From Disco to Dance

Disco music had two important features that made for good dancing: (1) a distinct rhythm and (2) vamps (aka loops). In Disco the artist would actually sing the vamps, but because of computers sampling and looping got easier, and in a sense the singing artist became obsolete. The vocalist’s voice became merely another sound which could be sampled and then edited and looped. In Dance music the real artist is not the singer or the band members, but the DJ (Disk Jockey) who mixes different sampled sounds into new segued compositions. And so, in the early 1980s started a new type of dance music – electronic dance music.

The main subgenres of Dance music include: Techno, House, Trance, Electro, Break beat, and Drum-and-Bass.

Honestly, I’m still trying to figure the different sub-genres. A good place to start may be at Techno.Org’s Electronic Music Guide.

I will attempt short explanations to Techno, House, and Trance:

Techno music is the most repetitive style of dance music, with a 4/4 beat. It sounds very synthetic – in other words, one cannot recognize any normal instruments, only electronic sounds. Example of techno DJs may be Richie Hawtin, Chris Liebling, and DJ Hell.

House music seems to be slightly less synthetic, as if more sampling of “natural sounds” are included. There is also a clearer use of syncopation. Examples of house DJs may be Derrick Carter, Deep Dish, and Erik Morello.

Trance Music is similar to house, but it tends to build up (increase in rhythmic density) and build down (decrease in rhythmic density) a number of times throughout the session. Trance also have more harmony – or at least layers of instruments. Famous Trance DJs are Paul van Dyk, Astral Projection and Tiesto.



Since Dance music is not focused on lyrics, it falls slightly beyond our focus which is “Poetry in Music.” One way to listen to dance music while at the same time listening to good lyrics, is to find a crossover artist that makes both dance music, but also writes good lyrics. Let’s look at two examples: Dido and Björk.

Dido – “Who Makes You Feel”



Björk – “All Is Full of Love”