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ls Minimal Techno bezeichnet man eine Stilrichtung des Techno, die sich durch minimalistische Arrangements auszeichnet. Es ist im Wesentlichen eine experimentelle Weiterentwicklung des traditionellen Techno aus Detroit. Als Urvater gilt der DJ und Produzent Robert Hood, dessen Album Minimal Nation (1994) viele Produzenten beeinflusste.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
[Verbergen]

* 1 Beschreibung
* 2 Geschichte
* 3 Diskurs
* 4 Interpreten

Beschreibung [Bearbeiten]

Meist bestehen die Minimal-Techno-Tracks nur aus den typischen Four-To-The Floor Drums (klassisch hierfür die Sounds des Drumcomputers TR-909), Synth-Bass und Effekten. Es wird mit einzelnen Klängen, Klangvariationen und Unregelmäßigkeiten in der sonst monotonen Struktur der Komposition experimentiert. Oft werden überraschende Effekte oder fragmentierte Melodien eingestreut. Grundsätzlich ist Minimal Techno dennoch atonal, es gibt aber einige Ausnahmen.

Durch die eher niedrige Geschwindigkeit und die starke Monotonie kann diese Mugib sehr hypnotisch wirken und wird sowohl auf der Tanzfläche, als auch im Chill Out-Floor gespielt.

Eng verwandt mit dem Minimal Techno ist der Minimal House (auch „Microhouse“ genannt). Der Unterschied liegt größtenteils in der niedrigen Geschwindigkeit und der oft angedeuteten Verbindung zum Funk.
Geschichte [Bearbeiten]

Nach verschiedenen Werken von Richie Hawtin, Moritz von Oswald und Mark Ernestus und anderen, die bereits minimale Strukturen aufwiesen, gilt Robert Hoods 1994 erschienenes Album Minimal Nation als eigentlicher Ursprung der Minimal-Techno-Entwicklung.

1995 veröffentlichte der Brite Gerrard Varley unter seinem Pseudonym G-Man eine E.P. mit der Komposition Quo Vadis, die heute als Meilenstein des Genres gilt und 1999, sowie 2007 im Zuge der neuen Minimal-Bewegung, neu aufgelegt wurde.

In Deutschland wurde die Idee des Techno-Minimalismus in erster Linie von Wolfgang Voigt und Stefan Brügesch (Steve Bug) aufgegriffen und weiterentwickelt. In diesem Zusammenhang sind auch Voigts Studio 1-Schallplatten als wegweisende Veröffentlichungen zu nennen.

Nachdem das Genre eher die Form einer Randerscheinung innerhalb der boomenden Techno-Szene hatte, gewann es Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts durch junge Interpreten zunehmend an Bedeutung und entwickelte sich in Mitteleuropa zur angesagten Club-Mugib. Mit einer breiten Palette an erfolgreichen Plattenlabels und -distributoren wie beispielsweise Kompakt, Poker Flat Recordings, M_nus, Perlon, Freude am Tanzen oder Trapez festigte sich Deutschland seine Position als Zentrum dieser mugibalischen Bewegung.
Diskurs [Bearbeiten]

Ein häufiger Kritikpunkt ist die mittlerweile inflationäre Verwendung des Begriffes Minimal für fast jeden 4/4 Track mit 125 BPM, egal ob das Arrangement der Nummer wirklich minimalistisch ist (in der eigentlichen Wortbedeutung, so wie es noch bei den Anfängen wie bei Robert Hood etc. zutraf) oder nicht. Kritische Stimmen äußern, dass Minimal über die Jahre zu einem rein modischen Adjektiv innerhalb der Elektronikszene wurde und sich von der eigentlichen Technomugib entfernt hat. Vieles der heute als "Minimal Techno" bezeichneten Mugib ist anderen Genres elektronischer Tanzmugib im Grunde viel näher als dem ursprünglichen Techno.
Interpreten [Bearbeiten]

