House - Deep House
House was born from the hybrid between European Electropop and the American Disco music, in the middle of the Eighties, very precisely in Chicago. It was a thing which was inevitably to come, the expectation was almost palpable everywhere in occident. Two clubs can share the paternity of this sound around 1983: the Warehouse (which gave its name to the style), and the Musik Box. The first House tracks appeared on reel-to-reel magnetic tape in 1984 in the scene of the East Coast African-American deejays, but it is only into 1987 that House landed with force on to Europe. In Belgium it started from the clubs Boccaccio (Destelbergen), La Gaîté (Brussels), AB (Gent), 55 (Kortrijk), ... It did not lose any single part of its worldwide prestige since then.
Characterized by a rhythmic 4 times/4 measures and a cordial and festive environment inherited from Funk and Philly Sound, it immediately reveals its filiation with the Disco music. Very vocal in the case of the Garage House, or very instrumental as in the case of English Uplifting House, it varies and changes color but always keeps its original flavour.

3 House miniclips: House [realaudio]
5 outstanding labels: Chicago Traxx - Strictly Rythm - Eight Ball - Guidance - Cajual
4 current labels: 20:20 Vision - Paper rec. - Soma rec. - Tactile rec. - Defected rec
Some Belgian House deejays: Koenie, Geoffroy, Raoul, Lorenzo, Isabel, Danny V, S-Venus, Smos & Baby B, Sven Van Hees, Murvin Jay
Some more ClubHouse deejays: Olivier Gosseries, Junior Jack & Kid Creme, Olivier Abbeloos, Miss Luna

Progressive House
Recently appeared because of the Progressive Trance wave. This style answers the expectations of a public seduced by Trance but which wants something softer or a little more refined. The House rhythmics and atmospheres thus integrated the sounds, the gimmicks and the emotions close to Progressive Trance to give Progressive House.
Some deejays: Sander Kleinenberg, St Dic (when he plays this, but he's usually more House)

Techno
Techno was born under the recent impulse from House around 1987. It is a purified vision, much more centered on the electronics, and also colder than House, which made possible for young blacks of Detroit to create the first rhythms of Techno. Since 1987 let us point at Juan Atkins (the mentor), Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and very quickly Jeff Mills or Mike Banks. Two large American tendencies quickly became apparent: the hardest and radical side around Mike Banks, Jeff Mills or Robert Hood, the calmest and intellectualized around Derrick May, Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, Kenny Larkin, etc. .. But during that time, Techno had taken an incredible recognition in Europe with its German, Belgian, Dutch or English derivatives.
In Techno, you'll find a 4 times/4 measurements rhythmic, but voluntarily mechanical and preeminent, underlined by rageous or enigmatic electronic sounds. The general atmosphere is rather cold, often energetic and very futuristic.

3 Techno miniclips: Techno [realaudio]
4 outstanding labels: Transmat - Planet E - Axis - Underground Resistance
Some Belgian deejays: Deg, Kozz, Pierre, Psychogene, T-Quest, Zzino, D-Jack, Tomaz, Tim
Belgian Techno live acts: Sharpside, Fabrice Lig, Sebastian S, Analog B,...

Drum'n Bass (or Jungle)
Originally typically English, all started in 1988-89 with a style named Original Hardcore... a blend of Hip Hop and Industrial Tech music. The band Prodigy started with that style on "XL" records, but also Dave Clarke (the Techno deejay) or some other labels like "Shut Up and Dance". Then it turned faster and faster (180 bpm) and integrated some sounds and lyrics from the Ragga ... it thus became the Jungle music, thanks to the 'Jungle club' in UK.
Back then, Jungle filled Wembley stadium, and made gigantic events with 15 to 20.000 people around London and Brixton. Some originators of that music style say it was the greatest time for creativity.

In 1996, there has been a split between the Jungle (fast and ragga) and the Drum'n Bass (chillout, jazzy and more atmospheric) ... but the term "Drum'n Bass" had more support and sticked to the global movement... so in 1999, everyone was talking only about Drum'n Bass for the quiet as well as for the faster. It was the rising top of the phenomen in United Kingdom, and with its British stars it really engraved that new music into the world medias.
But now there's a new generation of Drum'n Bass musicians... from Australia, Brasil, New-Zealand, USA, Norway or Austria, ... worldwide. Plus the wilder and younger names from UK, such as Evol Intent, D Kay, Spor, Jenna G, Calibre, Raiden, or Ben Sage.

In Belgium, after long years in the deep underground, the scene is now bigger every year and gathers more and more crowds since 1999-2000. The smallest parties get 300 ppl, the biggest 5000 and more.

2 Drum'n Bass miniclips: Drum'n Bass [realaudio]
Brilliant original UK names: Aphrodite -Hype -Bailey -Adam F -Marky -Doc Scott -Nikki Blackmarket -LTJ Bukem -Roni Size -Grooverider -Fabio -Krust -Brokie
New ruling names: Zinc -High Contrast -Vapour -Optical -Spor -Calyx -Pendulum -Concord Dawn -Calibre -Dom&Roland -Evol Intent -Noisia
Some labels: Metalheadz, Bingo, Dope Dragon, Full Cycle, Revolve:R, Source Direct, Virus, Breakbeat Kaos, V Recordings, Reinforced, Moving Shadow
Some Belgian deejays: Wontime, Millenium Kru (aka Daviz & 187), System D, Rhumble, Brekbit, Saiko, Baz, Lady Vortex, D-Convict, Pneumotracks, Miss Elorak, GroundKontrol, Shift 62, Wasp, Respawn

Breakcore / Drumcore

And then came the Breakcore... which is still bit of a mystery for most people out there.
Well (this description is OPEN to ANY SUGGESTION or MODIFICATION ... just send us a mail),
Breakcore has probably also a British origin, but it has strong branches in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. In belgium it now often gathers 1000 to 5000 people partying all night.
It's the dark soul of what Drum'n Bass could have been if rebuild by Aphex Twin or Autechre... plus a touch of punkrock, a drop of Gabber, a hand in HipHop, a cloud of Ragga, a laugh of fun samples, and a slice of Industrial. Fasten your seatbelts and make sure there's no neighbours.

There's already many subdivisions in that scene... a slow and a fast one, the Breakcore, the Drumcore, more dark or more fancy, etc...

6 Breakcore miniclips: Breakcore [realaudio]
Some labels: Planet Mu, Zhark, Wood, Worm Interface, Tigerbeat, Uncivilized World, Shockout, Ambush, Radio Bomb, Position Chrome, Blut, Praxis, Damage, Mirex, Bloody fist, F.L.O.,...
Some Belgian names: X&Trick, Tim Terror, Droon, Hell-zo, Sickboy, C-drik, Bioxyd, Errorik, Zek, Probex, Mushka... Seal Phüric can come close to that too... as well as Acid Kirk (Syncopated Elevators Legacy) or Yuri (Lester Lewitt).

Electro - Electrofunk - Electronic Body Music
(+ Miami Bass, Electroclash, DiscoNouveau)
The Electro has two great interpretations. The Electrofunk and the Industrial.

The first was born in the United States, and mainly in New York and Detroit at the end of the 70' S, then gave birth to Hip Hop a couple of years later. For New York we must mention Africa Bambaatah from the Bronx, Grandmaster Flash or the Newcleus band, whereas for Detroit one found Juan Atkins (already) and his nickname Model 500. This style of course found its roots in a mixture of Funk and electronic sounds of Kraftwerk.

On another side, more strictly European, a phenomenon coming from the cold suburbs of Manchester, Berlin or Brussels showed up around 1982 to expand in the mid-80's. Hybrid of the hard Rock'n'roll, Kraftwerk (them again) and of the electroacoustic of Stockhauzen, bands like Nitzer Ebb or Tuxedo Moon, Split Second, Front 242 or Snowy Red gave life to what would become Electronic Body Music and Industrial Electronic Music. Anne Clark and John Foxx had opened in 1980 that post-Punk way in which was engulfed the whole continent... some today name that typical early 80's wave 'ElectroPop'.
We also should mention the 'Miami Bass' which has been a strong electro movement over the USA in the mid-80's and came back to influence Techno in the early 90's. Name here Teckmaster PEB, Dynamix II or Magic Mike.

