This is a list of electronic music genres, consisting of
genres
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
of
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
, primarily created with
electronic musical instruments or
electronic music technology. A distinction has been made between sound produced using
electromechanical
In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...
means and that produced using electronic technology.
[T. B. Holmes, ''Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition'' (London: Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002), , p. 6.] Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the
telharmonium,
Hammond organ,
electric piano, and the
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
. Purely electronic sound production can be achieved using devices such as the
theremin,
sound synthesizer, and
computer.
[T. B. Holmes, ''Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition'' (London: Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002), , p. 8.] Genre, however, is not always dependent on instrumentation.
In its early development, electronic music was associated almost exclusively with Western
art music
Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...
, but from the late 1960s, the availability of affordable music technology—particularly of synthesizers—meant that music produced using electronic means became increasingly common in the popular domains of
rock and
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former descri ...
and
classical music, resulting in major electronically based subgenres.
[T. B. Holmes, ''Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition'' (London: Routledge, 2nd ed., 2002), , p. 1.] After the definition of
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
in 1982 and the development of
digital audio, the creation of purely electronic sounds and their manipulation became much simpler. As a result, synthesizers came to dominate the pop music of the early 1980s. In the late 1980s,
electronic dance music (EDM) records made using only electronic instruments became increasingly popular, resulting in a proliferation of electronic genres, subgenres, and scenes. In the new millennium, as computer technology became even more accessible and
music software advanced, interacting with music production technology made it possible to create music that has some similarities and some differences to traditional
musical performance practices, leading to further developments and rapidly evolving subgenres.
[S. Emmerson, ''Living Electronic Music'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), , pp. 111-13.]
Genres
Remix derivatives
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Chopped and screwed
Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the early 1990s by D ...
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Disco edits
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Nightcore
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Tecno brega
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Weird SoundCloud
Broader genre groups
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Electronic dance music
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Christian electronic dance music
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Rave music
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mu ...
See also
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Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music
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List of electronic music festivals
The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitar and keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electronic dance music (E ...
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List of electronic musicians
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Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...
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List of hip hop genres
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List of industrial music genres
Industrial music is a form of experimental music which emerged in the 1970s. In the 1980s, industrial splintered into a range of offshoots, sometimes collectively named post-industrial music. This list details some of these offshoots, including f ...
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List of trance genres
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Styles of house music
A
: Emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines instead of lyrics. It has core electronic "squelch" sounds that were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experi ...
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List of subcultures
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Timeline of electronic music genres
Notes
External links
Graph of genres
{{Western music genres
Electronic Music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...