstream American culture following the hit 1977 film Saturday Night Fever.As disco clubs filled there was a move to larger venues. "Paradise Garage" opened in New York in January 1978, featuring the DJ talents of Larry Levan (1954 - 1992). Studio 54, another New York disco club, was extremely popular. The clubs played the tunes of groups like The Supremes, Anita Ward, Donna Summer and Larry Levan's own hit "I Got My Mind Made Up". Drugs including LSD, poppers and quaaludes boosted the stamina of the clubbers. The disco boom was short-lived. There was a backlash from Middle America, epitomised in Chicago radio DJ Steve Dahl's "Disco Demolition Night" in 1979. Disco returned to the smaller clubs like the Warehouse in Chicago.Opened in 1977 the Warehouse in Chicago was a key venue in the development of House music. The main DJ was Frankie Knuckles. The club staples were still the old disco tunes but the limited number of records meant that the DJ had to be a creative force, introducing more deck work to revitalise old tunes. The new mixing skills also had local airplay with the Hot Mix 5 at WBMX. The chief source of this kind of records in Chicago was the record-store "Imports Etc." where the term House was introduced as a shortening of Warehouse (as in these records are played at the Warehouse).Despite the new skills the music was still essentially disco until the early 1980s when the first drum machines were introduced. Disco tracks could now be given an edge with the use of a mixer and drum machine. This was an added boost to the prestige of the individual DJs.

Link: www.helup.com

Electronic Music History (Part 5)

2008-02-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

Isolationist ambient music is perhaps the darkest, least accessible of ambient music. Inspired by industrial music, noise music, and classical music, isolationist may be rather dirge-like: more repellant than inviting. The Sombient label is the primary purveyor of isolationist ambient, in particular with the "drones" compilation series. Some of the artists known for this style of ambient music include Robert Fripp, Vidna Obmana, Jeff Greinke, and Naut Humon.Ambient electronic music is the current most widely heard form of the ambient music and began in its modern form in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Artists considered to be part of the inception of the late 1980s, early 1990s ambient electronic music movement included Aphex Twin, Pete Namlook, The Orb, Moby, Future Sound of London, and William Orbit. Other prominent artists that make ambient electronic music include Air, Biosphere and Bill Laswell. Initially an underground movement, ambient electronic music continued to rise in popularity until its less obscure status in the early 2000s. Although not strictly speaking, ambient music, mainstream electronic dance music styles such as trance, techno and drum and bass draw inspiration from the soothing electronic sound of ambient music artists in these styles often incorporate ambient elements into their work. Examples are found in Voodoo Child's (aka Moby) The End of Everything album and others.Works by Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble and others, including a number of compilations by various artists. Includes prominent bass guitar as does dub music, but without drums, vocals, or horn sections of reggae, and with the usual prominent synthesizers ambient music is known for.Ambient groove music could be seen as a sub-genre of both ambient and trip hop music. Ambient groove is a stylistic middle ground between the two, incorporating elements of both along with dub and world music. The sub genre was created accidentally by the series "A Journey Into Ambient Groove" by Quango Records, a subsidiary of Island Records. (Quango itself evolved out of the ambient groove project.) All four in the series are various-artists compilations, with tracks selected and compiled by Bruno Guez. Guez featured similar music on his radio show in L.A., though the movement is European in its origination. As with most sub genres in music, there is some overlap between them. This style is mostly limited to the mid 1990's. The ambient groove sound was created in particular by artists on the Pork label. Guez collected songs exclusively from this label for the "A Taste of Pork'" compilation. The songs themselves feature a combination of synthesizers and drum machines as well as acoustic percussion and other acoustic instruments. Ambient groove does not feature much in the way of vocals or four-on-the-floor techno beats, but the beat and the groove are featured elements, unlike ambient per se. The style has much in common with more modern dub, but generally less reggae-inspired, though there are dub tracks included on the compilations.Drum and bass started in the UK cities of London and Bristol around 1992 and mainly came out of the house/hardcore music scenes with predominant musical influences being dub music and hip-hop. The drum and bass genre has gone through numerous mutations and sub-genrefications, making it one of the most diverse styles to rise out of the rave scene of the 1990s. It is played all over the world and is considered by some to be at its most progressive and cutting edge in London.Early jungle music was referred to as breakbeat hardcore, which was an offshoot of uk rave music that focused on the breakbeat. As a more and more bass-heavy and uptempo sound developed, jungle began to develop its own separate identity. After being further developed by MC Jonny Waines of the Leeds Massive, the sound took on a very urban, raggamuffin sound, incorporating dancehall "ragga" style mc chants, dub basslines, but also increasingly complex, high tempo rapid fire breakbeat percussion. By 1995, a counter movement to the ragga style was emerging, dubbed "intelligent" jungle, and was embodied by LTJ Bukem and his Good Looking label. Intelligent jungle maintained the uptempo breakbeat percussion, but focused on more atmospheric sounds and warm, deep basslines over rough vocals or samples. At the same time, the ragga jungle sound mutated into a more stripped down hard percussive style, Hardstep, and its more hiphop and funk influenced sister style Jump-Up, while other artists pushed a smoother, dubby style of tune, referred to as Rollers.Through 1996, Hardstep and JumpUp sounds where popular in the clubs, while Intelligent jungle was pushing a sound more accessible to the home listener. Stylistically things kept getting more and more diverse, as well as crossbreading with other styles of jungle. In 1997, a funky, double-bass oriented sound came to the forefront, and gained some mainstream success with Roni Size's New Forms album winning the UK's Mercury Prize. On the other end of the spectrum, a new dark, technical sound in drum and bass was gaining popularity, championed by the labels Emotif and No U-Turn, and artists like Trace, Ed Rush and Optical, and commonly referred to as techstep. Techstep took new sounds and technololgies and applied them to jungle. It is characterized by sinister or science-fiction atmospherics and themes, cold and complex percussion, and dark basslines.As the 1990s drew to a close, techstep came to dominate the drum and bass genre, becoming more minimal, and increasingly dark in tone, and the funky, commercial appeal represented by Roni Size back in 1997 was waning. By 2000, there was an increasing movement to "bring the fun back into drum and bass". There was a new revival of rave-oriented sounds, as well as remixes of classic jungle tunes that brought things full circle back to the origins. Although techstep continued to dominate, other substyles have gained ground over the first several years of the decade, including the highly techno oriented style of Konflict, the dub sounds of Digital and the house meets drum and bass flavor of Marcus Intalex.One country to have recently developed a drum and bass scene is Brazil, with DJ Marky and DJ Patife amongst many others. The rhythms are strikingly similar to Latin music and putting a Latin sample to breakbeats works well. This has been somewhat commercialised with Shy FX's tune: "Shake Ur Body" taking the cliched latin piano from TV program Sex and the City and getting it into the mainstream (UK) charts with some pop sounding production. Another successful tune along similar Brazilian lines is "Don't Wanna Know" by Shy FX & T Power, but the artist is from Essex (North of London), not Brazil.