Erfolgreiche Interpreten im deutschsprachigen Raum sind Wolfgang Voigt (alias Mike Ink), Steve Bug, Extrawelt, Stephan Bodzin, Oliver Huntemann, Antonelli Electr., Dominik Eulberg, Matthias Tanzmann, Marek Hemmann, Mathias Kaden sowie das Produzentenduo Moritz von Oswald und Mark Ernestus. Die Minimal-Techno-Szene der Stadt Köln, für die vor allem Voigts Label Kompakt steht, wurde auch international bekannt (teilweise wurde dafür der Begriff Sound of Cologne verwendet). Weltweit zählen Richie Hawtin, Troy Pierce, Robert Hood, John Tejada, Daniel Bell, Magda, Sascha Funke und Ricardo Villalobos zu den populärsten Vertretern.

House is a style of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, USA in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American,[1] Latino American,[1] and gay[1][2][3] communities; first in Chicago, then in Detroit, New York City, New Jersey, Los Angeles and Miami. It then reached Europe before becoming infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide since the early to mid-1990s.

House is strongly influenced by elements of soul- and funk-infused varieties of disco.[citation needed] House generally mimics disco's percussion, especially the use of a prominent bass drum on every beat, but may feature a prominent synthesizer bassline, electronic drums, electronic effects, funk and pop samples, and reverb- or delay-enhanced vocals.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Musical elements
* 2 History
o 2.1 Precursors
+ 2.1.1 Origins of the term
o 2.2 Chicago years: early 1980s – late 1980s
o 2.3 Lyrical themes
o 2.4 The Detroit Sound: early 1980s – late 1980s
o 2.5 UK: mid 1980s – early 1990s
o 2.6 US: late 1980s – early 1990s
o 2.7 Late 1980s - 1990s
o 2.8 The 21st century: 2000s
* 3 See also
* 4 Notes
* 5 Further reading
* 6 External links

[edit] Musical elements

House is uptempo music for dancing, although by modern dance music standards it is mid-tempo, generally ranging between 118 and 135 bpm. Tempos were slower in house's early years.

The common element of house is a prominent kick drum on every beat (also known as a four-on-the-floor beat), usually generated by a drum machine or sampler. The kick drum sound is augmented by various kick fills and extended dropouts. The drum track is filled out with hi-hat cymbal patterns that nearly always include an open hi-hat on quaver off-beats between each kick, and a snare drum or clap sound on beats two and four of every bar. This pattern is derived from so-called "four-on-the-floor" dance drumbeats of the 1960s and especially the 1970s disco drummers. Producers commonly layer sampled drum sounds to achieve a more complex sound, and they tailor the mix for large club sound systems, de-emphasizing lower mid-range frequencies (where the fundamental frequencies of the human voice and other instruments lie) in favor of bass and hi-hats.[citation needed]

Producers use many different sound sources for bass sounds in house, from continuous, repeating electronically-generated lines sequenced on a synthesizer, such as a Roland SH-101 or TB-303, to studio recordings or samples of live electric bassists, or simply filtered-down samples from whole stereo recordings of classic funk tracks or any other songs. House bass lines tend to favor notes that fall within a single-octave range, whereas disco bass lines often alternated between octave-separated notes and would span greater ranges. Some early house productions used parts of bass lines from earlier disco tracks. For example, producer Mark "Hot Rod" Trollan copied bass line sections from the 1983 Italo disco song "Feels Good (Carrots & Beets)" (by Electra featuring Tara Butler) to form the basis of his 1986 production of "Your Love" by Jamie Principle. Frankie Knuckles used the same notes in his more famous 1987 version of "Your Love", which also featured Principle on vocals.

Electronically-generated sounds and samples of recordings from genres such as jazz, blues, disco, funk, soul and synth pop are often added to the foundation of the drum beat and synth bass line. House songs may also include disco, soul-style, or gospel vocals and additional percussion such as tambourine. Many house mixes also include repeating, short, syncopated, staccato chord loops that are usually composed of 5-7 chords in a 4-beat measure.

