When talking about music, we frequently use genre names to describe different styles. While someone who is not too deeply interested in music might only differentiate between Rock/Pop, Jazz and Classic, many music nerds find it important to differentiate between, say, Disco House and Deep House.

Electronic music has been evolving fast in the last few decades, and many new genres and sub-genres have popped up during that time. Even for a music nerds, it can be hard to keep track of every single genre.

There are many reasons why discussing music genres can be confusing:

• There is no official list of genres – and there is not even an institution with the authority to make such a list.
• Genres often overlap. For example, a track that might be seen as a Tech-House track by one person might be considered a pure Techno track by someone else. This can also be seen in the categorization of different online shops.
• Genres develop, merge, split up or evolve. For example, as Dubstep grew and gained more attention, many people felt the need to differentiate between the original UK Dubstep, US-influenced Brostep and Post-Dubstep.
• The differences between genres are often subtle. For a DJ, the difference between, say, Dubstep and Drumstep might be important. The different tempos of those genres make a big difference in how a DJ would typically use them in a set. But would a non-DJ (or a DJ not specialized in this type of music) be able to tell the two genres apart? Probably not.

Even though discussing musical genres can be confusing, many people still find them useful to describe and discuss music. While there is no official list of musical genres, some people have tried to create lists and overviews over musical genres. None of these can be considered complete for the reasons cited above, but I still think that they can be interesting and helpful in discovering new music. Here are my three favorite genre lists:

• Ishkur’s Guide to Electronic Music has been around for a couple of years and it is not quite up to date any more. However, it does a great job of showing the develop of electronic over the last decades and it has a huge amount of audio samples to illustrate the different genres.
• Every noise at once is an algorithmically generated map of genres. It does include many recent styles, and you can check out audio samples for every genre. I wouldn’t always consider the examples that they give very typical, and I am missing descriptions, but it’s a great tool to get an overview and discover new music.
• Wikipedia also has a list of genres with more or less detailed descriptions of genres. This list is very comprehensive, and whenever I am looking for background info on a particular genre, I am usually looking there. However, I think the Wikipedia list is not too great to discover new music as it is somewhat cumbersome to get to audio examples.

Do you know any other genre lists, especially for electronic music? Let us know in the comments!

However, a good DJ is not necessarily a good event organizer. There are some things that you need to know when organizing your own party, and promoting it is probably one of the most important things – you don’t want to play in front of an empty room, right?

Here are some ideas about what you can do:

1. Create your own brand!
   When you start your own event, people will want to know what to expect. Most people won’t know too much about music genres, so simply describing it will not always be enough – especially if you are playing non-mainstream genres. Creating your own brand really helps people to get some associations with your event beforehand. The minimum is a name, a consistent visual design (for flyers, posters online ads etc) and a clear tonality for your event description.
2. Use Facebook!
   Facebook is possibly one of the most powerful tools to promote a party.
   Facebook events are used by many event promoters to make people aware of their event. This has several advantages: You can invite your friends directly, you can promote them easily using Facebook ads and when someone accepts your event invitation, their friends will also see that.My personal experience is that this is very efficient and effective. I did two completely sold-out parties recently with just Facebook promotion and a little bit of online promotion outside of Facebook – no posters, no flyers. And yes, it is worth putting a bit of money into Facebook ads. It really works.
3. Promote your style!
   If your style is not very well-known, it might be useful to promote the style first.
   This will help you raise attention for what you are doing and make you seem a trendsetter if you are the first one who organizes parties in that style.

   For example, when I started hosting Electro Swing parties with some friends here in Cologne, we first educated people about that particular style of music and make them aware of it. We created a Facebook page, we put together a compilation with newcomer artists and collected and shared videos and DJ sets from other people as well. Of course, we also promoted our own parties directly, but we also did a lot of indirect promotion – this really helped a lot because some people already knew what we were talking about when we announced the first events.

4. Find local event portals!Apart from Facebook and big online portals, there is often a number of smaller local event websites that work as event listings. Those websites might be an important source for your target group and you should make sure to identify the relevant ones. Basic entries are usually free, but you sometimes have to pay for extra visibility.
5. Print and distribute flyers!
   Flyers are probably the most well-known tool to promote parties, especially electronic music events. Flyers are relatively cheap and easy to produce, you just need someone to design them.

