Punk Genre Descriptions

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This is just a reference thread. Instead of having the descriptions in the Punk Band List thread (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=419138), each genre will have their own post in this thread to make for easy linking from the Punk Band List thread.

This thread will remain closed. Any corrections or additions, please post in the Punk Band List thread.

Thanks to these users for helping with descriptions and major contributions:
Anti-Prefix
DrGolovaCroxby
TakeWarning
sonicreducer
TheivesandBastards (many thanks to him for doing so many descriptions)
SkaBandit
Billy
DDM (also contributed loads of links!)
Subvert_bassist
JAtomic
deadohiosky9
whiteminority
white_riot
Shtein
AaronNi
_JR
Skrunnch

[Brain Toad]

Punk by Anti-Prefix

The punk rock and culture movement began in the late 1960's. It formed from pre, or now, proto-punk bands such as The New York Dolls and Velvet Underground. This type of rock was very minimalist and it started in the underground streets of New York. Punk became less minimalistic, more obvious, and fashionable when it commenced in the UK. This started bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash who performed a way more abrasive and underlying punk rock. With the commencement of these bands punk rock triggered millions of youth because of the relevant message it instills. Its rebellious, different, and apathetic attitude towards social norms and government stirred the water for many to begin their own punk band. This culture changed millions of lives and inspired the hearts of the youth in the world for generations. Hopefully it will continue to inspire and prevail the positive message it always has, forever.

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Pop-Punk by DrGolovaCroxby

A lot more use of melody than in normal punk rock. The music isn't generally quite as fast or heavy, but it's usually along the same lines. There's a lot more singing and a lot less screaming/yelling. Pop-punk is more about the fun side of music rather that the political ethics attached to punk. Not to say that some pop-punk bands aren't political, but it's on a much smaller scale.


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Hardcore by TakeWarning

Hardcore is punk influenced music that is usually harder and faster than punk. Unlike punk’s political lyrics, hardcore lyrics usually focus more on social aspects and things everybody can relate to. Hardcore is considered to have been started by Black Flag in the late 70s and remains one of the most popular sub-genres today, with huge amounts of hardcore fans worldwide.


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80's Hardcore/Hardcore-Punk by sonicreducer

80's Hardcore is a mix of the classic '77 punk sound and elements of both metal and thrash. Most Hardcore bands were formed by suburban kids in the late '70's and early '80's shortly after the initial punk boom died down. These kids made the scenes big by taking there bands to cities like Boston, N.Y.C., Washington, and L.A. '80's Hardcore relates closer to '77 punk sound than today's more metallic hardcore. Straight Edge, an idea most believe to be thought up by hardcore hero Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Teen Idles, was a big part of the scene and is still prevalent today. Some bands recognized as creating and/or popularizing the 80's hardcore sound are Bad Brains, and Minor Threat, Black Flag, and Gang Green.


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Anarcho-Punk by ThievesandBastards

**** the government. An ideal commonly associcated with punk from people who don't know punk, but most punks just think the government needs some reform. Anarcho punk is all about anarchy and liberty. Every anarcho punk band will have lyrics about total freedom and true liberty for all. IN the early 70's there was a massive increase in the interest and popularity of anarchism, mind you it never got popular, but it got slightly more popular than it was, and many punk bands started taking up the idea into their songs. Anarcho bands typically have a really seriously no-skill all brilliant lyrics type basis. Anarcho bands focus less on the music and more on passing importnat messages across to listeners. Besides strong beliefs in anarchism, anarcho punk typically has strong feelings of anti-capitalism, anti-war and sometimes, feminist and animal rights ideas. Crass was probably the most influential of all anarcho bands and it is shown in their brilliant anti-government, anti-war lyrics. Other major bands include, Subhumans, Aus-Rotten, Citizen Fish, Discharge, Flux of Pink Indians, and surprisingly, Chumbawumba (pre-tubtumpin and post-tubthumpin)


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Street Punk by ThievesandBastards

The street punk music genre started with the Oi! music scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It started as a youth music style with songs about tales of the street crew or gang life, police violence, easy girls, and teenage drunk mayhem. Streetpunk bands of the mid '80s include The Skeptix, Abrasive Wheels, and Attak. Today's street punk is dominated by A Global Threat, Lower Class Brats, The Virus, The Unseen, and Cheap Sex. Their lyrics often talk about having fun at shows, unity, police oppression, social problems, anti-establishment and the punk scene itself. Hevily Influencing streetpunk labels include Punkcore, TKO, and RodentPopsicle.


