Dance music genres compared side by side is the quickest way to learn them, because most questions people ask me are really one genre against another. House or techno. Jungle or drum and bass. Amapiano or afro house. Each face-off below puts two genres on one tempo axis, lines up what you hear, what you see, the key artists and labels and where each one started, then gives you a blind ear test with two official tracks. Pick a pair and see how your ears do.
House vs Techno
Chicago House, 1984, Chicago, USA. Detroit Techno, 1987, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
118 to 125 | 120 to 135 BPMOpen the face-off →Techno vs Trance
Detroit Techno, 1987, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Trance, 1990, Frankfurt, Germany.
120 to 135 | 130 to 140 BPMOpen the face-off →House vs Trance
Chicago House, 1984, Chicago, USA. Trance, 1990, Frankfurt, Germany.
118 to 125 | 130 to 140 BPMOpen the face-off →Drum and Bass vs Dubstep
Drum and Bass, 1994, London and Bristol, UK. Dubstep, 2001, Croydon and South London, UK.
165 to 180 | 138 to 142 BPMOpen the face-off →Jungle vs Drum and Bass
Jungle, 1992, London, UK. Drum and Bass, 1994, London and Bristol, UK.
160 to 175 | 165 to 180 BPMOpen the face-off →Deep House vs Tech House
Deep House, 1986, Chicago, USA. Tech House, 1994, London, UK.
118 to 124 | 124 to 128 BPMOpen the face-off →UK Garage vs House
UK Garage, 1995, London, UK. Chicago House, 1984, Chicago, USA.
128 to 135 | 118 to 125 BPMOpen the face-off →Amapiano vs Afro House
Amapiano, 2015, Gauteng townships, South Africa. Afro House, about 1999, South Africa.
110 to 115 | 118 to 124 BPMOpen the face-off →Techno vs Tech House
Detroit Techno, 1987, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Tech House, 1994, London, UK.
120 to 135 | 124 to 128 BPMOpen the face-off →Hardstyle vs Hard Techno
Hardstyle, 2000, Netherlands and Belgium. Hard Techno Revival, 2021, Europe (Amsterdam, Berlin) and the USA.
140 to 160 | 140 to 160 BPMOpen the face-off →Trance vs Progressive House
Trance, 1990, Frankfurt, Germany. Progressive House, 1992, UK.
130 to 140 | 122 to 130 BPMOpen the face-off →Amapiano vs Afrobeats
Amapiano, 2015, Gauteng townships, South Africa. Afrobeats, 2004, Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.
110 to 115 | 95 to 115 BPMOpen the face-off →Funk vs Disco
Funk, 1965, United States (James Brown and his band). Disco, 1974, New York City, USA.
95 to 115 | 110 to 130 BPMOpen the face-off →
How the Face-Offs Work
Every fact comes from the same verified genre cards behind our dance music timeline and the genre map. The tempo axis uses each genre’s typical BPM range and works out the pitch change between their middle tempos. If you want to plan a blend across a bigger gap, Tempo Bridge finds the route, and Find Your Sound helps if you do not know where to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between house and techno?
House is warmer and built on a gospel shout, open hi hats and a rubbery bassline, while techno uses tighter machine drums and bittersweet chords, usually a few BPM faster.
Which dance music genres are easiest to confuse?
Genres that share a tempo range, such as jungle and drum and bass or deep house and tech house, are the easiest to mix up, because the difference is in texture rather than speed.
How are the face-offs built?
Each one draws on our verified genre cards for tempo, origin, sound, artists and labels, with one official track per genre embedded from YouTube.
Sources
- Mixmag: House music 40 years jesse saunders chicago on and on history subgenres
- Mixmag: Celebrating black history pioneers of house music
- Wikipedia: Detroit techno
- Red Bull Music Academy Daily: The music got me a brief history of the birth of house in new york city
- Mixmag: 10 best early 90s trance tracks
- Wikipedia: Trance music
- Wikipedia: Drum and bass
- Wikipedia: Inner City Life
- Museum of Youth Culture: A brief history of early dubstep
- DJ Mag: How big apple records became birthplace of dubstep
- Wikipedia: Jungle music
- Toucan: Ukhardcore
- DJ Mag: Can you feel it how mr fingers ammnesia changed house music experience forever
- Mixmag: Humble hero house pioneer larry heard is the house pioneer best left unsolved
- Mixmag: Wiggle and the birth of tech house
- Roland Articles: The tech house story
- Red Bull Music Academy Daily: Dreem teem interview
- Wikipedia: UK garage
- Mixmag: Amapiano south africa house music movement gauteng
- Red Bull: Amapiano history
- Loopcloud: 5223 Origins 8 Tracks That Mark the Evolution of Afro House
- Africa in Words: A brief introduction to south african house music
- Wikipedia: Hardstyle
- Wikipedia: Headhunterz
- billboard.com: Sara landry hard techno spiritual driveby 1235810498
- DJ Mag: Sara landry hard technos high frequency priestess
- ra.co: Biography
- insomniac.com: How to talk to your kids about progressive house
- Wikipedia: Sasha & John Digweed
- grammy.com: Afrobeats evolution wizkid rema wande coal olamide asake
- Wikipedia: Afrobeats
- ultimateclassicrock.com: James brown papas got a brand new bag
- thelongandshort.org: Dance moves funk
- timlawrence.info: Disco in encyclopedia of popular music of the world volume 8 genres north america eds john shepherd and david horn london continuum 2012 180 86
- britannica.com: Disco
Written from Seoul, by someone who has been in the booth for more than 25 years. More on the site, or book a DJ.