EDM is an umbrella term. It covers styles that have little in common beyond a drum machine and a dance floor, which makes it confusing from the outside. This is a short guide to the main ones: what each sounds like, roughly how fast it is, and one or two places to start listening. It’s my map, so it leans toward what I make and listen to, and it leaves plenty out.
House and techno, the two roots
House is the base layer. It came out of Chicago clubs in the early 1980s and usually sits between 120 and 130 beats per minute, with a kick drum on every beat and a warm, soulful feel on top. Start with “Your Love” by Frankie Knuckles and Jamie Principle, then jump to Daft Punk’s 1997 album Homework to hear how far the same idea could stretch.
Techno came out of Detroit a few years later. It’s harder and more mechanical, it cares less about songs and more about rhythm and texture, and it runs anywhere from about 120 to 150 beats per minute. “No UFO’s” by Model 500, Juan Atkins’s project, is the usual starting point. After that, find a long Carl Cox set, because techno makes the most sense when someone is mixing it.
Progressive house and melodic house
This is my home territory. Progressive house keeps the house tempo and stretches everything out. Tracks build slowly, layers come in one at a time, and the payoff is a melody that’s been hinted at for minutes before it lands.
Two tracks explain it better than I can: “Opus” by Eric Prydz and “Strobe” by deadmau5. Both take their time, and both are worth hearing all the way through at least once.
Melodic house is the gentler neighbour, with a similar tempo, softer drums and more emotion in the chords. Lane 8 is where I’d start. His album Rise is a good first listen, and his This Never Happened shows don’t allow phones or cameras, which tells you what kind of listening he’s after.
Trance
Trance took shape in Frankfurt around 1990 and spread across Europe. It’s generally faster than house, somewhere between 125 and 150 beats per minute, and it’s built around long breakdowns where the drums drop away and the melody takes over. When people call a track uplifting, this is usually the feeling they mean.
Armin van Buuren and Tiësto are two of my biggest influences, so I’m biased here. Armin’s weekly radio show, A State of Trance, has been running since 2001 and is the easiest way in. Tiësto’s In Search of Sunrise mixes, which started in 1999, show the melodic end of the genre at its best. Above & Beyond are the third name I’d add, especially if you like vocals.
The festival sounds
These are the styles most people picture when they hear “EDM”. Each had its moment, and I’ve covered the order they arrived in a separate post on how EDM’s sound changed from 2010 to the early 2020s.
- Big room house. Built for the main stage, with long builds and very minimal drops, usually around 126 to 132 beats per minute. Start with “Animals” by Martin Garrix.
- Dubstep. Half-time drums, heavy bass and sharp sound design. Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites EP is the obvious way in.
- Future bass. Swelling, detuned chords and a softer, more emotional mood. Start with Flume’s album Skin.
- Tropical house. Slower and lighter, with plucked melodies. Kygo’s “Firestone” is the reference point.
- Future rave. David Guetta and MORTEN’s name for the darker main-stage sound they began making in 2019, with techno textures and trance-style arrangements. Start with “Never Be Alone”.
Where my own music fits, and where to go next
I make progressive house, trance and melodic electronic music, so my tracks live in the middle two sections of this guide. It’s also what I play in my sets. I’m one producer among a great many working in these styles, and the artists above are the ones I’d point you to before myself.
Two suggestions for going further. Pick one style and stay in it for a week before you move on, because these genres reveal themselves slowly. And if you want to get more out of each track, I’ve written a guide on how to hear more in electronic music. For the history behind these styles, see how EDM went from underground clubs to global festivals.
My own releases are here if you’d like to hear how these influences come out in practice.