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Ska by SkaBandit

Ska, the precursor to reggae, started in Jamaica in the late 1950s. Ska is the predominant genre of music listened to by the rudeboy, mod, and skinhead movements. It combines elements of many kinds of music such as calypso, mento, and jazz, just to name a few. The popularity of ska declined in the 1970s, but then had a revival of popularity in the 1980s (two tone/second wave ska), and then again in the 1990s (ska-punk/third wave ska). Interesting Ska Fact: Guitarist Ernest Ranglin said that "the offbeat guitar scratching that he and other musicians played was referred to as 'skat! skat! skat!'"

Traditional Ska by SkaBandit

Traditional, or first wave Ska, started in the 50s. Jamaican music was vastly influenced by American R&B; artists such as Fats Domino and others. When R&B was less popular in the 60s, thus harder to get a hold of in Jamaica, artists began imitating this sound. Traditional Ska is best known for the placement of the guitar accented guitar and piano rhythms on the upbeats. As American music changed, so did this newfound genre of music. Traditional Ska became slower and smoother in response to the change of American music, and Rocksteady was born. Rocksteady remained popular until the emergence of Reggae in 1968.

Two-Tone Ska by SkaBandit

The Two Tone Ska era was named as so because of the similarly titled record company, 2 Tone Records, formed by Jerry Dammers, keyboardist of The Specials. Two Tone Ska started in the UK, and was a major relief of racial tension between black and white people. Traditional Ska's unique rhythms came together with Punk-Rock's lyrics and guitar chords to form Two Tone Ska. Two Tone is generally characterized by faster tempos, and the integration of horns. As Two Tone promoted racial unity, the checkerboard pattern was adopted as a symbol of Two Tone Ska. It was common for Two Tone artists to cover Traditional Ska songs, released in the 50s and 60s. In this way, artists like Prince Buster were receiving more money in royalties than they had ever received from releasing records.

Ska-Punk/Ska-Core by SkaBandit

As the Two-Tone sound moved across the Atlantic Ocean to reach the east coast of North America, elements of rock and punk were added, resulting in Ska-Punk. Despite the differences in the actual sounds of Two-Tone and Ska-Punk, both genres embody the spirit of unity, tolerance, and peace. Ska-Punk sounds range from the heavier punk sound of bands like The Flatliners and Assorted Jelly Beans, to the lighter more Trad sound ofbands like The Toasters, The Planet Smashers, and The Slackers. The main influence of course was Two Tone Ska, but the integration resulted in some Ska-Punk bands not using horns.


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Oi by ThievesandBastards

Oi! was a big time sub genre of punk in the 70's and early 80's. It emerged when many punk bands were moving towards a more artsy, technical standpoint on punk (i.e. Wire, Devo, Gang of Four) and some punks felt they needed to stick to the more down-to-earth original sounds of punk. Originally it was referred to as "street-punk" or "reality-punk" because they felt that this genre was what punk was really about. The name Oi! is often thought to have come from the Cockney Rejects song "Oi! Oi! Oi!" Oi! is based around working-class, street level type punks who aren't looking for artsy-fartsy type punk, they just want it straight up and what punk was really all about from the start. Oi! lyrics are often about supporting the working-class, having fun, and unity between all people. Oi! was a major favorite of skinheads, because they really defined the working-class punk. Major Oi! bands were the 4-Skins, **** Sparrer, Sham 69 and the Business.


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Post-Punk/New Wave by Brain Toad

After punk left it's mark in the late 70s, many bands felt the desire to carry on the ideals and ethics of punk. But instead of playing the same music as their punk forefathers, these bands decided to try something else. They took punk to it's natural progression, taking influences from disco, dub, glam, and art-rock, and creating a whole new more artsy genre. Something else that came out of this progression was New Wave. New Wave was the counter to post-punk, in that instead of being artsy and free-form, it was very pop-influenced and structured.


