User:KrikIDDQD/SandBox

= Disco International Center =

= Italobeat =

Italobeat is the earliest form of Italian Eurobeat, emerging in the mid-80s as a result of combining the melodicism of Italo-disco with the musical form of Hi-NRG. Italobeat still retains the Italo-disco approach to production, but places special emphasis on a powerful rushing groove. Italobeat reached its peak in 1988-1991, becoming at that time the main dominant form of Italo-disco. But with the final death of disco music in Western Europe at the turn of the 80s and 90s Italian producers reoriented exclusively to the Japanese market, after which Italobeat was soon largely supplanted by the early 90s style Eurobeat. However, Italobeat was still being released by some Italian labels until 1994, and also sporadically in Latin America and Eastern Europe, where disco music was still popular.

Structure
Relative to modern Eurobeat, Italobeat already has the structure characteristic of later Eurobeat, but does it in the context of Italo-disco production of the 80s. The main feature of Italobeat, which distinguishes it from classic Italo, is a strong rushing groove rhythm, consisting of a straight punchy bassline combined with powerful and rich 4-on-the-floor percussion, as well as a rich arrangement, usually built on syncopated melodies, played on contrasts between short and long notes.

The average tempo of Italobeat is slightly faster than classic Italo, being around 130±5 BPM. At the same time, the tempo is not a fundamental feature of the genre (which is also true for all Eurobeat in general, however) and fluctuates in a very wide range from a very slow 105 BPM to a fast 145 BPM, the main thing is that the melody continues to maintain its groove (which becomes increasingly difficult to do as the speed decreases).

Italobeat is in many ways extremely similar to Spacesynth, a related genre also derived from Italo-disco and Hi-NRG (and partly from Italobeat) and being a predominantly instrumental progressive form of Italo-disco with a futuristic aesthetics. The structure and emphases of the two genres are similar to such an extent that introducing a classic song form with regular vocals into Spacesynth will most often turn a tune into the odd-sounding Italobeat that was often heard in the works of Made Up Records. Italobeat is also somewhat similar to Sleaze-energy - a kind of slow and calm antonym of Eurobeat, represented in particular by the works of Savage, Gazebo and Valerie Dore, which, like Italobeat, also focuses on monotonous bass with pronounced drums, but does it in a very minimalistic melancholic form.

Rhythm
The needed groove is usually achieved by focusing not on the downbeat (like in Funk and the most of Disco music before), but on the third beat with an upstroke (similar to Reggae), which creates a kind of question-answer relationship within one bar between drums and bass: one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and-.

Bass
• Octave - The first most common type of bass, where one note is played by each onbeat alternately in two different octaves, and is closely associated with Italo-disco in general. Song examples: Rose - "Perfect Time", Alphatown - "The Power of My Love", Norma Sheffield - "Your Body Lies" • Gallop - The second most common type of bass, where one note is played on three out of four beats (usually the first, third and fourth), thereby creating a swift rhythm, reminiscent of a galloping horse. Usually octave, but can also be simply monotonous. The downbeat is generally emphasized by something - for example, a different octave or volume. The most common variation is A3/--/A4/A4. Song examples: Chip Chip - "So Close to Heaven", Robert Camero - "Deep in Love", F.C.F. - "Bad Desire" • Double octave (aka Rolling) - The heritage of Hi-NRG, for which it is the hallmark. A variation of an octave, where each note is repeated one more time (i.e., it doesn't look like A3/--/A4/--, but A3/A3/A4/A4), which makes the bass seem to roll across the entire octave back and forth. It is not very common in Eurobeat, but is very characteristic of related Spacesynth, where this is the most common variant. Song examples: Silver Pozzoli - "Love is the Best", Green Olives ‎– "Jive Into the Night", Fred Ventura - "One Day" • Flat - The most simple bassline, where the bass plays just one single note every onbeat. Since there is no difference between downbeat and upbeat, it is extremely rare in early Eurobeat, because the groove suffers greatly from this. Song examples: Max Coveri - "Bye Bye Baby", Ciao Ciao - "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", Lou Grant - "What Kind of Cure" • Pattern - A short octave or flat repetitive pattern occupying no more than two bars. It's usually interspersed with some other type (as for example in Wild Reputation, where a regular octave bass sounds in the verses, and a pattern in the chorus and riff). It is not very common in Italobeat, but is more widespread in later Italian Eurobeat forms. Song examples: Aleph - "Big Brother", D. Essex - "Love & Celebration" The bassline does not have to be one and can either be interspersed with others (for example, in the verses one type, in the chorus another) or be multi-layered, combining different basses with different types at the same time. As an influence of British Eurobeat, sometimes there can also be a secondary jumping bassline - a syncopated bass (most often presented as slap bass or DX7 electro bass) jumping up and down disorderly over two octaves, adding a swing element. It comes as an addition to one of the above bassline types: even if this bass is brought to the front, there will always be another straightforward bass layer that emphasizes the rushing groove. Song examples: King Kong & D'Jungle Girls - "Boom Boom Dollar", Mike Hammer - "Divine", Gipsy & Queen - "Energy"



Percussion
This percussion system, having finally settled down by the end of the 1980s, will be inherited by the early 90s Eurobeat almost without any changes and will be characteristic of all Eurobeat until the mid-90s, where early Eurobeat will begin to be replaced by the modern form.