Today, blend of all that, after about ten years of underground maturation, the Electro returns while surfing on the Eighties revival. But no one could forget the influence of Drexciya or so many Electro producers from Detroit or Germany.

3 Electro miniclips: Electro [realaudio]
Outstanding labels: Ralph rec., Off Beat, Tellektro, Underground Resistance, Disko B
Some Belgian deejays: Spacid, Joost De Lyser, Stel-R, Raphael, Mi-Yu, Shaman, D-Jack, Tabi

Electroclash - Electrohouse
Disconouveau - Booty [Ghetto Tech/Accelerated Funk]

But in Belgium, Germany, England and Netherlands -besides the strong underground communities since the early 90's- the thing that really launched the come-back of the Electro for the larger public is the Electroclash wave that went through 2001-2002 under the influence of a label named Gigolo records. Cover of 80's Cory Hart hit song, global electro-trance crossovers, creation of a star named Miss Kittin, maximum fuss about The Hacker, Tiga or Vitalic... the wave was and is still huge. It even slowly overwhelms Techno since January 2003 in the clubs and large events.

Electroclash miniclips: ElectroClash / Synthcore [realaudio]
Electroclash labels: Gigolo, Lasergun

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There's also the Italo Disco in his kitsch 82-86 version which is coming back in a big revival (see at 'Disco'). Consequently to this Italo revival came an hybrid of Electro and late Disco plus a touch of House... the Disconouveau. Many clubs use that word for anything now (even for some average funk music... hehehe), but Disconouveau is not House music, neither Disco music or Funk. Disconouveau is a very new sound with roots in Electro and Italo Disco, and even a slight touch of trancy loops.

Disconouveau miniclips: DiscoNouveau [realaudio]
Some good Disconouveau labels: Viewlexx, Catnip, DiscoNouveau (Ghostly), Holosynthesis
Belgian Disconouveau deejays: Dr Lektroluv, Cosy Mozzy, Joost de Lyser, Dan, Lady Jane, Darko, Stephen, Mandrak, Ed & Kim, Rob&Zoopsie

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And you could also count with the Booty, also called Ghetto Tech or Accelerated Funk...
Born in the mid 90's in some parties of Detroit from a public who was tired of 'intelligent Techno', It's really a joyful blend, changing the records almost every 25 seconds. Booty is a ride over speeded Electro + R'n B tunes spinning at twice the normal speed + action movie references (star wars, superman) and a HUGE dose of sex words (ass, titties, shake ya booty, in and out, ...). Wonder why the name is Booty... heh.
Shortly: it goes fast as a rabbit and bold as a buffalo. Try to follow.

Booty miniclips: Booty [realaudio]
The two leading names from Detroit, USA: dj Godfather, and dj Assault

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Electro crosses the fury and the calm, the past and the future. .. without never really choosing between both, it makes us live the present. It may wear hundreds of names... it's still Electro.

Trance
About 1992, the deejays played House, Techno and the beginnings of Trance without particular reference to any style. One only spoke about "hard" or "deep", sometimes about "hypnotic" but nothing very sectarian. Then since 1994 the movement emerged, encircled stars (Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, Sasha) ... and then it dominated the clubbing scene during 5 years.
It consists in a Techno base with bold loops of increasing sounds... the target is to seduce the masses so it has to take them into a tornado of uplifting sounds. Some could say it's a very pretending music, some others actually say that it has been a musical revolution in terms of popularity and technicity of the electronic music.
Some Belgian deejays: PhiPhi, Marko, Yves Deruyter, George' S, HS
Since then , two big styles emerged (see below)

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Progressive Trance
Primarily English and extremely popular, it has been the N°1 music on BBC Radio One for more than 10 years (1993-2004).
On a Techno based rhythmic with a countertime bass, it develops cathedral sounds and voices of sanctified wonder-lolitas. "Take me higher", "release your body", "I love the way you make me dancin". .. the topics do not miss. No doubt, this style has a stock of sounds and unceasingly recycles increasing targeted stereotypes. .. successfully since this principle gathers tens of thousands of young people in parties in England or Holland, also under the name of Hard House.
2 Prog-Trance miniclips: Progressive Trance [realaudio]
Outstanding names: Paul Oakenfold, Mauro Picotto, Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto
Some Belgian deejays: Yves Deruyter, Marko, PhiPhi, TC BRain,..
Belgian live acts: Push, Ian Van Dahl, Yves Deruyter

