Techstep

Infobox Music genre
name=Techstep
bgcolor=silver
color=black
stylistic_origins=Drum and Bass
Techno
Hardstep
Darkcore
cultural_origins=mid-1990s, Great Britain
instruments=Synthesizer - Drum machine - Sequencer - Keyboard - Sampler - Laptop
popularity=Small
subgenrelist=List of electronic music genres
derivatives=Neurofunk
Techno-DNB
fusiongenres=
regional_scenes=
other_topics=List of jungle and drum n bass artists

Techstep is a subgenre of drum and bass that was popular in the late 1990s. [cite web | url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/9745,212159,332,22.html | date=1997-11-11 | title=But Then Again, Who Says It Should? | last=Frere-Jones | first=Sasha | publisher=Village Voice | accessdate=2008-06-05 ]

tyle

It is characterized by a dark, [cite book | last = Fritz | first = Jimi | authorlink = | coauthors = Tristan O'Neill, Virginia Smallfry, Trent Warlow | title = Rave Culture: An Insider's Overview | publisher = Small Fry Publishers | date = 1999 | location = | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=CiW3aOptLW4C | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-96857-210-3] sci-fi mood, near-exclusive use of synthesised or sampled sound sources, influences from industrial and techno music, and what some writers have described as a "clinical" sound.cite book | last = Shapiro | first = Peter | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Drum 'n' Bass: The Rough Guide | publisher = Rough Guides | date = 1999 | location = | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=IxEpAyPvyXoC | doi = | id = | isbn = 1-85828-433-3] Although described as having a "techy" feel, techstep's relationship with techno should not be overstated. It shares the technique of creating a high-energy collage from abstract, synthetic noises, including samples, bleeps and squelches: it rarely uses instruments that have not been processed by effects. Similarly, quantized drum-machine kit and percussion sounds are favored over naturalistic human breakbeats. However, it usually adheres to drum and bass norms in other regards, especially in terms of musical structure, with the emphasis on the "drop". Techstep saw jungle music's obsession with bass change from aiming for low and deep to exploring timbre, artists aiming to outdo each other with ever more distorted and "twisted" bass sounds.

History

Techstep developed from jungle music and hardstep around 1996. [cite book | last = Venderosa | first = Tony | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = The Techno Primer: The Essential Reference for Loop-based Music | publisher = Hal Leonard Corporation | date = 2002 | location = | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=VT7_x7m-RWcC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-634-01788-8] The name of the genre was coined by Ed Rush and Trace, who were both instrumental in shaping the sound of techstep. [Citation | first = Simon | last = Reynolds | author-link = Simon Reynolds | first2 = | last2 = | author2-link = | editor-last = Bennett | editor-first = Andy | editor2-last = Shank | editor2-first = Barry | contribution = War in the Jungle | contribution-url = | title = The Popular Music Studies Reader | year = 2005 | pages = | place = | publisher = Routledge | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=QQZNciX0OgEC | doi = | id = 0-415-30710-4] In this case, "tech" did not indicate a relation to the smoother style of Detroit techno, but to the rawer, more caustic hardcore sounds that were popular in Belgium in the earlier part of the decade. Techstep was a reaction to more virtuosic and more pop musical elements in jungle and drum 'n' bass, which were seen as an adulteration of "true" or "original" jungle. [Citation | last = Monroe | first = Alexei | contribution = Thinking about mutation: genres in 1990s electronica | year = 1999 | title = Living Through Pop | editor-last = Blake | editor-first = Andrew | volume = | pages = | place = | publisher = Routledge | id = | isbn = 0-415-16199-1] Instead the genre was infused with a simpler, colder, "whiter" European sound that stripped away all R&B elements, and replaced them with a more techno and hardcore sound, [cite book | last = Mitchell | first = Tony | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Global Noise: Rap and Hip-hop Outside the USA | publisher = Wesleyan University Press | date = 2001 | location = Middletown | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=itcAedBA5CIC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-8195-6502-4] and ideological influences like youth anti-capitalism movements, and dystopian films like "Blade Runner" and "Robocop".cite book | last = Reynolds | first = Simon | authorlink = Simon Reynolds | coauthors = | title = Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture | publisher = Routledge | date = 1999 | location = | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=tGaRJiXe74UC | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-415-92373-5]
Many of the original techstep producers matured into the neurofunk style. Techstep is sometimes derisively referred to as skullstep.
Early pioneers of the style include Black Sun Empire, Source Direct, Trace, Ed Rush, The Panacea, [Sean Cooper, Allmusic Guide bio, [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0iftxqwhldae~T1] Access date: August 9, 2008.] Teebee, Dieselboy, ["The Stranger". "Up and Coming". "AK 1200, Dieselboy, DJ Dara". April 26-May 2, 2001. [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=7178] Access date: August 9, 2008.] Calyx, Counterstrike, Dom and Roland, Edgey, Hive, Ram Trilogy, Konflict, Cause 4 Concern, and Technical Itch. Moving Shadow, Metalheadz, No U-Turn Recordings, and Renegade Hardware were important labels in the development of the style.

References

ee also

* Drum and bass
* Breakbeat
* Breakbeat hardcore