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| Lento violento | |
|---|---|
| Etymology | "Slow (and) violent" |
| Other names | Lento |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Late 1990s, Italy |
| Typical instruments | |
| Regional scenes | |
| Mediterranean Sea | |
| Local scenes | |
| |
Lento violento, sometimes shortened to simplylento, is a style ofelectronic dance music that developed in Italy. Its name meansslow (and) violent, as this style typically has atempo between 85 and 115 beats per minute (BPM). It consists of a hardkick, like the ones present inhardcore orhardstyle, but played at a very slow tempo, with vocal samples and dark and acid sounds or loops.
The first tracks with the lento violento sound were "Anima Ladina" by Ottomix (1991), "Panic Mouse (stress mix)" byGigi D'Agostino (1996), "Ibiza" by Ottomix (1998) and Alex Castelli's "Enjoy", that was co-produced by Ottomix. Although at that time, they were not called "lento violento" yet. These tracks were influenced by the moretechno andtrance-oriented tracks likeMauro Picotto's "Lizard", "Iguana", "Pulsar", "Tuttincoro" or "Raggattak" by Joman (Joy Kitikonti), all from the Italian BXR label.
While some individual tracks were popular in the clubs, the style itself was not established until DJ/producerGigi D'Agostino started with a series of productions in 2003, like "Ripassa". Indeed, he coined the name for this style, and he releases most of his lento violento songs on his own label Noise Maker, using aliases like Dottor Dag, Lento Violento Man, Uomo Suono, Orchestra Maldestra, or La Tana Del Suono, to distinguish these songs from hisItalo dance work.
Other artists started to create similar tracks after the success of this style. Also several compilation CDs are released with lento violento music, like theMovimentolento series.
Italian producerTechnoboy, in his track "The Undersound" released in 2009, fused lento with modern hardstyle elements; while the track claims to christen the new genre "undersound",[1] the term "lento" is still used occasionally to denominate hardstyle tracks.[2] Technoboy himself has continued to use such motifs in his tracks like "Catfight", and the track "MF Point of Lento" byBrennan Heart andHeadhunterz explicitly calls Technoboy the most prominent artist of the genre.[3]