What Happened To Tech House? | Resident Advisor

The story behind the most misunderstood genre in dance music.
For well over a decade, tech house was commonly assumed to be a byword for uninspired, cookie-cutter dance music. Combining techno's outer-space sensibility with the swung grooves of house, tech house became largely associated with big room commercial clubs, and the term was often casually used as a pejorative to describe any mid-tempo dance music thought to be in bad taste. But in recent years, that's started to change.
A new generation of DJs have been rediscovering the '90s productions that initially defined the tech house sound, tracks that are a million miles away from what the style transformed into as the 2000s progressed. Many modern listeners wouldn't think to associate these timeless tracks with what tech house became, which begs the question: what happened? What was tech house in the first place? Where did it come from? Why did it change? And why is it back? In this video essay, the DJs and producers who built the culture, watched it decay and reemerge, set the record straight.
Narrator: Moxie
Writer: Ray Philp
Editor: Sophie Misrahi
Dubbing Mixer: Guy Clarke
Motion Graphics: Lawrie Miller
Music Consultant: Dave Mothersole
Archive Footage/Images:
Dafina Krstevska Richards / dy-na-mix
One2 Watch Media
Kappa FuturFestival
Mark Anthony Tarling
Mile Staniskovski
Lucianocadenza
Twistedbobby
Boing Poum Tchak!
DJ Mag
Nicole Moudaber
Miami Music Week
Conkermon
Joe Dawson
Bruw69
Maria Harlow
Mickysheffield
Tomorrowland
Get Physical Music
Auroom Record Label
Sunwaves Festival
PIRATE.COM
Boiler Room
Music in order of appearance:
O.H.M. - Oceanic (Original Mix) [Defective Records] 1995
Housey Doingz - Gobstopper [Wiggle Classics] 1996
E-Dancer - World of Deep [Play It Again Sam] 1998
Pure Science - Say It [Pure Science Communications] 1999
A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray [Warlock Records] 1988
LFO - LFO [Warp Records] 1990
Baby D - Let me be your Fantasy [Production House] 1992
Leviticus - Burial [Philly Blunt Records] 1994
Goldie - Innercity Life [FFRR] 1994
Loco Dice - Definition (Nic Fanciulli Remix) 2010
M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Body Language [Get Physical Music] 2005
Two Right Wrongans - System Error (Original Mix) [Neotropiq] 2018
Asad Rizvi - Dual (Bushwacka! Remix) [Reverberations] 2005

[@kaerustation]

This is always the same story, commercial appeal that overshadow or destroy an entire genre. Long live to the underground! Stay real

[@salvature]

OMG youre so real. Lol, why just not let people enjoy music? Commercial or not who cares 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@wobbler6372]

It becomes main stream because the producers start chasing money. .

[@kaerustation]

@@salvature do you feel insecure about something in my comment?🤷🏻‍♂️ Never talked about the right to enjoy commercial music or not.

[@djdeepkanga1245]

​@@salvature To be "real" is to be invested in something. POP culture is not invested, theyre there becaus its the hip thing to do and they poison the evioerment with theyre cell phones, and posing. This goes for both the DJ/producers and the guests. Berlin might be the last "real" place on earth thats operating on a grand scale IMO.

[@pedroh.3624]

nowadays all tech house sounds exactly the same. pre made loops killed this genre.

[@yofacundito]

Tech house, Deep house, Dubstep, DnB, Trance, all put down by the unwillingness to dig for good music, nowadays all newbie DJs wanting to set up a party as quickly as possible with the fastest collected commercial music from a "trusted" cookie cutter label

[@totaldeparture7848]

I see posts on music groups on Facebook where people literally just expect to be spoonfed "banger tracks" without doing any of the digging themselves. lol.

[@timchromecast]

Agree 100%, it's all about instant success on social media. Not for the love of music.

[@xaviergms2225]

Nailed it mate!!

[@cristiancummings9852]

@@totaldeparture7848 it’s all about the digging. If a DJ digs and finds his music he enjoys playing it more to their crowd and it becomes a good set apposed to them playing whatever has the biggest drop and whatever keeps the crowd interested

[@wwlittlejOfficial]

Add minimal, to that. Nothing fucking stays underground. If ur music is being played at a dark club with maybe 200 people, chances it's good...at a flowery lite bright festival with 100k attendees? Disposable garbage.

[@monat_son]

It's not about tech-house being bad, it's just about good tracks and shit tracks.

[@salvature]

💯

[@serratos97]

Agree. Sometimes I struggle finding under tech house songs, do you have a playlist I can check ??

[@faasteddie]

Yes!

[@MusicalMemeology]

Journalism today seems to be this formula; make up a premise, then create a whole story about the made up premise.

[@benjamingring621]

And shit snares

[@totaldeparture7848]

Just like every trendy genre, most recently techno, there's two different faces to it- you have the poppy cookie cutter big room sound, and then you've got the more innovative underground stuff. They might as well be two different genres at this point. The old school records Raresh plays and the Ibiza chart house that say Marco Carola plays are two different worlds. No disrespect, but you don't go to a Marco Carola set expecting to hear innovation.

[@davidvujnovic7251]

Very well said.

[@DaviMartins99]

Word. Deep House went through the same process. Psytrance is going through it too, specially the Proggy side of it.

[@von...]

@@DaviMartins99 who would you say came out as 'king of the underground' in the deep house explosion? like who really was doing different stuff, but it worked? in your opinion of course, this isnt a loaded question & I dont expect any specific answer lol

[@maxiqums1549]

yes, techno is basically you either choose Jeff Mills or you choose Drumcode, that’s fun. Deep House you choose Larry Heard/Timewriter or you choose Beatport Top 100. Progressive you choose Sasha and Digweed or you choose Deadmau5. Tech House you choose Terry Francis/Jark Prongo or you choose I don’t know Nic Fanciulli!?