Psytrance
Initially named Goa Trance since it arrived in the cases of deejays coming back from the bays of Goa-India around 1994, Psytrance is today the center of the largest raves in the West coast of the United States (SoCal Raves, side-scenes at Burning Man, ...) and of a revival of open air raves in Belgium, Lithuania, Italy and France (with many problems of respect and politics in this last country but it seems to get better now).
The base is also a Techno rhythm, but equipped with psychedelic and hypnotic sounds. Tens of repetitive layers superimpose and evoke enormous polychrome spirals, added with words and sentences sampled from mystical films or great human speeches (cosmic poetry, Gandhi, Dr. Luther King, Indian mystic chants,. ..)
At first, the Goa deejays were not mixing the tracks, they just switched at the right moment from the one playing to the next... only because they took minidisc copies and DAT tapes of their records when flying to India ... and also because there was almost no mixtable there, so they switched directly from the amplifier. It went to be a mixing style for a short time in the European Goa community in the mid 90's. No mix, only cuts.
Excessively merchandized from 1996 to 98 with the name Goa (featuring hundreds of compilations with mostly sad cheap Eurotrance), that sudden commercial peak pushing Goatrance on TV and radio touched the curiosity of many neo-hippies. Then, exploited to the bones, Goa Trance vanished from the stores as fast as it came up. But the underground Goa community was yet structured and went bigger and bigger every year since then... preferring Psytrance to describe its music. Psytrance for Psychedelic Trance, of course.

Now Psytrance adapted itself to a newer impulse, with talented deejays and a strong worldwide community. Some talk about a coming second big popular wave, but a good one with a real creativity... some others want to protect it from the big appetite of the music business. One thing is sure: Radio shows invite more and more Psytrance deejays and magazines such as Out Soon are also publishing full pages about it. Who said Goa was just a short hype?

2 Psychedelic Trance miniclips: Psytrance [realaudio]
Outstanding names: Goa Gil, Astral Projection, Overlords
Some Belgian deejays: Anoebis, Djamoon, Kyoa, Oonah, Azrael, Xio, Dava, Moushka, Phasid
Check for the flyers or you'll remain out of the thing... locations are usually not on the web, only on the flyers.

Bootlegs    (Mashup / Bastard Pop)
That's more popular since 2003-2004 ... but it started in the mid-nineties.
A new style is born from the BLEND of all musics, and typically from the deejay culture.

Take the music of a random hit... a big one. Mix it perfectly with the voice of another song... and make it so perfect that it creates a new track... a new song. That's what a bootleg remix is.
It's not just a remix of a track. It's not just a Techno version of a classic song.
It's a mix of two classics, giving birth to a new one.

It has no particular style... it can be Rock, or Reggae, or Funky, or House, Drum'n Bass... anything as long as it mixes at least two songs.

There are already many big names producing albums strictly made of bootlegs, and many deejays play it in parties...
Outstanding names: Osymyso, 2 Many DJ's, McSleazy, Lenlow, Loo & Placido, Zebra, dj Moule
Some Belgian deejays: Flying Dewaele Brothers (2 Many DJs, Soulwax), The Glimmers, Protesta, Piiit, Sebwax, Zamali.

7 bootlegs miniclips in 3 minutes: Bootleg [mp3]
(by djMoule, djMashup, Arty Fufkin, McSleazy, Divide&Kreate, Loo & Placido,...)

But you can be sure that even in the local popular clubs, any deejay will have some of those bootlegs and will play it. That's just very 2007 :-)
For instance... the music of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" with David Bowie singing on it? That's a bootleg... or a Mashup ... or a Bastard Pop ... however you name it.

