Telling House from Trance

There’s techno and trance, house and deep house, jungle and breakbeats, hardcore and progressive (prog.) house. There’s disco, garage, hard house. There’s Hi-NRG, and who could forget drum and bass? But what does it all mean? Here’s a breakdown of some of the major subgenres of dance music and how you can tell what you like dancing to.

Trance music originated in Germany, where it is still championed in huge events like the Berlin Love Parade. Driven more by the pounding bass than by a drumbeat, it is characterised by abrupt shifts in texture. When the beats stop entirely and all that’s left is a high violin-like melody, you’re listening to trance. Characteristically, songs have prolonged build-ups and psychedelic, trance-like climaxes, which is when people usually break out the interpretive dance moves. Paul van Dyk’s The Riddle (Tell Me Why) is a good Trance 101 intro.

Eurodance is the most popular form of dance music, and it is extremely commercial. Every song has a catchy melody, often with soaring female vocals and synthesized, mechanical beats. Fun to dance to, it sounds a bit like disco music, but is constrained by the formulaic construction of the songs. You won’t hear much of this music if you go to a reputable club. Think Spiller, Basement Jaxx, or Eiffel 65 (“I’m blue, a-ba-di a-ba-dai”) and you’ve got Eurodance.

House is more like the dance club version of Eurodance. It’s the most often-played of all the dance music genres, and is what you’re most likely to hear at a club on any given weekend. The beats are still synthesized, but there is more lyricism to the melodies, and the songs are allowed to evolve over longer time periods. The hallmarks of house music are driving drumbeats, often with cymbals, high-pitched squeaks and electronic trills and whistles. Prominent House artists amongst those in the know include Roger Sanchez and Madison Avenue.

Breakbeats is one of the oldest styles of dance music and is the genre that inspired the classic move, the robot. Hip hop can be classified under breakbeats, whose primary characteristic is, funnily enough, its broken beat. Most of the music under the Electronica section of your local record store is breakbeats: Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Prodigy, to name just a well-known few.

Techno is often used as a blanket description of all types of dance music. In its classic form, Techno can be characterized by hard, fast drumbeats, with lots of electronic noises layered over the top. It is a very high energy genre. The most famous proponent of this style is Moby (when he mixes in a club, not on Play).