Developed in the British city of Sheffield, bassline is characterised by wobbly bass, driving rhythms and MCing in regional accents and dialects.

From the depths of dubstep to the swing of UK funky, bass is electronic music with an edge.

Bass-led electronic music from dubstep to UK funky

Bass

Wobbly bass, driving rhythms and regional MCing

Bassline

A new hybrid genre that merges the danceable rhythms of garage with the smoother instrumentation and vocals of R&B.

Hybrid of danceable garage and smoother R&B

Bruk

Inspired by the sub-bass of dub and the two-step rhythms of garage, dubstep developed as a cult genre before finding mainstream success around the world.

World-dominating fusion of dub and two-step

Dubstep

Blending classic garage vibes with ambient and experimental elements, future garage pushes the boundaries of an established UK electronic genre.

Classic garage stylings with experimental elements

Future Garage

Typified by two-step rhythms, energetic MCing and off-kilter bass, garage is a melting pot of sounds, inspirations and concepts.

Garage

Mixing the drive of house with African rhythms, UK funky is a party genre with an upbeat feel and flow.

House momentum paired with African rhythms

UK Funky

Oldschool refers to the original sound of garage, which drew on jungle music and first flourished on pirate radio in London.

Original garage as heard on London pirate radio

An up-tempo, popular style derived from dancehall and ragga. Similar to dancehall, bashment lyrics often focus on sexual relationships and encounters.

Encompassing a range of sub-genres, Caribbean music offers syntheses of African, European, Indian and indigenous influences.

Diverse sub-genres developed across the Caribbean

Caribbean

Popular style derived from dancehall and ragga

Bashment

A hybrid formed of rumbling dub bass, reggae offbeats and frantic MCing. Evolves the reggae tradition with a focus on partying.

Hybrid of dub bass, reggae offbeats and MCing

Dancehall

Derived from reggae, dub consists of instrumental remixes of existing recordings. Heavy sub-bass is punctuated by spacious echo and ethereal Jamaican patois.

Bass-led instrumental remixes of reggae recordings

A fusion genre of House music and Reggaeton. Amercian DJ and producer Dave Nada coined the term in 2008 to describe the combination of "Moombah" and reggaeton.

Moombahton

The world's favourite Jamaican musical form, reggae offers huge diversity – but is best-known for its languid rhythms, distinctive lyrical content and often beautiful harmonies.

Jamaican export known for its languid rhythms

Reggae

An early form of Reggae music originating in Jamaica in the 1960s, characterised by a heavy accent on the third beat of every bar.

Rocksteady

Roots music brings a strong spiritual and social consciousness to classic reggae influences, and is frequently heavily informed by Rastafarianism.

Reggae that emphasises the spiritual and social

Roots

With its walking basslines and offbeat rhythms, ska is a fast-paced fusion of American rhythm and blues and calypso – and a source of inspiration for early reggae and rocksteady. 

Jamaica-born progenitor of reggae and rocksteady

First defined by its progenitor, Lord Shorty, soca is the 'soul of calypso'. Originating in marginalised sub-cultures in Trinidad and Tobago, it's now a global force.

Calypso-derived form from Trinidad and Tobago

Soca

Romantically inclined Japanese pop beginning in the late 70s, blending sophisticated folk, jazz fusion and rock influences over a disco/funk groove.

The full spectrum of sounds from Japan, South Korea, China and beyond, including House & Techno from East Asian producers and regional specialities like City Pop and K Pop.

East Asia

City Pop

A popular dance form that evolved in the Dominican Republic, mixing bolero stylings with African instrumentation.

From Brazilian samba to Dominican bachata, Latin America has been the birthplace of some of the world's most inventive and enduring musical styles.

Diverse musical styles from across Latin America

Latin America

Bolero stylings and African instrumentation

Bachata 

Originally known as carioca funk, baile funk is a party genre born in the Brazilian favelas in the 1980s. A rhythmic blend of funk, hip hop and Brazilian percussion.

Party blend of hip hop, funk and Brazilian rhythms

Baile Funk

Popular in 1960s USA, boogaloo originated in NYC among Latin teens and is a funky blend of American rhythm, blues and soul, with songs in both English and Spanish.

Funky blend of American rhythm, blues and soul

Boogaloo

Developed in Brazil in the late 1950s, bossa nova ('new wave') fuses jazz and samba, and has become hugely influential around the world. 

Bossa Nova

Originally from Colombia, cumbia is a folk form inspired by music of African, indigenous and European heritage. The sound of modern cumbia varies from country to country.

Latin American folk form originally from Colombia

Cumbia

A genre of electronic dance music that combines house and Latin American music of Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican origin.

A combination of house with Latin American music

Latin House

A Brazilian urban style that developed after the emergence of bossa nova, reinterpreting national genres such as samba with inspiration from global popular music. 

Reinterpretations of traditional Brazilian styles

MPB (Música Popular Brasileira)

Originating in the Dominican Republic, merengue is a danceable style characterised by up-tempo arrangements, often in a 2/4 beat.

Merengue

A Latin American hybrid of hip hop, rap and reggae often sung in Spanish or Portuguese, reggaeton employs tropical rhythms and motifs often borrowed from mainstream dance or pop.

Latin American hybrid of hip hop, rap and reggae

Reggaeton

Developed in NYC in the 1950s, salsa has roots in Cuban styles such as bolero and bomba. Arrangements are often heavily influenced by Latin jazz.

NYC-born Cuban style with influences from jazz

Salsa

A Brazilian genre with roots in West African music and religious traditions, samba evolved into a mainstream force at the heart of Brazilian carnival culture.

Brazilian genre with roots in West African music

Samba

A funkier version of the Japanese city pop genre, distinguished by its use of heavier bass, trumpets and sax.

Funkier, bass-heavy spin on Japanese city pop

J Funk

Originating in the London club scene of the mid-'80s, acid jazz offers a soulful, funk and disco-infused take on classic jazz tropes and progressions.

Evolving out of early 20th century New Orleans blues and ragtime, jazz went on to become one of the most eclectic musical forms in the world. 

Epoch-defining genre defined by experimentation

Jazz

Soul, funk and disco-infused take on classic jazz

Acid Jazz

A diverse genre that reworks the architectures and intentions of jazz by taking inspiration from other musical forms, from latin and reggae to hip hop, pop and rock.

Jazz forms founded on and inspired by other genres

Jazz Fusion

 A hybrid of Latin American rhythms and classic Jazz stylings, this sub-genre is dominated by the melodic, up-tempo contributions of Afro-Brazilian jazz and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Latin American rhythms blended with jazz stylings

Latin Jazz

A commercially-oriented crossover genre which came to prominence in the 1980s. Combines jazz vibes with easy-listening pop and lightweight R&B influences.

Commercial crossover blend of jazz, pop and R&B

Smooth Jazz

Fusing trap and hip hop conventions, cloud rap is heavily associated with 'mumble' rappers and often draws on themes and melodies inspired by rock music.

An early 2000s offshoot of hip hop distinguished by faster tempos, choppy hi-hats and heavy 808 rhythms.

Up-tempo hip hop with choppy hi-hats and 808s

Trap

Trap-hip hop fusion associated with mumble rap

Cloud Rap

The combination of 60s psychedelic rock and Turkish folk sounds, including traditional stringed instrument, the saz. The rhythms & grooves inspired many local hip hop producers.

Spanning Algerian Rai, Egyptian Tarab, Palestinian Rap and the emerging electronic scene, the MENA region represents a cultural crossroads where tradition and innovation meet.

The full spectrum of sounds from Rabat to Tehran.

Middle East & North Africa

60s psychedelic rock meets Turkish folk traditions

Anatolian Rock

A multi-cultural mix of European-influenced jazz grooves with Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scales and rhythms, funky basslines and Turkish-rooted percussion.

Jazz, Disco, Funk and Soul from the MENA region.

Arabic Groove

Emerging from the Arabic diaspora in France in the 90s & influenced by US hip hop beats, a young, talented and committed scene has sprung up across Egypt, Palestine and Iraq.

The beats you'd expect, from places you wouldn't.

Arabic Hip Hop

Originating in Egypt, these overlapping styles were once the dominant force in Middle Eastern music. Made up of levantine percussion and, over time, synths & orchestral additions.

Belly Dance/Dabkeh

Born out of 70s Algerian counterculture, RaÏ ('opinion' in Arabic) was initially inspired by rock, disco, reggae & house, but now blends drum machines, synths, guitar & darbukas.

Algerian-inspired countercultural sounds.

Raï

Originally developed as a gentler form of electronica, downtempo has since evolved into a multi-faceted genre covering everything from chilled grooves to trippy soundscapes.

Multi-faceted genre centred on mellow grooves

Downtempo

A celebration of the raw energy and creativity of drum breaks, breakbeat manipulates them into crescendos of percussive force.

Drum & bass evolved out of jungle and offers fast, broken beats, heavy sub-bass and high energy levels.

Fast, broken beats, heavy sub-bass and high energy

Drum & Bass

Style centred on the raw energy of drum breaks

Breakbeat

A festival-friendly successor to drum & bass, dancefloor amps up the dynamics to match the spectacle of huge sound-systems and light shows.

Festival-scale and mainstream-friendly drum & bass

Dancefloor 

Jump Up Drum & Bass consists of aggressive screeching synths, heavy basslines and any other number of bold and manic sounds.

A more aggressive variant of Drum & Bass.

Jump Up

The source of all drum & bass culture, drawing heavily on Jamaican music and sound-system culture with hard, chopped breakbeats and dub basslines

Rapid breakbeats and dub reggae basslines

Jungle

Drum & Bass’ smoother cousin, liquid has established itself as a post-rave chillout genre.

A smoother, post-rave take on drum & bass

Liquid

A stripped-down variant of drum & bass that reduces the style to its essence. 

Streamlined, stripped-back variant of drum & bass

Minimal Drum & Bass

Also known as neuro, this is a darkly cerebral sub-genre of drum & bass first developed in late '90s London as a progression of techstep.

Darkly cerebral London variant of drum & bass

Neurofunk

Soulful samples, mesmerising loops and in-your-face production. Beats are founded on the 'boom' of an acoustic bass drum and the 'bap' of an acoustic snare. 

Covering the broad and rapidly growing instrumental hip hop scene, this is a creative field defined by a distinctive language of loops, beats and samples.

Beats

In-your-face hip hop with distinctive percussion

Boom Bap

Chilled hip hop rhythms bubble beneath ethereal textures and gentle melodics.

Chilled hip hop rhythms and gentle melodics

Chillhop

Hip hop beats frame classic jazz progressions and instrumentation. At its best, an organic fusion of two epoch-defining musical genres.

Hip hop beats and classic jazz progressions

Jazzhop

An unvarnished form of hip hop that focuses on a rootsy vibe and feel rather than flash production. Laid-back productions that embody a lack of artifice.

Rootsy, unvarnished hip hop with a mellow vibe

Lo-Fi

Also known as downtempo, trip-hop pairs the trippier excursions of contemporary electronica with solid hip hop grooves.

Trip-Hop

Funk offers a powerful blend of soulful vocals, jazz swing and mid-20th century counter-cultural energy – and is the irresistibly rhythmic forerunner of disco. 

Music of mid-'60s African-American origin that reinvented the rhythms of soul, jazz and rhythm and blues.

Mid-'60s blend of soul, jazz and rhythm and blues.

Funk & Soul

Rhythmically revolutionary disco forerunner

Funk

A predominantly '60s and '70s soul variant developed in the studios of the eponymous and legendary Detroit label. Highly melodic, super catchy and often dancefloor-filling.

The sound of the legendary Detroit record label

Motown Sound

A late '90s genre, first defined as a polished form of contemporary soul and R&B.

Polished take on contemporary soul and R&B

Neo soul

Soul music typified by hard, driving rhythms that became popular with the British mod sub-culture in the north of England. Northern soul is all about the dancefloor.

Hard-driving dancefloor soul beloved of '60s mods 

Northern Soul

Rare groove is less a genre than a category for crate-diggers, encompassing hard-to-find gems hidden deep in the genres of disco, funk, jazz, soul and rhythm and blues.

Rare Groove

A popular African-American genre born out of gospel music, rhythm and blues, and jazz. Soul music places a profound emphasis on vocal performance and emotional impact.

Iconic genre born out of gospel, blues and jazz

Soul

A more experimental take on rap, often characterised by genre-blending, unique production and alternative arrangements.

A sound, a style and a cultural movement, born in NYC and built on the pillars of compelling beats, creative wordplay and social commentary. Hip hop's influence is everywhere.

Movement built on beats, rhymes and social commentary

Hip Hop

Alt. Rap

Rap music made outside of the dominant Western tradition, featuring sounds and influences inspired by cultures and places often under-represented by mainstream media.

Rap music made outside of the Western tradition

International Rap

Developed in the late '80s and early '90s, jazz rap fuses hip hop beats with jazz structures and motifs. A meeting between two forms of African-American music, past and present.

A fusion of hip hop beats and jazz stylings