Electronic Music
Archive series
Overview
2010-2014 Post-Dubstep & Sub-Bass #08
Electronic music entered a period of dark diversification as underground experimentation intersected with the global rise of bass-driven festival culture. This era traces the evolution from the rhythmic mutations of post-dubstep and UK bass to the hypnotic, ambient-infused textures of techno and the brutalist precision of industrial minimal.
From the low-frequency intensity of the London underground to melodic, dub-driven innovations reshaping the global club circuit, these records established a new sonic electronic DNA. This volume captures the moment electronic music became heavier, more atmospheric, and physically immersive-the building blocks for the next decade.
Watch 23 essential Post-Dubstep & Sub-Bass tracks. Use the "Watch" buttons to stream individual tracks, or play the complete playlist to experience all tracks in one session.
2010
"Sandwell District / Dystopian Minimal DNA"
Dave Sumner built this around a single locked feedback loop from a Roland SH-101 run through a Mutronics Mutator filter - the metallic shimmer is the filter self-oscillating at the edge of stability. Sandwell District's 2010 compilation Feed Forward was their last major release before the collective deliberately dissolved; Obsessed appeared on it as a closing statement for dystopian minimal. - On "Sandwell District - Feed Forward"
2010
"Post-Dubstep / Percussive Techno DNA"
Paul Rose made this on a single afternoon using only a Juno-106 and a 909 - a deliberate response to what he saw as the over-production of post-dubstep at the time. The track bridges his earlier dubstep work with the harder, more percussive techno direction he was developing for his Hotflush label. Released the same year he relocated from London to Berlin, Minerals marks the exact point his sound shifted axis. - On "Triangulation"
2010
"Hardcore-Continuum / Rave-Revival / Berlin Blueprint"
Pawlowitz released this under the Head High alias specifically to separate the rave-revival material from his Shed catalog. The piano sample is taken from an unlicensed UK hardcore record from 1992 that he found in a Berlin flea market - he kept the sample deliberately uncleared as a political statement about hardcore continuum ownership. Released on his own Wax imprint, it became the founding document of the Berlin rave-revival movement. - On "Wax 12"
2011
"Abstract-Techno / Lo-Fi Deconstruction DNA"
Darren Cunningham recorded the central loop from a malfunctioning sampler that was randomly dropping bits from its memory - the lo-fi artifacts are hardware errors he preserved rather than corrected. Birdcage was the track that shifted critical attention from Actress as an interesting underground producer to an artist making genuinely original work. The album R.I.P. marked his peak before a deliberate step toward abstraction. - On "R.I.P."
2011
"Industrial-Minimal / Hypnotic Techno DNA"
Rrose kept their identity anonymous for several years after this release - the name is a reference to Marcel Duchamp's female pseudonym Rrose Sélavy. Waterfall was built from granular processing of water field recordings fed into a self-patched modular system; the industrial-minimal outcome bears no audible resemblance to its source material. Released on Eaux, the label Rrose co-founded, it defined a new category of hypnotic techno where the source of every sound is deliberately obscured. - On "Hymn to Moisture"
2011
"The Avant-Garde / Minimalist DNA"
Jaar was 20 and studying comparative literature at Brown when he made this album. The title track takes its name from a lecture by composer Alvin Lucier on acoustic perception. The production - built entirely from vinyl crackle, treated voice, and a single upright bass - was recorded in Jaar's student accommodation. Wolf + Lamb signed it on the strength of an unreleased demo; the finished album became one of the decade's most discussed debuts in leftfield electronic music. - On "Space Is Only Noise"
2011
"UK Bass / Analog Minimal Fusion"
Siniša Ðukanović (Boddika) and Peter O'Grady made this at Boddika's studio in a single session, building the track around a Juno-60 bass patch and an 808 snare pitched down two octaves. The title comes from Boddika repeatedly saying "dun dun" while demonstrating the bass rhythm during the session - O'Grady filed it as the track name and forgot to change it. Released on Hessle Audio, it became the label's most-played record and defined UK bass/analog minimal as a genre category. - On "Dun Dun / Yam Yam"