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Electronic Music History (Part 4)

2008-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

The term was first coined by Brian Eno in the late 1970s to refer to music that would envelop the listener without drawing attention to itself. Hence, Brian Eno is considered the father of ambient music. Sometimes associated with elevator music and Muzak, it is more often similar to mood music or an ambient background in movie and radio sound effects. Often listeners will forget they are listening to ambient music, which is one of the biggest attractions of the genre. It can be any musical style, including jazz, electronic music and modern classical music.Retrospectively, some of the works of the 20th century French composer Erik Satie, today best known for his Trois Gymnopédies suite, can be regarded as predecessors of modern ambient music. The invention of the theremin in the early 20th century is also considered an important influence on the later development of ambient music. Similarly some of the works of the French composer Edgar Varèse, who used the theremin extensively in his music can also be viewed as predecessors of ambient music.Early works from the 1970s by Kraftwerk have greatly influenced the genre. Other earlier artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis in the 1970s and Ray Lynch and Mannheim Steamroller in the 1980s, all of which were considered "New Age," also influenced the growth of ambient electronic music. Purely ambient music is traditionally beatless. In the late 1980s and early 1990s ambient music underwent a resurgence with the reconciliation of rhythm with the dreamy, meandering reverb of the first (late 1970s - 1980s) wave of ambient music. Under the guise of various styles, ambient electronic music (sometimes referred to as ambient techno or ambient dub) saw the birth of a new wave of electronic music in the works of artists like The Orb, Aphex Twin and the Irresistible Force.Organic ambient music is characterised by integration of electronic, electric, and acoustic musical instruments. Aside from the usual electronic music influences, organic ambient tends to incorporate influences from world music, especially drone instruments and hand percussion. Organic ambient is intended to be more harmonious with nature than with the disco. Some of the artists in this sub-genre include Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Vidna Obmana, O Yuki Conjugate and Tuu.Some works by ambient pioneers such as Brian Eno, which use a combination of traditional (such as piano) and electronic instruments would be considered organic ambient music in this sense.The music is composed from samples and recordings of naturally occurring sounds. Sometimes these samples can be treated to make them more instrument-like. The samples may be arranged in repetitive ways to form a conventional musical structure or may be random and unfocussed. Sometimes the sound is mixed with urban or "found" sounds. Examples include much of Biosphere's Substrata, Mira Calix's insect music and Chris Watson's Weather Report. Some overlap occurs between organic ambient and nature inspired ambient.

Link: www.uploud.com

Electronic Music History (Part 3)

2008-02-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

The development of the techno sound in Detroit and house music in Chicago in the early to late 1980s, and the later UK-based acid house movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s all fuelled the development and acceptance of electronic music into the mainstream and to introduce electronic dance music to nightclubs. Electronic composition can create rhythms faster and more precise than is possible using traditional percussion. The sound of electronic dance music often features electronically altered sounds (samples) of traditional instruments and vocals.The falling price of suitable equipment has meant that popular music has increasingly been made electronically. Artists such as Björk and Moby have further popularized variants of this form of music within the mainstream. In the 1990s, a Turkish electronic musician, Murat Ses, published his electronic works, which incorporated original Levantine, Central Asian, Anatolian musics in a so-called trilogy with the concept: "The Timeless and Boundariless Context of Culture and Civilization.With the explosive growth of computers music technology and consequent reduction in the cost of equipment in the early 1990s, it became possible for a wider number of musicians to produce electronic music. With the advent of hard disk recording systems, it became possbile for any home computer user to become a musician, and hence the rise in the number of "bedroom bands", often consisting of a single person. Artists that would later become commercially successfully under the "electronica" banner such as Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, Underworld began to record in this early 1990s period. Underworld with its 1994 dubnobasswithmyheadman released arguably one of the defining records of the early electronica period with a blend of club beats, wedded to song writing and subtle vocals and guitar work. A focus on "songs", a fusion of styles and a combination of traditional and electronic instruments often sets apart musicians working in "electronica"-styles over more straight-ahead styles of house, techno and trance.The more experimental Autechre and Aphex Twin around this time were releasing early records in the "intelligent techno" or so-called intelligent dance music (IDM) style, while other Bristol-based musicians such as Massive Attack and Portishead were experimenting with the fusion of electronic textures with hip-hop, R&B rhythms to form what became known as trip-hop. Later extensions to the trip hop aesthetic around 1997 came from the highly influential Vienna-based duo of Kruder & Dorfmeister, whose blunted, dubbed-out, slowed beats became the blueprint for the new style of downtempo. Rock musicians were also not slow to pick up on the trends in electronic music, and by the mid-1990s so-called "post-rock" bands such as Stereolab and Tortoise incorporating electronic textures into their music. Around the mid-1990s with the success of the big beat-sound exemplified by the Chemical Brothers in the United States (due in part to the attention from mainstream artists like Madonna), music of this period began to be produced with a much higher budget, production values, and with more layers than most dance music before or after (since it was backed by major record labels and MTV as the "next big thing").By the late 1990s artists like Moby were pop stars in their own right, releasing albums and performing regularly (sometimes in stadium-sized arenas, such had the popularity of electronic dance music grown). In fact, the status as the next big thing turned out to be shortlived, and some argued that this period exemplifies the notion of record labels and MTV attempting to force a trend upon an audience. During this period, MTV aired shows about the rave lifestyle, started purely electronic music shows such as AMP, and featured many electronica artists. However, the popularity of electronica was never sustained in the United States.In the United States and other countries like Australia, electronica (and the other attendant dance music genres) remains popular, although largely underground, while in Europe, and in particular the UK, it has arguably become the dominant form of popular music.

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Electronic Music History (Part 2)

2008-02-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

(...) As technology developed, and synthesizers became cheaper, more robust and portable, they were adopted by many rock bands. Examples of relatively early adopters in this field are bands like The United States of America, The Silver Apples and Pink Floyd, and although not all of their music was primarily electronic (with the notable exception of The Silver Apples), much of the resulting sound was dependent upon the synthesised element. In the 1970s, this style was mainly popularised by Kraftwerk, who used electronics and robotics to symbolise and sometime gleefully celebrate the alienation of the modern technological world; to this day their music remains uncompromisingly electronic.In jazz, amplified acoustic instruments and synthesizers were mixed in a series of influential recordings by Weather Report. Joe Zawinul, the synthesizer player in that group, has continued to field ensembles of the same kind. The noted jazz pianist Herbie Hancock with his band the Headhunters in the 1970s also introduced jazz listeners to a wider palette of electronic sounds including the synthesizer, which he further explored with even more enthusiasm on the Future Shock album, a collaboration with producer Bill Laswell in the 1980s, which spawned a pop hit "Rockit" in 1983.Musicians such as Brian Eno, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, the Japanese Isao Tomita, Kitaro and Tangerine Dream also popularised the sound of electronic music. The film industry also began to make extensive use of electronic music in soundtracks; an example of a film whose soundtrack is heavily dependent upon this is Stanley Kubrick's film of Anthony Burgess's novel A Clockwork Orange. Forbidden Planet had used an electronic score in 1956 and, once electronic sounds became a more common part of popular recordings, other science fiction films such as Blade Runner and the Alien series of movies began to depend heavily for mood and ambience upon the use of electronic music and electronically derived effects. Electronic groups were also hired to produce entire soundtracks, in the same way as other popular music stars.In the late 1970s and early 1980s there was a great deal of innovation around the development of electronic music instruments. Analogue synthesisers largely gave way to digital synthesisers and samplers. Early samplers, like early synthesisers, were large and expensive pieces of gear -- companies like Fairlight and New England Digital sold instruments that cost upwards of $100,000. In the mid 1980s, this changed with the development of low cost samplers. From the late 1970s onward, much popular music was developed on these machines. Groups like Heaven 17, Severed Heads, The Human League, Yaz, The Art of Noise, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and New Order developed entirely new ways of making popular music by electronic means.The natural ability for music machines to make stochastic, non-harmonic, staticky noises led to a genre of music known as industrial music led by pioneering groups such as Throbbing Gristle (which commenced operation in 1975) and Cabaret Voltaire. Some artists, like Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, and Severed Heads, took some of the adventurous innovations of musique concrète and applied them to mechanical dance beats. Others, such as Test Department, Einstürzende Neubauten, took this new sound at face value and created hellish electronic compositions. Meanwhile, other groups (Robert Rich, :zoviet*france:, rapoon) took these harsh sounds and melded them into evocative soundscapes. Still others (Front 242, Skinny Puppy) combined this harshness with the earlier, more pop-oriented sounds, forming electronic body music (EBM).

