I Love Techno | |
---|---|
Genre | Electronic dance music |
Location(s) | Montpellier, France |
Years active | 1995-present |
Attendance | 40,000+ |
Website | Official site |
I Love Techno is an international techno music event that takes place in Montpellier, France. National and international DJs perform every year at this event. Associated with the event is a set of music prizes known as the Elektropedia Awards, which are given for excellence in various categories related to techno and the broader electronic dance music genre.
From 1995-2014 the festival was based in Ghent, Belgium. The first edition of this event took place in 1995 at Vooruit and attracted 700 people. The line-up included Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills and Daft Punk. Because of the sudden growth of the party, the event moved to Flanders Expo. At this venue there was one central room connected to five others named after colours: Red, Yellow, Blue, Orange and Green. The 2003 edition featured an Outdoor area.
At its peak, the festival in Ghent attracted about 40,000 visitors from Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Spain and Germany as well other parts of Europe and the rest of the world. Many spin-off versions of the festival have been held over the years across Europe.
In 2015, it was announced that the main festival would relocate to Montpellier, France as crowds had shrunk to between 20,000-24,000. Former I Love Techno organiser Peter Decuypere partly blamed the shrinking crowds on the festival embracing genres like dubstep and electro house. "The map was redrawn by dubstep and electro," he said. "I think that caused a lot of damage to the I Love Techno brand.". [1]
Associated with the event is a set of music prizes known as the Elektropedia Awards, which are given for excellence in various categories related to techno and the broader electronic dance music genre. [2]
A rave is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, trance, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.
Electronic body music (EBM) is a genre of electronic music that combines elements of industrial music and synth-punk with elements of dance music. It developed in the early 1980s in Western Europe, as an outgrowth of both the punk and the industrial music cultures. It combines sequenced repetitive basslines, programmed dance music rhythms, and mostly undistorted vocals and command-like shouts with confrontational or provocative themes.
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.
Dour Festival is an annual music festival in the municipality of Dour, Belgium. Since its creation in 1988, the festival has grown to an attendance of about 225,000 in 2015. The first year, only five bands were programmed. The festival format now consists of 5 days, 9 stages and more than 280 bands and DJs. The festival's acts come from a wide range of genres, such as: electro, rock, drum and bass, pop, R&B, reggae, house, punk, hardcore, metal, hip-hop, indie, techno, and more. Music is played for 17 hours each day, from 12pm until 5am. The festival attracts a very international and mixed crowd, at the 2009 event 40% of attendees were from Wallonia or Brussels, 32% Flanders, 16% France, 5% the Netherlands, 5% the United Kingdom and 2% elsewhere. In January 2010, Dour Festival won the prize for the best medium-sized festival at the European Festival Awards.
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. It is generally produced for playback by DJs who create seamless selections of tracks, called a DJ mix, by segueing from one recording to another. EDM producers also perform their music live in a concert or festival setting in what is sometimes called a live PA. Since its inception EDM has expanded to include a wide range of subgenres.
The Perth Dance Music Awards highlights the year's major accomplishments in Electronic music by Western Australians. It is an annual event, with the first awards held in 1998. The Perth Dance Music Awards aim to provide recognition and reward to those who are the best in their chosen fields with in the Perth electronic music scene. The recipients of the awards are voted for by the public.
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance music. While there exist attestations of the combination of dance and music in ancient history, the earliest Western dance music that we can still reproduce with a degree of certainty are old-fashioned dances. In the Baroque period, the major dance styles were noble court dances. In the classical music era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The waltz also arose later in the classical era. Both remained part of the romantic music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic dance forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, ecossaise, ballade and polonaise.
German electronic music is a broad musical genre encompassing specific styles such as Electroclash, trance, krautrock and schranz. It is widely considered to have emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, becoming increasingly popular in subsequent decades. Originally minimalistic style of electronic music developed into psychedelic and prog rock aspects, techno and electronic dance music. Notable artists include Kraftwerk, Can, Tangerine Dream and Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. German electronic music contributed to a global transition of electronic music from underground art to an international phenomenon, with festivals such as Love Parade, Winterworld and MayDay gaining prominence alongside raves and clubs.
Sensation is an indoor electronic dance music event which originated in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and organized by ID&T. The original event, which ran exclusively in the Amsterdam Arena for a period of five years until 2005, is now located throughout various European and a few non-European countries.
DJ Awards is a celebration of electronic music, and aims to recognise and honour DJs and individuals who have influenced electronic dance music worldwide.
5 Days Off is a festival that includes music and cultural events in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It started in 2001 as spin-off of Ghent, Belgium's Ten Days Off Festival.
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (BPM). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often characterized by a repetitive four on the floor beat. Artists may use electronic instruments such as drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers, as well as digital audio workstations. Drum machines from the 1980s such as Roland's TR-808 and TR-909 are highly prized, and software emulations of such retro instruments are popular.
Electronicore is a fusion genre of metalcore music with elements of various electronic music genres, often including trance, electronica, and dubstep.
Film Fest Gent, also known as International Film Fest Gent, is an annual international film festival in Ghent, Belgium. The festival held its first edition in 1974, under the name Internationaal Filmgebeuren Gent, and has since grown into the largest film festival in Belgium. The festival also puts the spotlight on film music; since 2001, Film Fest Gent has hosted the World Soundtrack Awards, a series of prizes for the best soundtracks for film and television.
Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many DJ Mag Top 100 DJs, including Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Steve Aoki, and Deadmau5.
Big room house or simply big room is a fusion subgenre of house music that gained popularity in the early 2010s. Although the term "big room" started appearing in news articles circa 2007, the current state of this subgenre emerged around 2010—12 and was popularized by songs such as "Epic" and "Cannonball". From 2013 on, artists like Martin Garrix, KSHMR, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Hardwell, Nicky Romero, Afrojack, and R3HAB began experimenting with this sound in their compositions.