Progressive electronic music
Encyclopedia
In electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
(EDM) the term progressive is often used to denote a novel stylistic development within a specific genre of dance music. According to the DJ and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Carl Craig
Carl Craig
Carl Craig is a Detroit-based producer of techno music, and is considered to be one of the most important names in the Detroit second generation of techno producers and DJs...
, the term "progressive" was used in Detroit in the early 80s in reference to Italo Disco
Italo disco
Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...
. The music was dubbed "progressive" because it drew upon the influence of Giorgio Moroder's
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
Eurodisco rather than the Disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
inspired by the symphonic sound of Philadelphia soul
Philadelphia soul
Philadelphia soul, sometimes called the Philadelphia Sound or Sweet Philly, is a style of soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featuring sweeping strings and piercing horns. The subtle sound of a glockenspiel can often be heard in the background of...
. In Detroit, prior to the emergence of Techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, artists like Alexander Robotnik, Klein and MBO, and Capricorn filled a vacancy left after disco's demise in America. In the late 1980s UK music journalist Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
introduced the term "progressive dance" to describe album oriented acts such as 808 State
808 State
808 State are a British electronic music outfit, formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and their common state of mind...
, The Orb
The Orb
Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...
, Bomb the Bass
Bomb the Bass
Bomb the Bass is the umbrella title for the output of British musician and producer, Tim Simenon. The band, which has evolved its style over the years, has been classed as electronic or dance....
, and The Shamen
The Shamen
The Shamen were an experimental electronic music band, from 1985–1999, initially formed in Aberdeen, Scotland, as a psychedelic-influenced indie rock act. The founding members are Colin Angus , Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie...
. By the early 1990s "progressive" was applied in describing a strain of British house music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
that was emerging out of the UK rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
scene. Between 1990 to 1992, Progressive referred to the short-form buzz word for Progressive House. According to an article that appeared in Mixmag
Mixmag
Mixmag is a British dance music and clubbing magazine. It styles itself as "the world's biggest selling dance music magazine", with an Audit Bureau of Circulations audited circulation of approximately 21,250...
in 1992, the roots of what was at that time called "progressive" could be traced back to the 1990 to 1992 rave and club scene in England and Europe. A combination of US House, UK House, Italian House, European Techno, and Trance largely influenced one another during this era. The term was used mainly as a marketing label to differentiate new rave House from traditional American House. The buzz word emerged out of the rave scene around 1990 to 1992, describing a new sound of House that broke away from its American roots. The label Progressive House was often used interchangeably with Trance in the early years.
Development
Progressive is thought to have served as an influence for at least four different dance electronic music genres that strongly influenced each other in the first half of the 1990 decade in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Two of the most precursory of these genres, house and trance music, have been colliding in style on numerous occasions during this time. Their collision can be seen as influence of trance, techno, and house.
Earliest tracks were purely instrumental and featured dub-influenced basslines of house mixed with high-energy Roland TB-303
Roland TB-303
The Roland TB-303 Bass Line is a bass synthesizer with built-in sequencer manufactured by the Roland corporation from late 1981 to 1984 that had a defining role in the development of contemporary electronic music.-History:...
riff at various stages and posed over the regular 4-to-4 beat rhythm.
Popularized in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, progressive met considerable success in nightclubs in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
starting 1995. Upon becoming widespread in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, sound contrasted analogue instrumental melody (mostly violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
or piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
) with regularized basslines, with effort from such producers as Robert Miles
Robert Miles
Robert Miles is an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ in electronica and alternative music.-Biography:...
and Nylon Moon
Nylon Moon
Nylon Moon was an Italian dream house production team, formed by Daniele Maffei and Michele Generale. Their biggest hit was "Sky Plus", a piano-driven track which was one of the dream house hits during the mid 1990s, reaching #43 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1996. Other singles followed after...
. Miles has even defined the result as "dream dance" (often dubbed "dream house" or "dream trance" today), which is considered to be the first of the subgenres of progressive to reach mainstream popularity. By 1994, it gained attention from worldwide DJs, and also fused with other than prominent dance genres, notably breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
, drum'n'bass and techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
.
