Electronica and dance music are two vague terms used to encompass any outfits making electronic music these days. Neither term, IMHO, identifies any specific sub-genre, although some acts (IMHO Laurent Garnier and Leftfield) don’t sit easily with any single label).
Ambient is spacious, repetitive and bland to critics, but generally involves slower, more melodic soundscapes without thumping basslines or drum loops. My personal favourite in this area is System 7’s Water Album.
Trance is well-defined by AMG: “Breaking out of the German techno and hardcore scene of the early '90s, trance emphasized brief synthesizer lines repeated endlessly throughout tracks, with only the addition of minimal rhythmic changes and occasional synthesizer atmospherics to distinguish them — in effect putting listeners into a trance that approached those of religious origin.” Has a lot to thank ecstasy for, really, and anywhere there’s a big club scene will have it’s own flavour of trance (e.g. Indian-influenced Goa trance). Currently in vogue again in a more chart-friendly form of progressive trance, which often has a little more variety and a session singer to add a vocal element, but generally fades in and out of popularity. The record label React has some decent trance albums.
Techno is pretty much the opposite of ambient; fast, repetitive basslines and drumbeats, designed for the dancefloor. The term has been broken down into different flavours of techno (I’m not sure how much listeners care, but there are some differences): ambient techno, trance techno, experimental techno, minimalist techno, happy hardcore (with chipmunk-like vocal samples). To be honest it’s a very dated label (appropriated by chart acts like the awful 2 Unlimited) that just shows your age in the UK; generally, fast-moving dancefloor fillers these days are some form of house music or progressive trance.
Gabba or gabber is the extreme form of techno inexplicably popular in Scotland and Holland. Ludicrously fast BPM rates, completely undanceable, also has some ties to neo-Nazi movements (in the same way that extreme metal groups do). Has only ever dreamed of wider success, and fans seem to see themselves as the dance equivalent of a punk underground. Crap, IMHO, but what do I know?
Loungecore or IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) is the thirtysomething face of dance music; a combination of dancefloor-friendliness and dinner-party chilled-out sounds. Designed for listening at home as much as in clubs. I love this stuff. Check out Nightmares on Wax’s single Night’s Interlude or most of Warp Records’ output. You could probably put Air’s brand of excellently smooth laid-back retro in this category too.
Jungle and drum 'n bass is very popular in the UK, but almost nowhere else. AMG sez: “Jungle is the most rhythmically complex of all forms of techno, relying on extremely fast polyrhythms and breakbeats. Usually, it’s entirely instrumental — it is among the hardest of all hardcore techno, consisting of nothing but fast drum machines and deep bass. As its name implies, jungle does have more overt reggae, dub, and R&B influences than most hardcore — and that is why some critics claimed that the music was the sound of black techno musicians and DJs reclaiming it from the white musicians and DJs who dominated the hardcore scene.” Basically, jungle is jagged, not at all melodic and booming; drums and basslines and very little else. Drum 'n bass is slightly more friendly on the ears, and covers a broad range from the semi-jungle style of Goldie’s seminal album Timeless to the dreamy, minimalist sounds of Photek’s Form & Function. Absolute no-questions recommendation in this area: LTJ Bukem’s compilation of the more intelligent end of the drum 'n bass spectrum, Logical Progression, Volume 1.
Closely linked to drum 'n bass is trip-hop, where the drums and the bass still reign but the melodies and the vocals take on more importance. Also more of a chill-out style than a dancefloor style; downbeat and jazz-influenced. A lot of artists apparently hate the label, seeing it as a way for low-rent indie acts to cash in on the hip-hop cachet of genuine pioneers like DJ Shadow (genius album: Endtroducing). Still, acts like Portishead, Tricky and Massive Attack have made good music and made it a much more widely accepted genre. Also related to acid jazz and outfits like the brilliant Red Snapper (see Prince Blimey for the smoky, jazzy, funky edge of acid jazz and trip-hop).