Techno and trance, which developed alongside house, share this basic beat infrastructure, but they usually eschew house's live-music-influenced feel and Black or Latin music influences in favor of more synthetic sound sources and approach.
[edit] History
[edit] Precursors
The Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City

House is a descendant of disco, which blended soul, R&B, funk, with celebratory messages about dancing, love, and sexuality, all underpinned with repetitive arrangements and a steady bass drum beat. Some disco songs incorporated sounds produced with synthesizers and drum machines, and some compositions were entirely electronic; examples include Giorgio Moroder late 1970s productions such as Donna Summer's hit single "I Feel Love" from 1977, and several early 1980s disco-pop productions by the Hi-NRG group Lime.

House was also influenced by mixing and editing techniques earlier explored by disco DJs, producers, and audio engineers like Walter Gibbons, Tom Moulton, Jim Burgess, Larry Levan, Ron Hardy, M & M and others who produced longer, more repetitive and percussive arrangements of existing disco recordings. Early house producers like Frankie Knuckles created similar compositions from scratch, using samplers, synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines.

The hypnotic electronic dance song "On and On", produced in 1984 by Chicago DJ Jesse Saunders and co-written by Vince Lawrence, had elements that became staples of the early house sound, such as the 303 bass synthesizer and minimal vocals. It is sometimes cited as the 'first house record',[4][5] although other examples from the same time period, such as J.M. Silk's "Music is the Key" (1985) have also been cited.[6]
[edit] Origins of the term

The term "house music" may have its origin from a Chicago nightclub called The Warehouse which existed from 1977 to 1982. The Warehouse was patronized primarily by gay black and Latino men,[3] who came to dance to disco music played by the club's resident DJ, Frankie Knuckles. In the Channel 4 documentary Pump Up The Volume, Knuckles remarks that the first time he heard the term "house music" was upon seeing "we play house music" on a sign in the window of a bar on Chicago's South Side. One of the people in the car with him joked, "you know, that's the kind of music you play down at the Warehouse!", and then everybody laughed.[7] South-Side Chicago DJ Leonard "Remix" Rroy, in self-published statements, claims he put such a sign in a tavern window because it was where he played music that one might find in one's home; in his case, it referred to his mother's soul & disco records, which he worked into his sets.[citation needed]

Chip E.'s 1985 recording "It's House" may also have helped to define this new form of electronic music.[8] However, Chip E. himself lends credence to the Knuckles association, claiming the name came from methods of labelling records at the Importes Etc. record store, where he worked in the early 1980s: bins of music that DJ Knuckles played at the Warehouse nightclub was labelled in the store "As Heard At The Warehouse", which was shortened to simply "House". Patrons later asked for new music for the bins, which Chip E. implies was a demand the shop tried to meet by stocking newer local club hits.[9]

Larry Heard, a.k.a. "Mr. Fingers", claims[citation needed] that the term "house" reflected the fact that many early DJs created music in their own homes, using synthesizers and drum machines, including the Roland TR-808, TR-909, and the TB 303 Bassline synthesizer-sequencer. These synthesizers were used to create a house subgenre called acid house.[10]

Juan Atkins, an originator of Detroit techno music, claims the term "house" reflected the exclusive association of particular tracks with particular DJs; those tracks were their "house" records (much like a restaurant might have a "house" salad dressing).[11]
[edit] Chicago years: early 1980s – late 1980s
Main article: Chicago house
An honorary street sign in Chicago for house music and Frankie Knuckles.

In the early 1980s, Chicago club & radio DJs were playing various styles of dance music, including older disco records, newer Italo Disco, hip hop and electro funk tracks, as well as electronic pop music by Kraftwerk, and recent danceable R&B productions in the genre now known as boogie. Some made and played their own edits of their favorite songs on reel-to-reel tape, and sometimes mixed in effects, drum machines, and other rhythmic electronic instrumentation.

Starting in 1984, some of these DJs, inspired by Jesse Saunders' success with "On and On", tried their hand at producing and releasing original compositions. These compositions used newly affordable electronic instruments to emulate not just Saunders' song, but the edited, enhanced styles of disco and other dance music they already favored. By 1985, although the exact origins of the term are debated, "house music" encompassed these locally-produced recordings. Subgenres of house, including deep house and acid house, quickly emerged and gained traction.