[@DaviMartins99]

@@von... definitely Larry Heard. His work is the foundation of Deep House.

[@tregellis1]

Beatport happened

[@gunhandler11]

*how can you say something so controversial yet so brave*

[@oliverschmidt1988]

hahahaha nice one ! so true

[@totaldeparture7848]

It's true tho, for a while there they were sticking commercial pop EDM in with any old category and calling it a day. Misled an entire generation into thinking Martin Garrixx was progressive house lol

[@maxkusmierek7820]

@@totaldeparture7848 very accurate

[@alexanderliu9376]

@@totaldeparture7848 I mean I like Beatport but I must agree their genre labelling is awful... it's all run by algorithm nowadays, no second opinion

[@wouterderogee6839]

There is still a lot of good music produced, you just have to dig deeper.

[@serratos97]

Agree, don't listen to the top songs in beatport

[@matisonntag]

totally agree

[@MrJackNose]

Thats for sure

[@drifter402]

We're in a great time right now

[@DysmorphicP]

That's the thing with tech house... You have to dig so deep that listening to 100 tracks to get 1 that is good, that listening to 99 shit tracks is definitely not worth it and completely frustrating.

[@bohemianvillage676]

Part of the confusion comes from the fact that for many people techhouse simply means "minimal with a proper kick drum"... Since Kevin Saunderson was mentioned: one could argue that the first literal 'tech house' tracks were actually the Inner City hits "Big Fun" and "Good Life". They had the Detroit techno production combined with the soul and groove of Chicago house. In those days, the producers didn't really think of house and techno as separate genres, and some of the early Detroit techno pioneers even said that this distinction was a marketing thing invented by European music journalists.

[@tawkinhedz]

Yes

[@fusion01wp]

Tech house wasn’t just minimal but often very soulful. I disagree that it was influenced heavily by techno, I’d say equal measures house and techno.

[@JimmyHandtrixx]

Yes 'techno' was used by a UK label for a 1988 compilation to distinguish between Chicago 'house' . It was originally just going to say 'detroit house '

[@teknik12k]

"Deep House" suffered the same fate as "Tech House" it's all just buzzword bingo where the "genre" gets slapped on whatever sound even when it's not it. fwiw I grew up in detroit in the early 90s and have always been a fan of both. It's only a problem when trying to browse on juno and finding a bunch of commercial crap pop up

[@brunkonjaa]

That's why we have KZbin :) "JohnnyM in the mix" and "Gentleman Deep House" are a breath of fresh air imo

[@Leo-mu8kn]

Exactly. I discovered deep house around 2010 and love it but its hard to find the sound i liked back then, and now the tag is just edm BS

[@pippo-1073]

Trance is the biggest victim. I'm in a classic Trance group on fb and everything is Trance apparently. Even DJ producers call their stuff Trance when it isn't.

[@Pllayer064]

good thing that my genre of choise is _norwegian abstract death folk post-genre self-identify juke_ and it's pretty niche.

[@Hoaqxin]

it's even worse with "techno" in general. Many many people like to call any electronic song techno, especially eurodance/hands-up. I don't know when or why that started, but it's annoying me since.

[@jogolock1190]

Been listening to House and Techno since 1986, I just love all forms of House and Techno. Still going in 2021 so all good :)

[@mihajlosinka1974]

1:58 PartiBoi69 is enjoying himself some tech-house

[@scuffeddeimos]

Nice find!

[@ir3836]

hahahahahha

[@de_minek]

😃 wooo

[@billbrasky8525]

Love PB69

[@spiritlevelstudios]

lol

[@MaicPiani]

I totally love how you connected the dots of 30 years of music in a 10 minutes video.

[@totaldeparture7848]

Let's be real though, like a fraction of those who've already seen it would have watched it if it was an hour long piece. I would love if they made it a series, but there is something to be said for the digestibility of short concise videos like this

[@jadeduh4555]

@@totaldeparture7848 🤏🏼 I get it though..

[@YUSSEB8E]

As soon as producers started making it mandatory to have 32bars - 8 bar break - 32bar-16 bar breakdown- outro for productions, it was game over. Linear approaches to any music sterilise genres .

[@5ystemError]

The popularity of tech house is what really surprised me. At least with commercial dubstep you could kind of tell the tracks apart

[@rrotik]

genre confusion was caused by digital stores mostly beatport mislabeling in the late 2000’s. Same thing happened with big room - they were labeled as “progressive house” which honestly have very little to do with one another. Same will happen with the new Minimal and Micro that romanian sound, bandwagoners will wash it out

[@alexanderliu9376]

absolutely dude!!! summed it up just about right

[@destryo3287]

I swear to god EVERY Techno Track I want to download is "peak time techno" or "techno" even tho I buy Hardtrance, Acidcore, Early Hardstyle, Hard Techno, Industial Techno. Like Beatport cmon what the actual fuck how is Hardtrance similar to Techno except the 4/4 kick?

[@LAskeHosting]

Labels are main reason why it died, look at top100 tech house labels, they don't want to release anything that doesn't sound same as their other generic tech House. Just random play to their releases and yo will see that deference between tracks are so minimal almost non existent... Label's made it generic and if you try to change anything they will tell you: not the sound we are currently looking for. And there you go... The death of techhouse featured with tons of generic tracks that sound the same and have nothing new to show... Shame, it was great genre once

[@justroco]

Totally agree, that’s what happens when the business side takes over the artistic expression.

[@faasteddie]

IT IS NOT DEAD! FYI. Hahahaha Just play the good tracks. ;-)

[@spiritlevelstudios]

@@faasteddie yeh exactly. The amount of music that is not top 100 is a much larger and more diverse pool to draw from. When you write it yourself, and have no locked in label, you can make it sound however you want.