   However, be aware that you also have to distribute them! If you do this yourself, this can take up to several days in a bigger city. There are often people who offer to do this for several event promoters for a fee and this can save you a lot of work.

   My personal experience is that flyers are nice, but they are also a lot of work. Think about if you really need them – in some cases, it’s also ok to just print a small number and only give them to people directly instead of distributing them through bars and clubs.

6. Put up posters!
   Posters will give you a good visibility in the city. They are especially useful if you start a new event series and not too many people know you yet.In many cities, there are reserved areas for event posters, and only licensed service companies are allowed to put their posters there. I strongly recommend using one of these service companies to make sure that your posters stay where they should and that you don’t violate any local regulations.
7. Record DJ sets!
   Recording a DJ set in the style of music that you will be playing at the event gives potential guests a good impression of what they can expect. This is a very useful promo tool that you can distribute over Facebook, give away on CDs or have people discover on mix platforms like play.fm or mixcloud. Make sure that the set is in a really good audio quality, has no glitches or bad transitions and that it reflects the style of music that you will be playing.
8. Activate your personal network!
   Direct recommendations from friends are usually the strongest influencing factors. Instead of inviting a lot of your friends at once, it really helps to talk to them individually.

   It is also very useful to identify influencers that attract a lot of other people to your party and give them a place on the guest list – if they bring enough of their friends along, that one place on the guest list won’t hurt you.

9. Do all of the above!
   It is very important to not rely on on event promotion tactic alone. There is always something that can go wrong with whatever you do so using more than one tactic spreads your risk. Your promotion will also be more powerful if people see more than one of your promotion acticity – this will make you look much more serious about what you are doing and get you more respect.

What are your experiences in promoting events? What worked for you? Let us know in the comments!

Image: Photofish12 // CC-by-nc

This mix is all about massive, dramatic, ass-shaking percussion. When I started selecting tracks for this mix, I found that the ones with the most interesting drum patterns gave me the biggest kicks. Not all of them have totally far-out drum patterns, but this mix is definitely more about what is going on when the bassdrum is not doing its thing.

Stylewise, I would call this a mix of some Dubstep and global beats, spiced up with some Trap tracks.

TSCHIKTSCHIK-TAK-TSCHIKITSCHIKITAK-BOOM!

We have covered Trap music here already in an earlier article. I must say I do find this style interesting, but I am not a big fan of Trap-only mixes. However, an occasional Trap track to spice up a 140 BPM set is kinda cool.

I had to include the infamous Harlem Shake here because I think that this is actually a nice track, even though the current hype might distract a bit from this.

I also dug out the 90s classic “Terminator” by Westbam for this. As I said in the previous article, I think there are actually some similarities between oldschool Electro sounds and Trap. Besides, I haven’t played this one in a while even though I do enjoy it, so it went in.

I also love the way that “Anticipate” blends into Shy Fx`s “Raver”. The drum outro of the first one just fits so nicely to the drum intro of the latter one. Both are also great tracks, and I especially love what Skream did to the very melodic, almost cheesy original version.

The track “Shiva Step” was taken from the “Transnational Dubstep” compilation that we reviewed here about two years ago. I have to admit I didn’t listen much to that compilation after reviewing it, but as it fell into my hand again recently I have to say that it does contain a couple of real gems that combine Dubstep with global beats.

Finally, I had to include Bassnectar’s epic remix of the equally epic classic “Rez” by Underwold. I was already a big fan of the original, but this remix really made that track shine again. Well done, Bassnectar!

