Hardstyle

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Hardstyle

Development phase: Late 1990s
Instruments typical of the genre
Digital audio workstation , drum computer , percussion , sampler , sequencer , synthesizer
Stylistic origin
Hard house , hard trance , new style gabber , Schranz , industrial dance
Subgenres
Big-Room Hardstyle Dubstyle , Euphoric Hardstyle , Raw Hardstyle

Hardstyle is a sub-genre of electronic music that arose from a combination of hard trance with hardcore techno elements.

features

Hardstyle is now independent and has little in common with its original form, as described above. Hardstyle is around 150 bpm . A distinction has to be made between classic hardstyle (very popular in the scene until around 2009) and more modern hardstyle. Some typical sounds like the "Reverse Bass" were put down and the song structure changed. The typical structure of the classic hard style is as follows:

  • The classic intro , which usually only consists of a few hi-hats and beats.
  • Abstract, chaotic motif , usually only played with a few tones (e.g. two different motifs can be superimposed.)
  • Melodic motif, mostly processed with a few samples
  • The "going out" is almost identical to the intro.

The modern structure is mostly based on the following pattern; Deviations in the structure between intro and outro are not uncommon:

  • Also the classic intro , which consists of the shortened hardstyle kick, the so-called "tok" and hi-hats and builds up progressively.
  • The first Anti-Climax, which follows a "build-up" and mostly consists of a chaotic motif with Screech sounds.
  • Melodic motif that merges into the Climax via a "build-up" and is harmoniously accompanied there with the hardstyle kick (does not take place in the rawstyle subgenre ).
  • Another Anti-Climax (sometimes more aggressive or chaotic than the previous Anti-Climax)
  • The “outro” is almost identical to the intro.

The typical thing about classic hardstyle is the basic rhythm, the two-step , in which the original sound architecture of a classic techno song ( bass drum , hi-hat, snare drum , hi-hat) is used, but the snare drum sounds e.g. B. reminded of a reflection of large hall walls. This trick gives the listener the impression that the music has a special impact. Often claps, hi-hats and snare drums are placed together on the bass drum, as it was already known in hardcore techno / gabber , which increases the “hardening” effect. This is also the reason why in some cases, unlike hardcore techno, Hardstyle can do without overdriving.

The playful handling of beats , bassline ( offbeat ), snare drums and Co. are characteristic of this classic form, but not mandatory. In addition, in later works the kicks and the bass are adapted to the melody and thus also serve the purpose of secondary accompaniment. Another characteristic are the abrupt dropouts of the rhythm (break) and its equally abrupt "return"; nor do rhythm and motif have to be at the same tempo.

In modern hardstyle , as mentioned above, the "reverse bass" was no longer used. This was offset by the fact that the kick got a much longer and more voluminous sound that can vary in pitch. However, there are still modern forms of reverse bass hardstyle, which is also regularly played at festivals such as Defqon.1 and Qlimax . Some hardstyle producers and fans reject the modern form and only see the "reverse bass" as the correct hardstyle.

Since the beginning, the samples have typically been taken from films or popular non-genre pieces of music and, depending on the artist, are used in a meaningful way or are used for additional musical and mood-enhancing background music without any logical context. The song lyrics are increasingly being sung directly by vocalists or the artist himself, especially in euphoric hardstyle. These too mainly convey content through key words without coherence in the context, as is usual in sampling.

history

It should be noted that the interpretation of terms used to categorize a music subgenre is often regionally dependent and can be strongly influenced by the local scene. Accordingly, there can also be different variants of the history of origin.

The origins of the hard style are unmistakably in hard trance at the turn of the millennium. Some German, Italian and Dutch DJs increasingly produced tracks with much more distorted beats than the almost unmodulated bass drum that is common in hard trance. In addition, the hi-hats disappeared in the off-beat and screeches were based on hardcore techno. The SuperSaw's synthesizer waveform has been retained, as has the concept of superimposing snares and claps on the kicks. The first tracks were very repetitive and kept simple with no melodic motifs. Influences from hardcore techno and acid house can still be seen in the early tracks.

While Hardstyle was still popular in scene clubs around the year 2000, it gained increasing popularity and split from hard trance more and more over time. Labels such as Q-Dance were founded and annual festivals such as Qlimax , Defqon.1 and X-Qlusive were organized .

By 2005 the hardstyle had fully established itself, melodic elements were the standard and heavily distorted kicks with long-sounding streaks increasingly replaced the reverse bass. Producers like Showtek and Headhunterz were known to a wide audience and made nustyle suitable for the masses. Melodies were typically simple, but more complex and less dark than they used to be.

In the following years, some producers began to rely on the raw quality of the early hardstyle again. The Anti-Climax was popular and screeches were being used more frequently again. The increasing popularity of this hard characteristic split the genre into the raw style and the euphoric hard style.

