Lento violento

Lento Violento
Stylistic origins	Italo disco, Techno, Acid, Hardcore, Hardstyle
Cultural origins	Late 1990s: Italy
Typical instruments	Synthesizer, Keyboard, Drum machine, Sequencer, Sampler
(complete list)
Regional scenes
Mediterranean Sea
Local scenes
Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Spain

Lento Violento is a style of electronic dance music that developed in Italy. It name means Slow & Violent, as this style typically has a tempo between 70 and 130 BPM. It consists of a hard kick, like the ones present in Hardcore or Hardstyle, but played at a very slow tempo, with vocal samples and dark and acid sounds or loops.

Origins

The first tracks with the Lento Violento sound were Ibiza by Ottomix (1998) and Alex Castelli's Enjoy, that was co-produced by Ottomix. Although at that time, they were not yet called 'Lento Violento' yet. These tracks were influenced by the more Techno and Trance-oriented tracks like Mauro Picotto's Lizard, Iguana, Pulsar, Tuttincoro or Raggattak by Joman (Joy Kitikonti), all from the Italian BXR label.

While some individual tracks were popular in the clubs, the style itself was not established until DJ/producer Gigi D'Agostino started with a series of productions in 2003, like Ripassa. It was he who coined the name for this style, and he releases most of his Lento Violento songs on his own label Noise Maker, using aliases like Dottor Dag, Lento Violento Man, Uomo Suono, Orchestra Maldestra, or La Tana Del Suono, to distinguish these songs from his Italo dance work.

Other artists started to create similar tracks after the succes of this style. The most important of those artists are: Daniele Mondello, Luca Noise, DJ Pandolfi, Mr.Dendo, Zeta Reticuli and DJ Maxwell.

Also several compilation CD's are released with Lento Violento music, like the "Movimentolento" series.

See also

Lento Violento e Altre Storie

External links

• Noise Maker label overview at discogs.com
• Official Gigi D'Agostino forum (Italian language)