Beatport launches Genrecasts

Beatport launches Genrecasts

15 July, 2008 | 2.49PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Terry Church

Finding good music in the digital era can at times be painfully hard work as there are so many new releases each week to trawl through.

Launching today, Beatport’s Genrecasts - podcasts based around a specific electronic music genre - aim to help music fans discover hot new tracks from their chosen sound.

There are three Genrecasts available every two weeks: House, Trance and Drum & Bass, and the Genrecasts feature nothing but top quality music.

Chosen by a team of genre experts, the unique podcasts will advise anyone from the professional DJ to the hardcore music fan what is filling dancefloors around the globe.

Read on for our helpful descriptions of House, Trance and Drum & Bass and for all the Genrecast links.

House

Click here for the iTunes link.

Click for the House Genrecast RSS feed.

House music is a style of electronic music that originated in Chicago and New York in the early 1980s. New York too has played an integral part in the development of house music, which is considered a direct descendant of disco music.

House music is characterized by a 4/4 beat, meaning there is a prominent kick drum every beat (or every quarter note of a bar). A drum machine or another electronic instrument usually creates the kick drum in house music.

House music often has a continuous, repetitive synth bassline and uses a variety of electronic sounds and samples taken from other music genres including jazz, disco, blues and pop. House music generally falls between 118 and 135 beats per minute (BPM).

There is some debate surrounding how ‘house’ music first received its name.
In the early 1980s underground warehouse parties become popular in Chicago, and one of these venues was known as ‘The Warehouse’. The music played at ‘The Warehouse’, especially that of resident DJ Frankie Knuckles, was referred to by patrons as ‘house’ music.

Larry Heard, aka ‘Mr Fingers’ claims that the term ‘house’ referred to the fact that many DJs created the music in their own homes using simple electronic equipment, drum machines and synthesizers.

Chip E. was the first person to describe house music on a record with his track ‘It’s House’, but he claims that the term originated from the way that records were labeled at the Imports Etc. record store where he worked in the early 1980s.

Trance

Click here for the iTunes link.

Click for the Trance Genrecast RSS feed.

Trance is a style of electronic music that developed in the 1990s in Germany and the UK.

Arguably trance is a fusion of ambient music, techno and house and it shares much in common with techno in terms of tempo and rhythm but it features a more melodic edge. The melodies in trance differ from house in that they tend to be more emotional and uplifting.

Like techno and house, trance is characterized by a 4/4 kick drum signature (a kick drum every quarter note of a bar). It generally has a tempo of between 130 and 160 beats per minute (BPM).

Trance music is famous for its crescendos and breakdowns. Hi hats in trance are generally on the off-beat and major transitions, builds ups and climaxes are often introduced with a lengthy snare roll.

Frankfurt in Germany is often said to be the birthplace of trance as some of its earliest pioneers hailed from the city including Jam El Mar, Oliver Lieb and Sven Väth. But back in 1988 British acid house group The KLF defined the term ‘trance’ on their record ‘What Time Is Love’.

By the mid-1990s, trance producers began to experiment with more anthemic basslines and harmonic lead melodies, and as a result the genre entered the mainstream. This in turn led to the development of commercial trance music, with vocals playing an integral part in the popularization of the sound.

Trance is said to be a ‘big room sound’ because of its ability to move a large amount of people and the genre’s most popular DJs will often play to audiences numbering tens of thousands in stadiums and at festivals.

Drum & Bass

Click here for the iTunes link.

Click for the Drum&Bass Genrecast RSS feed.

The term drum & bass is often interchanged with ‘jungle’.

Both terms refer to the use of fast-paced, syncopated (nearly polyrhythmic) percussion alongside deep, often menacing basslines. (It should be noted, however, that many would contend that the creation of jungle had a direct effect on the evolution of drum & bass.)

Significantly, drum & bass features a broken beat, as opposed to the 4/4 kick drum pattern of house and techno.

It clocks in at a relatively rapid pace of between 160 and 180 beats per minute (BPM).

Created for big room soundsystems, the most poignant element of a drum & bass track is its bassline which is normally always loud, aggressive and meant to be ‘felt’ as well as heard.

Reggae-style vocals are often present, giving direct reference to dancehall. Several synthesized layers act as a glue for the intense and varied rhythms.

One-off acetate or white label promos were often passed through the underground circuit as drum & bass was being established.

Photek, A Guy Called Gerald, Aphrodite and 4hero were known artists within the community, while artists such as Goldie, Roni Size and LTJ Bukem helped to bring the sound into the mainstream.

Several sub-genres have been created as a result of the influence of drum & bass; these genres include techstep, breakcore, nubreaks, darkcore and liquid drum & bass.

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