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.
Danny Masseling, better known by his stage name Angerfist, is a Dutch hardcore producer and DJ.
Sydney born Nik Fish is an Australian DJ.
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 is an annual hardstyle and hard dance event in the Netherlands. It is 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.
Cristiano Giusberti, known by his primary stage name Technoboy, is an Italian hardstyle DJ and producer from Bologna.
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.
Q-dance is a Dutch company that organizes events and festivals that focuses on the harder styles of dance music – mainly hardstyle, hardcore, and hard trance. Popular events and festivals organized by Q-dance are Defqon.1 Festival, Qlimax, Qapital, Impaqt, EPIQ, and X-Qlusive. The events of Q-dance are easily identified by the letter “Q” on the event names. The logo of Q-dance is inspired by the knobs on DJ mixers, which if turned 120 degrees to the right creates the letter “Q”.
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.
Defqon.1 Weekend Festival is an annual music festival held in the Netherlands. In the past, it was also held in Chile and Australia. Founded in 2003 by festival organizer Q-dance, the festival plays mostly hardstyle and related genres such as hardcore, early and classic.
Frenchcore is a subgenre of hardcore techno. The style differs from other forms of hardcore in terms of a faster tempo, usually above 190-250 BPM, and a loud & distorted offbeat bassline.
Audiotricz are a duo from Nunspeet, Netherlands, consisting of Kenneth Kroes (20/01/1990) and Leon Benschop (27/12/1990) who perform and produce music together within the Hardstyle genre.
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, 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.
Randy "Ran-D" Wieland is a Dutch DJ and music producer.
Mark Carpentier is a Belgian DJ and record producer who performs under the name Mark With a K. He produces performs music within the hard dance music genre. He has performed at some major hard dance events in Europe.
Kateryna Kremko, known professionally as Miss K8, is a DJ from Kyiv, Ukraine. She played at music festivals including Defqon 1 and Masters of Hardcore, gaining recognition for her performances. In 2019, Kateryna took some time off due to pregnancy.
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.
