Many times when a friend or someone asked me what kind of music i like, i would tell them Electronica or Indie (independent) music. The first thing that came to their mind was "Oh so you like techno, trance and dance music ?"
o.O"
Techno, Trance and House music can be considered a subset of Electronica but it is more than just those genres.
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary
electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; but unlike
electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing. The term was first used in the United States in the early 1990s with regards to post-
rave global-influenced electronic dance music. Genres such as
techno,
drum and bass,
downtempo, and
ambient are among those encompassed by the umbrella term, entering the American mainstream from "alternative" or "
underground" venues during the late 1990s. Prior to the adoption of
electronica for this purpose, terms such as
electronic listening music, and
intelligent dance music (IDM) were used.
The
All Music Guide categorizes electronica as a top-level genre on their main page, where they state that electronica includes "dozens of stylistic fusions" ranging from danceable grooves to music for headphones and chillout areas
. After beginning as an underground genre in the early 1990s, electronica has grown to influence even mainstream crossover recordings. Elements of electronica are used today by many popular artists in mainstream music.
More can be found at wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronica