Lento violento

Lento violento, 'slow and violent', is an Italian electronic dance style created by *Gigi D'Agostino* in the early 2000s, defined by a tempo range of roughly 70 to 120 beats per minute and by hard, distorted kick drums borrowed from hardcore and hardstyle. Against the pounding low end it sets sparse, melancholic melodies, folk-tinged themes and long stretches of near-ambient stillness, so that tracks alternate pressure and release rather than building continuously. Developed on D'Agostino's compilations and club sets around Turin, it became a cult current within Italian dance music, sustained by a small circle of producers and by a dedicated club scene rather than by the mainstream charts.