[@MastiksoulTV]

Happy to see some hold friends like Gideon , Eddie Richards, Liz, Nathan Coles, Asad Rizvi and list goes on. Proud to have been part of this era. Congratulations for this video, it truly describes the real scene as it was. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@engidiogo]

Saudades desses tempos!

[@tommiedigitsen1734]

4 kenzo and Kitsam was one of my favorite labels Greetzzz Mastik :)

[@detroittechno7904]

Good to see someone who actually knows Tech-House originators are. Respect mate. Terry Francis and Nathan coles we are forever grateful.

[@Chuggnuts]

I'm proud to own a load of your productions ❤

[@analogikkortex]

Fofa-se ainda me lembro de ouvir faixas tuas e pensar eram muito boas com grande groove. Bem sei que agora deves ser avô e tens netos para sustentar mas fazer umas coisinhas underground de vez em quando para mostrares ao pessoal o que era bom tech-house ao pessoal mai novo só te ficava bem. Qualquer coisa Respública, Santarém. De qualquer maneira obrigado pelos bons momentos que proporcionaste à 10-20 anos...

[@dryad9821]

Catching a Terry Francis set in London was always a killer vibe...Also worth a mention Trevor Rockliffe, Colin Dale, Mr G, G Flame, Halcyon Daze. Still rockin!

[@stefanvansteenberge]

they have nothing to do with the recent tech-house. that was good music.

[@MrCamparisafari]

yessss big up trevor rockcliffe !! and billy nasty

[@EmilyMoyer]

Totally….

[@harveyaustin898]

God do I love being from Croydon a place with such rich music history that 100% goes unnoticed

[@MrBillRizer]

The Black Sheep bar alone had a huge variety of genres. All types of DJs, local bands, jam nights, the lot.

[@debycarter6694]

Lived in Croydon in the 90's for years at the time Swag & Apple Record shops were open. Both run by very good friends of mine Liz Edwards (RIP), Stubsy, John Kennedy.. Wicked memories..

[@debycarter6694]

@@MrBillRizer I djayed in there :)

[@jmedved]

@@debycarter6694 qrķ

[@MrBillRizer]

@@debycarter6694 Awesome, I may have been there when you did :) The Cartoon is definitely worth a mention, I played there in a band quite a few times, which changed to Cool Rooms. I worked in the HMV in West Croydon, but Beanos was a regular visit for us :)

[@Moskalus]

Terry Lee Brown Jr. should have been mentioned too! I still have love for the mid 00’s tech house sound, 07-09 were great years! That 90’s sound is still being made today, you just have to digg!

[@mosonic]

Love him. His album »From Dub Til Dawn« is one of my favorites.

[@Leo-mu8kn]

Yeah everyone copying dj seinfeld doesn't ever get old /s

[@maxiqums1549]

driftwood label legendary releases

[@teddyjones3652]

Exactly you can’t trawl through beatport top 100 and expect to find good stuff

[@sacredflames07]

Your comment is much appreciated here 🙌🏾👍🏾🙇🏽‍♂️🙏🏾cuz only true listeners can save what's yet to originate

[@dominicbarton2808]

Tech house will never die when done properly!

[@scottsetzke7967]

a couple years ago I was in a college pub playing a gig around 2016 when tropical house was the summer vibe and I decided to start playing 90's house tracks I'd bump them up a bit in ableton just so they fit the modern levels of other tracks and boy I'll tell you the Night and many after were absolute JAMS. Showing out with a live set that worked more like a waltz was the best part the process goes as follows step 1 - Play a current beatport track step 2 - mix into the 2007-2011 remix step 3 - mix into the Original Track It's a time machine that keeps going backwards in 3 parts so you are always working and never bored and at the same time you are sort of teaching your crowd a history lesson of where all these great tunes originated was. When I first tried this it was at an after hours and another dj 20+ my senior came up to me and said "Hey I hear what you are doing, you should do that at the club"

[@cedeezy]

It’s true, some of the tech house tracks I hear are mad generic sounding but there are still DJs and producers who mix/create amazing tech house... U just have to take the time to find those tracks!

[@mistateearuba]

Music loses it's magic when a formula is applied to it to score hits. They usually start by taking the soul out. What's left is a generic sound that is liked by a larger crowd. It happens. The "good" stuff is still out there tho. You will feel it when you find it.

[@noisevector]

agreed. I love producers being true to their original sound and are just having fun making music and putting their soul in it, without them worrying about appealing to the masses and the size of their wallet. I will always stick to my olschool 90's detroit / birmingham techno and house influenced style because I like it, feel it and breath with it. If other people also like it, than that's great but not the goal.

[@maxiqums1549]

it was the original sound of UK labels such as “Wiggle”, “Fresh Fruit”, early Craig Richards and Terry Francis. Now the Tech House is basically beatport top 100 garbage, you hear it once and completely forget about it the second later

[@mistateearuba]

Fresh Fruit is Dutch. Founded by DJ Zki & Dobre a.k.a The Good men, a.k.a Chocolate Puma, a.k.a Rene et Gaston, a.k.a Jark Prongo. Not from UK ;)

[@anthonyteasdale8541]

Very true - Circulation records in Kingston, too. Loved Fresh Fruit, even better was Touché - home of 51 Days.

[@wwlittlejOfficial]

Disposible, not timeless

[@worldtraveller9839]

Audiences like hearing new things so genres will always come and go... what’s the big deal? Nothing “happened” to Tech House, it’s still there, and you can listen to all of it online, and millions of people do.

[@peradolia]

I don’t think you know what’s going on

[@maquettemusic1623]

the association of all this commercial big room shit is downplaying the importance, origins and artistry of the original genre. Same happened to UK Dubstep when the US got hold of it.