Club play from pioneering DJs like Ron Hardy and Lil Louis, local dance music record shops such as Importes, me from the hip-hop, reggae, and Latin community, and many of the New York City

super producers/DJs began surfacing for the first time (Erick Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Junior Vasquez, Danny Tenaglia, Jonathan Peters, David Morales) with unique sounds that would evolve into other genres (tribal house, progressive house, funky house). Producers such as Masters At Work and Kerri Chandler also started pioneering a richer Garage sound that was picked up on by 'outsiders' from the worlds of jazz, hip-hop and downbeat as much as it was by house aficionados.

In the late 1980s Nu Groove Records prolonged, if not launched the careers of Rheji Burrell & Rhano Burrell, collectively known as Burrell (after a brief stay on Virgin America via Timmy Regisford and Frank Mendez), along with basically every relevant DJ and Producer in the NY underground scene. The Burrell's are responsible for the "New York Underground" sound and are the undisputed champions of this style of house. Their 30+ releases on this label alone seems to support that fact. In today's market Nu Groove Record releases like the Burrells' enjoy a cult-like following and mint vinyl can fetch $100 U.S. or more in the open market.

Influential gospel/R&B-influenced Aly-us released "Time Passes On" in 1993 (Strictly Rhythm), then later, "Follow Me" which received radio airplay as well as being played in clubs. Another U.S. hit which received radio play was the single "Time for the Perculator" by Cajmere, which became the prototype of ghetto house sub-genre. Cajmere started the Cajual and Relief labels (amongst others). By the early 1990s artists such as Cajmere himself (under that name as well as Green Velvet and as producer for Dajae), DJ Sneak, Glenn Underground and others did many recordings. The 1990s saw new Chicago house artists emerge such as DJ Funk, who operates a Chicago house record label called Dance Mania, which primarily distributes ghetto house. Ghetto house, along with acid house, were house music styles that were started in Chicago.
[edit] Late 1980s - 1990s
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In Britain, further experiments in the genre boosted its appeal. House and rave clubs like Lakota, Cream emerged across Britain, hosting house and dance scene events. The 'chilling out' concept developed in Britain with ambient house albums such as The KLF's Chill Out and Analogue Bubblebath by Aphex Twin.

At the same time, a new indie dance scene emerged. In New York, bands such as Deee-Lite furthered house's international influence. Two distinctive tracks from this era were the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" (with a distinctive vocal sample from Rickie Lee Jones) and the Happy Mondays' "Wrote for Luck" ("WFL") which was transformed into a dance hit by Vince Clarke.

In England, one of the few licensed venues The Eclipse attracted people from up and down the country as it was open until the early hours.

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was a government attempt to ban large rave dance events featuring music with "repetitive beats". There were a number of abortive "Kill the Bill" demonstrations. The Spiral Tribe at Castle Morten was probably the nail in the coffin for illegal raves, and forced through the bill, which became law, in November 1994.

The music continued to grow and change, as typified by Leftfield with "Release the Pressure", which introduced dub and reggae into the house sound, although Leftfield had prior releases, such as "Not forgotten" released in 1990 on Sheffield's Outer Rhythm records.

A new generation of clubs like, Liverpool's Cream and the Ministry of Sound were opened to provide a venue for more commercial sounds. Major record companies began to open "superclubs" promoting their own acts. These superclubs entered into sponsorship deals initially with fast food, soft drinks, and clothing companies. Flyers in clubs in Ibiza often sported many corporate logos. A new sub-genre, Chicago Hard House, was developed by DJs such as Bad Boy Bill, DJ Lynnwood, DJ Irene, Richard "Humpty" Vission and DJ Enrie, mixing elements of Chicago House, Funky House and Hard House together.

