Hardcore is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in the early 1990s. It is distinguished by faster tempos and a distorted sawtooth kick, the intensity of the kicks and the synthesized bass, the rhythm and the atmosphere of the themes, the usage of saturation and experimentation close to that of industrial dance music. It would spawn subgenres such as gabber.
Hardstyle is an electronic dance genre that emerged in the late 1990s, with origins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Hardstyle mixes influences from techno, new beat and hardcore.
Dov Joseph Elkabas, known professionally as DJ The Prophet, is a Dutch hardcore techno and hardstyle DJ and producer. The Prophet is also the owner of one of the largest hardstyle record labels, Scantraxx.
Qlimax was an annual hardstyle and hard dance event in the Netherlands. It was a major attraction held by Q-dance, and considered to be one of the leading hardstyle events, attracting nearly 30,000 people annually. It contains some of the most sophisticated production and setup, as well as sound system for any Q-dance event. On the 25th of July 2024, Q-Dance announced that Qlimax 2024 will be the very last edition.
SCANTRAXX is a Dutch record label founded by Dov Elkabas in 2002, specializing in both hardstyle and hardcore music.
Fusion Records is a Dutch sub-label of Freaky Music which, at first, released hard trance and hard house records, and kept growing by releasing hardstyle. After the end of Superplastik, the artists that were signed to it moved over to Fusion Records. These artists included The Pitcher and Dozer. Fusion stopped pressing vinyl in June 2010 to "enlarge their focus on digital releases".
Willem Rebergen, better known by his stage name Headhunterz, is a Dutch DJ and music producer. Rebergen is also a voice actor. He has done dubbing for several movies and TV series. He started his career in 2005 working on Hardstyle music.
Showtek is a Dutch electronic dance music duo consisting of two brothers from Eindhoven, Wouter Janssen. and Sjoerd Janssen. The duo regularly manages to reach the top of multiple music charts and work with artists such as Tiësto, Chris Brown and David Guetta. Showtek was ranked 17th in the Top 100 DJs list of 2014 but by the magazine's 2016 list, they had dropped to 96th. The brothers, who have been musically active since 2001, also offer podcasts on their own radio show on the music streaming service iTunes.
Pontuz Bergman is a Swedish DJ and hardstyle producer. Wasted Penguinz was originally a duo act that consisted of Bergman and Jon Brandt-Cederhäll, who left in 2020.
Joram Metekohy, better known by his stage name Wildstylez, is a Dutch hardstyle DJ and record producer. Having previously released hardstyle records under the alias 'Seizure', Joram Metekohy had his first solo release as Wildstylez in 2007 on the Scantraxx sub-label Scantraxx Reloaded. In 2010, he started the record label Digital:Age in collaboration with Noisecontrollers. After he stopped releasing on Digital:Age, and its subsequent collapse, Wildstylez had a string of releases on Q-Dance Records and also released many tracks for free via social media. In 2013, Wildstylez founded his own hardstyle label, Lose Control Music, under the parent label Be Yourself Music. As of 2014, he and Max Enforcer now release their own music through Lose Control Music. Later, in 2018, Wildstylez founded the label Art of Creation with Headhunterz.
Robbert van de Corput, known professionally as Hardwell, is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted the world's number one DJ by DJ Mag in 2013 and again in 2014. In 2022, he was ranked at number 43 in the top 100 DJs poll by DJ Mag. He is best known for his sets at music festivals, including Ultra Music Festival, Sunburn and Tomorrowland.
Frenchcore is a subgenre of hardcore techno. The style differs from other forms of hardcore in terms of a faster tempo, usually above 160 –185 BPM, and a loud and distorted offbeat bassline.
Thijs Ploegmakers, known musically as Adaro, is a Dutch DJ and producer. He has produced music in several dance styles, and in 2008 started producing raw hardstyle, for which he is considered to be one of the originators of.
Corey Soljan, better known by his artistic name Code Black, is an Australian hardstyle-DJ and music producer.
Fabian Bohn, known professionally as Brennan Heart, is a Dutch DJ and hardstyle producer.
Randy "Ran-D" Wieland is a Dutch DJ and music producer.
John-Paul Pirrello, known onstage as Outbreak, is an Australian DJ and music producer. Since 2002, he has been active in producing and performing hard dance music, specifically hardstyle since 2002.
Tim van de Stadt, known his stage name Atmozfears, is a Dutch hardstyle artist. Atmozfears was previously a trio, consisting of Tim, Kevin Keiser and Michael Jessen, formed in 2009. By the end of 2012, Jessen had left the group. In February 2012, Atmozfears joined the hardstyle label Scantraxx Records. Atmozfears has played at such festivals as Defqon.1, The Qontinent, Q-Base and Tomorrowland.
Bas Oskam, better known by his stage name Noisecontrollers, is a Dutch DJ and hardstyle music producer based in Veenendaal, Netherlands. Noisecontrollers was formerly a duo before Arjan Terpstra left the project in 2013, prompting Oskam to continue as a solo act. They are regarded as one of the pioneers of hardstyle music. Since leaving the project, Terpstra has been producing music using the stage name Bloqshot, focusing on different musical styles.
Omar Martinez, more commonly known by his stage name Illuminize, is an American music producer of Peruvian descent. The first release from Illuminize was a single titled Reality, which was introduced under Scantraxx's X-Bone label. Reality was Martinezs debut on Spotify and secured him a spot on Hardstyle.coms Top 100 list. Following this was his Scantraxx Debut titled Radiate. Shortly after, Illuminize released his third track titled Leave a Light with Nino Lucarelli.
