Schranz (German pronunciation: [ʃʁants]) is a European hard style of techno music. It is typically played at around 150–170^{[citation needed]} beats per minute (BPM) but can also be slower. Schranz is based on massive kick drums, driving percussion, and distorted, looping synthesizer noises.

[edit] Etymology

The term emerged in 1994 when Frankfurt-based DJ Chris Liebing and The Advent described a certain type of techno while searching for records at the now closed "Boy Records" store. The next time he visited the shop, the owner had a selection of harder techno records filed under Schranz. "For me personally, since that day in 1994, Schranz is a description for various dark and distorted sounds in techno", Liebing said in 2002.

To this day, speculation remains about the meaning of the word Schranz within the techno scene. Many believe it to simply imitate the sound of a crunchy low fidelity (lo-fi) percussion loop. For example, schranzen means to eat loudly and voraciously in Dutch slang and it is also a surname found predominantly in Austria. Meaningful speculations indicate that it was meant as a contraction of the two German nouns Schrei (scream) and Tanz (dance), i.e., Schr-anz.

[edit] Characteristic

The "original" Schranz sound is a harder, uptempo Techno style inspired by Detroit Techno, but with reduced melodic elements (often just single synth stabs or atmospheric sweeps) and emphasis on percussion. A trademark of the style are heavily compressed and filtered loops, combined with Roland 909 kick drums, snares and hihats. A prime example of this are Chris Liebing's records "The real Schranz 1-3" and the "Stigmata" Series.

[edit] Current trends

After reaching its popularity peak in 2001, Schranz evolved into an even faster style generally referred to as Hardtechno, running at 150+ BPM and sometimes even crossing the line to Hardcore Techno. This style is most prominently represented by DJs and producers like DJ Amok, DJ Rush, and Linda Pearl. However artists like Chris Liebing are known to stay around 140 BPM in their DJ sets.

Other important producers in the genre besides the above-mentioned have been Mario Ranieri and Luke Slater.

[edit] External links

• Schranz.lt (Lithuanian)
• USB - The Hardtechno Family (German)