[@FEEDTHESTRAYMUSIC]

My take too. Love the original tech house sound. But I also love the modern sound. For different reasons

[@optiquemusic6204]

Really, Tech-house is one of the last genres I would associate with Commercial Exploitation. Yeah, you'll get a 'Love Story' or 'Heater' every once in a while, but TH seems to be on that Surface Level of Underground Electronics (if that even makes sense).

[@foodstampz]

Go listen to A craze for 5 hours

[@LordMarlle]

Swayzak made 5 or so of my all time favorites, tracks I still listen to regularly, and never seem to tire out.

[@hasgoodles7807]

They are in a class by themselves.

[@dubrazor]

Swayzak, one of my favorites ever. I was lucky to hear them live in Argentina.

[@johnjoecahill3301]

@@dubrazorsnowboarding ;)

[@dannyjacobsen6362]

Great little docu, not choosing sides, just giving some well-needed shine to the origins of this genre. Mad respect for Silverlining too!

[@NordineHateuf]

Amazing 10 minutes content. Loved the authenticity of the documentary - well narrated and on spot. Thanks a lot, now I have something to show my friends who don't understand what true Tech House is.

[@becarmstrong7960]

This doco needs to be like 10 times longer. I could watch this for hours! And would love to see some extended interviews please Resident Advisor!

[@michaeljaye8776]

The biggest problem is the parties & dj's who only play one style or sound. This oversaturates and kills genres.

[@adriancioroianu1704]

rominimal is the modern incapsulation of tech house. it has a vibrant underground scene and it has no vanity. the music itself is amazing.

[@juanguibora3762]

Could you name some of these artist?

[@adriancioroianu1704]

@@juanguibora3762 Sure Suciu, Herodot, SIT, Priku, Mihai Pol, Pîrvu, Cally, Nu Zau, Costin Rp and many more... There's a lot of each on soundcloud.

[@adriancioroianu1704]

@@juanguibora3762 And of course the classic RPR: Raresh, Petre Inspirescu, Rhadoo. But i guess you know about them already because they are mainstream for a long time.

[@juanguibora3762]

@@adriancioroianu1704 thank you very much for the info!

[@djsuploaded]

Spent many many hours in Swag Records. Don’t forget that majority of the DJs on this film worked at Swag Records. Props to Colin Dale and Mr C as well.

[@debycarter6694]

Same here.. I used to live in Croydon & Swag was run by 2 of my friends, Liz Edwards (RIP) & Stubsy.. Miss those times..

[@pascalwalls8131]

Glad to Colin Dale getting a few mentions in this comments section. One of his sets at a Jeff Mills headlined Lost party remains the best set I've ever seen. Much more than just a tube station near Barnet.

[@mikesurrealparsons7123]

used to help out in swag, loved it and the wealth of music tucked away in the bins was amazing. really looked forward to going there every weekend and checking out what had been put by for me. great to see stubsy in the video and the lovely liz.

[@debycarter6694]

All seems not that long ago really does it Mike x

[@cooptrol]

Middleground never goes away: not too spacey, not too dark, not too cheesy, not too fx, not too smooth, not too harsh, not too slow, not too fast, etc etc... This appeals to a percentage of the audience, people who like middleground things. This is not something bad, or good either.. not so bad, not so good...

[@Scottygthreethousand]

Indeed, the sound is actually quite hard to pin down/distinguish, because it is so middling on many elements. Perhaps it should be called Normcore! Ha. I actually really like good tech house records though.

[@cooptrol]

@@Scottygthreethousand I like it too! There's something my friends like to call "housetechno" that is not this kind of tech house, although it is clearly a mixture of house and techno.. maybe it takes other elements from those genres, completely different music

[@Pllayer064]

Maybe call it Emasculated Dance Music?

[@bvedant]

@@Pllayer064 why bring gender into this?

[@Pllayer064]

@@bvedant Eunuch Dance Music?

[@gabrielv.4358]

Awesome video!!!!! The thing I DISLIKE MOST in techno house is the constant overrepetition of the notes which annoys me and brreak down the song into one infinite loop

[@gabrielv.4358]

The sad thing is that mostly are like that. The older ones with variety are the best ones!

[@DelFlo]

Bass was always already the soul of techno... Juan Atkins was a bass player originally.

[@blakecasimir]

Shows in the beautiful melodicism of his 80s and 90s music. But that isn't cool any more apparently, one has to make minimal and "stripped down" tracks to fit into modern dance genres. Honestly f**k this snobbery.

[@DelFlo]

@@blakecasimir melodies for early and late night, stripped down in between is what works for me

[@batican8367]

For everyone wondering, Dirtybird hijacked Techhouse, and now we have the contemporary Tech House that we all know. There’s your answer.

[@danielnigrin]

Great to see RA recognize our label, Defective Records, and the masterpiece O.H.M. track "Oceanic" right up front at the 0:35 mark. Respect RA!

[@YounRangr]

Dubstep went the same route once the mainstream took it

[@totaldeparture7848]

And yet it's pretty underground again, the deep dub stuff anyhow. I think people are slowly learning how to better differentiate the OG styles of dance music from their distant mutant EDM cousins. I think basically what happened was back during the EDM boom in the early 2010's they didn't have new labels coined for it yet so Beatport just stuck it in with already established genres like Progressive house and Dubstep and it confused all the kids who were just starting to get into dance music. Now if you go on Beatport Big room/EDM is it's own thing and the Prog and Dubstep categories are back to being more accurate. Now they just gotta come up with a term for Ibiza style "tech house" and get it in it's own category.

[@sameerdodger]

@@totaldeparture7848 as much as completely agree with you, I don’t think it’s too healthy to get bogged down in defining genres. I feel like genres are go-to ways of describing and categorising music, there are many more ways to refer to tunes.

