I'll mention of what I know better (not best) .. and keep in mind this is my personal opinion and there certainly will be people that disagree with me ...
HardHouse : It's exactly what it says on the tin. Hard House. TDV, older Paul King tracks, Dom Sweeten's tracks on Battle Jaxx, etc. Hard House was called Hardbag (or was it Handbag - lol) at the time it was most popular in it's truest form .. Tunes became more synthy with harder kicks and so it evolved to what you have today. OD404 / Defective Audio, Aftermath, Nik Denton, Paul King, etc
Nu NRG : OD404, Karim, Paul Glazby, Justin Bourne, Dynamic Intervention, Masmada / JP & Jukesy, etc. Much more synthy although the basic structure is identical to HardHouse as it is today. With today's understanding of HardHouse, it's never been more difficult to distinguish between NRG & HH. It's a tough call. But back in the day it used to be quite different. Hoovers & ripping, gritty synths + percussion much like today's HH is at the order of the day.
Hard NRG : Casper, Captain Tinrib, Equinox, Karim, . Like above, it's hard to distinguish between NU & Hard NRG. People don't really bother with the Hard or NU tags these days (well, not round here anyway). Pretty much the same thing but once again there was a much more definitive difference in times passed. At least IMO.
Hard Trance : Well, its Trance with oomph aint it. Signum, Legend B, Heaven's Cry, Jon Doe, BK, Phil Reynolds, Nick Sentience, Kevin Energy, Lab4, Weirdo .. and todays stars (reviving a once despised and rinsed genre to many) like Pienaar & Bamford, Technikal, Nick Rowland & Dave Wright, Dark By Design, Carbon Based, etc.
PsyTrance : PsyTrance is the now evolved sound of Goa Trance. It's melodic & very trippy stuff with weird effects, busy basslines and swooping melodies. It can be 'Full On' like Astral Projection, MFG .. and GMS, Dark Soho, Talamasca, Fractal Glider, Hallucinogen, Juno Reactor, Logic Bomb on a darker edge .. or 'Minimal' like Space Cat, Koxbox, Sonkite, Cosma, Spirallianz, etc.
Freeform : Much like Hard Trance, with influences from other genre's like NRG, Breaks/DnB, etc .. Just much faster. People could argue it's Hardcore or even Trance Core ... perhaps so, but to me there's a difference in Hardcore & Freeform. Slight, but I DO put them in different boxes. The furious Finnish like Alek Szahala, Carbon Based, Pain On Creation, Re-form, and others like Lost Soul, Kevin Energy, The Mexican who I consider doing Freeform, certainly sports a different sound than tracks from guys like CLSM, Scott Brown, Robbie Long, AMS, Oli G, Helix & Fury, The Blizzard Boys / DJ Phosphor .. Freeform IMO is slightly more melodic and well polished than the rough, distorted, over driven sounds of Hardcore. There's also a happier, bouncier side with cheesy vocals and more dire elements .. but we look past that, don't we ..
I'll leave the Techno & Harstyle for someone with more knowledge to guide you there.
Post edited by owner 2004/09/08 05:12:47 PM