Progressive dance music
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Progressive electronic music (often referred to as just progressive) usually refers to a style of predominantly instrumental music played with synthesizers which draws on the influence of progressive rock, classical music, and/or ambient music. In this sense, it has been used to describe artists such as Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, and Tangerine Dream. The "progressiveness" of this style stems from the use of contrapuntal melodies, unusual or shifting time signatures, offbeat sound effects and a general tendency to create music as different as possible from mainstream pop.
However, more recently, the term "progressive" has been used to differentiate various offshoot styles of electronic dance music from their parent styles that are not affiliated with progressive music, i.e. progressive trance, progressive house and progressive breaks. These types of music might be referred to as "progressive electronic dance music" to differentiate them from the above use where the slow or varying beat prevents the label of "dance" from being applied. The rest of this article focuses principally on this second meaning.
Most electronic dance music tracks released are produced with certain features that are favourable for DJs to beatmatch records together seamlessly. Unlike the song structures of genres like hard house or Hi-NRG, the peaks and troughs in a progressive dance track tend to be more subtle. Layering different sounds on top of each other and slowly bringing them in and out of the mix is a key idea behind the progressive movement.
While the term "progressive" had been used to describe rock artists such as Pink Floyd or King Crimson since the late 1960's, it only started to be applied to dance music in the early- to mid- 1980s during the rise of the Chicago house and Detroit techno movements to describe what was believed to be the future of pop. Detroit techno producer Stacey Pullen said in an interview;
"Back then, the music we called house music, techno, was also called progressive music – the meaning of 'progressive' was a futuristic way of thinking about music. That was what we called progressive."[1]
Today, the term "progressive" when used to describe dance music typically refers to the structure of a track which changes incrementally, though there are other uses for the term: progressive trance usually refers to a type of trance music that features a less prominent lead melody and focuses more on atmosphere, and in the case of progressive house, the term "progressive" can also refer to the style's willingness to bring in new elements to the genre. These elements can be a variety of sounds, such as a guitar loop, computer generated noises, or other elements typical of other genres.
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[edit] Progressive house
Progressive house is a style of house music that is noted for musical progression within melodies and basslines. The term was coined by Mixmag editor Dom Phillips. It has similar elements to both electro-house and trance. It has its origins in Great Britain in the early 1990s, with the output of Guerilla Records and Leftfield's first singles (particularly "Song of Life"). In 1992, the dance club Renaissance opened in Mansfield. Its DJs - particularly Sasha and John Digweed - were instrumental in popularizing its early sound. The music itself consisted of the 4-to-4 beat of house music with deeper, dub-influenced basslines and a more melancholic, emotional edge. Often, it featured elements from many different genres mixed together. Song of Life, for instance, has a trip-hop like down-pitched breakbeat and a high-energy Roland TB-303 riff at various stages.
There have been many shifts in style in progressive house. After the release of BT's debut album Ima, for instance, many of the genre's subsequent records featured an ethereal, melodic style. As trance became more popular and melodic, progressive house darkened and acted as an underground counterpoint, merging with tribal house to produce many very minimal percussive tracks.
Meanwhile, the Melbourne-centered Australian progressive scene, whose luminaries include Phil K and Luke Chable pioneered a distinctive sound of their own - marked by melodic pads, delicate melodies and fierce basslines. This style was pushed heavily in Britain and elsewhere by DJs such as Nick Warren, Dave Seaman and Australian Anthony Pappa. Its influence also fed back into trance and these days even influences deep house and tech house. It continues to be as popular as ever.
[edit] Progressive trance
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"Xpander" (1999) Sasha's progressive trance track "Xpander" from the Xpander EP. - Problems playing the files? See media help.
Progressive trance is a popular sub-genre in trance music and contains elements of house, techno, and ambient music. Trance became more focused on the anthemic qualities and melodies, moving away from arpeggiated analog synth patterns. Acoustic elements and spacey pads became popular with compositions leaned towards incremental changes à la progressive structures. Progressive trance contains distinctive sounds in many tracks, such as unusual basslines or original synthesized sounds, which generally makes it more "catchy". Phrases are usually a power of two number of bars in most typical progressive trance tracks. Phrases usually begin with the introduction of a new or different melody or rhythm.
Compared to trance, the progressive wing is usually deeper and more abstract, featuring a lower average bpm (around 125-135 instead of 130-160) and a recurrent melodic structure. This structure is intuitively described as consisting of three major structural elements: (1) build-up; (2) climax; (3) break-down. These three structural elements are expressed either temporally or in their intensity, if not both. A 'build-up' sequence can sometimes last up to 3 or even 4 minutes. Subtle incremental/decremental acoustic variations (i.e., gradual addition/subtraction of instruments) anticipate the transition to each subsequent structural element of the track. The initial build-up and the final break-down are generally very similar, adding a feel of symmetry to the general structure of the melody. Furthermore, a progressive trance track is usually longer than a regular trance track, ranging in length from 5-6 to even 12-13 minutes.
Although there is a general and increasing tendency to associate progressive trance with progressive house (or vice-versa), virtually rendering these two sub-genres identical, there are however distinctive characteristics apart from the strong similitudes between them: progressive trance inherits from its parent genre (trance) a wider melodic flexibility, while progressive house is usually darker and more minimal.
Some of the most representative names that currently work (almost exclusively) in this sub-genre are Markus Schulz, Gabriel & Dresden, Andy Moor, Armin Van Buuren, Schiller and Paul Oakenfold.
It should be noted that 2006 - 2007 has been marked by fans as a very good years for Progressive Trance music, With numerous tracks appearing in the trance scene that have reached extremely high popularity. As well as the long running Dj, Armin Van Buuren, being crown as DJ Magazine's Worlds No.1# DJ.[2]
[edit] Progressive psytrance
Progressive psytrance (also known as minimal psytrance or psygressive) is the progressive form of psychedelic trance. Contrary to most progressive trance, progressive psytrance is usually darker and focuses more on psychedelia rather than melody.
[edit] Progressive breaks
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"Amidst the Raindrops" A clip of progressive breaks music. - Problems playing the files? See media help.
Progressive breaks essentially grew out of nu skool breaks and progressive house. Due to its origins in those genres, progressive breakbeat typically features atmospheric pads and melodies. Most artists working in this genre also work in other closely related genres such as breakbeats and progressive house. Hybrid is one of the most popular artists in this genre. Other popular breaks artists include Digital Witchcraft, Luke Chable, Retroid, Momu, and Way Out West, and Pillform.
[edit] Progressive drum & bass
There are a few forms of drum & bass which are considered progressive. Neurofunk, a variant of the techstep subgenre incorporates elements of jazz and funk along with multiple electronic influences including techno and house. The style also follows the progressive form as found in other genres. Drumfunk, a relatively new subgenre, can also be considered progressive. Contemporary atmospheric drum'n'bass have also been described as progressive.
[edit] Similarities in progressive genres
Since about 2000, progressive house and progressive trance have mostly converged. While the faster (130-140bpm) records are usually described as progressive trance, most producers from both styles have moved towards a slower (110-130bpm) tempo and are thus typically classified as progressive house. Many psychedelic trance artists have also moved to a slower (125-138bpm) range branding their style as progressive trance
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