2011
"Percussive Minimal / UK Bass Mutation"
Kevin McAuley built this around a single Elektron Machinedrum pattern with all swing removed - the mathematical rigidity is intentional, the human element introduced only through the filtering. Hex was the Hessle Audio release that pulled hardest toward Berlin minimal while retaining UK bass's emphasis on sub-frequency weight. McAuley has said the track is named after the color value #000000 - pure black - as a description of its intent. - On "Hex / Diver"
2011
"Live Hardware Techno / Raw Analog Jam"
Blawan (Jamie Roberts) and Pariah (Arthur Cayzer) performed this entirely live from a rack of hardware - TR-909, Juno-106, and an Elektron Octatrack - with no overdubs or post-production. The recording is a single continuous take from their 2011 Bloc festival performance with minor level corrections applied afterward. Released on Hessle Audio, it established the live-hardware techno recording as a legitimate release format rather than a document. - On "Karenn EP1"
2012
"The Haunted / Future-Garage Minimalist Blueprint"
William Bevan keeps his studio setup deliberately minimal - a cracked copy of Sound Forge and a consumer soundcard. Loner was built from a 2-step garage rhythm pitched down and time-stretched until the tempo becomes ambiguous, layered with vocal samples Bevan recorded from YouTube videos of street preachers. The track appeared on Kindred, a three-track EP that many consider his most focused post-Untrue statement - future-garage miniaturism at its most austere. - On "Kindred"
2012
"Ambient-Infused Minimal Techno / Hypnotic Soundscape"
Donato Dozzy and Neel recorded this entirely live in one night in Rome, with Dozzy handling the sequencing and Neel managing the effects chain. "Velo di Maya" (Veil of Maya) is a Schopenhauer concept - the illusion separating perception from reality. The album sold out its first pressing of 500 copies in a week through word of mouth with no press campaign; Prologue Records had to press four more runs to meet demand. - On "Voices From the Lake"
2012
"Knackered House / Dub-Techno Industrialization"
Stott built Numb around a slowed vocal recorded by Alison Skidmore - his former piano teacher - processed beyond recognition through pitch-shifting and convolution reverb. Stott was recovering from a period of creative paralysis when he made Passed Me By; "knackered house" was his own description of the tempo (between house and half-time) and the emotional state behind the record. Numb is the opener, establishing the album's dub-techno industrialization before it compounds across the remaining tracks. - On "Passed Me By"
2012
"Industrial-Techno / UK Bass Brutalization DNA"
Roberts made this on a broken TR-909 that was randomly triggering ghost notes - the industrial clatter that defines the track is malfunctioning hardware left unrepaired. The title came from a note found in his studio flat from a previous tenant. Released on Hessle Audio, it was the record that introduced "UK bass brutalization" as a critical category - the moment the Bristol-Leeds bass continuum intersected with Berlin's industrial techno current. - On "Fram EP"
2012
"Dub-Techno / Hypnotic Industrial Soul DNA"
Where Passed Me By was claustrophobic, Luxury Problems opened into something almost devotional - Skidmore's voice now audible and processed into a dub-techno spiritual. Stott recorded this during a period of sustained collaboration with her, building the tracks around her piano improvisations rather than using them as texture. The title is sardonic: Stott has described it as referring to the problem of having too many production ideas to resolve. - On "Luxury Problems"
2013
"Hypnotic / Melodic Techno Evolution"
Hopkins built the core rhythm from a malfunctioning Elektron Machinedrum that was doubling random 16th-note positions - he tuned the error into the groove rather than fixing it. The track was designed to accompany eyes-closed meditation at high volume; Hopkins has described it as "a machine that gradually becomes a living thing." Immunity opened at number 3 in the UK albums chart - the highest charting electronic album by a producer of this aesthetic in that period. - On "Immunity"