Reggae
Do you know Bob Marley and Alpha Blondy? It's Reggae. You know Dennis Brown or Israel Vibrations? It's also Reggae. You know Jah Shaka, King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry or Linton Kwesi Johnson? That's Dub Reggae ... more instrumental and weird. Well, you already know what's Reggae. Its origins are coming from the Fifties and the Merengue in the Carribean islands, and it took 20 years to the 60's Jamaican Ska to become the Roots Rock Reggae that we know. But it's a Rock singer who made it popular... Eric Clapton singing Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1973.
In Belgium, the Reggae scene has been a little forgotten at the end of the 80's to boldly come back in the mid 90's thanks to many young soundsystems (Far West Crew, Roots by Roots, Reggalize, Bass Culture Sound, ROC Sound, Nyabinghi Sound, ...) and to the success of a summer festival like Geel.
2 Reggae miniclips: Reggae [realaudio]
Some Belgian soundsystems: Bass Culture, Bong Prod., Exodus Freedom Fighters, Roots by Roots,

Ragga (or Dancehall)
It's the Dance version of the Reggae. What Reggae became with the 80's. First there was the Rub-A-Dub style from 1984. The music was going faster, le rythm louder, and the lyrics way more claimed than sang. A short time later, that style getting extremely popular evoluated to become the RaggaMuffin. Today in Europe and in that scene, it is the term Ragga which remains. Most of the Belgian Soundsystems play more Ragga than the classical 'Roots' Reggae.
Outstanding names: Little Lenny - Beenie Man - Bounty Killa - Buju Banton
Some Belgian soundsystems: Bass Culture Sound, Civalizee Foundation, ROC Sound, Boombastic sound, Far West Crew.
Belgian Ragga live act: Uman

R'n B & Funk
That's everywhere in your FM stations ... and that's deserved. Originally named New Jack at the end of the 90's, it rapidly emerged in the billboard as the overwhelming style since the mid 90's. Destiny's Child, Mariah Carey, Robert Kelly, TLC, Bobby Brown, Lauryn Hill... all of them have been part of the R'n B wave. But, even if that music is Funky, mostly black and totally creative... most of the musicologists wonder why it's been named R'n B ... when it's not Rythm and Blues. But R'nB is R'nB and you'll find it in most of the mainstream clubs.

Funk is the widest way to name all the groovy warm African-American dance musics that emerged since the late fast Soul Music of James Brown, or the Funkadelic creations of Georges Clinton. It puts together Kool and the Gang, Prince, Michael Jackson, Charles Mc Pherson, Diana Ross, Joe Tex, Commodores, etc... I say it shortly here... but it's one of the widest style to explore.

Some Belgian deejays: TLP, Sake & Cosmic, Du-Tam, Noise P, Killa Tactics, Daddy K, HMD
2 R'n B miniclips: R'n B [realaudio] (but too commercial... i'll change it soon)

Hip Hop
Wide range of music, hard to define. It includes Rap, yeah... but not only. It all started with Electrofunk item 'Planet Rock' by Afrika Bambaatah from the Bronx in New York, but also with Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash who also made raps on a sortof slow Discofunk. That was in 1979, maybe 1980... and now you see what it is: one of the biggest music phenomen in the 20th century. Unfortunately, the very diverse publics and moods it brings seems not to fit with a nocturnal event and most of the Hip Hop parties stopped in Brussels since a 'Cut Killer' event in 1996 that turned really bad. A real Hip Hop scene still remains in Gent, Antwerpen and some other cities by the help of some clubs like Culture Club.
Big names: Ice T - Wu Tan Clan - NWA - IAM - Gangstarr - LL Cool J - Canibus
Some Belgian deejays: Grazhoppa, Defi-J aka Sahly, TLP
Lives: Starflam - Puta Madre - Uman - Pitcho

Disco
Yeah! Da thing from the seventies and eighties! The Philly sound (Black dance soul from Philadephia) took a step into history when it turned into Disco around 1973 or 74. All clubs in America suddenly played that music initiated by the African-American community, and the movie 'Saturday Night Fever' made it big worldwide in the time of a snap. Even the normal R'n B records were then sorted in the Disco sections of the recordshops because that name was even doing better sales on any music. Actually the American production was vast and inventive, so thousands of records and new names emerged to answer the popular demand. But in 1981, Disco had a massive backclash in USA and quickly disappeared from the radios and clubs playlists.

