phuturephunk Posted November 3 Report Share Posted November 3 I'm posting this to the Music Board, cause the original was in New York . . . . .. OK here goes . . . Electronic music can be catagorized into to fundamental "genres" that all others are a "sub-genre" of. . .These are: Breakbeat and Straightbeat. Straightbeat includes four main sub-genres: House, Techno, Trance and Harcore. House: Started in Chicago and characterized by a straight 4 to the floor beat with a pronounced bump on every count and usually an open high hat or cymbal on the ands (the space between the main counts e.g: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and . . ). House "TONAL" subgenre's include Vocal, Tribal, Deep and Hard, which are defined by the difference in the type of chords and samples that are thrown. Proper running speed is from 120 bmp all the way to 140 bpm Techno: Pioneered in Detriot. Characterized by a trip in the count which sets it apart from House. The beat progression contains two straight thumps on the 1 and the 2 of the bar followed usually by a trip between the 3 and 4 and drop. It's kinda hard to explain, but it would sound something like this : Bam Bam Bam B-B-Bam. . and so on. Proper running speed is usually between 140 and 150 bpm. . . Trance: True trance runs up at around 150 to 160, but variations do occur. In essence it is the same structure as house, however the chord composition usually lends itself to LOOOONG build ups and breakdowns where many progressions of layering occur. This gives the music a tone that makes listeners feel as if they were in a trance, hence the name. It is not uncommon to find trance songs that have progressions that can last a 64 count or more. As with house there are various Tonal variations to the Sub-Genre. An Example would be Goa Trance Harcore: Also known as Gabber (which has a few differences, but they're very slight . .). Characterized by beats travelling at 170 bmp all the way up to 220 in some cases. The mood of this music is dark and jarring with an emphasis on chunky clipped chords and brooding sounds . .Not for the faint of heart . . . . In addition to the above mentioned genre's there are also two "BEAT" subgenre's that apply to House and Trance. They are called progressive. Progressive is characterized by a pronounced snare, handclap or other midrange on the 2 and the 4 cound of the bar, which, in turn gives the beat more swing. In words, it would look like this : Boom and Snap and Boom and Snap and Drop . . and so on. I make the distinction between TONAL and BEAT subgenre's because Tonal ones are just the layering and emotion of the chords, where beat ones change the fundamental "ride" (how the rythim moves the listener) of the song. There are many theories on why Progressive got it's name, but the best one I've heard, and one that makes the most sense is that the extra change up in the beat pattern on the 2 and 4 allow house to "progress" closer to breaks . . (note: Progress in this sense is not to be taken as good or bad, rather as a matter of complexity. Breaks are frankly more complex than Straights. . and Progressive is more complex than straights, but not as complex as breaks. .). These two Sub-Genres are very close to Progressive Breaks in sound and are usually interchangeable (depending on the tempo). Still awake? . .Now it's time for Breakbeat . . There are Six main SubGenres of Breakbeat, these are: Electro, Breaks(Funky, Intelligent and Progressive) , Garage, Jungle, Drum and Bass and Downtempo. . . Electro: The grandaddy of Electronic Music, ALL beatz trace back to Electro which in turn got its start from funk and disco in the 70's. Pioneered in New York by the likes of Grand Master Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, they're characterised by a tripped beat pattern that travels at around 120 to 125 bpm. The chords in Electro are distinctly electronic with MUCH emphasis on that wonderful device we all know and love: the vocoder. This gives the music a very robotic/frekazoid feel. Breaks: The three main subgenres of Breaks are Funky, Intelligent and Progressive. Funky: Pioneered by Orlando and Tampa DJ's like Icey and Magic Mike this genre surfaced in the late 80's and is characterized by sped up hip hop and funk beats. The feel of funky breaks and range from undergound b-boy to Girly. BPM range will vary, from 125 to 135 usually Intelligent: Intelligent is what I like to call Hybrid's answer to Funky breaks. They usually run in the same tempo range as funky . . . but alot of times, along with Progressive, reach up into the low 140's. The feel is light and airy, usually characterized