Playlist:

• A Tributer – Anticipate (Skream Remix)
• Shy FX featuring Kano, Donae’o & Roses Gabor – Raver (B. Traits Breaking Bad Remix)
• 12th Planet & SPL – Ratchet Strap (ƱZ Remix)
• Baauer – Harlem Shake
• Buraka Som Sistema featuring Pongolove Kalemba – Wegue-Wegue
• Seymour Bits – Put It Back Down
• Dirtcaps – Hands Up (Yellow Claw Remix)
• Big Chocolate – Blue Milk (Original Mix)
• Flosstradamus – Cape Town Get Down
• Westbam – Terminator
• Magnetic Man – Eclipse
• Dubba Jonny, The Duke – Ampalamps
• Shift Key Shift Key – Wiggle With It
• Benga – Any Steppers
• Barbarix – Shiva Step
• Underworld – Rez (Bassnectar Remix)

Image: Cameron Russel // CC-by

I always said, that I don’t like to play tracks that sound like Dance music tunes of the 90s, because in my opinion, this is a genre of electronic music, which is commercial and not very artful. So I didn’t play such tracks in my former mixes. Until a good friend of mine asked me to make a mix with his track collection, which includes Techno, House, Breaks, Electrohouse, Dirty Electro and as well 90s Dance alike tunes.

There were many artists and songs, I did not knew before. To fulfill my friend’s request, I have listened to these tracks for quite a while and tried to put the puzzle together. Then, I mixed the chosen songs and was satisfied with the outcome. During this period, I grew familiar with this kind of sound and enjoyed it a lot.

That is why I changed my mind and conclude, that this 90s Dance alike style is a happy, feelgood and positive energy providing sound, which makes many people move their body – and I appreciate and respect that!

Spread the sunny vibes and be a part of the World Wide Wave!

Sweet Headache 101: “World Wide Wave”

Tracklist:

• Avrosse & Louie Cut – Rolla
• Ventil Shape – Max Payne
• Overwerk – Daybreak
• Manel Diaz – Wicked Waves (Avrosse remix)
• Acetronic – What you need
• Daniel Portman – Out at Night
• Electrixx – Ice Ice Baby
• Freak Slaughter – Show yourself & Slam it
• SirensCeol – The Time of our Lives
• Junky Sond Frankk Loony – Ohh my God
• Tom Reason – Focus
• Alex Mind – Facelift
• BioBlitz – Globe Warmer (Farleon remix)
• Blaster – Lazers
• Boys Noize – Reality (F.O.O.L remix)
• Zeds Dead & Omar LinX – Cowboy (F.O.O.L remix)
• Montee – Blow up the Fest (BioBlitz remix)
• Rone – Parade (Dominik Eulberg remix)

Foto by Greg Brock // CC-by-nc-sa

With the current “Harlem Shake” hype taking over YouTube by storm, it can easily be overlooked that the track that started this hype is only one example of an entire musical genre. I also have to admit that I was aware of it for a while already, but didn’t really start digging deeper until recently.

“Trap music” originated in the early 2000s in the southern part of the USA, and it was more or less a sub-genre of HipHop. If you would like to learn more about the history, Wikipedia has a pretty good overview.

The genre has changed and forked quite a bit over the years, but characteristic elements of Trap are broken 808 drum beat patterns, rolling snares and hi-hats, repetitive and fast-triggered samples,  sweeping sub-basslines and layered synths. In recent years, some electronic music producers started stripping the original HipHop-Trap music from the vocals and started throwing elements from other electronic music genres (like Dubstep, House or Moombahton) into the mix.

The “Harlem Shake” has probably helped a lot in raising attention for this genre, but there have been many artists who have been active in this for a while already. To get a good first overview, I can recommend the “All Trap Music” compilation.

Because of the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine (shown in the picture above), it actually reminds me a bit of classic Electro tracks from the 80s and early 90s. An early example of those early Electro tracks would be Afrika Bambaata’s  ”Planet Rock“, a later one Westbam’s “Terminator“. The music back then also had a strong link to HipHop, so maybe Trap music is just another crossroads between HipHop and EDM?

Since the typical BPM count of Trap is usually faster than most Techno or House tracks, it is currently being adopted by many Dubstep and Drum&Bass-DJs. In this context, I think Trap might bring an interesting new spin to some DJ sets. I will also give it a shot in the near future, so watch out!

What do you think about Trap music? Do you have any favorite tracks that you would like to hear in an upcoming mix?

Image: fr4dd // CC-by

Yes, that’s right: This is officially the 100th mix on Sweet Headache!

