Techstep

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Techstep
Stylistic origins:	Drum and Bass, Techno
Cultural origins:	late-1990s, England, Scotland
Typical instruments:	Synthesizer - Drum machine - Sequencer - Keyboard - Sampler - Laptop
Mainstream popularity:	Small
Subgenres
Other topics
List of jungle and drum n bass artists List of jungle and drum n bass record labels

Techstep (also referred to as tech) is a major subgenre of drum and bass, characterized by a dark, sci-fi mood, near-exclusive use of synthesised or sampled sound sources, and influences from industrial and techno music at the forefront. 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 favoured 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'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.

[edit] Notable artists and labels

Ed Rush and Optical, Matrix, Fierce (Virus Recordings)
Trace - (No U-Turn Recordings), (DSCI4 Records)
Konflict, Cause 4 Concern, Usual Suspects (Renegade Hardware)
Photek (Photek Productions)
State of mind
Corrupt Souls
Source Direct (Astralwerks: Science Imprint)
Dom and Roland, Calyx (Moving Shadow)
Bad Company (BC Recordings)
Stakka & Skynet (Audio Blueprint, Underfire Recordings)
DJ Hidden
G Dub (Frontline Records 1990s)
DJ Pascal (Frontline Records 1990s)
SKC
Psidream
Robot Death Squad
Vicious Circle
Teebee {Subtitles}
Unknown Error

[edit] See also

Drum and bass
Clownstep - Darkcore - Darkstep - Drumfunk - Hardstep - Intelligent - Jazzstep - Jump-Up - Liquid funk - Techstep - Trancestep - Neurofunk
Other electronic music genres
Ambient \| Breakbeat \| Dance \| Drum and bass \| Electronica \| Electronic Art Music \| Hard Dance \| Hardcore \| House \| Industrial \| Synthpop \| Techno \| Trance