Sounds/looks great Kevin!

This is part one of the podcast - covering trance/techno/house. Part two is coming shortly and will cover breakbeat/drum&bass/downtempo.

Cheers!

Hey guys this is a great podcast! I can't wait for the Drum & Bass podcast!

This podcast really gives a great understanding of the subtle differences in dance music. Almost like learning how to enjoy the complexities of a fine wine.

It drives me crazy when people refer to all electronic music as "techno." I think I'm going to send all my friends to this page for some edumacation.

I find it intriguing that this come out on the heels of DEMF (http://www.demf.com)

Thanks, guys -- Mark, I completely agree. It's very annoying to have all electronic music labeled offhandedly as 'techno.' Bring your friends, and get them sorted out.

I'm a dance music artist myself and found the analysis of different styles really interesting! Thanks for all the hard work!

Great episode. PLEASE INCLUDE A PAUSE BUTTON!

were getting closer, developing motivating and visious emotional prominant build-up. Exploding beats new and exciting with history meshed throughout cool vertical grooves. TIme is happening with dancing to clipper tunes. Sailing repitiously, life is h

If you want to pause the audio I believe the best option is to download the MP3, and then play it back using your preferred media player. Then you can pause to yer hearts content!

Its awesome to have a real explanation of the tech terms associated with the different genres - especially since they are starting to mix and meld together to create new sounds. This will help anyone struggling to mature their sound, their style and production - thanks pandora - you ROCK!

Very informative and fun.

how come psy trance is not there ??? hell infected started with it .. sad

Thanks, O and Ed2345!

Ashwin, there was a lot we didn't cover just due to lack of time. So there's more on the way in future episodes, rest assured. There are so many splinter genres and styles at play in this kind of music, it's impossible to hit them all at once.

Finally some good explanation of music, I actually learn from download.com in the music categorization section. Anyways I can't wait for breaks, Drum & bass and trip-hop in part 2 which are my favorite Genres, although it seems that you guys missed out on Big Beats or I guess that could be Upbeats.

And yes 99.9% of the people should stfu That think electronica music is "techno"

STFU= "Shine Thy Father's Urn."

It's an old Dutch expression, I think.

Very interesting podcast but U forgot to mentioned Washington, DC Club House, an African American Club which opened in the mid 70's until the early 90's which was the home of Underground music, a soulful dance music that House Music came from. There were two types of Disco music, if you will. There were the R&B groups who made Disco which we called Underground. The Clubhouse was opened long before the Warehouse in Chicago and the Shelter in NY and these clubs became "children" to the Mother. Dj's from all over the world wanted to play @ the Club House and it had resident DJs, such as Bryce, Tito, Gilbert, Mandrill, Niki (a female) and Sam "The Man" Burns just to name a few.

Just wanted to share info that is so often omitted!

Thanks

Hey everybody -

Thanks for the comments, and especially the additional info! There are so many more colors and flavors to the history and sound pallette of EDM that we could go on forever!

I didn't know those details about house music's background. Very cool! Great to have the names to do more research.

I do know that there is an unique and interesting history of dance music in DC, and Baltimore too. Some very interesting tracks coming out of Baltimore right now - mixing miami bass feels with tech-house...

For those of you interested in exploring techno a bit more - check out tracks by the following artist. Like many EDM producers he has tons of aliases:

Juan Atkins

AKA

Model 500
Infiniti
Model 600
Audio Tech
Triple XXX
Frequency

He was in the following "groups":
X-Ray
Cybotron
Channel One

Whew!

Very good breakdown and explanations for the uninitiated. Thank you for the education!

i LOVE THIS STATION,I WISH IT DIDNT TAKE UP SO MUCH ROOM

Great intro to the different electronic music genres. I'm looking forward to your next trip. I particularly enjoy the listing of various artists and tracks as examples of the genre. The series is excellent and the commentary succinct. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Kevin and crew for the great podcast series. It has even got me interested in music enough to get some music theory and composition books and learn more about how music works from the ground up. (and try stuff out on a sequencer!!)

For everyone who really enjoyed this episode and want to hear more of the different splinter genres in EDM, then you should check out Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music at http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html

Great podcast! I was able to pick up the differences on House, Techno, and Trance, but I was never able to really pick out the specifics of how they work in music theory. Awesome stuff, can't wait to listen to the next part.

Not my favorite pod, but I do have a question, on the example about techno, Alexander Robotnik, Problemz De Ameur, am I listening too hard is the sound I'm hearing as simple as opening and closing the hi-hat that gives a kinda schwopie sound, or is it something else? I've heard this in a faster song, and since I do not have a machine in my brain that can separate each and every little sound like a recording studio might have I'm either listening for something that's not there or missing something that is?? Thanks Kevin. ssrb

Great job! This is a question that many people ask, so thanks for the reference point. Can't wait for the breaks and D&B podcast.