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Metalcore by Billy

Metalcore, as you can tell by the name, is a fusion of Metal and Hardcore. It's more on the Hardcore side with Metal influences. Most metalcore has very fast tempos and lots of screaming. Usually, a Metalcore song will have no obvious song structure, but most do have breakdowns. Many of said breakdowns have the palm-muted "Jud Jud Jud" sound with very low-key chords. Metalcore, in comparison to Hardcore, is definately more complex in terms of music writings, and the musicians definitely show their talent more than Hardcore musicians. To add to that, double bass is present in almost any Metalcore song. Suggested bands are: Converge, Botch, Coalesce, Turmoil, All Else Failed, The Red Chord, and Every Time I Die.


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Melodic Hardcore by Billy

Melodic Hardcore is an offshoot of the Hardcore genre. It, in some cases, blurs the line between Hardcore and Pop-Punk. It is also commonly mistaken for Emo or Screamo. Melodic Hardcore basically has all the elements of Hardcore; mainly: fast-paced tempo, blast beats, and so on. But, there are key differences between the two. Oftentimes, it's not all screaming in a Melodic Hardcore song. There's lots of singing involved, which is partly where the term "Melodic" is coined. Also, instead of full power chords (which are still used), Melodic Hardcore guitarists use octaves to get that "melodic" sound even more defined. There is usually a solid song structure in place, making Melodic Hardcore easier to listen to by many people. Suggested bands are: A Wilhelm Scream, Strike Anywhere, Rise Against, Marathon, Paint It Black, None More Black, Crime in Stereo and Smoke or Fire.


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Post-Hardcore by DDM

Post-Hardcore was the bastard son of the hardcore punk movement. This genre was started in the late 80s and is marked by straight-foreword rhythms and loud guitar based music. One of the better known post-hardcore bands is Fugazi. Bands like fugazi took the social aspects and some of the DIY from punk rock and often slowed down the music and took a more melodic approach. However, it still has a lot of the angst showcased in punk rock. Due to certain aspects of the music (Vocals especially) Post-Hardcore often gets mislabeled as something it isn't. (Such as emo or screamo or any of those silly genres)


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Crust by Subvert_bassist and JAtomic

Crust is an evolved form of hardcore punk. It has been described as apocalyptic hardcore with a tinge of metal. Its lyrics are usually very political in nature, dealing with everything from squatting, to veganism, to anarchy, and to animal rights. Taking elements from anarcho and grind, crust bands have come up with their own original sound, which can vary from slow and sludgy, to blisteringly fast. Some early bands include Antischism, Amebix, and Deviated Instinct, who originally coined the term "crust" as it was originally called "stenchcore". Current crust bands include World Burns To Death, Behind Enemy Lines, Hellshock, and Subvert Citizens.


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D-Beat by Subvert_bassist

D-beat is a form of hardcore punk developed in the early 80's. It's name is derived from the band Discharge. In fact, many bands after Discharge have gone to the point of copying Discharge exactly, stealing their album covers and even the way they draw up their name. D-beat itself refers to the very basic drum beat almost always used in D-beat songs. D-beat has a simple one-two-oneone-two drum beat and usually has very simple guitar riffs that only consist of three or four notes. Many D-beat bands have emerged from Scandinavia, Japan, and Brazil. Scandinavian D-beat focused more on pounding out fast and hard noise, while Japanese D-beat prefered to pay more detail to melodies. More recently, bands like Wolfbrigade and Avskum have begun to take the old D-beat sound and fuse it with dark, hard hitting melodies.


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Emo by deadohiosky9

DC Scene: This is where the emotional hardcore scene began. Bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace took hardcore punk to the next level. The vocal style became much more emotional, ranging from yelling to full blown screaming at times. Another significant part of the early emo scene were the introspective lyrics. Bands sang about things that they themselves face. Moss Icon is the best example of this emo scene. Moss Icon's vocal style ranged from spoken word to bouts of screaming. This style influenced many bands that followed them, and became an emo trademark. In '85 the scene began to expand and many bands started to catch on, which is why 1985 was called "revolution summer." This revolution of hardcore punk soon spread to places such as San Diego, and the Midwest.

San Diego Scene: The San Diego expanded on the DC scene by adding even more intensity. Most of the bands form this scene were on Gravity Records, and pure chaos. Antioch Arrow best demonstrated this, often having haphazard instrumentation, but intensifying the vocals. This scene soon influenced the modern wave of emotional hardcore, often called "screamo."

