Italo dance
| Italo dance | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Mid-1990s, Italy |
| Typical instruments | |
Italo dance, also known as nu Italo disco, nu-Italo or just Italo, is an offshoot of the Eurodance music genre, which was especially popular in Europe in the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
The term "Italo dance" originates from its early counterpart Italo disco in the 1980s. Except for their name, origin, and categorization within dance music, Italo dance and Italo disco do not have much to do with each other musically.
The genre became mainstream after the release of the single "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65.
Italo dance is predominantly nightclub-oriented music and mainly produced in Italy. The genre never really became mainstream enough for the whole European market, but received much airplay on Italian radio, especially the dance radio station m2o, and in southern parts of Europe. Italo dance was also very popular in Malta.
Italo dance is characterized by synthesizer-riffs, vocals modified with vocoders with catchy and simple choruses and typically a bass with a 'metallic' sound often referred to as "Tuba-Bass".
Italo dance is often very positive and uplifting music; the lyrics mostly involve issues of love, partying, dancing or expressing feelings.
Most of the lyrics are in English but Italian lyrics are also very common. Modifying the vocals with vocoders and pitch correction is also very common.
Almost all Italo dance involves percussion and rhythm like most other electronic uptempo genres. It usually has a metallic sound and a sound like that of the bass produced by a tuba except faster. The percussion is always produced by synthesizers, and the typical BPM is around 140 although it varies from 60–165 beats per minute.
Italo dance is often very melody-driven and is held together by the chorus and the main-theme (melody). Some progressive derivatives of Italo is just driven by percussion and a male vocal. (See: Hard dance style, below)
The style was popular in Northern England around 1993/1994 where DJ's Jason Bushby, Adrian Street and Full Effect imported Italian Vinyl which were played in raves such as Blue Monkey, After Dark, Club Fiesta and famously the Venue in Spennymoor. Tunes such TFO - Body & Soul and Phase Generator - Suicide were well played by many.
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