Link: www.uploud.com

Electronic Music History (part 1)

2008-02-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Electronic music is a loose term for music created using electronic equipment. Any sound produced by the means of an electrical signal may reasonably be called electronic, and the term is sometimes used that way -- in music where acoustic performance is the norm, even the introduction of electronic amplifiers may touch off discussions of electronic music (jazz and folk music, for example, have gone through a good deal of argument about the topic).
As a category of criticism and marketing, however, electronic music refers to music produced largely by electronic components, such as synthesizers, samplers, computers, and drum machines. Theoretically, the music could include any of an array of other "instruments".
The earliest purely electronic instrument was the Teleharmonium or Telharmonium, developed by Thaddeus Cahill in 1897. Simple inconvenience hindered the adoption of the Teleharmonium: the instrument weighed seven tons and was the size of a boxcar. The first practical electronic instrument is often viewed to be the Theremin, invented by Professor Leon Theremin circa 1919 - 1920. Another early electronic instrument was the Ondes Martenot, which was used in the Turangalîla Symphony by Olivier Messiaen.
In the years following World War II, Electronic music was embraced by progressive composers, and was hailed as a way to exceed the limits of traditional instruments. Modern Electronic composition is considered to have begun in force with the development of musique concrète and tape recorders in 1948, only to rapidly evolve with the creation of early analog synthesizers. The first pieces of musique concrète were written by Pierre Schaeffer, who later worked alongside such avant garde classical composers as Pierre Henry, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Stockhausen has worked for many years as part of Cologne's Studio for Electronic Music combining electronically generated sounds with conventional orchestras. Other well-known composers in this field include Edgar Varese and Steve Reich.
At the Radiophonic Workshop, the sound special effects unit of the BBC, Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire created one of the first electronic signature tunes for television as the theme music for Doctor Who.
Although electronic music began in the world of classical (or "art") composition, within a few years it had been adopted into popular culture with varying degrees of enthusiasm. In the 1960s, Walter Carlos (now Wendy Carlos) popularized early synthesizer music with two notable albums The Well Tempered Synthesiser and Switched On Bach, which took pieces of baroque classical music and reproduced them on Moog synthesizers. (...)

Link: www.uploud.com

Detroit Techno

2008-02-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

Detroit Techno:
Early Detroit Techno is characterized by, alternately, a dark, detached, mechanistic vibe and a smooth, bright, soulful feel (the latter deriving in part from the Motown legacy and the stock-in-trade between early techno and the Chicago-style house developing simultaneously to the southwest). While essentially designed as dance music meant to uplift, the stark, melancholy edge of early tracks by Cybotron, Model 500, Rhythm Is Rhythm, and Reese also spoke to Detroit’s economic collapse in the late ’70s following the city’s prosperous heyday as the focal point of the American automobile industry.

Link: www.helup.com

Freestyle

2008-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

Freestyle:
Often growing in tandem with contemporary styles like electro and house, Freestyle emerged in the twin Latin capitals of New York City and Miami during the early ’80s. Freestyle classics like “I Wonder If I Take You Home” by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, “Let the Music Play” by Shannon, and “Party Your Body” by Stevie B relied on angular, synthesized beats similar to electro and early house, but also emphasized the romantic themes of classic R&B and disco. The fusion of mechanical and sensual proved ready for crossover during the period, and both Shannon and Lisa Lisa hit the Top 40 during 1984-85. Freestyle also dovetailed nicely with the rise of dance-pop during the mid-’80s-Madonna’s early producer and remixer, John Benitez (aka Jellybean), was also active in the freestyle community. By the end of the decade, a number of artists-Exposé, Brenda K. Starr, Trinere, the Cover Girls, India, and Stevie B-followed them into the pop or R&B charts. Even after popular success waned in the late ’80s, though, freestyle moved to the underground as a vital stream of modern dance music alongside house, techno, and bass music. Similar to mainstream house, freestyle artists are usually (though by no means exclusively) either female vocalists or male producers. Newer figures like Lil Suzy, George Lamond, Angelique, Johnny O, and others became big stars in the freestyle community.

Link: www.helup.com

Ambient House

2008-02-24T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ambient House:
An early categorical marker used to distinguish newer wave ambient artists such as the Orb, the KLF, Irresistible Force, Future Sound of London, and Orbital, Ambient House was often applied indiscriminately to designate dance music not necessarily just for dancing. In its more rigorous application, ambient house implied music appropriating certain primary elements of acid house music-mid-tempo, four-on-the-floor beats; synth pads and strings; soaring vocal samples-used in a dreamier, more atmospheric fashion. It’s since been replaced (or rather, some would argue, complicated) by a barrage of more specific terms and is rarely used.

Link: www.helup.com

Euro-Dance

2008-02-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

Euro-Dance:
Euro-Dance refers to a specific style of club/dance music produced on the European continent during the ’80s and ’90s. Euro-dance is generally informed by disco, hi-NRG, and house music, and performed entirely in the recording studio on synthesizers and drum machines; the producers are much more responsible for the finished product than the singers. Like its close relative Euro-pop, it’s usually simple, lightweight, and catchy, with fluffy, repetitive lyrics that don’t require much translation among listeners who speak different languages. The main difference between Euro-dance and Euro-pop is the exclusive and pronounced dance-club orientation of the former; while Euro-pop is frequently informed by dance music, it doesn’t have to be, and when it is, it doesn’t always fit into dance-club playlists. Most Euro-dance artists concentrate on crafting hit singles, with album releases almost an afterthought.

