By Stefan Godin · · 5 min read · guide · techno · genres · culture
Electronic music styles explained: from techno to hardcore
Techno, hard techno, schranz, hardstyle, hardcore, frenchcore, trance, makina, drum & bass, dubstep, electro: the guide to electronic music styles, techno and rave side. The BPM, sound and artists of each genre, family by family, from the softest to the most extreme.
Contents
🔊 Techno
The heart of calrave, and the trunk almost everything else descends from. Here are the main variants of techno, from the most stripped-back to the most powerful.
Techno (Detroit)
The common trunk, born in Detroit, around 120 to 130 BPM. Four-to-the-floor kick, mechanical sounds, cold futurism. Everything starts here.
Minimal
Stripped-back as a style, ~120-130 BPM. Few elements, lots of space, hypnotic. Less is more.
Dark techno
Atmospheric and oppressive. Dark pads, constant tension, for the deepest dancefloors.
Melodic techno
Emotional, layered techno, ~120-125 BPM. Strong melodies, cinematic builds. The widest-reaching side of the underground.
Hypnotic techno
Repetitive loops that build a near-trance state, ~120-130 BPM. Donato Dozzy, Voiski, Polygonia.
Peak time techno
Built for the peak of the night, ~128-135 BPM. Powerful drops, big-room readability, festival kicks.
Acid
The squelching 303 acid sound, ~125-135 BPM. The acid bassline as a signature, straight out of Chicago.
Industrial techno
Mechanical rhythms, industrial noise and raw power, ~130-140 BPM. The most metallic techno.
Rave
The 90s rave spirit, ~130-150 BPM. Stabs, hoovers, multi-genre energy in the warehouse tradition.
🥁 Hard techno, schranz and hardgroove
Techno in fifth gear. If you want the detail, we have a dedicated guide: what is hard techno.
Hard techno
The sound that exploded onto big stages from 2020, ~145-160 BPM, saturated kicks and head-on energy. See the hard techno page.
Schranz
The German variant, 145-160 BPM, percussive and industrial. Chris Liebing, Sven Wittekind. Just the hammer.
Hardgroove
The most danceable hard, ~135-150 BPM, driven by groove and tribal percussion. Ben Sims, Mark Broom. Dedicated hardgroove page.
💥 Hardstyle, hardcore and the extreme
Past a certain BPM, the distorted kick takes over. From euphoric hardstyle to speedcore, here's the hardest galaxy.
Hardstyle
~150 BPM, heavy kick followed by a reverse bass, euphoric leads. Defqon.1 and Q-dance culture. Headhunterz, Wildstylez. See hardstyle.
Rawstyle
The dark face of hardstyle, 150-170 BPM. Aggressive kicks, screech leads, zero euphoria. Radical Redemption, Adaro.
Gabber
The Rotterdam root, 160-190 BPM. Heavily distorted, saturated kicks, head-on. Angerfist, Rotterdam Terror Corps.
Hardcore
160-200 BPM, relentless distorted kicks inherited from gabber. The trunk of the extreme family. See hardcore.
Industrial hardcore
The crossover of hardcore and industrial, 160-200 BPM. Darker, more mechanical. The Outside Agency lineage.
Frenchcore
The French variant, 200 BPM and up. Rolling distorted kick, epic melodic builds. Dr Peacock, Sefa, Billx.
Happy hardcore
The bright flip side, 170-200 BPM. Fast kicks, euphoric melodies and joyful vocals. Born in 90s UK rave.
Uptempo
Hardcore past 200 BPM. Ultra-fast, screeching kicks, a tempo that never lets up. For hardened heads.
Terrorcore
The darkest variant, 180-220 BPM. Destructive samples, threatening atmospheres. The black metal of hardcore.
Speedcore
Past 250 BPM, pedal to the floor. Sonic chaos, short tracks. The physical limit of the genre.
🌀 Trance and makina
The melodic and psychedelic branch of rave. More pads, just as much speed, and a strong comeback in today's sets.
Trance
Euphoric, melodic, hypnotic, ~130-145 BPM. Builds and breakdowns made to transcend. See trance.
Psytrance
Psychedelic trance, 135-150 BPM. Hypnotic patterns, futuristic synths, festival culture.
Goa
The Indian-born ancestor of psytrance. Mystical, spiritual themes, the foundation of the whole trance family.
Hard trance
The euphoric branch of hard, 140-150 BPM. Soaring pads, offbeat kick. Sampled and sped up, it's back in hard techno sets.
Makina
Spanish hard music, rooted in Catalonia. Piercing synths, catchy melodies, descended from bakalao. Under the radar abroad, cult at home.
🥁 Drum & bass, jungle and breakcore
The UK backbone of bass music: fast breakbeats and deep basses, all the way to their most extreme versions.
Drum & bass
Fast breakbeats, heavy basses, high-energy drops, 160-180 BPM. The pillar of the UK scene.
Jungle
Oldschool 90s dnb, chopped breaks and reggae, dub and hip-hop influences. Goldie, Roni Size, LTJ Bukem.
Neurofunk
The dark, technical face of dnb. Sci-fi basses, surgical sound design, dystopian mood.
Breakcore
The extreme of dnb, 180-220 BPM and beyond. Shredded amen breaks, rhythmic chaos, industrial edge. Squarepusher, Goreshit.
🤖 Bass, electro and breaks
The rest of the underground galaxy: UK bass, robotic electro and broken rhythms. Not to be confused with mainstream EDM.
Dubstep
UK bass music, 140 BPM, half-time drops and sub bass. The original underground, not the brostep wave.
UK garage
Syncopated UK style, 130-135 BPM, blending R&B, house and 2-step. The DNA of grime and dubstep.
Grime
London rap-electronic hybrid, 140 BPM. Heavy basses, rhythmic flow, sound-system energy.
Electro
Drum machines, synths and robotic grooves. The Drexciya lineage, not to be confused with mainstream EDM.
Electroclash
The crossover of electro, new wave and punk, ~125 BPM. DJ Hell's Gigolo Records lineage, straddling the 2000s.
Breakbeat
Syncopated, funky drum patterns, breaks-driven. Funk Tribu, Faster Horses.
Ghettotech
Detroit fusion of techno, electro and Miami bass, 140-160 BPM. Booty bass culture, Partiboi69 territory.
Tech house
Hybrid of techno and house, 120-125 BPM, groove-driven and club-ready. Joris Voorn, Loco Dice. See tech house.
This map isn't fixed: genres cross, fuse and reinvent themselves constantly. The easiest way to understand a style is still to go hear it on a real sound system.