Midwest Scene: While the San Diego was energizing the emo scene, bands emerging from the Midwest took a more laid back approach. You could tell they were influenced by more than just the emo scene. The vocals were still emotional, but not nearly as screamy. The music was much quieter instead of the raging twin guitars. The midwest scene was more of a blend between emo and indie

Screamo Scene: The modern bands who are still playing music similar to the early emo scene are often labeled as "screamo". They are essentially just modern emo bands. The vocal style includes much more screaming rather than a lot of spoken word. The lyrics tend to be more poetic, and still (if not more) introspective. A lot of bands such as Combawoundedveteran and Orchid took the San Diego scene's more chaotic approach, which started another trend amongst other bands in this scene. This is the current wave of the emo scene.


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Grindcore by whiteminority

Grindcore is a very intense genre that is the furthest expansion of Hardcore Punk. Grindcore stands for Hardcore that grinds. It started out in Great Britain with the band Napalm Death and it's genre defining album Scum. This beginning sound was million mile per hour political protests from teenagers screaming their throats out. Over the years the genre has expanded and mated with the metal genre death metal and thus commercialized the genre somewhat for bands that took this mating and adapted it to their sound. Though nowadays there are some bands who are still true to the original sound of a warp speed revolution. This is musical holocaust with pure decimation in the fore.


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Power Violence by Skrunnch

Power Violence is a sub genre of grindcore, and contains shrieked, high pitched vocals, very fast guitar, and very fast drums, using blast beats very often. Songs are played at such break-neck speed that power violence songs are often no more than 1 minute long, and are at times as short as 20 seconds long. Power Violence was pioneered in the 80's, from bands such as Infest, and Siege. It had it's greatest explosion in the early 90's, often refered to as the second wave of power violence, containing bands such as **** on the Beach, Charles Bronson, and Spazz. Bands such as Capitalist Casualties, Man Is the Bastard, and No Comment were called the first wave of power violence.


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Proto-Punk by white_riot

Proto-Punk is a genre to describe the musicians who were prior to the explosion of punk rock and who were the main influences of Punk Rock. Most Proto-Punk performers were influenced by Rock & Roll and Garage Rock as the Proto-Punk sound is similar but with a punk attitude and more provocative lyrics. There is a collection of bands like the Velvet Underground, MC5, New York Dolls, The Stooges, Patti Smith, The Dictators and many more that were making their contributions to punk with their look, attitude and non-commercial music.


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Celtic Folk/Rock/Punk by Brain Toad

Celtic refers to anything relating to the celt people who inhabited Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, Brittany of France, and a few other areas. When referring to celtic in current times, people are most likely referring to the cultures of the Scottish and Irish. Celtic folk is the music of these cultures, characteristics are very tribal sounds with pounding drums and loud blasting bag pipes. Other insturments used are the tin whistle, mandolin, fiddle, etc. Celtic music has gone on to give influences in other styles of music, including those of rock and punk. In celtic rock, the traditional sound of celtic folk is blended with the fast speed of rock music and joined by electric instruments such as the guitar, bass, and a standard rock drumkit. Many of these celtic rock bands will mix traditional celtic instruments with rock instruments to create a unique blend of sound. Celtic rock and progressive rock usually go hand in hand. Celtic punk differs from the standard folk-punk by the instruments used, subjects in songs, and styles of playing. Many Irish and Scottish punk bands sing about similar things such as drinking, partying, love, and a general good time. Many of these bands have included the bagpipes within their songs for an extra spice, and others have arranged punk sounds around the poetry of Robert Burns, one of the most famous poets of Scotland.


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Psychobilly by ThievesandBastards

You around in the 50's? Were you the black leather jacket greaser of the school? Well if you're that old and you've still got some kick left, check out pyschobilly. Coming during the 80's Rockabilly Revival, some guys thought they'd be better off with a real punk mix into their music. Major contributors to the starting of the scene are the Cramps and Reverend Horton Heat. Psychobilly is based around small drum sets, stand up slap-bass and an old 50's guitar tone along with wailing vocals typically about pretty scary stuff. It's got a fast beat, it'll remind you of Grease and you'll be able to appreciate the click of that upright bass. Psychobilly is fairly rare as far as local scenes go unless you got to the west coast where it seems you'll find greasers fairly usually.