Link: www.helup.com

Experimental Dub

2008-02-24T12:50:00.001-08:00

Experimental Dub:
Thousands of miles away from sunny Jamaica, a loose collective of Berlin producers jump-started the style of music known as Experimental Dub. If the scene was centered at all, it occurred at Hard Wax Records, a record store as well as a tight distribution company that was home to several of the style’s crucial labels (Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, Imbalance) and producers (Maurizio, Mark Ernestus, Porter Ricks, Pole, Monolake). Indebted to Chicago acid house and minimalist Detroit techno figures like Jeff Mills, Rob Hood, and Plastikman, experimental dub was rather easily characterized; the sound usually focused on a mix of crackling, murky atmospheres that sounded almost subaquatic, with a mid-tempo beat and strong, clanging percussion. The similarities to classic Jamaican dub producers King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry were indirect at best, but the term worked well for identifying the signature sound of many of Germany’s best experimental producers. Other than the Basic Channel camp, experimental dub’s most important figures were Mike Ink (aka Wolfgang Voigt) and Thomas Brinkmann. Ink, a longtime Berlin producer responsible for more than a half-dozen aliases and labels, did most of his important work on the Profan and Studio 1 labels. Brinkmann, a comparative newcomer to the style, earned praise for his remixes of material by Ink and Plastikman. Experimental dub, in turn, inspired several major techno figures (including Plastikman and Mills) by the late ’90s, and its influence was even seen in American indie-rock and post-rock.

Link: www.helup.com

Dub

2008-02-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

Dub:
Dub derives its name from the practice of dubbing instrumental, rhythm-oriented versions of reggae songs onto the B-sides of 45 rpm singles, which evolved into a legitimate and accepted style of its own as those re-recordings became forums for engineers to experiment with the possibilities of their mixing consoles. The practice of re-recording reggae tracks without vocals dated back to 1967, when DJs found that dancehall crowds and partygoers greatly enjoyed being given the opportunity to sing the lyrics themselves. Around 1969, some DJs began talking, or “toasting,” over these instrumentals (known as “versions”), frequently reinterpreting the already familiar original lyrics. The most important early DJ was U-Roy, who became renowned for his ability to improvise dialogues with the recorded singers; U-Roy ran the sound system owned by engineer King Tubby, who mixed all of the instrumental tracks over which his DJ toasted. Eventually, Tubby began to experiment with remixing the instrumental tracks, bringing up the level of the rhythm section, dropping out most or all of the vocals, and adding new effects like reverb and echo.
The results were seen by many reggae fans as stripping the music down to its purest essence. 45-rpm singles with dub versions on the B-sides became ubiquitous, and King Tubby’s credit on the back soon became a drawing card in and of itself. Full-fledged dub albums began to appear in 1973, with many highlights stemming from Tubby’s mixes for producers Bunny Lee and Augustus Pablo (the latter of whom also played the haunting melodica, which became one of dub’s signature added elements); other key early producers included the minimalistic Keith Hudson and the colorful, elaborate Lee “Scratch” Perry. By 1976, dub’s popularity in Jamaica was second only to Rastafarian roots reggae, and the sound had also found acceptance the UK (thanks largely to the Island label), where roots reggae artists like Burning Spear and Black Uhuru became just as well-known for their forays into dub. The Mad Professor and the experimental Adrian Sherwood helped Britain’s dub scene remain vital in the ’80s, but in spite of skilled newcomers like Scientist, Prince Jammy, and Mikey Dread, Jamaican popular taste had by then shifted to DJ toasters and lyrical improvisers, which led to the prominence of dancehall and ragga. The downtempo atmospherics and bass- and rhythm-heavy textures of dub had a lasting influence outside of reggae, beginning with Public Image Ltd.’s 1979 Metal Box/Second Edition album; during the ’90s, dub was frequently incorporated into the melting-pot eclecticism of underground avant-garde rock, and Britain’s thriving electronica/drum’n'bass scene owed a great deal to dub’s mixing and production techniques.

Link: www.helup.com

Drill ‘n’ Bass/Breakcore

2008-02-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

Drill ‘n’ Bass/Breakcore:
Armed with a complete deconstruction and mutilation of the Amenand other breaks, and an ear for the experimentalism of the IDMmovement, Drill ’n’ Bass broke out in the mid 90s with a vengeance.Defined by the early works of Plug, Aphex Twin, and Tom “Squarepusher”Jenkinson, Drill ‘n’ Bass differs from Jungle in its rapid tempochanges, skittering, trip-over-yourself beats (almost sounding morelike a drill than a drum beat, hence the name), and penchant forexperimentation and complexity. Jungle and IDM producers like LukeVibert with his Plug project sped the Amen up to dizzying heights forthis sound. Aphex Twin avoided the Amen entirely in favor of moreoriginal drum programming, and Squarepusher injected live bass playingover the barrage of drums. Drill ‘n’ Bass took a practical strangleholdon the IDM scene in the mid to late 90s, and artists who didn’t adaptwere left in oblivion. Drill ‘n’ Bass soon gave way to IDM’s morefervent experimentation by the end of the 90s (sometimes becoming apart of the sound but rarely dominating it), and to the emergence ofBreakcore, a natural progression of Drill where the influence of gabberand hardcore shaped the sound more than IDM, and where the drum beatsreached almost silly, ear-bleeding speeds.
Sub/Related Genres:
Jungle, IDM
Noteworthy Artists:
Plug, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Venetian Snares, Doormouse
Noteworthy Albums:
Plug, Drum ‘n’ Bass for Papa (1997) Squarepusher, Feed Me Weird Things (1996) AFX, Hangable Auto Bulb (1995) Venetian Snares, Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett (2005) Jason Forrest, The Unrelenting Songs of the 1979 Post Disco Crash (2004)

Link: www.boards.ign.com

Instrumental Hip-Hop

2008-02-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

Instrumental Hip-Hop:
Some may be asking hip-hop? This is a thread about electronic music right? Well, most all hip-hop is based off either samples of electronically produced beats. So if you take away the MCâ€™s it becomes instrumental, and then arguments over whether itâ€™s hip-hop or electronic stem more from where the artist is coming from rather than what it sounds like (hence its inclusion here). Instrumental Hip-Hop at its core is taking hip-hop beats and adapting them to an instrumental format. It takes the principles of hip-hop groove, but is usually more active so as to keep the listener engaged without an MC. Usually, artists in this genre split their time by making solo albums and producing albums for rappers, and many prefer to create their solo music almost entirely off of samples using turntables as in early hip-hop (these artists are called Turntablists), and this method usually creates a much more hectic and amorphous sound. Instrumental hip-hop can be relaxed and chilled as in artists like Blockhead or vibrant and energetic like RJD2. The only requirement for the genre is taking the principles of hip-hop and adapting them for instrumental works. As a result of this, many artists making this type of music can also be seen as artists of other genres when seen through an electronic looking glass (e.g. as Trip-Hop, Big Beat, IDM, et al.), causing not only a lot of confusion for cataloguists (DJ Shadow has been known to take his records from electronic sections in record stores and move them to the hip-hop sections), but also new genres as well such as Clip-Hop (IDM + Hip-Hop).