1993-1995 is considered to be the first peak of progressive as practically any electronica composition produced around that time featured elements of progressive. As house-trance fusion remained the primary example of progressive, notable later tracks included mixed digital and analogue sound. Examples of this can be found in Luna Park's Space Melody (1998) and AnnaGrace
AnnaGrace
AnnaGrace is an electronic dance music group from Belgium. They have seen success on dance and pop charts around the world...
's Castles In The Sky (2001). A second peak occurred in 1999-2001 evident when DJs Sasha and John Digweed rose to the top of the DJ polls. By 2002 the movement was strongly superseded by Dutch Trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
evident when Tiesto rose to the top poll position, showcasing the new popular dance music sound. Tech House ultimately started influencing the Progressive scene in 2004 evident when Bedrock Records
Bedrock Records
thumb|200px|Bedrock RecordsBedrock Records is an English record label for trance, house and techno started by Nick Muir and John Digweed.Its name comes from a nightclub in London that is also called Bedrock. Bedrock Records has released many singles from artists such as Astro & Glyde, Brancaccio &...
, an influential label (emerging during 2nd Wave) of the genre, started a shift towards Tech House releases.
Progressive House
Although no firm classification rules exist, the structure consists of House with notable variations. For example, phrasesPhrase (music)
In music and music theory, phrase and phrasing are concepts and practices related to grouping consecutive melodic notes, both in their composition and performance...
are usually a power of two
Power of two
In mathematics, a power of two means a number of the form 2n where n is an integer, i.e. the result of exponentiation with as base the number two and as exponent the integer n....
number of bars and begin with the introduction of a new or different melody or rhythm. The tempo generally ranges from 120 to 135 bpm (which is faster than typical earlier house). Such structure is intuitively described as consisting of three major structural elements: (1) build-up; (2) breakdown ; (3) climax. These three structural elements are expressed either temporally or in their intensity, if not both. A 'build-up' sequence can sometimes last up to 3 or even 4 minutes. Subtle incremental/decremental acoustic variations (i.e., gradual addition/subtraction of instruments) anticipate the transition to each subsequent structural element of the track. The initial build-up and the final break-down are generally very similar, adding a feel of symmetry to the general structure of the melody. A Progressive House track is usually longer than a regular composition House track, ranging in length from 8 to 12 minutes (as opposed to 5—6 of radio format).
Another stylistic buzz-word, being Progressive Trance, emerged at some undocumented date (although speculated to be the early to mid 2000's period) within the dance music scene. Progressive Trance is a term used to describe dance music productions that fall somewhere in between Progressive House and Trance. Artists such as Richard Durand, Martin Roth, Marcus Schossow, Sander Van Doorn, Arty, Sivan Khan, Dinka, Mark Sherry, and many others have begun a more formal combination of Progressive House & Progressive Trance known as "Trouse".
Notable genre DJs include: Sasha, Hernan Cattaneo
Hernán Cattáneo
- Biography :Hernán Cattáneo was born in Buenos Aires, where he grew up listening to bands like Simply Red, Level 42, Depeche Mode and New Order while carefully studying Billboard magazine, the only source of information that was readily available at the time. In 1987, one of his friends visited...
, James Holden
James Holden
James Holden may refer to:* James Holden British mechanical engineer* James Holden , British locomotive engineer* James Holden , American actor* James Holden , electronic music artist and producer...
, John Digweed
John Digweed
John Digweed is an English DJ, record producer and acclaimed actor.-Biography:John Digweed began DJing around age 4...
, Dave Seaman
Dave Seaman
Dave Seaman is a British dance music DJ and record producer. He was formerly a member of the DMC Publishing, and editor of music magazine Mixmag. He formed one half of Brothers In Rhythm with Steve Anderson, doing production work for Pet Shop Boys and Kylie Minogue. He has since founded Audio...
, Nick Warren
Nick Warren
Nick Warren is an English house DJ and producer. He is well-known for his eight albums released in the Global Underground series and as a member of the duo Way Out West...