We celebrated 3 years of Sweet Headache a week ago in a small club in Cologne and I also invited some DJ friends to play there. This was the perfect opportunity to record the anniversary mix.

The music went from Drum&Bass to some trippy broken beats, Tech-House and Techno, Dubstep, some more DnB, back to House and ended up happily bouncing between all those genres. The mix shows pretty much the variety of sound that was featured on Sweet Headache in the last three years, and I couldn’t have been happier to celebrate such a wonderful anniversary.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who made Sweet Headache a success, especially our entire team, all the artists and DJs that were interviewed here, everyone who came to the party and made this a wonderful evening and of course all the producers who produce the music that all of this is about.

THANK YOU!!!

And now, without further ado, here is the anniversary mix:

Playlist:

1. London Elektricity – Billion Dollar Gravy
2. Robot Koch – Water And Solutions
3. Seekae – Void
4. Shigeto – There Is Always Hope (Mux Mool Remix)
5. Traxman – Footworkin On Air
6. Four Tet – As Serious as Your Life
7. falty dl – Filthy Divinity
8. Jega – SoulFlute
9. Amon Tobin – Always
10. King Britt Mix – Track 2
11. Jimmy Edgar – One twenty Detail
12. Rustie – Flash Back
13. Maya Jane Coles – Not Listening (DJ-Kicks)
14. Arkist & Kidkut – One Year Later
15. Scuba – Dsy Chn
16. Sepalcure – Breezin
17. Martyn and Mike Slott – All Nights
18. Martyn – Twice As
19. Braille – Chain Gang
20. Machinedrum – Carry The Weight (Bok Bok Remix)
21. Flashback -
22. M.F.B. – MFB – bla
23. Mount Kimbie – Carbonated
24. Joy Orbison – so derobe
25. Joy O – Sicko Cell
26. Machinedrum – DIABLOOO (ALARMA 2)
27. In Flagranti – Worse for Wear
28. Saso Recyd – I’ll Hit That (Original Mix)
29. Carlo Lio and Coyu – Mike Loves The Horn (Original Mix)
30. Nicone, Sascha Braemer – Caje (Album Edit) (feat. Narra) (Orginal Version)
31. Daniel Herfen – C 1
32. aka aka & umami – Ich & Du
33. Aka Aka – 4 Fäuste für ein Hallelujah
34. Kioskvandalen – Nur Kurz Bier Holen
35. Daniel Herfen – A 1
36. Umami – All what you get (Original Mix)
37. Comon – Da Da Da (Original Mix)
38. M.A.N.D.Y. & Booka Shade vs. Das Bo – Bass Language [The Trash Up Kids]
39. Electrixx – Tetris
40. Deadmau5 & W. Gartner vs. Technotronic & DAG – Pump Up The Animal Rights (Bladrunner Bootleg Mix)
41. fussy boy – Gold (Mord Fustang Remix)
42. Anne Clark – Sleeper In Metropolis (Club Mix)
43. HECKMANN, Thomas P aka DRAX LTD II – Amphetamine (Umek remix)
44. James Egbert – Chopper (Original Mix)
45. Birdy Nam Nam – Goin In (skrillex goin hard mix)
46. Sub Focus – Rock It
47. Jade – Pulp Friction
48. shortcut-bitterboy -
49. Camo & Krooked – History of the Future
50. Kurd Maverick – Blue Monday (Vandalism Remix)
51. Carl Craig – Angel (Japanese Mix)
52. Kerri Chandler – So Let The Wind Come (Remix)
53. Soul Therapy – Dance Thru Revolution (Original Mix)
54. M-People – MOVING ON UP (MK LIKE A MAN DUB)
55. Nicky Romero – Camorra (Original Mix)
56. Freaky Behaviour – Cajun Jungle Pussy (Original Mix)
57. Freaky Behaviour – Whats On The Menu (Long Vocal Version)
58. Psycatron feat Blake Baxter – She Is Music (Psycatron’s Hypnogroove Mix)
59. Science Deptartment feat. Erire – Breathe (Lexicon Avenue Vocal)
60. D.O.N.S & DBN feat. Kadoc – The Nighttrain (Vocal Club Mix)
61. Jesse Perez – Dale Que Tu Puedes
62. Jesse Perez – Pancho’s Secret Weapon (Original Mix)
63. Angel Moraes – Tribal Function That (Kid Chris Mix)
64. Aaron Carl – Dance Naked (C&M Balearic Drama Remix)
65. Boddika – Breezin
66. Pangaea – Majestic 12
67. Addison Groove – Sexual
68. Sbtrkt – Ready Set Loop
69. Scuba – Ignition Key
70. Redshape – Unfinished Symmetry
71. Armando Trovajoli – Sessomatto
72. laidback – White Horse
73. C2C – C2C – Down The Road (Cherokee Remix)
74. Public Enemy – Shut Em Down (Bobby C Sound TV Remix)
75. Lykke Li – I Follow Rivers (The Magician Remix)
76. Unknown
77. Baauer – Harlem Shake
78. Skrillex – First of the Year (Equinox)
79. Knife party – Fire Hive
80. Buzzwak – Mumbling Music (Access Denied Remix)
81. Wolfgang Gartner – Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony (Original Mix)
82. The Knife – Pass This On [Dahlback Dahlback remix]
83. Salt’n'Pepa – Push It (Audio Jacker Remix)
84. NAPT – Make My Day Feat. Louise Marshall
85. Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman (Russ Chimes’ Unofficial Remix)

