ed, distorted and sequenced by machines and microcomputers. One style spawned another, resulting in a plethora of nomenclature. An extremely simplified hierarchical tree is as follows:Electronica-Synthesized, sequenced pattern, or electronically enhanced music.Drum And Bass-The focus is on the bassline. Often considered the most innovative branch of electronica.Dub-An electronic variation of Reggae. Comprised of things like bongos and didgeridoo.Synth-Think Casio, Boy George, Yanni.Techno-The above, plus the lead melody is synthesized.Dance-Static driven beat, extremely simple melodies.Breakbeat-Similar to drum and bass; beats sequences could be described as “inverted” or “trip”Trance-Incessant beat, much like Dance, but melodies are more complex and multi-layered.Hardcore-The above, plus the beat is extraordinarily fast paced.Intelligent Hardcore-Hardcore with more than one melody being sustained through most of the song.BreakCore-Breakbeat, lots faster.SpeedCore-Ridiculously, insanely fast beats. Often so fast that individual beats are indiscernible.Terrorcore-The above, and the “melody” is anything but melodic. The style we are interested in here is the high energy, mysterious terrorcore. The beats typically start at a fairly low frequency and become rapidly lower, i.e. 600hz-60hz in 500ms, and are followed by each other in rapid succession. The melodies are often simplistic, high frequency distortions with screeching tones, but are usually stacked atop one another to add layers of complexity, and to allow for progressions in the song with a minimum of interruptions in the main driving beat. The synthesizers and sequencers producing these sounds operate similarly to a music box or a player piano. There exists a spreadsheet-like table of instruments, arranged in time by position, with denotations for pitch, volume, and effect. The messages interleaved in the music are often filled with ang...
