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Schranz is a European (especially German) variant of hard style 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.| The term emerged in 1994 when Frankfurt-based DJ Chris Liebing 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)| |