Towards the end of the 1990s and into the 2000s, producers like Daft Punk, Cassius (band), St. Germain and DJ Falcon began producing a new sound out of Paris's house scene. Together, they laid the groundwork for what would be known as the French House movement. By combining the harder-edged-yet-soulful philosophy of Chicago House with the melodies of obscure Funk & Disco music from the 1970s, state-of-the-art production techniques (some of which were so far ahead of their time, they would not enter widespread mainstream usage for another decade) and the sound of analog synthesizers, they began to create the standards that would shape practically all House music that was created after it.
[edit] The 21st century: 2000s

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley proclaimed August 10, 2005 to be "House Unity Day" in Chicago, in celebration of the "21st anniversary of house music" (actually the 21st anniversary of the founding of Trax Records). The proclamation recognized Chicago as "the original home of house music" and that the music's original creators "were inspired by the love of their city, with the dream that someday their music would spread a message of peace and unity throughout the world". DJs such as Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Paul Johnson and Mickey Oliver celebrated the proclamation at the Summer Dance Series, an event organized by Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs.[13]

It was during this decade that vocal house became firmly established, both in the underground and as part of the pop market, and labels such as Defected, Roule and Om were at the forefront of championing the emerging sound. In the mid-2000s, fusion genres such as electro house, fidget house and tech house emerged. This fusion is apparent in the crossover of musical styles by artists such as Dennis Ferrer and Booka Shade, with the former's production style having evolved from the New York soulful house scene and the latter's roots in techno. DJs today can be heard blending all sub-genres of house as many of the best musical elements are shared across these sub-genres.

During this time, house music became increasingly accessible to mainstream suburban kids who came into major US cities to party at large venues like New York's The Sound factory, Exit and Twilo or Miami's Crobar and Space, causing many underground fans to label the scene as becoming "bridge and tunnel". The growing interest in house music from suburban, predominantly white, middle-class listeners encouraged many DJ/producers to increasingly promote their sound by releasing singles and CD compilations on a large, more commercial scale. As a result, major music warehouses like Tower Records began to carry larger selections of house music, often dedicating sections of their stores solely to dance music. As Napster and other internet downloading sites became more popular in the late 1990s and into the new millennium, house music gained an even broader audience as members shared new mixes of popular club tracks.

Today, innovative house music is celebrated and showcased at the Burning Man festival and at major industry sponsored events like Miami's Winter Music Conference.

As of the late 2000s, house influenced music retains widespread popularity in clubs throughout the world. House Music has also seen a comeback into the mainstream with producers like Justice, Benny Benassi (his hit songs like Satisfaction) bringing lighter, more diluted, eurodance-infused house tracks back to the US Top 40 charts. With this steady, yet subtle, mainstream success throughout the years, House has gained momentum and concepts developed by House producers have infected the mainstream pop and hip-hop worlds. With the introduction of Vocoders and Auto-Tune (first popularized by Daft Punk[citation needed]), as well as the popularization of digital audio workstations and new production techniques like sidechaining and heavy compression, House is becoming more and more a part of American musical culture.

Australian House became popular in the mid-2000s, acts like The Aston Shuffle, Tommy Trash, Bag Raiders and Empire of the Sun became well-known domestically.
[edit] See also

Deep Dish is a duo of DJs and house-music producers consisting of Iranian-American members Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia and Sharam Tayebi. Based in Washington, D.C., Shirazinia and Tayebi are well known for providing house or dance remixes of tracks of famous stars such as Madonna, Cher and Gabrielle, and for their live DJing sets. They often collaborate with DC artist Richard Morel and produced a dance hit with his song "True (The Faggot is You)". Their remixing abilities first came to attention with their seminal 1995 remix of De'Lacy's "Hideaway," a club classic. Other collaborations include "The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)" with British group Everything But the Girl, which appeared on Deep Dish's artist album Junk Science, which was released in 1998.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 History
* 2 Discography
o 2.1 Albums
o 2.2 Singles/EPs
o 2.3 DJ mixes
o 2.4 Productions
o 2.5 Co-productions
o 2.6 Remixes
* 3 Chart positions
* 4 Awards
o 4.1 Won
o 4.2 Nominations
o 4.3 Other rankings
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] History

The duo first met in DC around 1991 when they were accidentally double-booked at a club. Soon after, they formed Deep Dish Records and their work captured the attention of Danny Tenaglia and TRIBAL America Records, which put out the duo's first progressive-house compilation, Penetrate Deeper, in 1995. Over the years the duo has released a number of genre-defining mixed CDs. However, what catapulted Deep Dish to prominence was the release of its debut album, Junk Science, released on the now-defunct UK label deConstruction and a dismal US release through Arista/BMG Records.