By 2011, the two camps were separated to such an extent that labels now focused entirely on one of these sub-genres and festivals divided the stages accordingly. On the one hand there was the kitschy-melodic Euphoric Hardstyle and on the other the rawstyle oriented towards the Early Hardstyle.

The producers of the hard style still come mainly from the Netherlands and Italy; it can be observed that international producers are increasingly coming into focus. Popular festival DJs are increasingly incorporating hardstyle tracks into their sets, making them accessible to an ever wider audience.

A rawstyle wave has been noticeable since 2014, in which the producers have been criticized for their uncreative design of the tracks. The main criticism is the constant use of screeches, kickrolls and forced competition to sound as hard as possible. The differences to hardcore techno are partly only in the speed.

Around 2017, the bassline from psytrance found its way into the hardstyle scene. Mainly propagated by the song "The Project" by Sub Zero Project, it became more and more popular and more and more producers are using a hard psy bassline in the midintro. This type of hardstyle is also called psystyle.

Early, Nu and Raw Hardstyle

Early hard style

Hardstyle in its original form (now colloquially known as "early hardstyle", more rarely also "old-school hardstyle") is characterized by hard beats and in most cases the hardstyle-typical reverse synth, a monotonous, mostly effective synthesizer noise Mid to low frequency off-beat that is played backwards and appended to the bass drum. Both sounds are technically processed in such a way that they merge acoustically and this so-called "reverse bass" creates a hard, powerful and mostly rhythmic sound impression for the listener. It is not uncommon for early hardstyle to use the Hoover sound, which was already used in the 90s, mainly in hardcore techno , in different modulations. This original form of the hardstyle is less suitable for playing notes due to the monotonous reverse bass. Melodies therefore only play a subordinate role.

Nu-Hardstyle (Euphoric Hardstyle)

Since around 2005 a new variant of beats has often appeared in hardstyle tracks. An offbeat is attached directly to the actually short beat, which (usually generated by a simple synthesizer with effects) is able to play notes. This makes it seem as if the beat itself is changing pitch, but it doesn't change pitch at all. The hardstyle kick, which is common and characteristic today, developed from the sound. This technique makes it possible to accommodate more harmonies in tracks, such as B. is common in hard trance (bassline). As described above, this mostly did not happen in the original Hardstyle. The technique of using this sub-bass is now called “Nu-Hardstyle”, “Nu-Style”, the more modern form in which the subbass is left out and only the pitch varies and accompanies the kick is called Euphoric Hardstyle . Some hardstyle fans dislike this style because they think it makes the genre too "soft" and commercial. Some of the best known exponents of Nu-Style are Headhunterz (his early works), Wasted Penguinz, Brennan Heart and Coone , who used this technique in almost all of their tracks, but now work with the modern hardstyle kick. At the moment mainly euphoric hardstyle tracks are published, the classic hardstyle has been almost completely displaced from the scene since 2008 and is hardly produced anymore.

Raw hard style

Raw-Hardstyle or Rawstyle is a style of Hardstyle, which is characterized by the fact that it is harder and much less melodic than Nu-Hardstyle. As with early and nustyle, the speed is usually around 150 bpm and the structure of a track is also similar. The difference to the alternative styles lies in the use of "hard" elements such as screeching and squeaky synths (including so-called screeches ) and industrial elements.

The harder characteristic is achieved above all by a strong emphasis on the bass drum, which stands out very dominantly in most tracks and usually has an emphatically powerful punch, deeply distorted bass resonances and an equally dark, fluttering tail . The main difference to the hardstyle kick in Nu-Style is that the kick rarely has a definable pitch. The snare drum, hi-hats and claps can also be placed over the kick, making them sound fuller and more massive; heavily distorted kicks, which are typical for hardcore techno, are also used. In earlier Rawstyle tracks, as in Early Hardstyle, mainly the reverse bass was used.

Another characteristic of the Rawstyle is the screeching or squeaking lead synth, which either emphasizes low frequencies to match the kick, or as a contrast to the middle and higher frequencies. A heavy modulation often makes the lead sound very jarring by design. In addition, the synth is often only used as an accompanying element to the kick, in contrast to the nustyle, in which the weightings are reversed. The synth mostly doesn't play big melodic motifs; In some tracks, the melodic instruments are predominantly screeches, shorter dissonant squeaking noises. In this respect, the raw style moves away from its original form by relying more on this raw quality, today's tracks are also very industrial-heavy. Furthermore, the anti-climax is typical for many rawstyle tracks . On this, like the normal climax, the Climax , is guided slowly increasing, but in contrast to the drop , this is strongly abstracted and usually does not contain any climactic melody and accompaniment apart from the kick, screeches and accompanying elements.

