Hardstyle is an
electronic dance genre that emerged in the late 1990s, with origins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Hardstyle mixes influences from
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...
,
new beat
New beat is a Belgian electronic dance music genre that fuses elements of new wave, hi-NRG,Simon Reynolds: ''Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture.'' Routledge 1999, , p. 124. EBM and hip hop (e.g. scratching).Ti ...
and
hardcore
Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to:
Arts and media Film
* ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film
* ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott
* ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...
.
Early hardstyle was typically written at 140
BPM (''beats per minute''), however modern hardstyle is faster, produced around 150 BPM. It consisted of overdriven and hard-sounding kick drums, often accompanied by an offbeat bass, known as a "reverse bass". As the genre grew, the production techniques and songwriting changed to be suited to a more commercial audience. Modern hardstyle can be recognized by its use of synthesizer melodies and distorted sounds, coupled with hardstyle's signature combination of
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
and
bass. The genre is particularly known for its
harmonic
A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...
use of kickdrums. Due to the sustained nature of a hardstyle kick, producers are able to play basslines by using only the kick itself, which becomes a distinct bass tone through a series of
distortion
In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...
,
equalization and layering (among other methods). This technique is known as "pitching" a kick.
The genre gained commercial acceptance in the 2010s, with hardstyle artists performing on the biggest stages in
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
worldwide.
Hardstyle influenced other styles of electronic dance music such as
big room house
Big room house or simply big room is a fusion subgenre of house music (notably progressive house and electro house) that gained popularity in the early 2010s. Characterized by its simple instrumentation yet complex structure, big room house soon ...
, which began sharing similarities with hardstyle like structures, rhythms, and later, pitching kicks became popular in big room too. Hardstyle also played a large influence in
frenchcore
Frenchcore is a subgenre of hardcore techno. The style differs from other forms of hardcore in terms of a faster tempo, usually above 190-250 BPM, and a loud & distorted offbeat bassline.
In the 1990s, drum machines and samplers were used to ...
and
happy hardcore
Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s.
H ...
music, which both became popular in the late 2010s with the hardstyle audience after producers started applying hardstyle production techniques and melodic styles to the genres.
History
Origins
The exact origin of hardstyle cannot be specifically defined, however it is clear the characteristic of hardstyle originates from hard trance (notably hard trance's 'reverse bass', and artists such as German Hard Trance DJ,
Scot Project
Frank Zenker (born 29 May 1973, Frankfurt, Germany), better known by his stage name Scot Project, is a German hard trance DJ and record producer. He also produces musical pieces under aliases such as "Arome" and "TOCS."
Biography
Scot Project le ...
) with influence with other genres such as hardcore, this genre is what is now known as early hardstyle. As it progressed, the genre gathered characteristics from other electronic music genres and refined its own sound and identity. Over time, the BPM of hardstyle music increased, from a range of 135 to 150 to a range of 150 to 160. Some hardcore producers brought hardstyle elements back to the hardcore scene, which made modern hardstyle and hardcore very similar and often indistinguishable in some cases, only differing in BPM.
The first event credited as a hardstyle event was Qlubtempo, which took place in the year 2000 in
Zaandam
Zaandam () is a city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Za ...
. Qlubtempo was the first event produced by
Q-dance
Q-dance is a Dutch company that organizes events and festivals that focuses on the harder styles of dance music – mainly Hardstyle, Hardcore, and Hard Trance. Popular events and festivals organized by Q-dance are Defqon.1 Festival, Qlimax, Qapi ...
, a Dutch event company which would later go on to produce hardstyle festivals in other countries in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
,
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
. In 2001, Q-dance produced the first edition of
Qlimax
Qlimax is an annual hardstyle and hard dance event in the Netherlands. It is a major attraction held by Q-dance, and considered to be one of the leading hardstyle events, attracting nearly 30,000 people annually. It contains some of the most sophi ...
. Q-dance trademarked the term "hardstyle" on the 4th of July, 2002, after both Qlimax and Qlubtempo proved to be successful. Since its inception, Q-dance has guided the evolution of hardstyle music with its events and is often involved with hardstyle artists on a creative level. In 2003, Q-dance hosted the first edition of
Defqon.1
Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as Ha ...
.
The first few years of hardstyle were characterized by a tempo of around 140–150
BPM, a distorted kick drum sound, vocal samples, dissonant synth sounds known as "screetches" and the use of a "reverse bass", a hard kick distorted offbeat bass within the same beat. Around 2002, more hardstyle labels emerged. Fusion Records (with artists as
DJ Zany
Raoul van Grinsven (known more commonly as DJ Zany or Zany; born 11 May 1974) is a disc jockey and former member of ''Shadowlands Terrorists'', now specialising in hardstyle. He is currently the owner of Fusion Records.
Zany's 2002 song ''Be On Y ...
and Donkey Rollers) and
Scantraxx
Scantraxx is a Dutch record label founded by Dov Elkabas in 2002, specializing in Hardstyle music.
S.W.A.T
Between November 2007 and April 2008, the label organized a number of shows under the name of ''S.W.A.T'' (Scantraxx World Artist Tour ...
(founded by
Dov Elkabas
Dov Joseph Elkabas (born 5 November 1968), known professionally as DJ The Prophet, is an Israeli-Dutch hardcore techno and hardstyle DJ and producer. The Prophet is also the owner of one of the largest hardstyle record labels, Scantraxx.
Biograp ...