Sub/Related Genres:
Turntablism, Clip-Hop
Noteworthy Artists:
DJ Shadow, RJD2, Kid Koala, DJ Krush, Prefuse 73
Noteworthy Albums:
DJ Shadow, Endtroducingâ€¦ (1996) RJD2, Dead Ringer (2002) DJ Krush, Strictly Turntablized (1994) Prefuse 73, Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives (2001) Wagon Christ, Throbbing Pouch (1994)

Link: www.boards.ign.com

Electronic Pop

2008-02-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

Electronic Pop:
Now this genre name is somewhat self-explanatory. A fusion between indie pop and some of the more experimental sides of electronic music, this sound exploded in popularity with the release of The Postal Service's massively successful debut Give Up in 2003. Electronic pop is characterized by somber vocals, and atypical, but normally not atonal, electronic backgrounds. Though typically seen as a recent indie phenomenon, the sound of electronic pop had been thriving way before the recent indie rock outbreak, and relies not on the fusion of electronics and instruments like Indielectronic music, but the synthesis of almost, if not wholly, electronic backgrounds and classic indie pop vocals.
Sub/Related Genres:
Indielectronica
Noteworthy Artists:
The Notwist, Khonnor, Styrofoam, Lali Puna, Junior Boys
Noteworthy Albums:
The Postal Service, Give Up (2003) The Notwist, Neon Golden (2002) Lali Puna, Scary World Theory (2001) Junior Boys, Last Exit (2004) Styrofoam, I'm What's There To Show That Something's Missing (2003)

Link: www.boards.ign.com

Downtempo

2008-02-10T10:23:00.000-08:00

Downtempo:
Downtempo consists of chilled-out beats on a slower, groovier tip than what you would find in a dance floor setting. Commonly confused with Trip-hop (see below), Downtempo owes more to the club than to hip-hop, thinking of itself as the younger sister of House that wanted to stay home or stand in the corner. Like Trip-hop, Downtempo can draw influence from jazz, film scores, dub and reggae, hip-hop and world music, and frequently features female vocals. The fundamental difference lies in either mood or thump, as Downtempo is not only usually more relaxing and soothing whereas Trip-hop is more rugged and morose, but also can have a much more apparent dance beat or groove to it.
Sub/Related Genres:
Acid Jazz, Trip-Hop, Future Jazz, Synth-pop, Downbeat
Noteworthy Artists:
Air, Zero 7, Royksopp, Bent, Lemon Jelly
Noteworthy Albums:
Royksopp, Melody A.M. (2001) Zero 7, Simple Things (2001) Lemon Jelly, Lost Horizons (2000) Bent, Programmed To Love (2000) Everything But The Girl, Temperamental (1999)

Link: http://www.boards.ign.com/

Big Beat/Funky Breaks

2008-02-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

Big Beat/Funky Breaks:
Composed of layered musical clichÃ©s borrowed from the 1980s, this general grouping of breakbeat innovators took electronic music further into the mainstream than any of their pre-1997 progenitors. Popularized by the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Bentley Rhythm Ace and the Crystal Method, its chunky rhythms vibrate dance floors with rock textures, hip-swinging House and Techno grooves -- all seasoned with a heavy dose of hip-hop. With a premium on excitement and intensity, Big Beat tracks sound sliced and diced, with steep buildups, rough crescendos, quick drops, drum rolls and heavy sample usage. The sub-genre most commonly reflected by the â€œelectronicaâ€ label created to describe their popular breakthrough in the mid to late 90s, this sub-genre has since dwindled, with only the newer innovators such as The Avalanches surviving by melding the style more with other sub-genres, with some of the former perennials resigning themselves to greatest hits collections, DJ mixes, and retirement decrees.

Sub/Related Genres:
Breakbeat, Turntablism, Club Music
Noteworthy Artists:
The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Death in Vegas, Crystal Method, Propellerheads
Noteworthy Albums:
The Chemical Brothers, Dig Your Own Hole (1997) Fatboy Slim, Youâ€™ve Come a Long Way, Baby (1998) The Prodigy, The Fat of the Land (1997) The Crystal Method, Vegas (1997) The Avalanches, Since I Left You (2001)

Link: http://www.boards.ign.com/

Acid Jazz/Jazz-House

2008-02-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

Acid Jazz/Jazz-House:
Though all House in influenced at least a little by Jazz, Acid Jazz takes the influence more literally, often attempting to re-create the live improvisation feel of Jazz on the dance floor with just a more pronounced house beat. With a re-creation of jazz band sound as its main element, Acid Jazz can run from the extremely danceable to the more laid-back and downtempo. Acid Jazz is not only a DJ medium as well, as full bands such as Jamiroquai and Stereo MCâ€™s perfected their sounds and reached the clubs with their jazz-influenced dance music. Acid Jazz is now overshadowed by some of the larger dance and jazz movements, but artists and collectives like Matthew Herbert and Jazzanova continue to push the sound in clubs and with their various remix projects.
Sub/Related Genres:
House, Downtempo, Future Jazz Noteworthy Artists: Jazzanova, Jamiroquai, Herbert, Swayzak, Koop
Noteworthy Albums:
Jazzanova, The Remixes 1997-2000 (2000) Koop, Waltz for Koop (2001) St. Germain, Tourist (2000) Nuspirit Helsinki, Nuspirit Helsinki (2002) Jamiroquai, Travelling Without Moving (1996)

Link: http://www.boards.ign.com/

Trance

2008-02-10T09:48:00.000-08:00

Trance:
Layered with 303 bass pulses, Doppler effects, sequencer riffs and stacks of percussion, Trance builds tension to which there is a major climax or release. Through minimal rhythmic shifts, distant synthscapes and repetitive effects, DJâ€™s like Paul Van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold devised predictable structures aimed to disengage the mind while the physical body exhausts itself i.e. creating a trancelike state. Trance took off in the late 90s, becoming the most popular dance movement and fueling tons of DJ stars and mixes and international one hit wonders. Eventually becoming more influenced by its sister Dance movement House and other genres, the sounds of Trance began to diversify, most notably in the subgenres of Progressive (Trance fused with House) and Goa (Trance with more of an Indian rather than European influence). Trance is also mostly fueled by singles and DJ Mixes, such as the Global Underground and Perfecto series.

Sub/Related Genres:
Psy Trance, Progressive Trance, Goa Trance
Noteworthy Artists:
Paul Van Dyk, Astral Projection, Paul Oakenfold, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto
Noteworthy Albums:
Paul Oakenfold, Tranceport (1998) Tiesto, In Search of Sunrise (1999) Nick Warren, Global Underground 005: Budapest (1999) John Digweed, Bedrock (1999) Paul van Dyk, Out There and Back (2000)

Link: http://www.boards.ign.com/

Tribal House

2008-02-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

By the early ’90s, house music had undergone several fusions with other styles, creating ambient house, hip-house and, when the four-on-the-floor punch was blended with polyrhythmic percussion, Tribal House. The style covers a bit of ground, from the mainstream leanings of Frankie Bones and Ultra Naté to the electro-hippie sensibilities of Banco de Gaia, Loop Guru, and Eat Static (all denizens of the UK’s Planet Dog Records).

Link: www.helup.com

Techno

2008-02-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

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″ 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.

Link: www.helup.com

Big Beat

2008-02-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

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 restraints 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.