Hi, guys --

Sunshine/Rainbow: I think that there's a flanger on the hi-hat on the Alexander Robotnik song, which adds to that schwopie sound.

I'm happy to hear you all like the examples in the genre sections, as well. Those were entirely Chris's selections, so he deserves all of the credit on that tip.

This was a great podcast. Thanks for the clarification!

So, if you're all so hot and knowledgable about the history of electronic music, and the roots... how come I can't get the Happiness Boys on Pandora? I mean, c'mon, man, Happiness Boys was so influential on each of these genres...

Simon - great call on Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music: http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html

It's a fun and informative site that's easy to use. Definitely a good way to begin exploring the many microgenres of EDM. Beware tho! The site is peppered with lots of personal opinion and tongue in cheek humor - which I think adds to the sites charm.

Balsa - that's funny you mention the Happiness Boys. I remember them being on the radio when I grew up in South Florida. Currently their stuff is hard/impossible to get in digital format. I know they have a myspace page, and if they want to send us some cds we'll gladly include them!

(See, I didn't know the Happiness Boys' music myself, but I knew that Chris would. Rock on, Chris.)

hey guys,
this is a great chapter. I'm not going to lie: I never accually could understand the difference between Trance, Techno, and House. Very informative guys!

one thing you guys should add is deffetly a pause button in these things. it would be very very usefull to a lot of people I think.

created a station on each of the individual styles, great job on these podcasts.. It helps clear the air to all those that stamp all electronic music as techno.. lol..

Really had fun with this one, created a set of stations based on each of the styles, I would select them for quickmix and figure out which style they where coming from,and look at the screen to see if i was right..

Very cool. Good to hear, Joe.

Andy, if you want pausing capability, I highly recommend subscribing to the show, so that you can just play the MP3 in whatever music-playing software you like to use (Windows Media Player, iTunes, Musicmatch, etc.).

That's what I do, and that way I can pause, restart, rewind, and all that.

Great podcast. Very informative. If it's not too late to ask another question, I'm curious about the melodies in trance anthems. Are there specific keys or chord progressions that are often used for the synth and bass lines?

Hey Satori - thanks for the question!

There are no standard chord progressions in trance, per se. Though there are a few conventions:

Most trance uses modal harmony, and very simple modal harmony at that. Sometimes ethnic scales are used to impart a certain flavor, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Mainstream trance often leans toward more traditional pop harmonies - albeit simplified - that are often tonal.

I hope this helps!

Hi,

Thanks for the great show. I've been listening to a bunch of electronic music and thinking about it using the concepts talked about in the two podcasts. What about a group like the Orb? It's known as 'chill'. But it's not trip hop--no broken beats or anything. It's four on the floor. But it's not house, there's not the hi hat on 2/4 beats. And it doesn't have the progression and breaking down of themes as you have in trance. So, what do people who know electronic music well call it?

Thanks!

Matt

Hey Matt. Unfortunately, we couldn't cover every genre with these podcasts. So we focused on music made for dancing. Your observations about the Orb are def on point!

The Orb's music is typically lumped into:

electronica, ambient electronica, or IDM

Electronic music that isn't specifically designed for dancing.

Also check out:

Aphex Twin, Orbital, Future Sound of London, Air Liquide

BTW - saw Thomas Fehlmann do a DJ set late last year at Recombinant Media. Amazing! Synthetic all instrumental techno - very danceable. Great set!

excellent explanations!!D.J.,myself for over20yrs,good demos for all,concise ,and informative.Can't wait for more!!!!

Great series. I listened to all 8 episodes today, but I had to download the episodes. Clicking "Listen Now" changes the button to yellow, but I don't hear any audio. Also, the Reggae episode cuts off at 7:37. I look forward to listening to the next episode. Thanks!

Hi, San,

I'll check out what might be going wrong for you... sorry to hear that it's posing problems.

DSummers62 -- glad you're enjoying the shows! Stay tuned, and we'll make more.

Yeah, I think some people really do have a very minimal understanding of 'electronica' and think that it's all 'techno.'
Yuck, techno is probably the least most interesting of them all. I say that as a guy who loved techno back in the early nineties (2 Unlimited were like my favourite group) – but I'm quite embaressed about that now. However, we should make sure that we still differentiate between 'commercial' techno (like 2 Unlimited) and what techno really is. Like in all music styles, the commercial styles are a far cry from the true styles that are out there – and I guess we all need to progress from commercial to authentic when we get interested in music.