Freeform hardcore

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Freeform
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins
Typical instruments
Mainstream popularity Small
Subgenres
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Other topics
Electronic musical instrument – Computer music

Freeform Hardcore (also known as Trancecore in its formative years, although this term can also refer to darker Gabber/Trance hybrids) is a form of Hard Dance introduced in 1999 that is an offshoot of a subgenre Happy Hardcore. The name "Freeform" was given by DJ Sharkey of the Nu Energy Collective, who along with several other DJs, most notably Kevin Energy, forged the new genre. The sound is quite experimental and has plenty of freedom in structure as you see in other 'free' musical genres such as freeform jazz, broken beat or wonky techno.

The first official freeform track was Ultraworld 5 By DJ Eclipse, which featured on the second installment of the widely popular Bonkers compilation series. Freeform began as a closely related offshoot of Happy Hardcore, borrowing much of its structure and sound. A satisfactory, if somewhat inaccurate, way of describing this early Freeform is as fast tempo Happy Hardcore with added elements of various Trance music styles. Given the nature of the genre, it was not long before it developed into its own highly unique and distinct musical style with a strong following. The DJs that produced Freeform continued to experiment, forever searching for that new sound, and a myriad of differing sounds and almost sub-genres of Freeform itself began to develop. Currently it is split into three primary streams, UK Freeform, NuNRG and FiNRG (or Finnish Freeform).

UK Freeform, having evolved directly from Hardcore, still relates closely to it and quite often is more melodic. Lyrics are more common place in UK Freeform, but are certainly far less pervasive than they are in Happy Hardcore. Earlier UK Freeform, particularly, was devoid of lyrics, especially those produced by DJs such as Kevin Energy and K-Complex, who had come to produce Freeform from Hard Trance and Hard House backgrounds, rather than Hardcore. Recently, however, UK Freeform has seen a resurgance in vocalists, with Sharkey teaming up with Suzi Ankhah to produce songs such as Dual Illumination, and Arkitech with his vocalist Amy who appears in many songs. The preferred vocals, to date, have been more akin to traditional Trance anthems, but very recent Freeform featured on the sixteenth release in the Bonkers series and the third release in the Hardcore Heaven series have featured vocalists employing Happy Hardcore style lyrics, even by such producers as Kevin Energy. This newer, cheesier, bouncier style of UK Freeform is being spearheaded by two labels primarily; Future Dance and Thin 'N' Crispy. The former is the brainchild of DJs Ethos and Stormtrooper, the latter DJ Robbie Long, who also plays heavily with Stormtrooper. This style of Freeform is rather popular amongst Hardcore producers, and quite often a few scattered songs will appear on otherwise Hardcore compilations. Even well renowned Hardcore producer Scott Brown has dabbled with this style.

FiNRG is much more closely related to Hard NRG and Psychedelic Trance. It developed later than UK Freeform, its formation officially marked in 2002 with the collaboration of DJs Karri K, Nemes and Carbon Based, previously experimenting with various styles of electronic music. Later they were joined by Alek Száhala and DJ RX in 2003, who added their own flavour to the style. FiNRG is typically broader in scope than UK Freeform, from dark and evil, to psychedelic and energised, to uplifting anthems akin to up tempo Hard Trance. There are a great deal of similarities between UK Freeform and FiNRG, as one would expect since the former is where the Finnish DJs drew their inspiration. Many of the synths employed by UK and Finnish producers alike are similar, if not identical, but it is the way in which they are utilised which really draws the lines of distinction between the two styles. While UK Freeform producers typically use Acidic and Psychedelic synths to highlight and enchance frantic, hard driving sections of songs, Finnish producers are more inclined to base the entirety of the song on them, and to focus instead on the complexity and depth of the music. That being said, both of the two styles are, virtually, open in style, as the name Freeform suggests, and there are countless exceptions.

NuNRG is the most recent style that is slowly emerging. As with all things Freeform, it is an highly amorphous style and somewhat difficult to define. This is particularly so because of all the Freeform styles it is the most experimental and almost entirely without boundaries. It is both a combination of UK Freeform and FiNRG, as well as employing a wide variety of musical tidbits from a plethora of genres, including, but not restricted to, Hardcore, Hard Trance, Acid Trance, Psy Trance, Hard House, Hard NRG, Drum 'n' Bass and Breakbeat. Headline Freeform DJs from both countries, including Sharkey, K-Complex, Kevin Energy, Alek Szahala, Carbon Based, RX and many more have been producing songs in this style, but the pioneers of the style are A.M.S, CLSM, with his self titled record label, Asa & S1 and DJ Impact. Anything from upbeat, Happy Hardcore style tracks, to melodic Hard Trance style anthems, to dark, dirty, acidic songs, and even to A.M.S and CLSM's unique down tempo, chill out style are possible.

A relatively new electronic music style, Freeform is emerging as a popular genre in the UK, Scandinavia and Australia. In North-America, some producers of Happy Hardcore are now creating music in the Freeform style, usually distributed on the internet, due to the diminishing popularity of Happy Hardcore, and relative rarity of venues, raves and Electronic Music events that offer live Happy Hardcore performances. It is even now becoming common place for Happy Hardcore producers to make forays into the Freeform side of Hardcore, even amongst some of the biggest names, such as Gammer, Scott Brown, DJ Weaver, Trixxy, DJ Brisk and many more. It seems as though the Hardcore sound is leaning toward Freeform, with the trend of diminishing interest in Happy Hardcore continuing, even those producers which have not yet produced anything that is entirely classifiable as Freeform are beginning to employ sounds and styles reminiscent of the more experimental genre, including slightly acidic and psychedelic synths.

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