Disco miniclips: Disco [realaudio]
Big names: Salsoul Orchestra - First Choice - Norma Jean - France Joli - Amy Steward - Georgio Moroder
Some Belgian deejays: King Kitsch, Dr Disco, Yves-E-Zone, Kidd Coconut, Felipe cortez

In Europe it was more like Abba, Ottawan, Patrick Hernandez and some really cheap music or a little later the big Italian Disco movement. That's the second age of Disco, when it was already crashed in USA but still alive in Europe... and it then took the name of NRG Disco (Sylvester, Patrick Cowley, even Blondie in UK, ...)

Precisely in Italy, a huge Disco phenomenon banged the Adriatic seacoast: the Italo Disco , from about 1980 to 1986. Hundreds of singers and bands appeared and disappeared as fast as you can imagine, but a style finally remained from all that electronic fun stuff. It was mostly a first-degree cheap electronic base with some very simple English spoken lyrics told (or sung) by a very virile voice with an italian accent, and some girls in the background. Juicy!

Italo Disco miniclips: Disco [realaudio]
Big names: Mito (Romano Musumara), Alexander Robotnik, Mike Mareen, Gazebo, Koto, Scotch
Belgian deejays: Spacid sometimes, Rob & Zoopsie, Joost de Lijser sometimes

Psychedelic Rock
All started back in the mid-sixties when youth turned on new colours, new states of mind and new ways to appreciate music. Of course there's the truth and the memories which are never the same, but even today some party people want to enjoy a deep journey into that time. Acid Rock, Rock Garage, Head Rock, Progressive Rock, Protest Songs, ballads, and symbolic peace & love anthems.
Expect sounds like Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, The Doors, Jethro Tull, Shocking Blue, Hawkwind, The Troggs, Beatles, Jefferson Airplanes, Sonny & Cher, Led Zeppelin, etc... but also some 60's Soul like Otis Redding, Joe Tex, James Brown, Aretha Franklin or Curtis Mayfield.

Psychedelic Rock mix in a Psyclotron party 1994
Some Belgian deejays: Beat Gonk (aka Philippe Golbert), Colantoni, Miss Shazzula, El Bosco, Gillax-O-Tron, Gilles Maes, Uriel

Latino
Alias Salsa, Samba, Merengue, but it's as large as South America can be ...
Never confuse Samba with Mariachis... that has nothing in common except the suntan.
Some Salsa names: Ray Baretto - Jerry Rivera - Tito Puente - Grupo Niche - Ray Gayo - Chico Buarque
But now also: Bebel Gilberto - Suba - Zuco 103 - and all the nice neo-latino stuff ...
Some Belgian Salsa deejays: Mario Rumba, Cisko, Diris Daris, Lady Tania, Robert Swing

Dubstep (and Grime)

The Dubstep is one of the new winds in the electronic nights, and it's mostly coming from UK.
Its sidestream named "Grime" is more strictly typical from London.

Yeh, well... it's told as "the new hype" on BBC Radio One and MTV, but it's also a refined scene full of new artists on the edge of the musical progression.
And what is it like? Wow... large question. What is Dubstep?
Let's say (and I can be wrong):
a rythme base made of TwoStep breakbeat + wild as Hip Hop + a few Electro sounds + loud bass from the Drum'n bass + sometimes some Rock and heavy guitar sounds ... and there's even more influences in it. But it's a lot slower than Techno or Drum'n Bass.
A weird and fancy musical blend of the last 15 years... and strictly instrumental.

The Londonian "Grime" usually comes with an MC toasting on the mike.
Could remind some of us of the 'Speed Garage' that shook UK in 1995-96, but with an uplifted MC rhyming on the loops.
There's already an underground Grime and a commercial Grime... so, beware of imitations. ;-)

The Dubstep and the Grime are really new ... the name could change with the time, and the music could slightly change too... but this style orientation  will remain in the nightlife for a while.
Dubstep already has some dedicated shows on the UK national radios and shows up more and more in Gent, Brussels and Liege.

