Hardstyle

Hardstyle
Stylistic origins	Hard Trance, Gabber, UK hard house
Cultural origins	Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland
Typical instruments	Synthesizers, Sequencer, Sampler
Subgenres
Nu-style Dubstyle Reverse Bass Hard Bass (complete list)

Hardstyle is an electronic dance music genre mixing influences from hardtechno, hard trance, hardcore and rave music. The average tempo is between 140 and 160 bpm (beats per minute).

The hardstyle sound typically consists of a "heavy" sounding kick, intense reverse basslines, and "adrenaline-rushing" melodies. It bears some similarities to hard trance. Many hardcore artists produce hardstyle tracks as well. One of the most recognizable characteristics of hardstyle is that the 4/4 rhythm is made up of 4 triplets where the main beat is heard on the first of the three notes, and a secondary beat, chord, or sound effect is heard on the third of the three notes; just before the next beat. This creates a somewhat "pulsating" rhythm that characterizes the genre.

Hardstyle is mainly produced in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Australia and United Kingdom.

History

Hardstyle originated from Hard Trance, gabber and rave music with influences from UK hard house. The place of origin is the Netherlands, where the first hardstyle events started near the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000.

The English sound was very popular in the Netherlands for a short time, but it soon appeared that the Dutch public preferred a harder bassline. Artists like Dana and Pavo & The Prophet combined the English sound with new productions. This sound also gained some popularity in Germany, where it was picked up by the German label Tracid Traxxx (who defined their own sound as a combination of trance and acid), and later also by Blutonium Records and Resident E Recordings.

Afterwards, hardstyle productions briefly became popular in Italy, and later in Germany. Q-Dance organised a monthly event now called the North Sea Venue under the name Qlubtempo, an event which could be called the melting pot of Hardstyle.

In 2007 the style started becoming popular in several countries in the world, including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Scotland, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Estonia, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, France and Spain. In 2008 - 2009 the sound started to become popular in the U.S., Canada and some parts of Asia. Today its popularity is increasing very rapidly.

Hardstyle now has several large events hosted by Q-Dance all over Europe and Australia. Qlimax is the largest, spawning several editions since the beginning of the 21st century. Defqon 1 is held yearly at the start of the summer, and other events like In Qontrol and Q-Base are held at different points during the year.

Although Hardstyle is variations of many different genres of music itself, it has a growing number of sub-genres. One new style is called 'Melodic' in which the kick of the track is pitched higher to give a more exciting and more melodic feel to it. Another new style is called Dubstyle. This style combines Hardstyle and Dubstep, and can be described as a harder, faster and more melodic version of dubstep. Dubstyle is currently being used as a breakbeat style, but artists like Pavelow (Bas Oskam from the hardstyle duo Noisecontrollers) are starting to make just dubstyle tracks.

Notable related events

• Mystery Land
• Qlimax

Notable artists

• Alpha Twins
• ASYS
• Bass Agents
• Blademasterz
• Blutonium Boy
• Brennan Heart
• Builder
• Dana van Dreven
• Dark Oscillators
• Deep Forces
• Dj 666
• Dj Asa
• DJ Duro
• DJ Gius
• Dj Isaac
• DJ Lady Dana
• DJ Luna
• DJ Pavo
• DJ Phil Ty
• DJ Slideout
• DJ Tatanka
• Dj Trance Generators
• DJ Virus
• DJ Zany
• Donkey Rollers
• D-Block & S-te-Fan
• Hardheadz
• Hardstyle Masterz
• Headhunterz
• Kat
• Lowriders
• Mos Phat
• Mr. Puta
• Noisecontrollers
• Organ Donors
• Patrick Bunton
• The Pitchers
• The Prophet
• Psy Man
• Punkbusters
• Showtek
• SMF
• Southstylers
• Technoboy
• Tuneboy
• Wildstylez
• Yoji Biomehanika

Notable labels

• Scantraxx
• Fusion Records
• StraightOn Recordings