) were the two largest Dutch labels Hardstyle labels in that period. At this point in time, hardstyle artists were primarily from either the
Netherlands
)
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, image_map =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
or
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
Subgenres
Euphoric hardstyle
From roughly 2010 onwards, the move towards a more melodic emphasis from older hardstyle evolved into the subgenre "euphoric hardstyle", characterized by highly emotional melodies and heavy pitch-shifting of kicks.
Rawstyle
Since around 2011, more terms to identify developments of hardstyle were introduced. "Rawstyle" is a type of hardstyle influenced from Dutch hardcore or older hardstyle resulting in darker melodies, more dissonant elements and harder kick drums. This genre has notably been made by Wildstylez and Sub Zero Project who also produce Euphoric Hardstyle.
Euphoric frenchcore
Popularized by
Sefa
The SEFA is a make of backpack industrial breathing set formerly made by Sabre Safety. It is an oxygen rebreather. "SEFA" is an acronym for "selected elevated flow apparatus".
Description
It is in a shiny backpack stainless steel sheet casing w ...
and
Dr. Peacock
Stefan Petrus Dekker (born 31 July 1988), better known by his stage name Dr. Peacock, is a Dutch frenchcore DJ and record producer. He has performed on the main stages of major festivals like Thunderdome (music festival), Thunderdome, Defqon.1, ...
in the late 2010s, euphoric frenchcore combines both hardstyle and
frenchcore
Frenchcore is a subgenre of hardcore techno. The style differs from other forms of hardcore in terms of a faster tempo, usually above 190-250 BPM, and a loud & distorted offbeat bassline.
In the 1990s, drum machines and samplers were used to ...
. Euphoric frenchcore uses hardstyle production techniques at faster tempos, ranging between 180 to 220 BPM. The genre caught on quickly after Sefa released his first album in 2018, and it became common for hardstyle artists to close their sets with euphoric frenchcore tracks. That same year,
Headhunterz
Willem Rebergen (born 12 September 1985), better known by his stage name ''Headhunterz'', is a Dutch DJ and music producer. Rebergen is also a voice actor. He has done dubbing for several movies and TV series. He started his career in 2005 wor ...
invited Sefa to play on his radioshow, HARD with STYLE. The following years saw multiple euphoric frenchcore performances on the mainstage of Defqon.1, as well as a euphoric frenchcore anthem for the festival in 2019.
Trapstyle
The trapstyle is a sub-genre of the hardstyle scene linked to the
trap
A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research.
Trap or TRAP may also refer to:
Art and entertainment Films and television
* ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...
which appeared in the mid-2010s. DJ Coone evokes the genre in his remix of "Techno" by
Yellow Claw,
Diplo
Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...
and LNY TNZ.
Dubstyle
In early 2010, a new variation in hardstyle, named dubstyle was introduced. Dubstyle is the name given to the genre fusion of hardstyle and
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...
. Dubstyle tends to have reversed
wobble bass
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken b ...
lines and takes the kick styling of hardstyle tracks, while combining them with the rhythm, groove and dubstep tempo and effects a fusion of elements of hardstyle with a dubstep rhythm, usually a
2-step or a
breakstep
Breakstep, or breakbeat garage, is a genre of music that evolved from the UK garage scene and influenced the emergence of dubstep.
History
Breakstep evolved from the 2-step garage sound. Moving away from the more soulful elements of garage, it i ...
rhythm.
After its initial appearance, dubstyle did not evolve or progress beyond the mid-2010s.
Notable related events
*
Defqon.1
Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as Ha ...
*
Mysteryland
Mysteryland is the leading electronic dance music festival in the Netherlands, organized by the Netherlands-based promoter ID&T. Being the first of its kind in the country when it was established, its organizers have billed the event as the ol ...
*
Qlimax
Qlimax is an annual hardstyle and hard dance event in the Netherlands. It is a major attraction held by Q-dance, and considered to be one of the leading hardstyle events, attracting nearly 30,000 people annually. It contains some of the most sophi ...
*
Reverze
Reverze is an annual international music event held in the Sportpaleis and Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium. Represented music genres are Jumpstyle, hardstyle and hardcore. The previous edition was held on 12 March 2022. Every year, Bass Events d ...
*
Sensation Black
Sensation is an indoor electronic dance music event which originated in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and organized by ID&T. The original event, which ran exclusively in the Amsterdam Arena for a period of five years until 2005, is now located throughou ...
*
The Qontinent
Notable labels
*
Dirty Workz
Dirty Workz is a Belgian hardstyle, jumpstyle and happy hard record label founded in 2006 by Koen Bauweraerts, also known as DJ Coone. Dirty Workz is home to many famous hardstyle acts, including Da Tweekaz, and Wasted Penguinz. Dirty Workz ...
*
Fusion Records
*
Q-dance
Q-dance is a Dutch company that organizes events and festivals that focuses on the harder styles of dance music – mainly Hardstyle, Hardcore, and Hard Trance. Popular events and festivals organized by Q-dance are Defqon.1 Festival, Qlimax, Qapi ...
*
Scantraxx
Scantraxx is a Dutch record label founded by Dov Elkabas in 2002, specializing in Hardstyle music.
S.W.A.T
Between November 2007 and April 2008, the label organized a number of shows under the name of ''S.W.A.T'' (Scantraxx World Artist Tour ...
References
{{Electronica
21st-century music genres
Electronic dance music genres
2010s in music
2020s in music