Electronica / Psychdelic / Trance Music

The 1970s, despite the regrettable fashion trends, yielded some pretty great music via the disco and funk insurgencies. Electronic instruments contributed unique sounds to the mix and ended up spinning off an entirely new genre – Electronica – which, in turn, gave way to myriad sub-sets from Acid Jazz and Ambient to Trance and Techno, along with every mash-up imaginable in between. Tribal House, Downtempo, Gabba, and so many more styles have emerged over the subsequent decades.

In the '80s, scenes in Chicago and New York brought us house music, while Detroit spawned techno. Britain's club kids caught on and the sounds of jungle/drum'n'bass and trip-hop were born. The bulk of the beats were for the DJs to spin in dance clubs, though the '90s began an era of more chill, listening vibes like ambient-house, experimental techno, and tech-house. Still, most producers focused on dance grooves and incorporating any new sound they could think up.

The overarching moniker of Electronica (New Electronica, to be specific) was first tagged to compilation albums by Detroit techno artists Juan Atkins and Underground Resistance along with their European counterparts. While electronic house music never quite broke its umbilical cord with disco, techno did. It was purely a feat a technology and it was geared toward a fairly tight-knit, underground audience at the time.

Artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and Kraftwerk loomed large in the beats built by techno pioneers Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson. The music and the audience broke into the mainstream in England, spurring the creation of many more sub-genres like hardcore, ambient, and jungle. Eventually, some “stars” began to emerge in the Orb, Aphex Twin, and the Prodigy.

Over in Germany around the same time, the hardcore techno scene was evolving into Trance, a style that leaned heavily on endlessly repeating synthesizer lines with very little rhythmic interruption. The point of each overtly atmospheric piece was to lull a listener into an almost psychedelic state, a trance in tune with those of a religious experience.

In Germany and Belgium, Hardfloor, Joey Beltram, CJ Bolland, Barbarella, Robert Leiner, Spicelab, Sun Electric, and Aphex Twin were among the leaders of the pack. The '90s had some ebbs and flows for the genre, but by 1998, it had spread into other parts of Europe.

Progressive trance was how they termed it when the trend hit Britain. DJs Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, Tony De Vit, Danny Rampling, Sasha, Judge Jules mixed trance in the UK's top dance clubs. The U.S., slow to hop the bandwagon, eventually followed the lead of superstar DJs like Christopher Lawrence and Kimball Collins embracing trance.

Other interesting artists or bands to consider checking out and possibly watching live include Leonard Cohen, Usher and Cher in Las Vegas. Also check out Jay-Z and Eminem in Detroit or one of the hottest tickets to Lady Gaga live in concert.

Electronica, psychdelic and trance music are in a music genre of their own.

Copyright 2011 mind-funk-music.com