, James Zabiela
James Zabiela
James Zabiela is a DJ and producer from Southampton in the United Kingdom. In his early years his signature style was a fusion of Breakbeat and House music, more recently however, he is regarded as a Tech House DJ although his use of Breakbeat music is still key to the more flashy parts of his sets...
, Eddie Halliwell
Eddie Halliwell
Eddie Halliwell is an international Trance DJ. Halliwell has held residencies at Goodgreef, Gatecrasher and Cream in Ibiza, was named DJ of the year by leading dance music magazine Mixmag in 2003 and 2005...
, Jason Jollins
Jason Jollins
Jason Jollins is an international DJ and record producer.-Biography:Jason Jollins started dj'ing in 1989, Initially mixing together freestyle and house music, he has been involved in Progressive House scene in New York City since the late 1990s.In 1997, Jollins formed an event production company...
, Max Graham
Max Graham
Max Graham is a Canadian DJ, composer and producer who manages to transcend genres while producing international hits in the dance music scene. He is most famous for his hits “Sun in the Winter” and “Nothing Else Matters”, His Cycles CD Series/Radio show as well as his remix of the classic song...
, Danny Howells
Danny Howells
Danny Howells is an English producer and DJ. His music is often described as progressive house, though he prefers to associate more with tech house and is sometimes described simply as "deepsexyfuturistictechfunkouse". At performances, he is well known to interact personally with the audience...
, Anthony Pappa
Anthony Pappa
Anthony Pappa is a DJ from Melbourne, Australia. After meeting Sasha and John Digweed during an Australian tour, he decided to move to Great Britain...
, Fourthstate, Dinka, and Guy J. DJs who originated from the same branch, but have later on followed trance movement include Laurent Veronnez
Laurent Véronnez
Laurent Véronnez or is sometimes referred to by, L-vee for short. Is a Belgium-based progressive trance music artist. He has created more than 500 tracks for more than 35 projects...
, the dirty socks, Mike Dierickx
Mike Dierickx
Mike Dierickx , formerly known as Dirk Dierickx, and most commonly recognized under the aliases M.I.K.E., Push or Plastic Boy, is a Belgian DJ. Best known for the song "Universal Nation", he has also released other singles including "The Legacy" and "Strange World"...
, Matt Darey
Matt Darey
Matthew Jonathan "Matt" Darey has been a trance music producer since 1994. He is also a member of Lost Tribe with Red Jerry. He is perhaps best known for his work in the Euphoria trance series and for 'Gamemaster' and his remixes of Agnelli & Nelson's "El Niño". In 2005, his first major U.S...
, Vibrasphere
Vibrasphere
Vibrasphere is a progressive psytrance music duo from Uppsala, Sweden. Its founding members were Rickard Berglöf and Robert Elster.- History :...
, Miika Kuisma, Brian Transeau (aka BT), Christopher Lawrence
Christopher Lawrence (DJ)
Christopher Lawrence is an American DJ and producer, specializing in progressive trance music. He has released 10 mix CDs since 1997.Lawrence has an international audience and makes frequent appearances worldwide...
, Armin van Buuren, Dash Berlin
Dash Berlin
Dash Berlin is a progressive-trance project created in 2007 in The Hague, Netherlands by Eelke Kalberg and Sebastiaan Molijn . The front man of the group is the DJ Jeffrey Sutorius...
, Above and Beyond
Above and Beyond
Above and Beyond may refer to:*Above and Beyond , a 1952 film about World War II American pilot Paul Tibbets and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima*"Above and Beyond" , a country music song written by Harlan Howard...
, and Markus Schulz
Markus Schulz
Markus Schulz, born , is a German trance music DJ and producer who resides in Miami, Florida, USA. He is best-known for his weekly radio show titled Global DJ Broadcast that airs on Digitally Imported radio, After Hours FM and other online stations...
. Progressive house/trance usual labels include Acute Recordings, Anjunadeep
Anjunadeep
Anjunadeep is a sub-label of British trance label Anjunabeats, set up in 2005. It releases progressive trance and house records, as opposed to the primarily uplifting, big-room trance of its parent label. It was founded by Tony McGuinness, Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki, known collectively as Above...
