| Italo dance | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Eurodance Italo disco Eurobeat Italo House New Beat |
| Cultural origins | Italy, Middle-Late 1990s |
| Typical instruments | Keyboard, Drum machine, Synthesizer, Sequencer |
| Mainstream popularity | Mid (Europe), Early 2000s |
| Derivative forms | Euro-trance |
Italodance, also known as Nu Italo Disco, Nu-Italo or just Italo, is an offshoot of the Eurodance musical genre, which was especially popular in Europe in the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
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The term "Italo Dance" originates from its early counterpart italo disco in the 1980s. Except for their name, origin, and categorisation within dance music, italo dance and italo disco don't have much to do with each other musically. Originally it was considered an invention by Italian DJ Gigi D'Agostino and was called "Mediterreanean Progressive" in the middle 1990s, but it became mainstream after the release of the single Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65, although by this time it had a more commercial appeal than Gigi's music usually had.
Italo dance is mostly nightclub-oriented music mainly produced in Italy. The genre never really became mainstream enough for the whole European market but got a lot of airplay on Italian radios, especially the dance radio m2o, and in the southern parts of Europe.
Italo Dance is characterized by synthesizer-riffs, vocals modified with vocoders with catchy and simple chorus and typically a bass with a 'metallic' sound often referred to as "Tuba-Bass".
Italo Dance is often very positive and uplifting music; the lyrics mostly involve issues of love, partying, dancing or expressing feelings. Most of the lyrics are in English but Italian lyrics are also very common. Modifying the vocals with vocoders and pitch correction is also very common.
Almost all Italo Dance involves percussion and rhythm like most other electronic uptempo genres. They usually have a metallic sound and sounds like the bass produced by a tuba except faster. The percussion is always produced by synthesizers, and the typical BPM is around 140 although it varies from 60-165 beats per minutes.
Italo is often very melody-driven and is held together by the chorus and the main-theme (melody), some progressive derivates of italo is just driven by percussions and a male vocal though (see hard dance style).
Due to the diminishing popularity of italo-disco music in the late 1980s and thanks to the rise in popularity of eurodance, Italian music producers such as Cappella and Clubhouse and owner of the label Media Records, Gianfranco Bortolotti developed a new derivate of eurodance called "Mediterreanean Progressive" in co-operation with the famous Italian dj's and producers Gigi D'Agostino, Mauro Picotto and Swiss Robert Miles.
In 1995 Gigi D'Agostino released the single "Fly" which became a huge success in Italy which was followed up by singles such as "Elisir (Your love)" and "Gigi's Violin". One of the first countries to adopt the style was Germany where the label ZYX began to release a lot of Italian produced dance-music. Some of the more notable and recognizeable artists include Da Blitz, Einstein Dr Deejay, Taleesa, Double You, and Co.Ro. But it wasn't until the late 1990s the genre became mainstream in most European clubs. The producer Prezioso got huge success with his single "Tell Me Why" from 1999 and so did Gigi D'Agostino also with his massive hit-single "L'Amour Toujours" also from 1999.
The genre had its golden age from 1999 to 2003. Others look at the period of 1993 to 1995 as being the Golden age of this genre due to its infancy. Though the great italo hits by Eiffel 65, Prezioso, Gigi D'agostino, Molella, Gabry Ponte and DJ Lhasa still get lots of airplay the genre is far from mainstream today where it has been replaced by mostly electro and house music. Prezioso and Molella now produce house (music) and electro (music) and most other artists have also changed their genre, however Gigi D'Agostino, Gabry Ponte and Luca Zeta still produce italo.
Meaning "Slow and Violent" in Italian, Lento Violento is a subgenre of Italo dance developed by Gigi D'Agostino as a much slower and often more melodic type of music. The BPM is often reduced to the half of typical Italo dance tracks. The bass is often noticeably loud, and dominates the song.
A much harder type of italo originally invented by Roberto Molinaro and Provenzano DJ, reminds of some the hard electronic genres.