Today's raw style developed from harder versions of the hard style and got its name around 2011 with the appearance of DJs who focused on this style. Today the raw style has established itself; there are own labels like Spoontech Records , Theracords , Minus is More, Gearbox Digital and Scantraxx BLACK , producers like Digital Punk, Radical Redemption, Warface, E-Force and Regain as well as festivals like QAPITAL , Loudness , Supremacy, Fatality and Bass Academy Bootcamp Festival that focus purely on rawstyle.

In recent years, the so-called Xtra Raw has also increasingly appeared. At its core, Xtra Raw is derived from heavily raw hardstyle and goes more in the experimental direction. New kick variations with influences from other genres such as Psytrance. The kicks usually have a wide bass spectrum (i.e. in the frequency range of 20 Hz - 50 Hz). In addition, a lot of work is done with kickrolls. The kicks are sometimes played outside the usual rhythm. This should serve as a rhythmic instrument (good example Delete & Tha Watcher - Payback )

Typical hardstyle tracks

Early hardstyle

  • Zenith DJ - Energy 2002
  • Deepack vs. Luna - Kick This Mutha
  • Thomas Trouble - Echoes (Michael Fusseder Mix)
  • KAM - Frequency (Direct Mix)
  • Ultrasonic - Rock Da Place

Nu-style

  • The Nasty Boyz - Angel
  • D-Block & S-te-Fan - Music Made Addict
  • Josh & Wesz - Like Thiz
  • Headhunterz - Psychedelic
  • Headhunterz - Last Of The Mohicanz
  • Scope DJ - Lockdown
  • The Pitcher - I Just Can't Stop
  • Bass Modulators - Music Is My Life (Original Mix)

Rawstyle

  • Radical Redemption - Brutal 5.0
  • Digital punk - rest in hell
  • Delete - ghetto
  • E-Force - Seven

Xtra Raw

  • Delete & Tha Watcher - Payback
  • Malice & Krowdexx - Rawstars
  • Rooler - Martyr (Otherx Remix)
  • Thyron, Luminite, MC Focus - Rise of the Underground

Dub style

  • Headhunterz & Brennan Heart - The MF Point Of Perfection (Original Dubstyle Mix)
  • Bioweapon - Bass Power (Farly Dubstyle Remix)
  • Pavelow - sound flip
  • Atmozfears - Take Me Away
  • Ephixa feat. Veela - Fall Silently

Big room hardstyle

  • Headhunterz and W&W - Shocker
  • Nicky Romero - Toulouse (Headhunterz Remix)
  • Crypsis - Break Down Low
  • Showtek & Noisecontrollers - Get Loose
  • Benny Benassi - Back To The Pump (Technoboy Remix)

Euphoric Hardstyle:

  • Max Enforcer - Lost in Paradise
  • Refuzion - Without You
  • Da Tweekaz - Real Love
  • Bass Modulators feat. Vice - Save The Day
  • Code Black & Atmozfears - Accelerate
  • Toneshifterz feat. Chris Madin - Last Night
  • Coone feat. David Spekter - Faye
  • Sound Rush - Lifetime

Psystyle

  • Sub Zero Project - The Project
  • Code Black - Pandora (Psy Edit)
  • Toneshifterz - Psystyle
  • Warface - FTP (E-Force Remix)
  • Wildstylez - Children Of Drums

Well-known artists

Well-known hardstyle labels

  • Netherlands: DJS Records, Fusion Records, Scantraxx , Seismic Records, X-Rate Records, ID&T, Sensation Black , Dutch Master Works, Minus is More, TiLLT Records, Theracords, Keep It Up Music, Digital Age, WE R, Q-Dance Records, Spirit of Hardstyle, Art of Creation, Roughstate
  • Belgium: Dirty Workz
  • Germany: Blutonium Records, Hardnation Records, Tunnel Records, Hardbeatz Records, Harder Stylez Records, Davaro Records, Neptun Records, Musical Awareness Records, Infected Section Records, EDM-Unity
  • Australia: Spoontech Records
  • Italy: Activa, BLQ Records, Dance Pollution, Saifam, Titanic Records, Zanzalabs, Scantraxx Italy, Italian Hardstyle, Unite Records, White Blood Records
  • Great Britain: Bionic Digital Recordings, Gearbox Digital
  • Austria: Darkstyle Traxx, Hot Score Records, Austrocore, Hardfusion, Hard Music Records, D3-Structive Records, Sikkdome
  • Switzerland: ETX Editiontraxx, Sector Beatz, Swiss Masterworks
  • France: Hexablast Records, Invaders Records

Well-known events

Qlimax and Defqon.1 , two festivals organized by Q-Dance , are among the largest events of the genre worldwide. They take place every year - like most hardstyle festivals - in the Netherlands .