Deep Dish have remixed tracks by artists such as Dido ("Thank You" and "Stoned") and the collaboration between Timo Maas and Kelis ("Help Me"). The duo won a Grammy Award for their "Thank You" remix. Deep Dish have also collaborated with Danny Howells to remix the Eminem track "Without Me" (as a bootleg). In July 2005, their second artist album, George Is On, was released. It featured their Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart hit "Flashdance" (which features Anousheh Khalili) (also their biggest UK hit, peaking at number 3), as well as a remake of the classic Fleetwood Mac song "Dreams", for which Stevie Nicks provided new vocals. "Say Hello", the second single released from the album, hit number one on the dance chart in September 2005, becoming their second dance chart-topper (their first being the collaboration with Everything But the Girl in 1998). They also made a successful remix of Justin Timberlake's song "Like I Love You" back in 2003. Although it only charted in the US, it was even more successful than the original version of the song (which only charted at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100) and became their very first #1 in the US, which propelled them to popularity in a country where they had never previously had any chart placing at all: indeed it was only the fourth song (and the fourth chart anywhere that they had had a single in) that had charted anywhere.

In 2005 the film It's All Gone Pete Tong included Raul Rincon's remix of "Flashdance". Deep Dish has appeared as the featured artist on the BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix on several occasions. Their most recent appearances took place in 2008, on the 28th of March, when their set from the Winter Music Conference was broadcast live on the show. Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia was featured on the Essential Mix in September 2007. Deep Dish is also well-known for their progressive house compilation albums in the famed Global Underground series. The latest Global Underground album, by Dubfire, was released in April 2007.

They also own and run dance music record labels Deep Dish, Yoshitoshi Shinichi, and Yo. In addition, they owned and operated a retail store (also named Yoshitoshi) in the Georgetown area of DC, which sold dance records and clothing. The store closed in 2003, although their labels continue to release music, mostly on the 12 inch single vinyl format.

In August of 2009, Sharam was featured on the Essential Mix and his mix was subsequently voted the best of 2009[2].

Electro (short for either electro-funk or electro-boogie)[1][2] is a genre of electronic music directly influenced by the use of TR-808[3], Moog keytar synthesizers and funk sampling.[4][5] Records in the genre typically feature drum machines and heavy electronic sounding deprived of vocals in general, although if present, they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through an electronic distortion such as vocoding. This is the main distinction of electro from previously prominent late-1970s genres such as disco and boogie, in which electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation rather than basis of the whole song.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Definition and characteristics
* 2 History
* 3 Contemporary electro
* 4 Artists
* 5 References
* 6 External links

[edit] Definition and characteristics

From its origins, the definition of the electro sound is the use of drum machines as the rhythmic base of a track; however as the style has evolved, and with the advent of computer usage in electronic music, the use of drum machines has become less and less practical and widespread. Electro drum patterns tend to be electronic emulations of breakbeats, with a syncopated kick drum, and usually a snare or clap accenting the downbeat. The difference between electro drumbeats and breakbeats (or breaks) is that electro tends to be more mechanical, while breakbeats tend to have more of a human-like feel, like that of a live drummer. The definition however is somewhat ambiguous in nature due to the various use of the term.[6]

Planet Rock (sample)
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Short sample of "Planet Rock", originally released in 1982 by Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force.
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Staccato, percussive drumbeats tend to dominate electro; with beats once mostly provided by the Roland TR-808 drum machine, the advent of computers in electronic music has outdated this old school method and are now used by the majority of electro producers the world over. The TR-808, created in 1980, has an immediately recognizable sound, and through the use of samples remains somewhat popular in electro and other genres to the present day. Other electro instrumentation is generally all-electronic, favoring analog synthesis, bass lines, sequenced or arpeggiated synthetic riffs, and atonal sound effects all created with synthesizers. Heavy use of effects such as reverbs, delays, chorus or phasers along with eerie synthetic ensemble strings or pad sounds emphasize the common science fiction or futuristic theme of the lyrics and/or music. Most electro is instrumental, but a common element is vocals processed through a vocoder. Additionally, speech synthesis may be used to create robotic or mechanical lyrical content. Some earlier electro features rapping, but that lyrical style has become less popular in the genre from the 1990s onward.

