COMING TO TERMS WITH DANCE MUSIC

Break-what? Dub-who? For new fans of electronic dance music, the terminology is a maze of genres and sub-genres. Superstar DJ and electronica pioneer Moby breaks down a few basic terms.

EDM “No one calls it electronic dance music,” Moby says. “The term is EDM, and it’s a catch-all term for the different forms of electronic music.”

BPM

“All EDM is rooted in bpms (beats per minute),” says Moby, who set a Guinness World Record for fastest tempo in a single with his 1,000-bpm song Thousand. “Trance music is faster, house music is slower.”

DUBSTEP

“It’s a descendant of jungle, an early ’90s form of EDM with reggae and breakbeat influences. Jungle morphed into drum and bass, and then there was an offshoot, two-step, which slowed the bass lines way down,” Moby says. “Heavy metal and hip-hop, interestingly, share the same tempo, around 75 bpm. Dubstep is an amalgamation of the two.”

HOUSE AND TECHNO “They’re both offshoots of ’80s disco,” Moby says. “House has a slower bpm, techno is faster.” Both house and techno adhere to a steady 4/4 drum pattern.

BREAKBEAT

This rhythm breaks up 4/4 patterns with syncopation and is often used in dubstep. “It uses a lot of samples and is not as fast as house music, but faster than hip-hop,” Moby says. “The Chemical Brothers made it very popular, but Fatboy Slim (brought) it to the mainstream.”

ACID

“It’s not the drug,” Moby says. “Acid specifically refers to the sound of a bass line, and it’s very synthetic. It was a sound created in the late ’80s with the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer, which has a very harsh sound.” Acid also can be used to distinguish between sub-genres, such as acid house and acid breaks.

ELECTRO

“Originally, it meant futuristic electronic music. Now, it means hard electronic dance music.” Electro can be used as an adjective, such as electro-house and electro-pop.