Cultural origins Mid to late 2000's | ||
Stylistic origins Tech Trance, Techno, Trance Typical instruments Synthesizer, drum machine, sequencer, sampler Derivative forms Tech Trance, Hard Techno, Hard Trance | ||
"Tech Dance" is a subgenre within EDM that draws upon the Hard Techno, techno and trance genres.
Contents
History
Tech Dance is an offshoot of the Tech Trance genre sound from the 2000-2006 era, with the majority of tracks produced between 2007 and 2011. Fundamental artists include Yoji (an alias of Yoji Biomehanika specifically for the Tech Dance genre), Remo-con, Vandall, Re-Born & Verjo, Andy Richmond, Brent Sadowick, Nish, Joe-E and Night Liberator. Integral labels included Hellhouse Recordings, Virus Audio, Tech Fu Recordings, Trancewarez and dieTunes, most of which are defunct.
Style
The most distinctive element of Tech Dance is the use of old school or kitsch sounds, often revolving around cut up, glitch effected and distorted sounds. Generally repetitive synth and rave stabs, 8 bit sounds, a club-styled piano loop or samples and vocals will be the focal point of the track.
Defining features of Tech Dance are the use of heavy 4/4, tribal and driving percussion, taking inspiration from the Hard Techno and Hardgroove genres. This usually involves a prominent kick drum and constant hi-hats with the aim of providing a strong groove, often with the aid of side-chain compression and minimal use of on-beat snares. Generally the bpm ranges from 140 to 145bpm.
The track arrangements are DJ friendly, with long percussion only introductions and outros allowing DJ’s to mix songs into one another easily. Track arrangements are more progressive than traditional Trance, with a sudden stop-start approach between the main elements and breakdowns within a song, rather than using large builds into a climax with the main melody playing, where as Tech Dance incorporates more of a ‘drop’, where as it will drop into a different sound/melody/element.