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Folk-Punk by sonicreducer

As the name suggests, the genre is a mix of both folk and punk. Although they seem very different, punk and folk relate closely and share working-class ethos. Most folk-punk bands were inspired by punk bands and traditional folk acts like Woody Guthrie. Against Me! are far and away today's most popular folk-punk band. Typical folk instruments are used commonly (as are acoustic guitars) to achieve the folk-punk sound. Folk-punk also relates closely to anti-folk.


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Cow Punk by ThievesandBastards

Just try to imagine the tennessee punk scene. Seriously, all they have are cows and country. The few who discovered punk, just mixed in what they already knew with the fast beats of punk and cow-punk was born. Cow-punk is the same as country punk, which is the same as punk, heavily influenced by country and bluegrass roots. It began in the 1980's in southern California, and seriously downplayed the fashion and glmaour role, and tried to just stick to the music. Bands commonly associated with cow-punk are Dead Milkmen, Blood on the Saddle, Meat Puppets, and Mojo Nixon. More recently, Throw Rag has been greatly associated with cow-punk but they're really more sailor punk.


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Garage Punk by AaronNi

Garage Punk bands started spawning in the early 80's after revisiting the 60's Garage groups that influenced their punk cousins. This was not a rebirth though, the bands added more raunch, sleaze and primitive three-chord rock that made you feel like showering after listening. The first bands were The Gories, The New Bomb Turks and The Oblivians. What makes this style stand apart from other types is often the mix of Greaser attitude, DIY ethics and ability to draw the freaks out of the woodwork when shows occur.


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Noise/Noisecore by AaronNi

Noise/Noisecore began as a recognised seperate genre in the 80s as an offshoot of punk and many of Japan's 60's garage "Freakout" bands. Notable first artists are were Merzbow and the Boredoms from Japan where Noise is a more accepted form of music than the rest of the world where it's still very much underground. Noise music itself is wide-ranging from regular background noise composed to harsh electronica, some artists use simply a Sony Walkman with a tape and use it's controls to compose complete songs. Noisecore has a more recognisable instrument lineup but varies from heavily distorted feedbacking guitars producing spastic riffs to amphetamine driven drums such as The Hospitals to catchy riffs supported by keyboards with inaudible lyrics forming a schizo-dance trio as the now defunct Coachwhips bring to mind. Noise/Noisecore's closest cousins are Garage punk and all forms of punk rock.


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Experimental/Art-Rock by sonicreducer

Art rock is a wide genre full of different bands that fit under the name. From some of the biggest classic rock bands like Pink Floyd and King Crimson to small indie bands, all have been described as art rock bands. Art rock can be both complex and simple musically, and are usually very deep lyrically. The Velvet Underground and Television are prime examples of bands sometimes placed under both the art rock and proto-punk umbrellas. Pere Ubu, a very experimental band, is a great barometer of the differing styles of art rock.


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Rockabilly by ThievesandBastards

Rockabilly is thought of by many as the earliest distinctive form of rock and roll. It's a fusion of country, blue grass, and blues, or CBGB (maybe you'll recognize the acronym.) Rockabilly is mostly built up by a slapping bass, and a really "echoy" guitar sound accompanied by wailing singers. The genre was named by Bill Flagg when he recorded "Go Cat Go!" for Tetra Records. The most famous of all rockabilly acts would be Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis, although Cash moved on to less of a rockabilly sound later.. In the 1980's the Stray Cats led a rockabilly revival which eventually began the psychobilly genre which I also did the profile for. Heavily influencing rockabilly labels include Tetra Records, and Sun Records. Although more major and mainstream labels picked it up later, these two labels really started the whole movement. Other influential and important rockabilly artists were Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Revered Horton Heat.


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Folk/Anti-Folk by ThievesandBastards

Folk takes a simple and very direct song-writing style that often has political lyrics based around freedom, and equality for all. Folk was a very prominent genre in the 60's during the time of the cultural revolutions like the feminist movement, black rights movement, and other such equality movements. Folk singers often used their music as a leverage point to rally people behind a certain strong cause. Prominent 60's folk singers included Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Woody Guthrie. Folk has since been paired up with country, rock, and punk to give it a much more driving force than the slower paced folk of the 60's. Contemporary folk is more often referred to as anti-folk. Anti-Folk is a genre that really blends folk and punk more than any other styles. Anti-folk combines the raw, abrasive, and frequently politically charged attitudes of the punk scene with the sounds of American folk tradition. Big influences in this genre are The Moldy Peaches, Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg and Beck. Anti-folk has really gained popularity through Rough Trade records.