, Armada Music
Armada Music
Armada Music is a Dutch record label that specializes in releasing electronic dance music, primarily trance and house, co-founded by Armin van Buuren....
, Audiotherapy, Baroque Records, Bedrock Records, Global Underground
Global Underground
Global Underground is a music label founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolizes the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s and first manifesto for high-end DJs such as Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, John Digweed, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Darren...
, Renaissance Recordings
Renaissance Recordings
Renaissance Recordings was a British record label, founded by the club Renaissance in 1994. In went into administration in 2008 and the back catalogue was sold to Phoenix Music International Ltd.-Series:Current*3D*Digital*Masters Series...
, Vapour Records, and Sudbeat.
Mediterranean Progressive Trance
Mediterranean Progressive was a subgenre of Trance MusicTrance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
developed mainly in the Italian scene around the years 1995 and 1996. Its sound is characterized by an upbeat bassline and typical synth parts that give an epic feeling to the tracks. It can be considered very close to the style called Dream Trance.
Progressive Breaks
Progressive breaks essentially grew out of nu skool breaksNu skool breaks
Nu skool breaks is a term used to describe a sub-genre of breakbeat. The sub-genre is usually characterized by its darker and heavier bass lines that are normally dominant throughout the track...
and progressive house. Due to its origins in those genres, progressive breakbeat typically features atmospheric pads and melodies. Most artists working in this genre also work in other closely related genres such as breakbeats and progressive house. Hybrid is one of the most popular artists in this genre. Other popular breaks artists include Digital Witchcraft
Digital Witchcraft
Digital Witchcraft is a duo of electronic music producers Ned Shepard and Marcus Bacalis. Shepard and Bacalis met in 2000 in Orlando, Florida where they were both attending recording school. For their single, "Fingerpaint", Proton Music held a remix contest judged by Digital Witchcraft. The...
, Luke Chable
Luke Chable
Luke Chable is an Australian producer, singer/songwriter, and DJ. He is arguably the most prolific Progressive House producer ever to come out of Australia. He has released hundreds of remixes and original records with countless labels across the globe....
, Momu
Momu
Momu is an electronic music producer duo of John David Moyer and Mark Musselman.They have released records on labels such as Loöq Records and Bedrock Breaks. Additionally, they have had singles featured in the Global Underground series.They are one of the foremost DJ teams of breaks music in the...
, and Way Out West
Way Out West (producers)
Way Out West are a UK progressive house, trance and progressive breaks group from Bristol, England consisting of producers and DJs Jody Wisternoff and Nick Warren. They came to fame in the 1990s with chart hit "The Gift", and have since released four albums....
.
Progressive Drum & Bass
There are a few forms of drum & bass considered progressive. NeurofunkNeurofunk
Neurofunk is a subgenre of drum and bass which emerged between 1997 and 1998 in London, England as a progression of techstep. It was further developed by juxtaposed elements of heavier and harder forms of funk with multiple influences ranging from techno, house and jazz, distinguished by...
, a variant of the techstep subgenre, incorporates elements of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, and multiple electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
influences, including techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
. The style also follows the progressive form found in other genres. Drumfunk, a relatively new subgenre, could also be considered progressive. Contemporary atmospheric drum'n'bass and Liquid funk
Liquid funk
Liquid funk is a sub-genre of drum and bass. While it uses similar basslines and bar layouts to other styles, it contains fewer bar-oriented samples and more instrumental layers , harmonies, and ambience, producing a calmer atmosphere directed at both home listeners and nightclub...
have also been described as progressive.
Progressive Techno
Progressive techno (short "progtech") is a very limited term for a subgenre of progressive appearing in 1999—00, which consisted of mixing progression into elements of technoTechno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
, usually resulting in half-dance compositions. Progtech songs tend to feature steadier than regular techno beats (ranging from around 100 to 120 BPM), but usually derive on higher tones where their electronic sound becomes heard. This has a purpose of indicating that the instruments themselves are electronic in nature. There are no notable definite progtech artists, however both Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
and The Prodigy
The Prodigy
The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s...
used elements of progtech in their later albums.