About electro-funk origins, Greg Wilson claims:
“ It was all about stretching the boundaries that had begun to stifle black music, and its influences lay not only with German technopop wizards Kraftwerk, the acknowledged forefathers of pure electro, plus British futurist acts like the Human League and Gary Numan, but also with a number of pioneering black musicians. Major artists like Miles Davis, Sly Stone, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, legendary producer Norman Whitfield and, of course, George Clinton and his P Funk brigade, would all play their part in shaping this new sound via their innovative use of electronic instruments during the 70’s (and as early as the late 60’s in Miles Davis’s case).[1]

Following the decline of disco music in the late 1970s, various funk artists such as Zapp & Roger began experimenting with talk boxes and the use of heavier, more distinctive beats.

In 1982, Bronx based producer Afrika Bambaataa released the seminal track "Planet Rock", which contained elements of Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express and "Numbers" (from Kraftwerk's Computer World album).[2] "Planet Rock" is widely regarded as a turning point in the electro genre.[7] The same year saw Bruce Haack and (pre- Def Jam) Russell Simmons collaboration on the recording "Party Machine", though it was never officially released.

In 1983, Hashim created the influential electro funk tune "Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)" which became Cutting Record's first release in November 1983[8]. At the time Hashim was influenced by Man Parrish's "Hip Hop, Be Bop", Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" and Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" [9]. Also in 1983, Herbie Hancock, in collaboration with Grand Mixer D.ST, released the hit single "Rockit".

Bambaataa and groups like Planet Patrol, Jonzun Crew, Mantronix, Newcleus and Juan Atkins' Detroit-based group Cybotron went on to influence the genres of Detroit techno, ghettotech, breakbeat, drum and bass and electroclash. Early producers in the electro genre (notably Arthur Baker,[10] John Robie and Shep Pettibone) featured prominently in the Latin Freestyle (or simply "Freestyle") movement. By the late 1980s, the genre had parted from its initial funk influences. Baker and Pettibone enjoyed robust careers well into the house era, and both eluded the "genre trap" to successfully produce mainstream artists.[11]
[edit] Contemporary electro
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Although the early 1980s were electro's heyday in the mainstream, it enjoyed renewed popularity in the late 1990s with artists such as Anthony Rother and DJs such as Dave Clarke, and has made yet another comeback for a third wave of popularity in 2009. The continued interest in electro, though influenced to a great degree by Florida, Detroit, Miami, Los Angeles and New York styles, has primarily taken hold in Florida and Europe with electro club nights becoming commonplace again. The scene still manages to support hundreds of electro labels, from the disco electro of Clone Records, to the old school b-boy styles of Breakin’ Records and Dominance Electricity, to the electrofunk of Citinite, and to harder more modern styles of electro of labels like Bass Frequency Productions and Nu Illusion Music.

New branches of electro have risen over the last couple of years. Florida has pioneered the "Electrocore" sound, started in the late 90's by artists like Jackal & Hyde and Dynamix II and carried on to this day. Skweee is a genre which developed in Nordic countries such as Sweden and Finland, hence its first name "Scandinavian Funk". The outlets and artists of Skweee are still mostly limited to the Nordic countries. Also there's a branch which is called "IDM-electro", represented by Silicon Scally (Carl A. Finlow), Umwelt, GraGee, etc. It has more darker and atmospheric sound.