by very intricate chord patters and switchups in the beat line. Progressive: Progressive, in a break sense, is not a change up in beat pattern, but rather an attitude that the chords take on. They are almost identical to Intelligent, but with a MUCH darker and more epic slant. Garage: Garage started back in England in the early 80's by rasta Selektas throwing down breakbeats at underground parties. Garage is, in effect, British Funky Breaks. The tempo usually lingers from 120 to 130 bpm's. The tone usually exhibits a very darkside rasta influence. The main difference between Garage and Funky breaks is an extra beat drop that's inserted between the 3 and 4 counts of each bar. This extra drop gives the music a very jumpy feel, even more so than Funky . . Jungle: A product, along with Drum and Bass of the British hardcore scene in the late eighties and early nineties (Prodigy and Genaside II are the forebearers of Jungle and DnB . .), Jungle is characterised by a very trippy beat pattern travelling at around 160 BPM. The feel can range all the way from ragga/rasta to intelligent and jazzy. . no feel does jungle not ecompass. The main difference between Jungle and DnB is a prevalence of flammed snares and high hats (to flam is to play a drum really REALLY fast, usually with both sticks at the same time). Drum and Bass: Rides in the Same Tempo range as Jungle, but the beat patterns are markedly different. There usually isn't an emphasis on flamming and the beat pattern is usually alot darker and more forceful than jungle. DnB has a few subjenre's, two that are distincly different are Jump Up and Techstep/HardStep. Jump Up (Aphrodite) is like funky breaks on speed. Its a very bouncy beat line with very funky bass patterns usually overlayed ontop. Techstep/Hardstep are like jump up, but with a more Darkside Electronic slant to them. A perfect example of Techstep would be the group Bad Company Downtempo: Downtempo is essentially breaks below 110 bpm. The feel of this type of music can be just about anything, however there's usually a very chill aura too it. . Well. . there it is . . a couple other sub-genres that don't quite fit with the model: Ambient/Experimental. They can be just about anything, however the characterisitc that makes it a part of the Beat vernacular is a willingness to experiment with both the acoustic and the Electronic to form new sounds. Example: Tortoise. Any Questions? -Phuturephunk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petedrags Posted November 4 Report Share Posted November 4 cleared a few things up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sextacy911 Posted November 4 Report Share Posted November 4 Originally posted by petedrags cleared a few things up... just a few... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theprod98 Posted November 4 Report Share Posted November 4 maybe this will helphttp://www.ishkur.com/features/music/guide.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mane Posted November 5 Report Share Posted November 5 Electro: The grandaddy of Electronic Music, ALL beatz trace back to Electro which in turn got its start from funk and disco in the 70's. Pioneered in New York by the likes of Grand Master Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, they're characterised by a tripped beat pattern that travels at around 120 to 125 bpm. The chords in Electro are distinctly electronic with MUCH emphasis on that wonderful device we all know and love: the vocoder. This gives the music a very robotic/frekazoid feel. the very first statetement in the above paragraph is false electronic music did not start from the funk and disco in the the 70's. Electronic music as a genure was pionnered by the likes of Jeane Micheal Jarre in the early seventies. which lead to groups like Kraftwerk who were pinoneers to the sounds of early techno.also House music as genure received its roots for the disco era with pioneers such a Larry Levan which in turn gave root to "house" music or music from the legendary club WareHouse in chicago were Frankie Knuckles first started.just a little correctionMane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avalondon3 Posted November 5 Report Share Posted November 5 Originally posted by theprod98 maybe this will helphttp://www.ishkur.com/features/music/guide.htm Thats a hot site....It helps to hear the music that goes along with the description.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuturephunk Posted November 6 Author Report Share Posted November 6 I stand corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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