GENRES EXPLAINED As stated in this week’s ‘Track Analysis’ document, not all tracks are easy to fit in a typical genre-folder, when organising your songs. But, some background knowledge about how each genre sounds is helpful in shaping your collection. And, to communicate with colleagues, we think that everything written in this file is pretty essential know-how for every DJ. So, here are your must-know’s on each of today’s most relevant types of dance music! In this file: 1. HOUSE 2. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: JACKIN’ HOUSE 3. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: LATIN HOUSE 4. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: SOULFUL HOUSE 5. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: EDM 6. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: TECH-HOUSE 7. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: DEEPHOUSE 8. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: FUTURE HOUSE 9. TECHNO 10. TRANCE 11. DISCO 12. NU-DISCO 13. R&B 14. MOOMBAHTON 15. DRUM ‘n’ BASS Ofcourse there are many more genres to play as a DJ. Small ‘niches’ like 2-Step or Frenchcore and other variations on ‘bigger’ genres. But also big movements like Hip-Hop and Hardstyle. We chose the genres that are most present in the clubs and festivals worldwide at the time of writing, and in the past decade. Also, these are the genres that most of our students play or would like to play. HOUSE Description: ‘House’ is a generic term for anything with a 4-to-the-floor beat and a BPM between 120 and 130. Many genres described here, can be seen as a subgenre or spin-off from House. Also, nowadays, ‘house’ is often used as a collective nuon for anything from Soulful to commercial Deep- or Techhouse that doesn’t fit the specific subgenre’s characteristics. Origin: ‘House’ has it’s origins in Chicago, where now-called ‘innovators’ Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles started (beat)mixing Disco records with European ‘electronic beats’ like Kraftwerk’s ‘Computer Love’. House has it groove directly from (the uptempo) Disco music (which was hip between 1975 and 1980). When being blent with these elecronic sounds in the hippest clubs of Chicago (and soon after, New York) this appeared very catchy and soon conquered clubs in Europe. Today’s House is still very similar to what it was in the early 80’s of the last century. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Larry Levan, Todd Terry, Moloko, Frankie Knuckles, Masters at Work, Daft Punk Typical track: Guitarra G - G-Club Presents Banda Sonorra THE 7 MOST IMPORTANT SUB-GENRES OF HOUSE 1. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: JACKIN’ HOUSE Description: Slightly funkier and more underground than what we call ‘House’. Mostly filled with snippets of ‘70’s and ‘80’s tracks and very danceable. Non-commercial, but very easy-on-the-ear and suitable for building up a house party untill halfway the night. Origin: Soon after the rise of House in the 80’s, House producers started creating a funkier sound by incorporating elements from famous New Jack Swing-producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and other then-hip black acts like Guy and Bobby Brown. Named after a groovy dance move from the ‘70’s, ‘The Jack’, this genre evolved into a steady underground genre for seriously grooving House DJ’s. Founding fathers & hitmakers: DJ Sneak, DJ Mes, Kid Creme, Sonny Fodera Typical track: Fix My Sink - DJ Sneak 2. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: LATIN HOUSE Description: Any House-track containing obvious musical or rhythmical elements from Latin-Amercian music like Cuban, Salsa, Merenge and others can be called Latin House. Most typical difference with ‘regular house’ is the double snare drum after the 1st and 3rd beat, instead of a straight-forward snare on the 2nd and 4th beat. Origin: Already in the second half of the 1980’s, House’s founding fathers like Todd Terry started including Latin elements in their tracks, partially because of the prominent presence of Latino’s in the hip clubs where house was being played. Latin House became a prominent genre in the 2000’s with huge Latin-House hits as ‘Cada Vez’ by Grant Nelson and the ‘Africanism’ project by Bob Sinclar before becoming slightly more underground in the 2010’s. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Armand van Helden, Grant Nelson, Bob Sinclair, DJ Gregory Typical track: Tourment D’Amour - DJ Gregory 3. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: SOULFUL​ HOUSE Description: Smooth and very danceable, sometimes atmospheric variation of House. Although this is considered slightly underground, this is the most accessible and easy-on-the-ear form of House music. We highly encourage to look for good tracks in this genre as they form a great starting point for any club night to set a vibe. Origin: Soulful House is as close to the original ‘Disco’ vibe as House gets. It’s producers and DJ’s are usually very much ‘black music’ minded people who have their musical roots in R&B, Funk and Soul. Soulful House always existed alongside the ‘harder’ genres since House’s big break in the 90’s. Many of the big 2000’s house hits (when club-hits became radio-hits) can be filed under Soulful House. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Masters at Work, David Penn, Jamie Lewis, Todd Terry Typical track: To Be In Love - Masters At Work 4. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: EDM​ (Electronic Dance Music) Description: Although EDM is technically a collective word for various music genres, in the last 10 years ‘EDM’ became a specific reference to the highly commercial, energy stuffed ‘stop-and-drop’ festival-anthems that turned second-generation A-lister DJ’s Afrojack, David Guetta, Hardwell and Marin Garrix into superstars. Origin: David Guetta, with a pioneering bunch of young Dutch DJ’s by his side, took the stadium-suited elements from Trance to a lower BPM and included climax-effects from Hardstyle to create a high impact, symplistic form of House music. It became highly succesful and bangers like Martin Garrix’ ‘Animals’, Avicci’s ‘Levels’ and Swedish House Mafia’s ‘One’ were both festival-closers as well as huge Top-40 hits. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Afrojack, David Guetta, Hardwell, Swedish House Mafia, Marin Garrix Typical track: One - Swedish House Mafia 5. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: TECH-HOUSE​ Description: Tech-House is a mix of House and Techno. The melodic, commercially sounding verse-and-chorus of Soulful/Deephouse genres is replaced by short, electronic samples and loops and placed in a more Techno-like beat and structure. Funkier than Techno, but less radio-frienly than regular House. Origin: Tech-House became very popular halfway the 2010’s as a happy medium between more commercial Soulful House and the quickly growing Techno scene. As an underground variation of House, less complex than Soulful/Deephouse and relatively easy to make by semi-professionals and amateurs with decent music software, Tech-House exploded around 2015 in Western-Europe. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Derrick Carter, Sven Vath, Franky Rizardo, Mark Knight Typical track: Set My Body - DCMB & D-Mice 6. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: DEEPHOUSE​ Description: Atmospheric, non-commercial and ‘deeper’, less ‘happy vibe’ variation of Soulful House. More club-suited, serious and underground. Driven by a dominant bassline and often topped with whispering female vocals or short vocal samples. Origin: Deephouse’s first commercial peak came in the late 90’s as a blend of chill-out and lounge over a soft House-beat. Perfectly suited for sunsets and bedrooms, Deephouse in it’s early form was the first House-variation that was not necessarily made to dance. Around 2013, Deephouse became the common name for a much more in-your-face sound, made big by Oliver Heldens with tracks like ‘Koala’ and ‘Gecko’. Only a few years later, Tech-House pushed Deephouse out of the clubs and back into obscurity, which brought the genre back in the hands of bedroom-beat veterans like Blue Six and Miguel Migs. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Larry Heard, Kaskade, Miguel Migs, Blue Six Typical track: Surrender - Miguel Migs 7. HOUSE SUB-GENRE: FUTURE HOUSE Description: Future House is a combination of EDM and the festival-friendly version of Deephouse as described above. Funky and explosive, but not as euphoric and commercial as EDM. Origin: During the worldwide peak of EDM, a lot of it’s producers (inspired by Oliver Heldens’ hits ‘Koala’ and ‘Gecko’) shifted back from the jump-up-and-down beats of EDM to more hip-shaking grooves. They found a middle between EDM and Jackin’ House around the end of the 2010’s. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Tchami, Oliver Heldens, Don Diablo Typical track: Me, Msyelf & I (Mesto Remix) - G Easy & Bebe Rexha TECHNO Description: A dark, monotone and totally non-commercial offspring of House, with such a different vibe and audience that it can impossibly be listed as a House-genre. Although, Techno still leans more on the original instruments (Roland’s TR-909 amongst others) with wich House was first created, than any other genre. It is mostly instrumental and highly repetitive but also, more than any other genre, a platform for many DJ/Producers to perform ‘live-sets’ with both DJ and Producer gear in use in the DJ-booth. Origin: Techno has been a steady underground genre since it’s spin-off from the more commercial variations of House. With it’s prime producers and clubs located in Berlin, the new (and old) capitol of a unified Germany also became the ‘capitol of Techno’ around the early 90’s. It drew, and still draws, both the pioneering audience and makers to clubs like Berghain and Tresor. Although musically still non-commercial, Techno became one of the bigest club-genres worldwide during the late 2010’s. Founding fathers & hitmakers: Derrick May, Carl Cox, Richie Hawtin, Chris Liebing Typical track: Zero - Richie Hawtin TRANCE Description: With speeds mostly between 130 and 140 BPM, Trance is much quicker than House.