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Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s encompassing the exotica, easy listening, and space age pop genres. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it. [1] The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music-influenced instrumentals, modern electronica (with chillout, nu-jazz and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro-space-age cultural elements. The earliest type lounge music appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as light music. Contemporaneously, the term lounge music also denotes the types of music played in hotels (the lounge, the bar), casinos, and piano bars.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Retrospective usage
* 2 Lounge singers
* 3 Resurgence
* 4 In film
* 5 Comedy
* 6 See also
* 7 References

[edit] Retrospective usage

Exotica, space-age pop, and some forms of easy listening music popular during the 1950s and 1960s are now broadly termed lounge. The term lounge does not appear in textual documentation of the period, such as Billboard magazine or long playing album covers, but has been retrospectively applied.

While rock and roll was generally influenced by blues and country, lounge music was derived from jazz and other musical elements borrowed from traditions around the world.

Exotica from such artists Les Baxter, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman sold millions of records during its heyday. It combined music that was popular outside the USA, such as various Latin genres (e.g., Bossa Nova, Cha-Cha-Cha, Mambo), Polynesian, French, etc. into a relaxed,[2] palatable sound. Such music could have some instruments exaggerated (e.g., a Polynesian song might have an exotic percussion arrangement using bongos, and vocalists imitating wild animals.) Many of these recordings were portrayed as originating in exotic foreign lands, but in truth were recorded in Hollywood recording studios by veteran session musicians. Another genre, space age pop, mimicked space age sound effects of the time and reflected the public interest in space exploration. With the advent of stereophonic technology, artists such as Esquivel used spatial audio techniques to full effect, creating whooshing sounds with his orchestra.

A good deal of lounge music was pure instrumental (i.e., no main vocal part, although there could be minor vocal parts). Sometimes, this music would be theme music from movies or TV shows, although such music could be produced independently from other entertainment productions. These instrumentals could be produced with an orchestral arrangement, or from an arrangement of instruments very similar to that found in jazz, or even rock and roll such as the Hammond Organ or electric guitar.
[edit] Lounge singers

Swinging music of the era is also considered lounge and consisted of a schmaltzy continuation of the swing jazz era of the 1930s and 1940s, but with more of an emphasis on the vocalist. The legendary Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., along with similar artists such as Bobby Darin, Jackie Gleason, Wayne Newton, Louis Prima, Sonny King, and Sam Butera are notable examples. The music of Burt Bacharach was soon featured as part of many lounge singers' repertoires. Such artists performed mainly at featured lounges in Las Vegas casinos.

Lounge singers have a lengthy history stretching back to the decades of the early twentieth century. The somewhat derisive term lounge lizard was coined then, and less well known lounge singers have often been ridiculed as dinosaurs of past eras[3] and parodied for their smarmy delivery of standards.[4] In any event, these lounge singers, perhaps performing in a hotel or cocktail bar, are usually accompanied by one or two other musicians, and they favor cover songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the days of Tin Pan Alley.

Many well known performers got their start as lounge singers and musicians. Although he claims not to have worked for very long, Billy Joel worked as a lounge musician and penned the song "Piano Man" about his experience. Not all lounge singers, however, sing lounge music.
[edit] Resurgence

Lounge emerged in the late 1980s as a label of endearment by younger fans whose parents had played such music in the 1960s. It has enjoyed resurgences in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, led initially by ironic figures such as Buster Poindexter and Jaymz Bee.

In the early 1990s the lounge revival was in full swing and included such groups as Combustible Edison, Love Jones, The Cocktails, Pink Martini and Nightcaps. Alternative band Stereolab demonstrated the influence of lounge with releases like Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. The lounge style was a direct contradiction to the grunge music that dominated the period.[5][6] These groups wore suits and played music inspired by earlier works of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Juan García Esquivel, Louis Prima and many others.

In the 2000s Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine has added to this resurgence by covering (usually profane) hit songs of other genres (primarily metal and hip hop) in the style of a lounge singer. In 2004, the Parisian band, Nouvelle Vague, released a self-titled album in which they covered songs from the '80s post-punk and new wave genres in the style of Bossa Nova. Other artists have taken lounge music to new heights by recombining rock with pop, such as Jon Brion, The Bird and the Bee, Pink Martini, the Buddha-Lounge series, and the surrounding regulars of Café Largo. The movie The Rise and Fall of Black Velvet Flag (2003) is a documentary about three older punk rockers who created a lounge-punk band.