[@totaldeparture7848]

@@sameerdodger Oh I completely agree, at the end of the day it's all just music and there's good and bad tunes in every style so there's no use getting hung up on purism, I think I would just generally prefer to have it more organized specifically when I'm shopping for it so I can dig what I need more efficiently. It would be nice to have Tech House divided up into "big room" and then whatever you'd call the alternative on Beatport kinda like they did with techno. It just helps narrow down your search is all.

[@YesSirPhil]

Taylor Swift('s producers) dislikes your comment...

[@jimmynewman4382]

Also rooted in Croydon.

[@purescience3538]

Thanx for the mention RA x

[@adammushnick6667]

Loved your track

[@purescience3538]

@@adammushnick6667 Thanx matee and please visit and subscribe to our youtube channel for more links to music and videos.. ;-)

[@bobcarolgees8278]

Followed your music since The Exorcist & The Bee, absolutely cained We Must Feel, Brighter Days, Fight Against Opression & Constandit in the 90s. Some of the best tracks around in those days.

[@anthg4331]

@@bobcarolgees8278 100%

[@TexturedFlow]

Well done, RA. Super informative and well put together video. I learned a lot . Thank you

[@CaveWay]

Tech house that’s heady, danceable, and does not include an air horn or 16th note snare build up is still 👍 in my estimate Chop up your sample packs kids

[@mertbagcan]

its like everyone is using the same sample pack, they probably all from Torrent :D

[@von...]

@@mertbagcan we make our own samples here in chicago... well besides the "1,2,3 JUMP" sample, thats a classic that only the true underground knows

[@mertbagcan]

@@von... we didnt talk about real tech house people. We play tech house as well.

[@pimuce]

I used to play acid techno during 90’s and this style disappeared during 2000’s and i’m happy to see that dj’s like Amélie lens or Charlotte de witte plays kind of acid now

[@ColoradoStreaming]

@@mertbagcan Beatport.

[@Classic_Vinyl_Only]

It’s the ‘Big’ DJ’s who rake in all the money who end up killing genres

[@cristiancummings9852]

james hype, micheal bibi....

[@haydenfraser3035]

Literally Fisher

[@cristiancummings9852]

@@haydenfraser3035 yep that’s another

[@glassboxes]

@@haydenfraser3035 fisher is edm for high school senior

[@mae4712]

Oh ye I can read SKRILLEX thru the lines

[@alinpiticu91]

9:00 - Petre Inspirescu @ Sunwaves 23 @Playing Two Right Wrongans - System Error

[@raab2616]

Thank you kind sir

[@DaviMartins99]

Great track! Thanks mate

[@ivaylospasov8162]

truuuu thank uuu

[@simonp27]

thank youuuuuuuuuu

[@lewisrosher1601]

Such a banger

[@keendnb]

There's always a blurry crossover in music styles and new names for a style because of specific sounds that get used, that's what makes music so great with never-ending possibility.

[@ravracer16]

End of day dance music should make you want to dance. Doesn’t matter if it’s tech house , techno or disco. Some of the better DJs can go from one genre to the other in their sets effortlessly. A Carl Cox set at a festival is completely different from a Carl Cox set at 3am in Ibiza. It’s gets dark and dirty and less groovy.

[@calebainsworth7247]

A Carl Cox set these days is fucking arsebiscuits. Always been overrated. His FACT mixes were pretty good though.

[@louisvanmoyes7587]

Carl Cox plays commercial Tech House for his early sets and Business Techno for his later sets. Man is the definition of commercialism, unfortunately. Gotta go back in time to hear his quality stuff.

[@micheleberto1846]

surprised to not see Marco Carola in this video. How many DJs changed their style to tech-house in order to survive in Ibiza? See at Jamie Jones...long days have been since his hot creation original sound

[@caseyfalconer7347]

Love the hot creation releases from 2011-2012 times

[@mhurst4317]

he'd probably demand a ridiculous fee let's be honest

[@micheleberto1846]

@@mhurst4317 hahah that's right.

[@jeff-oh]

Shouts to Mr. C, Layo & Bushwacka, Terry Francis, Slam, Swayzak, Eddie Richards, Dave Mothersole.

[@sabrinarodrigues629]

Layo&Bushwaka actually introduced me to electronic music in the early 2000. Never went back

[@XLNC616]

Labels, dislike, culture etc, are such matters of the mind and society. What music is touching my heart, my soul, this is all that matters to me.

[@shumeister1059]

Goose pimple music?

[@Audiojunkk]

Man so many people lazily vilify TH, there are so many REAL bangers in the sound! You just have to dig!

[@PAWSA]

📠

[@cheda1992]

I think it’s inevitable when majority of ‘TH DJs’ play the same shit with a different name over and over again. DJs push the music and educate the crowd. If I heard a DJ play good tech house it would cause me to reform my opinion on it and look deeper into the genre. If DJs consistenlty play commercial, repetitive shit and call it tech house, then the genre suffers because of it

[@alexanderliu9376]

People vilify "EDM" too, they think it is a boogeyman coming to usurp the underground scene when I think the mainstream and underground have been able to coexist quite well for decades now. Let sleeping dogs lie.

[@SeattleSpursFan1882]

Personally, I believe Colin Dale and his Abstrakt Dance show should get mad props for spreading the Tech house sound back in the early 90's.

[@followtheboat]

Great to see Fitzy on this. Hardest working woman in the underground music scene for too many years. Deserves top respect.

[@nickflynn621]

It became rinsed by events like elrow and desert hearts and it's on the way out.

[@NewKidOnTheBlock100]

nah Desert Hearts actually plays some good tech

[@bakwoodz3542]

@@NewKidOnTheBlock100 lee renolds baby

[@sergmurkin6551]

No desert hearts slander will be allowed here

[@CosticaKristianDiVogli]

RIP Liz Edwards!

[@Allu16]

Ah that Marco Carola Timewarp era.

