House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120-130 beats per minute as a re-emergence of 1970s disco. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
Intelligent dance music (IDM) is a style of electronic music originating in the early 1990s, defined by idiosyncratic experimentation rather than specific genre constraints. It emerged from the culture and sound palette of electronic styles such as ambient techno, acid house, Detroit techno and breakbeat; it has been regarded as better suited to home listening than dancing. Prominent artists associated with it include Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Venetian Snares, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Telefon Tel Aviv, μ-Ziq, The Black Dog, The Future Sound of London, Biosphere, Orbital and Luke Vibert.
Warp Records is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon. It is currently based in London.
Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The Future Sound of London, the Black Dog, Pete Namlook and Biosphere.
Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or "hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s. The thing that makes happy hardcore stand apart from happy gabba, is that happy hardcore tends to have breakbeats running alongside the 4/4 kick drum.
Altern 8 is a British electronic music act, comprising Mark Archer and Chris Peat, until Peat left the group in 1994. Best known in the early 1990s, their trademark was electronic rave music with a heavy bass line. Notable Altern 8 tracks included "Activ 8", "E-Vapor-8", "Frequency", "Brutal-8-E", "Armageddon", "Move My Body", "Hypnotic St8" and "Infiltrate 202".
Steps are a British dance-pop group consisting of Lee Latchford-Evans, Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Ian "H" Watkins. Steps were formed in May 1997 and achieved two number-one albums in the UK, 14 consecutive UK top-5 singles including two number ones, and a string of hits across Europe. The group has sold over 22 million records worldwide. In-addition to earning a BRIT Award nomination in 1999, for Best Newcomer, the group would be an opening support act for Britney Spears on her debut American tour the same year. When Richards and Watkins departed to form a recording duo, the group disbanded, on 26 December 2001 (officially). Their penultimate single reached No. 5 on the UK charts, while their final album of greatest hits, Gold (2001), was the group's second No. 1 album in the UK.
Eurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use of rich vocals, sometimes with rapped verses. This, combined with cutting-edge synthesizers, strong bass rhythm and melodic hooks, establishes the core foundation of Eurodance music.
DJ Sharkey is a British record producer, disc jockey and rapper. As of September 2011 he is semi-retired from music production and performance. Sharkey has performed in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Japan.
Peter Harris, popularly known as Blu Peter, is a British electronic dance music producer and disc jockey from South Wales, who pioneered the nu-NRG music genre in the late 1990s. In the early 1990s, he served as resident DJ at major London nightclubs Heaven and Turnmills. He has performed at raves and nightclubs around the world.
This is a list of available actual and physical albums belonging to the official Now That's What I Call Music! UK series, comprising: compact discs (CD), magnetic audio cassettes (AC), vinyl (LP), VHS tape, Universal Media Disc (UMD), DVD, and on other short-lived formats. They are categorized by series (country), then ordered by date. All series with the exception of United Kingdom and the United States have been discontinued, New Zealand had two more albums released as a playlist only on Spotify, South Africa had three more albums released as a playlist on Spotify under DJ Kurtis.
"Murder on the Dancefloor" is a song written by Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Gregg Alexander, produced by Alexander and Matt Rowe for Ellis-Bextor's first album, Read My Lips (2001). Released on 3 December 2001, the song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-10 hit worldwide, charting within the top three in Australia, New Zealand, and four European countries. In the United States, the single reached number nine on the Billboard Maxi-Singles Sales chart. "Murder on the Dancefloor" is reported to have been the most played song in Europe in 2002.
Nukleuz is a dance record label based in the Clapham area of London, UK. Nukleuz is the home to many artists and compilation series in various genres including trance, UK hardcore, tech house and hard house.
Mrs Wood is a British female DJ and record producer.
Ginger is the debut studio album by Dutch electronic music producer Speedy J. Released via a joint deal between Plus 8 and Warp in September 1993, the album was the sixth release in Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, which focused on "electronic listening music" by different artists. It peaked at number 68 on the UK Albums Chart and remains Speedy J's most successful album there.
React Music Limited was a British independent record label, based in London, formed in 1990 by James Horrocks and Thomas Foley. James Horrocks was initially involved with successful dance music independent Rhythm King, and React pursued a similar approach — specifically electronic dance music, house music, acid house, techno and rave, along with newer "dance" oriented subgenres which emerged throughout the 1990s. These included hard house, tech house, trance, hardbag, happy hardcore, drum and bass and chill out.
Richard David James, known professionally as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publications including Mixmag, The New York Times, NME, Fact,Clash and The Guardian have called James one of the most influential and important artists in contemporary electronic music.
Selected Ambient Works 85–92 is the debut studio album by Aphex Twin, the pseudonym of the British electronic music producer and DJ Richard D. James. It was released on 9 November 1992 through Apollo Records, a subsidiary of the Belgian label R&S Records. The album consists of ambient techno tracks recorded onto cassette reputedly dating as far back as 1985, when James was 13 to 14 years old. On release, it received widespread acclaim. It entered the UK Dance Albums Chart at No. 6 on 26 December 1992.
Hannah Laing is a Scottish disc jockey and electronic music producer from Dundee specialising in high energy trance, techno, and house music. In 2023 she was nominated for a DJ Mag Best of Britain award. Laing has been regularly featured on BBC Radio 1, including performing a two-hour Essential Mix.
Rachel Auburn is a British fashion designer and hard house and trance disc jockey and music producer. She has performed her music extensively internationally, and was both the first female DJ to play in China and the first to showcase 1980s London clubland fashion in New York and Tokyo. Auburn has held DJ residencies at club events including Tidy Trax, Taboo, and Trade, and has achieved UK chart success under her own name and the Tidy Girls and Candy Girls aliases.