Germany

In Germany, the Syndicate Festival in Dortmund as well as the Toxicator in Mannheim and IMPAQT (formerly Q-Base ) in Weeze are among the biggest events on the scene. Occasionally large festivals of electronic dance music have their own stages where Hardstyle is played. One example of this is the annual Airbeat One Festival in Neustadt-Glewe , where the Dutch music organizer and record label Q-Dance has had a stage since 2016 , where Hardstyle is presented. This Q-Dance Stage is the second largest stage of the festival. Brennan Hearts I AM HARDSTYLE has been held in Mannheim every year since 2017 .

Switzerland

In Switzerland , the most famous event is the Sonic in Wolfwil, which has been held once or twice a year since 2000. In addition to hardstyle and hardcore techno, there is a Remember area, in which mainly techno and trance from the 1990s are played, as well as a large main floor where well-known DJs such as DJ Tatana , DJ Proteus and DJ Luna play. The Sonic is carried out by Hannibal Events.

Austria

In Austria, the most famous series of events - Heroes of Hardstyle - has already been implemented four times.

Since 2014 the Electric Love Festival in Salzburg has had its own hardstyle stage (hosted by Q-Dance since 2015).

The Shutdown Festival has been taking place in the disused Zwentendorf nuclear power plant since 2017.

Also since 2017 there has been an offshoot of the I AM HARDSTYLE in the Marx Halle, which is derived from the original in Mannheim with the same concept and stage design.

Chile

Hardstyle is also very popular in South America. An offshoot of Mystery Land and Defqon 1 Chile "(formerly" The Sound of Q-Dance ) take place in Chile.

Other larger events are:

ID&T

b2s

  • Decibel Outdoor
  • Hard Bass (last time in 2019)
  • Thrillogy
  • Euphoria
  • Knock out
  • Loudness
  • Remember
  • 1992is4you
  • Pussy Lounge
  • back2school
  • hardcore4live
  • Parking fee

Q-dance

  • FreaQshow (continuation of the event "The Final Qountdown", took place for the last time in 2017)
  • In Qontrol (took place for the last time in 2010)
  • The Qontinent (in cooperation with Bass Events)
  • IMPAQT (continuation of the "Q-Base" event)
  • QORE 3.0 (last took place in 2012)
  • Qountdown (at the turn of the year 2011/2012 the event took place under the name "The Final Qountdown")
  • X-Qlusive
  • Capital
  • IQON (took place for the first and last time on April 20, 2013 at the Sydney International Dragway.)
  • Qult
  • EPIQ NYE (continuation of the "WOW WOW" event since 2019)
  • WOW WOW (continuation of the FreaQshow event, which again took place only once in 2018 with a hotel concept)

Bass events

  • Reverze
  • Bass leader
  • Bass Events NYE
  • The Qontinent (In cooperation with Q-Dance)

I-motion

Subgenres

Dub style

Dubstyle is a combination of dubstep and hardstyle created in 2010 . A dubstep part is built into the song, which is mainly characterized by hardstyle. Two well-known examples of this are Headhunterz & Brennan Heart - The MF Point of Perfection and Psyko Punkz feat. Murda - trippy hippie .

Subground

Subground is a sub-genre of hard style and other styles of electronic dance music that is in the 130–135 bpm range. In contrast to Hardstyle, the sound is more aggressive and has fewer melody pauses, but more crescendo sections. The Climax comes unexpectedly. Overall, the bass has a hopping effect. Subground originated in Italy and was first played in February 2011. The first song, which was published in this direction was Darron of Activator . On the Defqon.1 2011 Activator Subground played for the first time to a large audience. In 2014, Q-Base had its own stage and its own anthem for the genre.

Web links

Commons : Hardstyle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Big Room House Killing Hardstyle. September 18, 2014, accessed March 3, 2017 .
  2. http://www.dubstyle.nl/
  3. ^ Story of Hardstyle - Hardstyle Mag. Retrieved July 18, 2016 (American English).
  4. What is Hardstyle? || Hard news. November 15, 2015. Retrieved July 18, 2016 (American English).
  5. Hardstyle - Beat Explorer's Dance Music Guide. (No longer available online.) In: thedancemusicguide.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2016 ; Retrieved July 18, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / thedancemusicguide.com
  6. What's wrong about nowadays rawstyle? - Hardstyle Mag. January 27, 2015, accessed July 18, 2016 (American English).
  7. Psytrance: the newest hype within the Hardstyle scene || Hard news . In: Hard News . January 17, 2017 ( hardnews.nl [accessed May 26, 2018]).
  8. dubstyle.nl
  9. Activator Interview Subground QULT ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / qu.nu
  10. Q-Base 2014 Geck-O - Fuel for the Night