[@massimoboffice9570]

I don’t like how people are acting like the genre is ruined. The sound is evolving in a way that’s easier to get into but that doesn’t mean that the quality of music is getting worse (you can even argue that it’s getting better). For all those stuck up about the “OG tech house”, that music isn’t going anywhere and minimalist sounds are still being released. If the “masses” of people are liking it it’s for a reason. The fact that samples from other genres are being incorporated into the music allows for more variety in production and DJ sets and in the end is what drives tech house forward. I say we stop being hyper obsessed with being “underground” and keep enjoying music that brings people together

[@victorkamir8457]

If more people like it it’s also probably because they made tech-house super easy listening, maybe to easy. It now sounds cheezy and have no flavor at all, those songs are like juste trying to bring people together so money can be made, nothing else

[@massimoboffice9570]

@@victorkamir8457 I agree it's much easier to listen to now than it used to be. I've been a DJ for some years now and I'm constantly digging through tech house, needless to say that the underground style of tech house is still out there just like it's been for a while. I tend to spin both the more mainstream tech house as well as the underground, darker and grimier tech house depending on what caters best to my crowd. I don't think easier listens are a good or bad thing provided that the production quality and artistic ability is there. At the end of the day people will always be out there making cheesy music to make a pretty penny but apart from that the best we can do is listen to and support producers that make music we think is good. Music is very subjective so we shouldn't be so stuck up over classifying genres imo

[@rodrigorodriguez2753]

it's been so damn good for the past decade or so

[@marcellkovacs5452]

I agree with your main point, but sadly the “tech house” that gets played at festivals is incredibly formulaic and gets boring after 15 minutes. The only reason you can tell that you’re hearing a new track is because the bass line is ever so slightly different. However, the tracks in this video are actually pretty decent, especially Gobstopper at the beginning.

[@blacknwhitesalright]

If you’re so musically undeveloped that you can’t appreciate techno or house, you need to develop your ear. The handholding can only go so far.

[@LeonVuksic]

Tech House is not dead, it was never “mainstream”. Deep house is mega mainstream right now! Also, ask kids that are in their 20’s do they like tech house? They dont know what it is, they either know Techno or House, also, 90% of youngsters call EDM that its Techno.. they dont know Jeff Mills or Dave Clarke... so just chill.. tech house is not dead, or dissrispected and its gonna continue being underground because it will always miss “mainstream track elements” 😎

[@NorthwestLights206]

preach

[@davelewis8270]

Yeah it's weird being on the underground and hearing that the thing you're going out and dancing to on the reg is "dead" or "making a comeback".

[@fungus_am0nguz644]

But Mills and Clarke are Techno driven monsters not really associated with tech house that much. Also I remember being at those exact parties in DC 10 at Ibiza with Loco Dice and Villalobos and tech house became the "default" sound, its not hard to see why, i mean its fun dance music, not exactly my cup of tea for dance music but it WAS and DID became THE mainstream sound back then.

[@georgiesmith7114]

I'm from London and pretty much anyone here knows exactly what tech house is 🤠

[@BlueCheese747]

People don't always know tech house by name, but trust me everywhere I go the big club music is tech house and the formula is always recognised by the crowd

[@drifter402]

My only beef with tech house is how specific the production style is. It all sounds like one guy. This has happened with a lot of genres recently. That and the EDMification that happened to everything a while back. Gotta have then big build ups. Love some of those old Peter Heller sets.

[@shumeister1059]

I noticed that: music seems the most exciting before the genre solidifies and producers are still free to thinker around with the sounds. Once the genre is locked down, it seems that people must don't want to deviate much.

[@johngorgis]

Mr G is my favorite tech house producer

[@maxiqums1549]

his 2001 track “G’Strings” in on par for the most groovy tech tracks with Rachmad’s “Adverse Match - No Hype” for me

[@PAWSA]

👑

[@pabloescobar_8896]

The real King of tech house

[@dryad9821]

Yeah man I have a bunch of his records. Still hot

[@PAWSA]

👑

[@Scienide1995_Deep_and_Dub]

The video article that has been needed a lot, I guess! 👍

[@cicabeca84]

Thank you Dave Mothersole for arranging the guest list for Fabric for me that night about 20 years ago on the night of the your childs birth. I think Terry Francis played his weekly residency that night. I still appreciate this gesture to this day! 🙏🏻 K.

[@MomentumTelevision]

Shout out Dave Mothersole, Murf, Marco Lenzi, Nills, DINO, Mr. C. Layo, Asad, Nino, and the real Legend DJ Colin Dale. One Love London Underground.

[@debycarter6694]

Some of which are still playing & making wicked music today.. :)

[@Pllayer064]

Ah of course it's gonna be London

[@pakocards]

Heady days down south London , Loved it. Thanks to all that were a part of it. The Wax club was one of my favourites. Trips to swag , RIP,Liz xx

[@nacorcarmonablanco4414]

As a Tech House lover, I have to say that raggaeton-influenced Tech House is the biggest crap in the world. Basically, everything you listened in any El Row party in Spain before the Corona.

[@Felix-bw8hf]

Row is a shit hole

[@serratos97]

Agree. That's why I always try to listen to underground DJs like Avalon Emerson :)

[@ColinNesbit]

Love Swayzak, wish they were still going.

[@lukereti4499]

Swayzak spoke openly about this stuff and how he couldn't survive on making music anymore

[@hasgoodles7807]

Love, love Swayzak. Just brilliant music.

[@lukereti4499]

@@denlehmann I think it was on his instagram a while back now

[@robinkuit]

I've always thought of tech-house as a combination of house's groove with the melodics and atmospherics of (Detroit) techno. The latter is missing in what is now tech-house so it's just simplified grooevs with effects. The idea of tech-house is still great, maybe we need to label the latter as something else so the term can be reclaimed.