I did this mix as a favor for a friend who asked me to create a mix of some early mainstream house classics. The tracks in this one are certainly more mainstream than what I usually play, but I can say that all of the tracks in this mix are tracks that I actually enjoy playing whenever I get booked for a mainstream music event or a private party.

You will probably know most of the tracks in this mix, so listen to this mix, turn up the volume and feel free to sing along!

Tracklist:

1. Phats & Small – Turn Around
2. David Morales Presents The Face – Needin’ U
3. DJ Tonka – She Knows You
4. Madison Avenue – Don’t Call Me Baby
5. Modjo – Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
6. Shapeshifters – Lola’s Theme (Extended Vocal Mix)
7. Eric Prydz – Call On Me
8. Armand Van Helden – MyMyMy
9. The Bucketheads – The Bomb (These Sounds Fall Into My Mind)
10. Tom Novy Feat. Lima – Now Or Never
11. Moloko – Sing It Back
12. Daft Punk – Around The World
13. Phil Fuldner Works #2 – Miami Pop
14. Armand Van Helden – The Funk Phenomena
15. Celvin Rotane – I Believe

Image by aphasiafilms // CC-by-nc-nd

When recording this mix, I wanted to play tracks that were a bit dreamy, you might event call them romantic – but I still wanted something that would make you dance. I have been collecting quite a bit of melodic tech-house, and a recent recommendation by a DJ friend (Dominik Eulberg’s Remix of Rone – Parade) was the final ingredient that I needed.

Don’t stop dreaming!

The first track in this mix (Mister Gubatz – Here Comes the Rain) is taken from the recent compilation “Misch-Poke” by Cologne-based label Silberschwein Music. Irwin Leschet, the mastermind behind the label, is very well-known in the area for his Silberschwein (German for “Silver Pig”) party series in Cologne that celebrated its 100th party this February.

I have also been following Eat More Cake for a while. They are true masters in taking well-known tunes and turning them into tasteful chillout versions. Their own productions are also on a very high level, but most people probably know them for their remixes. Their remix of the 80s classic “Don’t You Want Me” is more danceable than their other productions and really makes this one shine again.

I thought a bit about including Lindsey Stirling’s “Anti Gravity” into this mix. I really do like her music, and her famous track “Cristallize” still gives me goosebumps, but the track is not really produced in a DJ-friendly way and the violin is very dominant for a dance music track. I still included it because it’s just a great piece of music and I think that my listeners can take some surprises in a mix.

Another track that features a violin is the Hundred Birds Remix of rej by âme. A Hundred Birds is an orchestra from Japan that covers electronic dance music, and I have to say they do it really well. This one is a nice example of a remix turning a track into something new.