Link: http://www.helup.com/

Trip-hop

2008-02-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

Trip-Hop:
Trip-hop is a spin-off of downtempo that is heavily influenced by hip-hop, reggae, dub, jazz, and soul. Defined with the early albums of its creators Massive Attack and Portishead, Trip-hop achieved some popularity in the mid 90s, partially off its use in many of the film soundtracks of the time and a few crossover hits such as Portisheadâ€™s â€œSour Timesâ€ and Sneaker Pimpsâ€™ â€œ6 Underground.â€ Trip-hop differs from downtempo is that its sound is more rugged and morose, more atmospheric than groovy. Fair amounts of ire and rebellion populate its ambience. This ire can be expressed by way of instrumental pieces, almost spoken-word MCâ€™s, or (mostly) female vocalists. Popular Trip-hop chanteuses like Nicolette and Tracy Thorn can be heard on many of Trip-hopâ€™s beloved anthems, across albums by numerous different artists. Trip-hop as a genre sputtered along after its initial outburst throughout the 90s until it virtually died out after the millennium mark. Even so, Trip-hop left an indelible mark on the world of electronic music, and its influence continues to stretch across the worlds of electronic and non-electronic music alike. Sub/Related Genres: Downtempo, Instrumental Hip-Hop, Acid Jazz, Future Jazz Noteworthy Artists: Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, Morcheeba, Bjork Noteworthy Albums: Massive Attack, Mezzanine (1998) Portishead, Dummy (1994) Tricky, Maxinquaye (1995) Thievery Corporation, The Mirror Conspiracy (2000) Kruder & Dorfmeister, The K&D Sessions (1998) Wait, this is too much! I have no idea where to start!

Link: www.boards.ign.com

Industrial

2008-02-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

"Industrial culture? There has been a phenomena; I don't know whether it's strong enough to be a culture. I do think what we did has had a reverberation right around the world and back." Genesis P. Orridge (Throbbing Gristle) [1]
I've often thought that somebody really ought to write a history of industrial music. After all, there are histories of reggae, rap, and countless rock, jazz, folk and classical histories. Unfortunately, the best books on industrial music (Re/Search's Industrial Culture Handbook and Charles Neal's Tape Delay) were both written when the genre was still fresh, still on the move, and neither tells us much about where the music came from. A more recent contribution to the field, Dave Thompson's Industrial Revolution suffers from Americocentrism, major omissions, basic errors and from a concentration on electrobeat and industrial rock to the near exclusion of all else. Still, this article isn't that history; that will have to wait for someone better qualified than I.
Instead, I offer a prehistory, a look at heritage, tradition and ancestry. For all that industrial music set out to provide the shock of the new, it's impossible to understand its achievements without a context to place them in. Few, if any, of its tactics and methods were truly original, although the way it combined its components was very much of its time.
Before the prehistory can be properly explored, we need to know what this "industrial music" is, or was. It would be hard to disagree with the suggestion that prior to the formation of Throbbing Gristle as a side-project of performance art group COUM Transmissions in late 1975 [2] industrial music did not exist; and certainly the genre took its name from the label that Throbbing Gristle set up, Industrial Records. Monte Cazazza is usually acknowledged as inventing the term "industrial music", and the label used the name in a very specific sense - as a negative comment on the desire for "authenticity" that still dominated music in the seventies. Very few of the groups who were initially called "industrial" liked the term, although from the mid-80s it became a word that bands embraced willingly, to the extent that nowadays even quite tedious rock bands claim to be industrial, and the jazz / classical ensemble, Icebreaker, has even bizarrely been described as an "industrial" group. Rock and jazz groups don't waste much time worrying about the word used to define their genre, so for my purposes I'm happy to include in the "industrial" genre plenty of artists who tried to disown the label.
The groups who were released on Industrial Records (Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, ClockDVA, Thomas Leer and Robert Rental, Monte Cazazza, S.P.K., with the probable exception of The Leather Nun and Elizabeth Welch [3]) combined an interest in transgressive culture with an interest in the potential of noise as music, and it's easy to see how groups like Einstürzende Neubauten, Whitehouse or Test Dept can be considered to share similar interests.
Dave Henderson's seminal Wild Planet article [4] presented a survey of the (mainly British and European) "industrial" scene as it was recognised in 1983, but with artists as diverse as Steve Reich, Mark Shreeve, AMM and Laibach cited it was clear even then that the borders of industrial music couldn't be clearly defined. Since then, the music has fragmented, most notably into a division between experimental and dance/rock-oriented artists (or uncommercial and commercial). The popular "industrial" musicians, such as Front 242 or Ministry, draw on the elements of early industrial music most amenable to the rock and techno arenas (sometimes this just means aggression and paranoia); the others have explored industrial music's relationships with ritual music, musique concrete, academic electronic music, improvisation and pure noise. In recent times, through the popularity of ambient music, several artists involved in this more "experimental" tradition have achieved more popular recognition than before.
It's tempting to see the fragmentation of industrial music into popular and "underground" areas as just a recognition of the relative accessibility of different musical styles, but this would be extremely misleading. As with jazz and rock, it's another example of "a music of revolt transformed into a repetitive commodity ... A continuation of the same effort, always resumed and renewed, to alienate a liberatory will in order to produce a market" [5]. As industrial music's history and prehistory will make clear, industrial music originally articulated ideas of subversion that go significantly beyond the saleable "rebellion" that the rock commodity offers. It was inevitable that the market would adopt only the superficial aggression and stylisms.
It's clear that the label, "industrial music", is of no use in pigeonholing music, but it still serves as a useful pointer to a web of musical and personal relationships, a common pool of interests and ideas which every industrial sub-genre has some connection with. The uncommercial industrial tradition has frequently been labelled "post-industrial"; in contrast, this article attempts to identify "pre-industrial" music. However, as will become obvious, there are few meaningful boundaries between industrial music and its ancestors.
Writing in Alternative Press, Michael Mahan attempted to define industrial music as "an artistic reflection of the de-humanisation of our people and the inexorable pollution of our planet by our factory-based socio-economic state" [6]. This is too simplistic; if industrial music were simply anti-factory music then it would encompass any number of reactionary Luddites. Mahan at least managed to identify some of the genre's important musical precursors, citing Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, David Vorhaus, Frank Zappa and Klaus Schulze as some probable ancestors. Jon Savage has elsewhere identified five areas that characterised industrial music [7]: access to information, shock tactics, organisational autonomy, extra-musical elements, and use of synthesizers and anti-music. By examining each in turn, it will soon become obvious exactly what place industrial music has in the twentieth century cultural tradition.

Endnotes
Re/Search #6/7: Industrial Culture Handbook (Re/Search, 1983)
TG Chronology in Re/Search #4/5 "William Burroughs / Throbbing Gristle / Brion Gysin" (Re/Search, 1982)
Welsh's Stormy Weather, from Derek Jarman's film The Tempest, was an Industrial Records single.
Published in Sounds, May 7 1983.
Noise: The Political Economy of Music, Jacques Attali (Manchester University Press, 1985)
Welcome to the Machine, by Michael Mahan, in Alternative Press #66 (January 1994).
Introduction to Re/Search #6/7, op.cit.

