Top Dance and Electronic Music Albums

Sunday, 20 April 2008 10:50

Dance is a genre of music that is performed primarily on electronic instruments such as the synthesizer and is designed for dancing. It is characterized by a strong, steady drum beat, usually at 120 beats a minute, which is the speed of the human heartbeat, and is changed or accelerated depending on the current taste.

Dance music all the way to the 1950’s was performed live by bands. After the 50’s, it became acceptable in dance halls for music to be pre-recorded. The person responsible for choosing and playing the recorded music, the disc jockeys or DJ’s, became important. He became the medium between the music and the crowd, combining sounds from vinyl records in 2 turntables to make dance music tapestry. DJ’ing became a culture, and evolved in the 70’s to the disco era.

Disco is music designed to be played by DJ’s in dance halls or discotheques (that became notorious for mirror balls). As such, the production was more important than the performer. Disco music is dominated by drum machines but accompanied by lush sounds of strings, electric pianos, horns, and electric guitars. The vocals are often reverberated.

Disco became outmoded in the 80’s, and a new form of dance music emerged. These sounds are made primarily with electronics and the computer, and rarely any physical musical instrument. Instead, electronic dance musicians rely on computerized music techniques perfected by DJ's like mixing, sampling, looping, and segueing.

Electronic music, which became an offshoot, is made primarily from synthesizers, keyboards, tape machines, sequencers, drum machines, and computer programs. These genre of music opened a whole universe of sound.

Among the styles of dance and electronic music are trip-hop, ambient, new age, electro, techno, trance, tech-house, and drum’ n’ bass.