Peer Kusiv, a young producer from northern Germany, decided to give away his debut album “Natur&Techno” as a free download through his website – even though he certainly doesn’t have to. I have listened to that album many times, and I enjoy it more and more. This guy makes a rare combination of melodic, sometimes even acoustic sounds and straight tech-house. Love it!

Tracklist:

• Mister Gubatz – Here Comes the Rain (Nico Push Remix)
• The Human League – Don’t You Want Me (Eat More Cake Remix)
• The Presets Promises (Plastic Plates Remix)
• Alt-J – Breezeblocks (Rockdaworld Remix)
• Lindsey Stirling Anti Gravity
• Peer Kusiv – Kadamom
• âme – rej (A Hundred Birds Remix)
• Booka Shade – Karma Car
• Peer Kusiv – Gelöt
• Daniel Herfen – C 1
• Coma – Yellow
• Vitalic – Poney Pt. I
• Rone – Parade (Dominik Eulberg Remix)

Image: Knitsteel // CC-by-nd

Solomun’s “Kackvogel” (German for “shitbird”) has been one of the big hits in House music this year, at least in Germany. Very groovy, great bassline  and simply kicks ass! There is a nice video for this one as well.

I heard the last two tracks of this set when I was recently booked together with Drauf und Dran in Cologne. Great dancefloor tracks that make everyone clearly recognize the originals without being too cheesy.

• Solomun –  Kackvogel
• Studio R – A + R (Llorca Remix)
• Salt n Pepa – Push It (Audio Jacker Remix)
• TV Rock feat. Dino – Speakers Gonna Blow
• Wu-Tang / Coldcuts – C.R.E.A.M (Benny Kane’s Congo Mix)
• Secret Service Classics – A1
• 16th Street – Inhale
• Nate Laurence – Prodigies (Original Mix)
• Chocolate Puma & Gregor Salto – Tragito De Ron (Original Mix)
• Tristan Garner & Gregori Klosman  - Fuckin Down
• Drauf & Dran – Das Imperium spielt verrückt
• Beck – Loser (David Jones Remix)

Image: Heather Culligan // CC-by-nc

This mix was my contribution for the WAVES DJ CONTEST 2012. I was confident to finish on 28th position of 200 participants. AmStrad Billionaire won this contest and the gig at Pratersauna Vienna with Rustie during the WAVES festival 2012.

Starting with “Justice – Newlands” live version, the first part consist of 5 Electro and House tracks. The following 6 songs build the main part, including 2 massive Dubstep tunes and a Hiphop track by DJ Krush. From #12 to #16 I play 2 Dub FX and 3 Dirty Dubsters tracks.

“Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team – Activate” is my favorite production on Modeselektion Vol. 2, released on Modeselektor’s label Monkeytown. The main vocal sounds straight and clear, while the background vocal is strange and modulated. The style of the drumset is a new Minimal Electro groove.

The 2 tracks by Dub FX: “Flow” (feat. Mr. Woodnote) and “Love Someone” have great vocals and a Drum and Bass beat + a beautyful Saxophon melody by Mr. Woodnote.

Dirty Dubsters are represented by 4 tracks: “Swing it Brother”, “In the Summertime”, “Cease Fire Selecta” and “One Big Road”. Except “Swing it Brother”, which is a Swing House tune, they all have a D’n’B rhytm and Ragga vocals.

No Hocus Pocus! Keep it real and simple!

Tracklist:

1. Justice – Newlands
2. Phil Kieran & Bush Tetras – Snakes Crawl
3. Armand van Helden – The Funk Phenomena
4. Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team – Activate
5. Krazy Baldhead – Empty Boy
6. Sub Focus ft. Kenzie May – Falling Down
7. Dub Pistols feat Red Star Lion – Alife
8. Dillon Francis – Now Hear This
9. Dirty Dubsters – Swing it Brother
10. Frikstailers – Sudaka Invasor
11. DJ Krush – Genun – Passage of Time
12. Dub FX feat Mr. Woodnote – Flow
13. Dirty Dubsters – In the Summertime
14. Dirty Dubsters – Cease Fire Selecta
15. Dirty Dubsters – One Big Road
16. Dub FX – Love Someone

Foto by Daniela Hartmann // CC-by-nc-sa