Link: www.media.hyperreal.org

IDM

2008-01-19T11:21:00.000-08:00

IDM (Intelligent Dance Music):
IDM is a broad classification of post-Rave sounds, when DJs took their sounds away from the dance floor and into their bedrooms by melding (and breaking) traditional dance floor rules with other styles such as Ambient and Downtempo. The irony of the name is that the majority is not, in fact, dance music, but music instead better suited for bedrooms and headphones. The style achieved its formal genesis with Warp Recordsâ€™ Artificial Intelligence series, which introduced most of the styleâ€™s early innovators. Originally founded as a clash between dance and chill out music, IDM soon molded into the primary genre for electronic experimentation, with elements of glitch and noise predominating the sounds of many of its innovators, such as Aphex Twin and Autechre. The name today sticks despite the misnomer (hence its almost constant abbreviation), and now exists to describe a broad range of experimental Techno, ranging from the extremely serene to the extremely abrasive. The IDM scene also partially claims itself as the forefather of many important sub-genres in the advancement of electronic music, such as Drillâ€™nâ€™bass (IDM + Jungle), 8 Bit (IDM + Video Game Music), and Indielectronica (IDM + Indie Rock). Sub/Related Genres: Glitch, Experimental Techno, 8 Bit, Drillâ€™nâ€™Bass, Indielectronica, Clip-Hop, Leftfield Techno Noteworthy Artists: Aphex Twin, Autechre, Mouse On Mars, Boards of Canada, Plaid Noteworthy Albums: Autechre, Incunabula (1993) Aphex Twin, Richard D. James (1996) Boards of Canada, Music Has the Right to Children (1998) Plaid, Not For Threes (1998) Mu-ziq, Lunatic Harness (1997)

Link: www.boards.ign.com

Ambient

2008-01-19T11:09:00.000-08:00

Sitting, listening, chilling. Music for background or foreground. Music for tripping, for relaxing, or for making us uneasy and challenging us with a new perspective. At the start of the third millennium music to chill-out to makes perfect sense. As the Western world becomes faster, more complex, more rife with nervous energy, the joy of listening to instrumental music that expresses both our external environment (both man-made and natural) and our inner spaces (both emotional and mental) is now more popular than at any other time in the history of recorded sound.

Such music has many names: ambient, new age, contemporary instrumental, experimental, spacerock, chillout, ambient techno, ambient trance, mood music, world music, new acoustic music. The protests of some musicians and A&R people notwithstanding, I believe one of these names in particular - ambient - is a perfectly useful signpost for the phenomenon. It points to music across a hugely diverse spectrum: from the gorgeous solo guitar of John Fahey to the environmental techno of Biosphere; from the minimal avant-pop of The Penguin Cafe Orchestra to the chilled-out Celtic ambience of Enya and her clones.

It was English musician, sound designer and conceptualist Brian Eno who first officially coined the phrase “ambient”. In the sleeve notes to his 1978 opus Ambient 1: Music For Airports he defines it as music "designed to induce calm and space to think". Eno's concept of ambience is music that can be either actively listened to or used as background, depending on whether the listener chooses to pay attention or not. It’s been a highly influential if not entirely original idea; at best informing the resurgence of electronic ambient via the dance world, at worst being taken to its passive extreme by many new age composers.

Still, ambient is perhaps the slipperiest of all musical genres we ever dared give a name. Certainly instrumental music to chill-out to had been around for a long time before Eno chose to define it, in forms as diverse as Gregorian chants from the middle ages to certain forms of psychedelic rock from the late 60's. Some people complain that any definition is limiting, and beyond a point I would have to agree. So in this guide I haven't devoted long tracts to drawing lines in the sand and saying: "This is ambient". I do believe, however, it is worth spending some time giving the music some context by tracing a number of the sources that have informed eclectic ambient sound in the second half of the 20th Century and beyond.

One of ambient music's prime sources is the classical avant-garde. Among the pioneers were two late-19th Century composers, Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. Satie's concept of "furniture music" for solo piano or small ensembles now seems surprisingly congruous with Eno's concept of ambience: creating a sound environment that complimented the surrounds rather than intruded upon it. More musically direct but just as subtle and suggestive was the work of Debussy, who's wandering, impressionistic tone poems like "Prelude To The Afternoon Of The Fawn" (1894) heralded a new openness in Western music and broke all kinds of rules in structure and linear composition.

By the middle of the 20th Century the American composer John Cage had blown stuffy notions of "proper" music right out of the water. He pre-empted world music with pieces that evoked the sounds of Africa, India and Indonesia; he invented and composed for the 'prepared piano' with objects stuck in piano wires to create Asian-like tones and percussive textures; and he outraged and perplexed his audiences with collisions of randomly created noise and, most infamously, his piece "4'33" which challenged listeners to consider silence as a perfectly valid form of musical expression.

After Cage, the floodgates opened. The 1960's saw the rise of a school of American composers with classical backgrounds who became known as the minimalists. They took the idea of repetition and explored it over long distances, whether with orchestras, electric instruments or non-Western instrumental combinations. In turn minimalism was to inform music as diverse as techno dance and new age relaxation music. It was also during the 60's that non-Western sounds and modes of composition seeped into classical, jazz and popular music to an unprecedented degree. And German composer Karl Stockhausen further explored Cage's tape experiments with his radical tape collages, a precursor to modern digital sampling.

This was also a time of absorption of avant-garde ideas into rock music. In the late 1960's rock was enriched enormously by a combination of electronic music technology, psychedelic drugs, ideas from the classical avant-garde and the innovations of jazzmen like Miles Davis. The Beatles showed what could be done in recording studio within a pop framework; art rock bands like Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream then took the next step by downplaying pop's emphasis on lyrics and taking audiences into totally new spaces. The tracks were instrumental, often improvised, spacey and long. Rock was undergoing its own avant-garde and the open-ended sound of one instrument in particular - the analogue synthesiser and its digital successors - has become such an important tool of expression that much dance, ambient and experimental music that's been released since simply wouldn't exist without it.

In popular music one of the names most crucial to the evolution of synthesiser technology - and thus to most of the electronic music that followed - is German band Kraftwerk. They developed drum pads and used synthesiers in an explicitly rhythmic way to create a minimal style of pop that was purely electronic in origin. Consequently they shook the rock world out of its mid-1970's complacency and set music off in all kinds of unexpected directions. As Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter told Billboard in a 1977 interview: "Electronics is beyond nations and colours...with electronics everything is possible. The only limit is with the composer". We may nowadays take synthesiers for granted, but to challenge such a guitar-dominated culture at the time was revolutionary. Kraftwerk's vision was urban, technological, post-industrial. Their futurist ideas combined with their equally futuristic sound was enormously influential, particularly on UK synth pop and on the black musicians of Detroit from whom modern techno emerged in the 1980's. And in turn, that legacy reaches into the various ambient and downbeat spin-offs of electronic dance music that have emerged since.