[@BobbyBundlez]

you see it happening a bit now with this minimal tech sound that honestly blew up the past year or two... but all those tracks sound the same and are a bit lifeless now too. it angers me that guys like djoko moved to that sound cuz they were capable of so much more tbh

[@MadelnMachines]

DJ Mayson - Wanna Get - Reminds me of that early 2000s progressive house - plodding, minimal, groovy kind of sound. Love it.

[@gregf577]

In the end, genres and sub genres are simply ways for record companies to categorize music so they can sell it.

[@rickylovesyou]

Ye no.

[@ldshasnobrain]

The fact that this doc exists shows it all eventually floats to the surface.

[@goddsie41]

Superb Wiggle Techouse goodness and mentions of the wonderful Heart and Soul..oh the memories ❤️

[@srrmnlive4106]

There should be a track list for everything played during this

[@owaingriffiths1359]

Check the info bit :)

[@srrmnlive4106]

@@owaingriffiths1359 thank you! Didn’t even realize 🙏🏾

[@blakecasimir]

The reason O.H.M. - Oceanic is such a beautiful tune is not because it's minimal or tech house - I really don't think it's either - it's because it's a melodic slow acid techno / trance piece from a time when people were unafraid to experiment, cross genres, write melodies (!!) and just make music they thought sounded good.

[@markdafunky1]

I blame beatport. They’ve always been great at mislabeling music

[@michael_shekhtman1djworldwide]

THANK YOU RA for putting this piece about tech house together. Thanks for capturing the history for all of us

[@ToMbA_La_BoMbA]

My first party was in 1994. (Future Shock in Zagreb). When the war was still going on. In the late 80's I started following Dinamo Zagreb and later the Croatian national team, all over Europe and beyond. We used to go to a party on Thursday night and until Sunday. And with our eyes like headlights on a VW Beetle, we went to Spain, Ukraine, Greece, UK, etc, etc....and we always went by car or bus. And our group ALWAYS listened Techno, House, Acid House etc. What a life. Peace!

[@warrickcole4550]

Swag records🖤!! where it all started for me!! - Rest In Paradise Liz

[@-G.e.o.r.g.e]

I’m from Miami, where techhouse has always played huge into the dance music scene. I love tech house percussion.

[@themeatpopsicle]

I'm kind of glad I left the dance music scene so I could enjoy my tech house in peace without all the underground gatekeeping

[@ilovetyraandnaomi]

Where did you use to party?

[@accidentaltrigger]

Great film shining light. I used to visit swag all the time, play records and hang out with Liz. A wonderful surprise to see her smile again x

[@cl-zachwilliamsstudios3358]

Times are changing! 🖤 Copy/Paste loops are gone.

[@mateocalle__]

Yes Sr.!

[@gabrielv.4358]

Are you sure? I still hear a lot of boring and irritating loops in techno house

[@cl-zachwilliamsstudios3358]

@@gabrielv.4358 😂😂😂👍🏻

[@ERMAC4482]

I always referred to Tech House as Gez Varley, Steve Bug, and the first track off of Danny Tenaglia Global Underground House. It's like Techno with melodic deepness and groovy, but without the harshness of Techno

[@speakatron5634]

Would that be Danny Tenaglia Global Underground 010? Or Global Underground 017? Just curious 🙏

[@Fluera]

Can we get some track ID’s going for the songs played in this doc?

[@FrankFastRider]

They are listed on the resident advisor website, there’s an article about this video

[@pabloescobar_8896]

@@FrankFastRider I tried to find it, but I didn’t

[@VictorKibalchich]

that Housey Doingz EP was seminal, heard it on Kiss in about '96 (Colin Dale or Colin Favour show, not sure which), trekked half way across London to Croydon to get a copy, one of my most treasured 12s

[@ownedbymykitty270]

I remember some of this stuff (I.e. early Swayzak) being referred to as “minimal house” - maybe a way to differentiate it from what tech-house is understood as by the younger audience?

[@sameerdodger]

Idk they sound pretty different. I think people confuse minimal as a genre and minimal as a description

[@maxiqums1549]

Listen to Craig Richards - Fabric 01, Terry Francis - Architecture mixes, or search stuff from Wiggle label. Swayzak is kinda already kinda the end of the genre in the middle 00s.

[@ownedbymykitty270]

@@maxiqums1549 I’m referring to Swayzak’s first release “snowboarding in argentina” (1998) before they went in an electro clash direction

[@hanksiedonny]

@@ownedbymykitty270 swayzaks first album is shithot!

[@overseastom]

​​@@ownedbymykitty270I always loved Blufarm from that vinyl. I was a bit gutted when I moved overseas later and had to leave my records behind, and found out that the CD version of the album has a totally different version of the track on it called Redfarm instead, so I couldn't listen to my fave joint on the album :( Seemed an odd choice. Edit: (I say totally different, but really, it's very similar, but it's an ambient version, where the drums never come in at all, so it never really feels like it gets started unless you actively mix another track onto it instead).

[@Tekker1982]

Techhouse in its original style still exists...look at Mark Knights Toolroom Record label on one hand for example. On the other hand Progressive House and Progressive Trance actually have many influences by Techhouse and are the next step to give the sound a refresh.

[@kendrumusic5554]

Toolroom is more house than tech-house tbh - nowadays at least

[@sw_909]

clueless.

[@jondavey7303]

Tool Room and Hot Creations are some of the worst offenders regarding cookie cutter, big room, bullshit music.

[@bolshed]

You for real? Toolroom is the worst possible example. It has nothing to do with the classic UK and WestCoast tech house scene which is what this video is all about. Actually Toolroom and all the similar stuff was the end of it.