3 Dubstep miniclips: Dubstep [realaudio]

Fanfare / Fanfaria / Brass Bands / Street Orchestra
a band of 5 to 50 musicians playing any style with a lot of fun

It's reggae - samba - soul - ska - traditionals - jazz - rock remake - funk - anthems - movies themes - circus music - any music that makes the people move!
Some used to call them Punk Fanfares, but it's not really punk... it's more like fun and hilarious gathering of musicians in a new way to see the brass bands.
Don't even think about the usual bands in uniforms with dancers etc... it's nothing like that. Way more like a bunch of nice neo-hippies and post-punks playing Duke Ellington and James Brown for a young public.

Some horny horns: trumpets, saxophones, bass tuba, some wicked flutes, a few drums, and it's up on the streets!

The biggest names for Belgium:
Jour de Fête (30 to 50 musicians, ex-'Combo Belge'), Cramique, Les Alimentation Générale, La Fanfare Electrique, Los Trogos, Fanfare du Commando Fête, La Nouvelle Flibuste, Les Fanfoireux, Fanfare du Belgistan, La Band'As de Wattrelos, la Margharitta, Sans Tambour Ni Trompette, Les Joue Debout, Les Pas Ce Soir Chéri (ladies band), Les Bidochons, Los Arsouillos, Fanfare des Crapauds St Jacques, Fanfare Bolchévique, Les Plaies Mobiles,

The biggest hit in Belgium: the 'Strip Tease' original soundtrack by Combo Belge
And Arno singing 'Les filles du bord de mer"

2 Fanfare / New Brassband miniclips: Fanfare [realaudio]

Jazz
Jazz is as wide as electronic music now is, it features many substyles.
At night, the most represented are Blues and Bluegrass, New-Orleans early Jazz (Armstrong, Bechet, Beiderbecke, Roll Morton), Big Bands (Glenn Miller, Lionel Hampton), Be-Bop (Charlie Parker, Monk, Gillespie, ...), Cool (Coltrane, Adderley, Chet Baker, Miles Davis) and of course the whole Acid-Jazz thing (Harry Coninck Jr, US3, TalkinLoud, etc).
Jazz outstanding names (others than those already mentionned):
Pharoah Sanders, Max Roach, Hank Mobley, Sun Ra, John Surman, Philip Catherine, Jacques Pelzer, ...

I'm not sure it's really convenient to mention Trip Hop here, since now it's closer to the Breakbeat stuff, but that style contained from 1993 to 1998 a lot of Jazz references and tributes. Trip Hop phenomenon has been part of the roots of the current Jazz revival.
Trip Hop outstanding names: Massive Attack, DJ Cam, MoWax label, Kruder and Dorfmeister

Oriental
aka  Arabic Dance, Turkish, New Raï

In the 80's and 90's, a new scene showed up in North-Africa and in the Middle-East... the Raï. It's a young, fancy version of the traditional arabic way to sing. Cheb Mami, Khaled, Cheb Hasni, Bilal ... all those new stars arrived in the late eighties to claim that their music was still alive and kicking the youth till morning comes.
In the mid 90's, they started to blend more and more new sounds inspired from R'n B and by the brand new House music... and step by step some new artists released a new branch of Raï, more electronic, more Funky, and strictly made for the dancefloors.
Cheika Rimitti, Cheba Zina, Naima Ababsa, Saidi or Chaabi are some of those newly leading names.
The productions mostly come from Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, ...

3 New Oriental miniclips: Oriental [realaudio]

Bollywood & Banghra
aka  Indian Dance

In 1988, exactly when House Music arrived onto Europe, another new style pushed the doors of the nightlife... the Banghra. A dance and very electronic version of the traditional Indian music, with some Indian ways to rap their lyrics.
Since the mid 90's, another Indian influence also hits the European dancefloors: the Bollywood. That's not precisely new, since the Indian movie scene has been extremely productive in the late 30 years, but the European public recently showed a stronger attention for the music of their original soundtracks.

Some artist names: Bally Sagoo, Malkit Singh, Ananda Shankar, ...

