Hard Techno, also stylised as hardtechno, is a harder style of Techno, that emerged in the early 1990s from Acid Techno, Belgian Techno, New Beat and Hardcore.
Characteristics[]
Hard Techno is characterised by heavy kicks, powerful synths, a rave-oriented ambience, a tempo that oscillates between 140 and 160 BPM, and aggresives and distorted sounds.
History[]
1990s and 2000s[]
Between 1990s and 2000s, Hard Techno is mass-produced in France, Italy and the Czech Republic, with French and English producers from sound systems such as Spiral Tribe, or The Mover, which uses a BPM of around 130 with more dûrs drums. Hard Techno is shunned by free Party activists of the 2000s, who don't define a genre of electronic music but rather group together a large number of productions that are difficult to define due to the mix of genres they contain, between the Hard Techno of the early 1990s, the tribal music of free parties, Schranz and Hardcore.
Golden Age : late 2023 to now[]
In late 2023, Hard Techno starts to gain in popularity and become mainstream. It was popularized by Bennet, with his remix of the song “Vois sur ton Chemin” from the movie “Les Choristes”, released on August 4, 2023, and racking up over 100 million views (views on his channel and Spinnin' Records combined) on youtube. Artists coming from more violent genres, such as Roolers, have started to produce Hard Techno, taking advantage of its popularity to change their genre. Other artists such as FLKN (Felckin), I Hate Models, Nico Moreno, Dax J and Sara Landry also helped popularize the genre.
Example[]
- Bennet - Vois sur ton Chemin