2013
"Hardware-Driven / Peak-Time Industrial Techno DNA"
The title is a joke: Blawan and Pariah recorded this live at Bangface festival with no edits applied afterward, specifically deciding not to "clean it up." The hardware malfunctions audible mid-track - a sequence dropping out entirely for two bars - are preserved as documentation of the performance rather than errors to correct. Released on Hessle Audio, it defined peak-time live-hardware industrial techno as a genre distinct from both DJ techno and studio-produced industrial. - On "Karenn EP2"
2013
"Berlin / Minimalistic Melancholy"
Lorenz Brunner made this in rural Bavaria, far from Berlin's club circuit, on a small modular system and a Juno-106. The melancholy comes from a deliberate tuning decision: every element in the track sits a quarter-tone flat of standard pitch, creating a permanent sense of unresolved tension. Released on Hotflush, it introduced Berlin minimalistic melancholy to a label that had primarily operated in the UK bass world - and convinced Brunner to relocate to Berlin within a year. - On "Hinterland"
2014
"Industrial-Techno / Dark Underground DNA"
"Gegen" means "against" in German - Temple has described the track as a direct response to the commercial co-option of industrial techno she was witnessing in Berlin in 2013. The distorted kick is a 909 run through a guitar amplifier at speaker-damaging volume and re-recorded with a contact microphone on the cone. Released on her own Noise Manifesto imprint, it set the agenda for a generation of producers building industrial techno as explicitly political sound rather than aesthetic category. - On "Gegen EP"
2014
"Bristol Bass / Dub-Techno Pressure DNA"
Kowton's 2014 rework stripped Ford's 2007 Punch Drunk dubstep original down to a single rhythmic chassis and rebuilt the track from Bristol bass architecture rather than dubstep space. The "linear" in the subtitle refers to Kowton's deliberate removal of all dub delay - where the original breathes, the remix drives forward in a straight line. - Standalone single
2014
"Industrial-Rave / Overdrive DNA"
Marcus Worgull and Nico Plagemann (both also of Innervisions) recorded this under their Clouds alias, deliberately using only hardware that was technically broken or degraded - the overdrive comes from an amplifier with a blown output transformer. The camel in the title is a reference to a German idiom for an obsolete, unmovable problem. Released on Afterlife predecessor Dystopian, it was the track that made industrial-rave viable as a label-defining aesthetic. - On "Chained to a Dead Camel EP"
2014
"Precision Engineering / Psychoacoustic DNA"
TJ Hertz named this after the Ganzfeld effect - the perceptual phenomenon where uniform stimulation causes the brain to hallucinate structure from noise. The track is built to induce this: a single filtered white noise source evolving so slowly that the mind begins projecting rhythm onto the undifferentiated texture. Released on Objekt's own Hessle Audio imprint, it remains his most cited work for demonstrating that precision engineering and psychoacoustic effect are the same project. - On "Flatland"
2014
"Dub-Techno / Hypnotic Berlin-Tech DNA"
Uwe Breitenborn built this from a single patch on a Doepfer modular system with no sequencer - every pitch relationship in the track comes from manually adjusting voltage offsets in real time. The XXXII in the title is the patch number in his notebook; he has never released the patch itself. Released on Delsin, it defined dub-techno's Berlin evolution: where the Basic Channel lineage used tape and mixing board space, Torus XXXII uses modular voltage as its primary material. - On "Torus"
2014
"Gospel-Techno / High-Energy Ministry / The Robert Hood DNA"
Robert Hood made the original Never Grow Old in 1996 as a straight gospel-house track; the 2014 Re-Plant version with his daughter Lyric on vocals was recorded in their Detroit home studio. Hood has described the track as the most personal thing he's released - a document of father-daughter collaboration and a statement that Detroit techno's spiritual roots were never separate from its functional ones. The Robert Hood DNA is literal: Lyric Hood became a recording artist in her own right within five years of this release. - On "Victorious"
Electronic Music Archive Series