[@acidphaze]

Joeski, Hippe-E, Onionz and Johnny Fiasco should have been mentioned too. The US West Coast scene were also doing Tech House records, it's not a style that often gets played today. But everyone wanted those laid back grooves which came out in the early 2000s. Records from Bluem, Siesta, Tango, Nite Grooves, Electric Soul and Maya are still cheap to buy today.

[@jerinzotaj711]

Absolutely agree!!!

[@dewulfe9913]

Respectfully, no, West Coast house is its own sub-genre. Including it here would've been a tangent, and made the video less clear. And I have a lot of those records, as well as the UK stuff. Hipp-E especially is a favourite of mine. But I think that West Coast house deserves its own video, don't you?

[@jerinzotaj711]

@@dewulfe9913I'd say that this genre in general is quite mixed and each one has it's own particularity of building it. Even Eddie Richards has a couple of tracks that are not strictly tech house. Halo Varga made some nice ones as well.

[@edmessing]

Very good point here. But I feel the West Coast sound you mention was more of a precursor , a building block of the tech house sound we're talking about in the film .The west coast 'deep house' sound was clearly a direct stepping stone . I used to work for NRK I saw it happen .....

[@theacid1]

Since I saw the video of Fisher "Loosing It" at Coachella I was absolutely done with this genre.

[@LouisOrlando90]

This is what happens when we start dividing everything into micro sub genres instead of enjoying the music that resonates with one's self. A certain sub genre becomes "Cool" so of course the labels, Djs, producers, promoters are going to capitalise. I'v been to many raves/events over the years from little secret parties to huge festivals like mysteryland in the netherlands. Some of the newer tech house that was getting played was phenomenal. If its an event where most people are there for the music, then the music and atmosphere usually shines. You can normally gauge this within 5 or so mins of stepping foot in the place! There are certain tracks especially in the commercial realm that I call "Fit for purpose" they will do a job in a party/mix but noone will ever be asking for the track ID, and yes there are always going to be those cheesey or poppy tunes that get the radio spins, but this isn't new to tech house, thats the music business. This reminds me of the New head/Old head argument in Hip-Hop, and it just creates more harm than good especially when a genre is pushed in a niche sub catergory like tech house. For as many good tunes there was back in the "golden era" there would have been double or more forgettable and not so good tracks, people just get rose tinted glasses and pick out a handful of tunes and artists that link with good memories and experiences. Even when the commercial success fades I think the core fan base will always be there and bigger than ever! Lets hope the world opens this year as I'm sure im not the only one getting itchy feet! PS..if the next rave you go to is playing the so called crap, blame the DJ not the genre!

[@georgemorebags]

Everything you said is right

[@submixmusic]

What is the track being played in the first 30 seconds of the video?

[@basictonal79]

Went to the Subterrain 24th Anniversary Reunion way back in 2019 in London - the music was excellent (so many great tune memories in this video, the asad rizvi dual bushwacka! remix - woh!!) but the main thing about it was (as stated in the video) the lack of attitude, pretentiousness, no posing bollox and super friendly crowd. THIS is what I craved and that night delivered it in tech-spades. That atmosphere combined with the old skool tech-house sound was a mega winner. more of that please :D

[@MusicBTB777]

Not heard Gobstopper in a while🔥👌! Music will always evolve, mutate and grow into other forms because new players are always arriving on the scene and they have their ideas to place down in a track, welcome to the history and evolution of music! 🎧

[@sidenoize]

Music evolves just as everything in the world. You cant stop it :)

[@sirsyncalot9147]

Exactly

[@ruppellsbooden8917]

Lol.. ok can it evolve away from cookie cutter nonsense. Youth today deserve good sounds, not a wall of digital razor blades and garbage bass which sucks their soul away

[@kesterandrews458]

Whats the track that comes in at 1:51? Its no "E-Dancer - World of Deep [Play It Again Sam] 1998" as the tracklist suggests

[@robba1137]

San Pacho, Matroda, Cashew, WOAK, Lanard and many more "New School" tech house producers are killing it tho. But they have a fine line between tech and bass house which i find perfect

[@roblopez5241]

LoL

[@LucasMartins-zv3oh]

killing in a bad way, right?

[@robba1137]

@@LucasMartins-zv3oh "Killig it" as in pioneering a new sound and direction for the genre, gaining massive followings.

[@LucasMartins-zv3oh]

@@robba1137 i think this kind of bass house they produce is very common, malaa and tchami have had a lot of influence

[@petemack5272]

Nathan,Terry and Eddie legends so many great nights at Wiggle

[@zaremba8025]

when they showed Sunwaves crowd and arpiar soundsystem I got shivers. Miss parties like this. Hopefully covid will not disturb underground tech-house march to the well deserved place on the music scene.

[@michaelohanlon7007]

Me too 🏖🌅

[@mostlyindica]

So lovely to hear Liz Edwards voice again, thank you.

[@stanyon]

TWTMPEG meme incoming

[@luclievisseadriaanse1689]

*Mitch Davis wants to know your location*

[@RokTorkar]

Lmao

[@Mggggssss]

I’m losing it

[@Faaiz-exe]

Ahh. You're a man of culture as well

[@bolya01]

TWTMPEG is tech house's biggest enemy

[@kenny5466]

Omg! That guy at 3:45 was recently on the TV show "Come Dine With Me" I swear it. He was much older, of course. He talked a lot about music festivals and was pictured Djing in his bedroom. I'm so pleased to see him here.

[@richardturpin3665]

With genres like house and techno, I really have no room for creating another subgenre and for that I just either call it house or techno without loosing sleep over it.

[@spiritlevelstudios]

That's cool. I think original house is shithouse, but almost every sub genre of it is actually listenable, potentially decent.

[@richardturpin3665]

@@spiritlevelstudios that's because your a easy listener most likely. The original house sound is still going strong all these years later Peggy gou starry night is a good example.

[@LLemm-gh8bb]

We need a 2 hour documentary!!! Please!