Right. On to house. Probably one of the most chart-friendly genres, and as AMG says: “The beat became more mechanical and the bass grooves became deeper, while elements of electronic synth pop, Latin soul, dub reggae, rap, and jazz were grafted over the music’s insistent, unvarying four-four beat. Frequently, the music was purely instrumental and when there were vocalists, they were faceless female divas that often sang wordless melodies.” (they point out Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx as examples, which I’m not completely convinced about, but they make damn good tunes). A bit of a catch-all genre, really.
Acid house, very dated these days, was the experimental keyboard-twiddling hardcore-raver end of house music, and the E-friendly, chart-storming genre of the late 1980s and early 1990s that had the conservative press up in arms in the UK. Key identifier: the squelch effect of the Roland TB-303. Biggest chart success was with Josh Wink’s Higher State of Consciousness. It still exists in part with acid house-elements of tunes by DJs like Laurent Garnier.
One of the most familiar sub-genres is big beat aka funky breaks aka indie dance. Big, thumping drum loops and basslines, lotsa funky samples, less repetitive and more rock-influenced. Closely associated in the UK with indie rock - it’s all “student music” if you believe some people. Big names are too many to mention: the Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy (later albums only!), Fatboy Slim, the Propellerheads etc. Somewhat derided as the commercial, TV-advert-friendly face of dance music by dance elitists, but it’s definitely the most fun stuff. Originally a reaction to the inaccessible extremes of techno and the chin-stroking pseudo-intellectualism of ambient, it’s lapsed into lazy sampling and hackneyed old-school breakbeats (how many times do we need to head Apache used for the drums?).
Okay. As I lose the will to live, here’s some more sub-genres. Not an exhaustive list by any means, but a few of the more popular ones:
Garage: “Revving up the sweet sound of garage techno by adding ragga and diva vocals, constant rewinds, and DJ scratching along with spastic drum’n’bass rhythms, British garage hit the London clubscene in 1996, gaining momentum from its Sunday-night status as a good end-of-the-week comedown to supplant jungle/drum’n’bass as the hotly tipped dance style of the late '90s. Known at various points in its evolution as speed garage, underground garage, and 2-step…” - basically tight, minimal bass and drums borrowed from drum 'n bass with a very heavy R&B and hip-hop influence (white or black). See Artful Dodger, Daniel Bedingfield (the chart face), Oxide & Neutrino for examples.
Ambient dub: “beat-oriented ambient using the tastes, textures, and techniques of Jamaican dub-style production (e.g. reverb, emphasis on bass and percussion, heavy use of effects)” - somewhere between traditional ambient music (increasingly seen as somewhat ‘old’ because of its laid-back, not-for-dancing nature and the silly number of tired old ambient compilations being churned out by the major labels) and '70s dub music - disrupted reggae with a lo-fi but electronic side - see the Sabres of Paradise (and much of Andrew Weatherall’s later work) for an example.
Electro-clash: a recent joiner to the scene, and already fading away. Heavy retro influences, especially from 1980s breakdancing tunes, not so easy on the ear and with an experimental, arty feel to it - not always a good thing, since some of the bands definitely known for pompous, self-important, art-school-style publicity - try Fischerspooner (or rather don’t, except for the magnificent single Emerge) or the slightly more tongue-in-cheek (and absolutely filthy) Add (N) To X.
Retro / kitsch / synth: a minor style at the moment, but I like it. Bands like the lovely Ladytron (album to get: 604) are continuing St Etienne’s legacy of melodic, pleasant electronic indie-pop with an '80s sound. The former have been nicely summarised as “a teasing glimpse of how Britney Spears might have sounded, had she been born in the GDR and a heroin addict.” You could probably put Stereolab somewhere between here and experimental house.
Industrial: one last genre. I know for a fact that there a number of Dopers who know this kind of music inside-out; I don’t and to be honest I really, really don’t like it. Big, noisy, abrasive guitars, jackhammer drums and basslines, and a thundering use of keyboards, closely linked to metal. Not for dinner parties: made for angst and for going headbangingly-mad on the dancefloor. Famous names include Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb, Cabaret Voltaire and Einsturzende Neubaten.
Apologies for any typos, and someone else will shortly be along to explain this one better than I can, no doubt.