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Country by DrGolovaCroxby

Country music is usually slower than a lot of rock. Also incorperates more instruments like the banjo, steel guitar, and the slide guitar - but such is not always the case. Country music isn't always the stereotypical twangy vocals yelping about a dog, but can have just as much musical relevance as any other type of music.


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Rap/Hip-Hop by DrGolovaCroxby

Generally has very little actually instrumentation, instead, rap/hip-hop uses electronic 'beats' to provide the background to the words. The lyrics are rhythmically spoken (i.e. rapped) instead of sung in most cases. There's less focus on the actual music, and much more on the lyrics.


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Alternative & Indie by ThievesandBastards

Alt&Indie popped up in the 80's for about the same reason punk did: to break up the monotony. Alternative can be thought of in the same manner as unclassifiable. Try and classify alternative as sounding like anything else and you'll be at a complete loss. Alternative is just, alternative. A different sound from every other thing out there. Indie is short for independent and is typically a kind of softer rock sound with really powerful lyrics about subjects the singer personally experiences. Indie is unpredictable and different spanning a variety of genres from folk to electronica and jazz to instrumental. Alt&Indie are all over the place and you're always in for something new when you listen to anything in thsi genre. Alt&Indie are often bunched together because Alternative bands can be Indie, and Indie bands can be alternative. Some of the best and most famous alt/indie bands are Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Queens of the Stone Age, Beck, and Joy Divison. It's very easy to be both. Almost any college town you go to will have 14 crappy alt/indie bands and 1 or 2 decent ones.


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Thrash/Thrash Metal by DDM & JATomic

Thrash metal was started with bands such as Slayer, Metallica, Heathen, and Exodus in the Bay Area music scene, and bands like Nuclear Assault and Anthrax ripping it up over on the East coast in New York City. These bands took the metal that was around at the time (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, etc.) and fused it with the raw sound of punk rock. They took the hard-hitting instruments of bands like Sabbath and added the speed and aggression from punk music. They also took away majority of the lyrics based on mythology and replaced them with angry, quick lyrics about violence and discontent. Not to mention singing them in much the same way hardcore punk bands did, they sang them loud, fast and barely audible. Around the same time that the Bay Area/NYC thrash metal scenes was flourishing, another, more raw, scene was culminating in Houston, TX's punk scene. Crossover Thrash came from punks who were tired of the same old tunes at the same speed. Bands such as DRI (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) and Verbal Abuse pioneered the genre. DRI was actually a major influence to many thrash metal bands of the time. [NOTE: Dave Lambardo of Slayer was quoted to have been heavily influenced by them and is seen wearing their shirt in several live videos.] They infused the same style that thrash metal was using but stuck to their punk roots more. Thus the music was, majority of the time, faster, angrier and rawer. Throughout the 80's NYC also gained a hold of the genre with such bands as Crumbsuckers and Ludichrist. The genre still continues to strive with the originals, DRI and Verbal Abuse, and bands like Municipal Waste and Cross Examination leading the pack of new bands to keep the genre alive.


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Post-Rock by whiteminority

Post Rock is a genre of rock music that was first recognized in the mid-90s with the term itself being used by journalist Simon Reynolds in May 1994 for The Wire musical magazine. His definiton is rather vague but as a whole sums up the genre of music up fairly well: "... using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and power chords." The genre shares some charteristics with Indie music and many bands are sometimes lumped in both genres. Many bands are known for musical ability one such example being the instrumental Explosions In The Sky. The genre was most popular in the 90s but there are still bands today that play this style including the aforementioned Explosions in the Sky, Red Sparrowes, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Mogwai (the last two are examples of bands that are often linked with the closely related Indie rock.)


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Electronica/Techno by _JR

Electronica/Techno is a broad genre that covers a wide range of electronic based music. It originated in the 1980s-90s as dance music, but now many people listen to it casually in their homes. However, it is still widely used as popular dance music. Electronica/ Techno is commonly all instrumental, defined by instruments such as keyboards, synthesizers, and drum machines. The genre usually is in 4/4 time and ranges generally from 130- 140 bpm. It is common for downbeats to be heavily accented. Another characteristic of Electronica/ Techno is the many layers used to create the songs.


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