 

Chill-Out & Ambient
aka  Krautrock, Kosmische Musik, Chillout, Atmospheric
Caution: many Chill-Out nights also blend Wave Techno and some soft Breakbeat.

Let's go back to the late sixties, when a few venues in Europe and USA decided to open their evenings with music for meditation... in a friendly and earthy environment (Indian graphics, incence, tea, chicha waterpipes, oildisk projectors). There was no dance music at all, only quiet and relaxing sounds created by Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh, Wendy Carlos, Louis & Bebe Barron (music from the 'Forbidden Planet'), the most quiet side of the Pink Floyd, and of course Indian music by Ravi Shankar among other artists. Even George Harrison (the guitar from the Beatles) produced a strictly electronic and Ambient album. In 1968-1972... the 'Paradiso' hall in Amsterdam had then the biggest recognition for those events.
In the 70's the scene grew up big time. Using new terms such as Krautrock or Kosmische Music, and working with a lot of electronic tools, loads of new bands showed up... mostly in Germany, UK and USA but also in Japan, France and Italy. That's when Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Baffo Banfi, Aamon Duul, Michael Garrison, Eduard Artemiev, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Moebius & Plank, Anna Sjalv Tredje, and many more went to be famous.

But in the late 80's (around 1988), while New-Beat and House Music were knocking at the doors of the nightlife, a new race of Chill-Out landed: the band KLF produced the first LP of that new style, an album named "Chill Out" and a second one "Space". It wasn't stricly Ambient, but also blending some new rythms and some noises (a train, birds) in a calm way. Then, in the early nineties came The Orb (feat. Alex Paterson), Future Sound of London, Irresistible Force (aka Mixmaster Morris), and a dozen of other bands playing in more and more secondary Chillout rooms, or in 100% Chillout events. The Orb was so popular that it was standing on the posters of most major festivals, and gathered more than 6000 to 10.000 people in the biggest European concert-halls. Back then, dj Ambient Daan (Nl), James Lavelle (UK), Morpheus (B), Bill Laswell (UK), Mixmaster Morris (UK), Alex Paterson (UK) and Acid Kirk were quite the biggest name of that style.

And another kind of new Chill-out music also started in the early nineties: the Ambient Music ... with absolutely NO beat and NO rythm at all... only sounds, waves, echoes, looped frequencies, etc. It revealed some artists such as Pete Namlook, Scanner or the famous Ambient works by Aphex Twin.

Some Chill-Out names: Ash Ra Tempel, Alto Stratus, Bruce Ditmas, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Tangerine Dream, Manuel Gottsching, Steve Roach, Ron Geesin
But now also: Snooze, Scanner, Irresistible Force, Coil, DJ Shadow, Pete Namlook, Jocelyn Pook, Spyra, Syncopated Elevators Legacy
Some Belgian Chillout deejays: Morpheus, Seal Phüric, Acid Kirk, Vishnou, Zombie Fleshh, El Bosco aka Nico Noctis

97 minutes Chillout & Ambient mix

Student Parties
Have a beer, have sum friends, and don't drive the way back. Take the bus!
Kindof: Simple Minds "Don't You" - Phil Collins "Sussudio" - Scatman - Da Rude - Modjo "Lady" - Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" - "I Will Survive" megamix - U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - Ian Van Dahl "Castles in the Sky" - Jimmy Cliff "Reggae Night" - ...
Since 2000 it seems there's more and more House hits like Mojo, David Guetta, Bob Sinclar, Benni Benassi, plus R'n B (Beyonce, Miss Dynamite) and a bit of Rock classics (Stones, Floyd, Queen, White Stripes, Nirvana) ... but still only the fully secure popular hits.

All Hits
It can be a hits selection with humor and sarcastic references, like Jonathan can do at Johnny's... or good blend of refined classics... but most of the times it's globally MTV, MCM, M6, Viva, & all music channels selections + some current dance hits (David Guetta, Daft Punk, Roger Sanchez, when it's good ... Cher and Da Rude when it's not).
Good deejays at it: Jonathan (Poil au Culte / Crema e Gusto), Ben-DJ (Bulex), Vivian, Arnaud Quittelier (JdH), Serge (Chez Johnny), Didier Jugnon (Point G),...