The world of electronic music is a tricky one – it seems like there are about as many genres and sub-genres and sub-sub-genres as there are fans sometimes. Take a given track by a given disc jockey, and everyone will have a slightly different opinion as to what exactly you’re listening to.

Get an education in this stylistically fractured scene tonight at Ushuaia in Orono, where local DJs will spin many different types of music all night long – anthemic trance to twitchy, high-energy drum ‘n’ bass to deep, soulful house. And then some.

DJ Clarity, aka UMaine senior Bethany Farnham, plays a dark, moody, intelligently funky brand of techno. She offers an explanation of the kind of music she spins.

“They call it progressive, because it is basically using sounds that have never been heard before in techno,” she said. “It’s not using the same synthesizers. It’s blending all these different types of music into one. It combines Latin beats with old school techno sounds, and sometimes disco, and lots of other stuff.”

“But I’ve been playing a lot of house stuff too, and some tribal,” she adds. So it’s progressive tribal house? Any other adjectives you’d like to add in there?

Regardless, Clarity’s got some serious skills. So do the six other DJs on the lineup.

Orono resident Robbie Snow, by night known as DJ Melee, put together the whole Friday lineup. He spins breaks, a hip-hop-influenced form of techno that deviates from the 4-4 rhythmic norm, and throws in some catchy “break” beats.

“I threw this together in hopes of getting a bigger show for the start of school [at UMaine]. I wanted to do something,” he said, and he said he hoped that everyone would “come out and support your local scene and DJs.”

Though the electronic scene in the area is small, it’s incredibly close-knit, and has weathered the onset of techno music and rave culture suddenly not being “cool” a few years back.

Electronic has come a long way since it broke through into the mainstream in the mid-’90s. Though some still deride it as mindless drug music, it’s never truly been that. Nowadays it’s as diverse and creative as any other music scene out there, and Friday’s lineup reflects that. Expect more than just dancing – it’s a whole culture, with people from many different walks of life enjoying it.

And more importantly, it’s music. It’s just made with records and turntables, instead of guitars and drums.

Local DJs will spin from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday, July 15, at Ushuaia in Orono. The lineup is as follows: Inside: 9-10:30 – Mark Dwyer (progressive, deep house); 10:30-12 – DJ O’Shea (house); 12-1:30 – Melee (breaks); Outside: 9-10 – DJ Clarity (progressive, house); 10-11 – Skunks (drum n’ bass); 11-12 – Diode (breaks); 12-1 – DJ Turnstyle (vocal trance). There’s a $5 cover, and it’s an 18-plus event.

Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.