To celebrate the recent Tomorrowland festival in Belgium, Spotify’s Dance editor Austin Kramer has posted a blog showing the diversity of dance music that the platform has to offer.
‘The electronic music genre umbrella has to be the largest musical classification. It’s crazy how so many descriptors were accepted throughout its evolution,’ says Kramer. ‘House, rave, club, EDM, dance, electronic are all part of the culture. The semantics all dissolve to one thing: how it makes you feel.’
According to Kramer, Tomorrowland hosts more breakout artists than many similar, large-scale festivals and even if you didn’t attend there’s still a way to discover and connect with these new and rising artists on Spotify.
Spotify’s flagship dance playlist is Mint but there are many more sub genres to explore in Spotify’s many dance and electronic subgenre playlists, which house a veritable treasure trove of emerging (and established) artists within bass, indie, techno, and more.
Visit the Mint playlist and then learn more about some of Spotify’s other dance playlists.
Drum & Bass grew from the rave and jungle scenes of Britain in the early 1990s and features fast kicks, cymbal smacking, wobble leads, and noted Jamaican dub and reggae influences.
Future House is a subgenre that fuses electro/deep house with meaty bass lines. It can bounce and build.
Trap blends hip-hop production (hats, kicks, vocal cuts) with bass drops and large-room effects in halftime.
House originated in Chicago post-disco by mixing funk/soul samples on top of electronic synths/instruments and drum machines (though it now varies in style and influence). House can be seen as the style of music and its variations, but also as a movement and philosophy of unity and love, and the stem of dance music culture today.
Indie Dance/Electronic is a subgenre that fuses rock and electronic. Styles include synth pop, alternative dance, future bass and nu disco.
Trance was another early style that’s been evolving for decades. Characterized by its use of melody, it includes soaring builds, anthemic, uplifting and hard-hitting chords.
Techno is defined by repetitive instrumentals and futuristic themes, ranging from delicate melodic soundscapes to throbbing industrial beats.
Melodic Bass incorporates intense bass lines, colorful melodic builds, and airy drops.
Tech House fuses the minimalistic characteristics of techno with the swing of house.
Afro House/ Soulful House blends African music with house beats.
Hardstyle is a fast and hard subgenre that combines distorted leads, euphoric melodies, and face-melting kick drums.
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