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RKM wrote:do you guys rate techstep, seen people saying pretty neg things about it online, but i've really been feeling no u turn and especially trace

Most of my collection vinyl wise is golden era tech step

Is techstep just deeper drum n bass or is it a word for half-time dnb? i've been really feeling stuff like the following lately:

i think it's a movement from around 97 when jungle started getting harder and darker

jags wrote:

Rediscovered this yesterday, what a tune this was, used to hear it everywhere

wolf89 wrote:Just feels like all the effort went into production quality over making good tunes.

this is exactly my stance. I'm afraid Hybris will go the same route with his album, although I generally have a lot of love for his productions and I really hope he'll get the attention he deserves.

@Marka: boggles my mind how Dub Phizix got so much credit for the tune, when clearly all it made "special" was Skeptical's signature halfstep drum programming and Strategy's rather iconic verses. Also, Dub Phizix's agent is ruining the dnb scene. Not hating on Dub Phizix' ability as a musician, I think "The Clock Ticks" is one of the best - in lack of a better word - accessible dnb tunes in a while, but I really think he's overrated compared to the (lack of) love Skeptical has been getting for the things he's been doing. If I recall correctly was the first who crossed the Autonomic sound with club oriented rollers and made it work, and his DJ sets are still brilliant.

^because his name was 1st.

He also seems to be better at getting himself about/marketing himself. Seems to play out much more than Skeptical & bigs up that Manc crew persona thing that a lot of ppl buy into with Chimpo/Strategy/Skittles etc whereas Skeptical has much less of a 'media' prescence.

Still rate both tho.

Also @jags wouldnt call any of those tunes tech-step really, im sure a lot of headz like Gene/ultra know more but classic 'tech-step' sound is late 90's early 00's more focus on cold/dark vibes alongside steppy, straight kick/snare beats vs. the breakiness of classic d&b/jungle, ppl like Dom & Roland, Ed Rush & Optical, Fierce, Nico, Bad Company, Matrix are good examples (altho all of these guys made stuff that doesnt fit into a specific pile too)

Id say 'The Nine' by Bad Company pretty much sums it up handily

GreenWaffle wrote:

Riddles wrote: 2. Commodo - Haunted Harmonics EP

???

ffs ahahaha, i was tired when i wrote that.

meant Thelem

Techstep sounds like it does not deserve it's own term

jags wrote:Is techstep just deeper drum n bass or is it a word for half-time dnb?

techstep is like late 90s-early 2000s dnb. think no u turn, virus, moving shadow, renegade hardware etc.

edit:

Johoosh wrote:Also @jags wouldnt call any of those tunes tech-step really, im sure a lot of headz like Gene/ultra know more but classic 'tech-step' sound is late 90's early 00's more focus on cold/dark vibes alongside steppy, straight kick/snare beats vs. the breakiness of classic d&b/jungle, ppl like Dom & Roland, Ed Rush & Optical, Fierce, Nico, Bad Company, Matrix are good examples (altho all of these guys made stuff that doesnt fit into a specific pile too)

Id say 'The Nine' by Bad Company pretty much sums it up handily

yeah basically

it was the shitf from breaks to more straight beats. ultimately turned into neuro and darkstep. most dnb you hear these days is influenced by that era

jags wrote:Is techstep just deeper drum n bass or is it a word for half-time dnb? i've been really feeling stuff like the following lately:

Techstep is late 90s early 2000s DnB with an emphasis on the 2 step sound and reeses, Ed Rush and Optical Wormhole is a great example, Bad Company, Matrix etc

my fave for example

<3 <3 <3

It's the sickest shit ever RKM

Jurkhands wrote:@Marka: boggles my mind how Dub Phizix got so much credit for the tune, when clearly all it made "special" was Skeptical's signature halfstep drum programming and Strategy's rather iconic verses. Also, Dub Phizix's agent is ruining the dnb scene. Not hating on Dub Phizix' ability as a musician, I think "The Clock Ticks" is one of the best - in lack of a better word - accessible dnb tunes in a while, but I really think he's overrated compared to the (lack of) love Skeptical has been getting for the things he's been doing. If I recall correctly was the first who crossed the Autonomic sound with club oriented rollers and made it work, and his DJ sets are still brilliant.

Was a bit of a Manc anthem.. mainly because of Strategy.. couldn't go to a rave in Manchester when that came out and not hear it, most of the time more than once. When it came out Dub Phizix and Strategy were playing together a lot in manchester.. or it was Chimpo & Strategy or just Dub Phizix but anyway because it was seen as a "manchester tune" Dub Phizix probably ending up with more credit that he deserved (being from manchester). After that tune I'm sure they both toured together too, including a NZ/Australia tour, presumably Skeptical was up to other things while they decided to milk the success of the tune. Can't blame em for that tbh, if I'd made a tune that popped off like that (Rodigan got a VIP!) I'd have milked it too, regardless of how much I had to do with it.

RKM wrote:


<3 <3 <3

I own so many remixes and pressings of this tune.

I fuckin love 95-ish techstep, before it got universally 2 step

Like, No U Turn = ultra sick, but I'm not so into the Virus sound

Harkat wrote:I fuckin love 95-ish techstep, before it got universally 2 step

Like, No U Turn = ultra sick, but I'm not so into the Virus sound

Funnily it took 2 ed and op lps for me to get into the tech sound they invented, i always preferred bad company and tech itch.

^ good point. At first it's probably not that remarkable but when you get down and into it, it seems like other composers just put too much stuff in and loose the focus in their beats.
I think there's something positively wrong with Optical like with a Jimi.

Optical - To Shape The Future rmx is the gulliest tune

dom & roland's industry has to be my fave from the techstep era. decoder's dissection too

some on the no u turn stuff is sick. especially cause in a way it lacked that sorta ravey intensity and had that cold, distant feel to them. shame the label fell off after ed rush went on to do virus - which i'm not really big fan of either

Some of the virus stuff at the start was good, before they went a bit Bro n bass