But there are other kinds of visions expressed through electronic instruments that have also touched a nerve. The concept of spacemusic is one tied up inexorably with the synthesiser. In the late 1960’s terms like spacerock and cosmic rock were coined by listeners and reviewers to describe the atmospheric, electronic-laden music of progressive rock bands like the Floyd and Tangerine Dream. And this wasn't just the drugs talking. It is no coincidence that at the time of the first moon landing, the Floyd was transfixing audiences with pieces like “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun”. These bands were playing the soundtrack to a new era and the spacious, cosmic feel that purveyed much of their early work continues to inform a significant amount of ambient music to this day.

In fact, I find spacemusic the most fascinating of all ambient sub-genres. Its a style of music that was first made possible in the 1960's by a new music technology that appeared at exactly the right historical moment: the decade that human beings first left the Earth. Somehow, electronic sound can evoke a cosmic mood with a depth rarely achieved in an acoustic setting. The late 60's music of Pink Floyd, for instance, achieves that mood far better than a weighty classical work like Gustav Holst's "The Planets", a symphony which isn't really about space at all. With the advent of the space age, it seems, has simultaneously come the perfect technology - synthesisers and electronics - for musicians to express their feelings about it. The implications have not been lost on Brian Eno. In the sleeve notes to his sublime album of electronic tone poems Apollo (1983) of his fascination with producing film music expressing a mixture of feelings that, until recently, had never before been experienced by humans.

Certainly, much new age music would be unthinkable without the synthesiser. The origins of new age date back to the 1970's on America's west coast, a kind of cottage industry supported by lifestyle fairs and alternative bookshops. The lightweight "healing" music of composers like therapist Doctor Steve Halpern and Iasos has since become hugely popular. But new age is as much a religious movement as it is a musical style, and therein lies its limitations. During the 80's new age unfortunately became a marketing tool for all kinds of instrumental music, regardless of whether or not it was associated with the lifestyle and its pot porri of psychology, theology, charlatans and money-making opportunists.

In the 1990's new age music mutated into the more generic relaxation. This insidious marketing ploy was particularly prevalent in Australia. Fans of quality ambient were no doubt aghast as, via post offices and bookshops, the market was flooded with extremely suspect nature-themed recordings. These recordings sold very well and made some very mediocre musicians lots of money. Tourists loved it, too, with the slickly packaged images of Australia's natural heritage proving very attractive. But far from Eno's vision of ambient, this music was not "simultaneously relaxing and engaging". Most of it was just plain awful. Perhaps knowing this fact all along, many of the perpetrators simply took the money and ran as the music's popularity inevitably waned. Others survived by flogging their wares overseas.

The new age/relaxation issue is worth further discussion, because it is the tag that has become most commonly associated with the kinds of music we might call ambient. The underlying priorities of such music are always the same; i.e. therapy before music, function before substance. Because of this, its intrinsic qualities as music often suffer badly. Whatever its benefits to our health (often misrepresented anyway), new age/relaxation and its various bland jazz-pop offshoots have made only a limited contribution to the development of ambient sound. Much of it simply borrows gestures from more substantial sources and waters it down into musical equivalent an anesthetic: all senses numbed, all real engagement removed. New age has, as Tangerine Dream biographer Paul Stump so succinctly observed, "...hemoginised and homogenized the nice bits of Rubycon (1974)".

There is no question that the new age tag has an unhealthy effect on the public's concept of ambient. Therefore, a debunking of the new age music myth is crucial.
Yes, ambient styles of music generally ARE relaxing, and therein lies its appeal for a substantial number of people. Obviously, you are free to use music for whatever purpose you wish. But whether you "use" such music for healing disease, aligning charkas or babbling with whales is irrelevant. Every album album I've recommended within these pages is music that can be enjoyed for music’s sake. Whatever else its uses, at least it's multi-functional. Good ambient invites listeners to take a journey through some of modern music’s subtler, stranger or less-chartered waters, a journey that can be disarming and beautiful, or uneasy and disturbing. It's a journey in which the listener can choose to be an active participant, not simply the passive recipient that new age music suggests. Besides, by the 1990's ambient music had found a much more credible champion.

If new age nearly killed ambient, it wouldn't be too far fetched to suggest that electronic dance music rescued it. The extraordinary confluence of events and people that gave rise to modern house, progressive, techno, trance/psy-trance, hip hop, breakbeat and electronic dub music makes for a complicated history, far beyond the scope of this guide. But towards the end of the 1980's, as dance music's first waves from Chicago, New York and Detroit USA where rippling across the world, certain producers in England and Europe who were aligned with clubland started producing sounds that were an explicit antidote to the muscular, unrelenting beats of the dancefloor. Mixmaster Morris (aka Irresistible Force), Alex Paterson (from The Orb), Geir Jensson (aka Biosphere) and Pete Namlook's label Fax Records are among the many pioneers. Each of these artists, in their own way, found a receptive audience among the dance underground with music that was subtle, intelligent and often produced with the same technology that created the music these audiences were dancing to at raves and clubs.
By the turn of the millennium the word chillout had come to encompass an extraordinary variety of downtempo music associated with the electronic dance scene, and sometimes even just downtempo pop or rock. Admittedly "chillout" sometimes suffers from tacky excess and commercial blandness, as major record labels have jumped on the bandwagon with compilation CD's that show they really haven't a clue what they are doing. But what's important is that downtempo music produced partially or wholly by electronic means and often never exposed on radio or though other mass media has now achieved amazingly widespread acceptance, even if most of it remains outside the mainstream. Thanks to the rave generation, from the beaches of Ibiza to the lounge bars of Berlin to the outdoor psychedelic trance parties of Australia, ambient has found a glorious new lease of life.

Classical avant-garde...rock music...electronic pop...new age...electronic dance music. Just a few key pieces of the ambient puzzle and, I admit, only the briefest of histories.

For those wanting to dig deeper the following books are recommend:

The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003The Rolling Stone Record Guide, Virgin Books, London, 1992.Music For Inner Space by Neville Drury, Unity Press, Lindfield, 1985.Healing Music by Neville Drury and Andrew Watson, Nature & Health Books, Chatswood, 1987.Adventures In Wonderland: A Decade Of Club Culture by Sharon Garret, Headline Books, London 1998.Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy Listening & Other Moodsong by Joseph Lanza, Quartet, London, 1995.The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Rock, Salamander Books, London, 1982.Art Rock by John Rockwell from The Rolling Stone Illustrated History Of Rock And Roll, Random House, 1980.New Sounds: The Virgin Guide To New Music by John Schaefer, Virgin Books, London, 1987.Digital Gothic: A Critical Discography Of Tangerine Dream by Paul Stump, S.A.F. Publishing, London, 1997.The Rough Guide To Rock, Rough Guides Ltd, London, 1999.The Rough Guide To Classical Music, Rough Guides Ltd, London, 2001Ocean Of Sound by David Toop, Serpents Tail, London, 1996.Kraftwerk: From Dusseldorf To The Future by Tim Barr, Ebury Press, London, 1998The Rough Guide To Techno by Tim Barr, Rough Guides Ltd, London, 2000Krautrocksampler: One Head’s Guide To The Great Kosmische Musik by Julian Cope, Head Heritage, London, 1995.Crossfafe: A Big Chill Anthology, Serpents Tail, London, 2004.

Link: http://www.ambientmusicguide.com/pages/history.php