Originally Posted by
teknorich
A lot of what is called Techno now just sounds like harder minimal to me. The distinction has become very blurred. In the A.Paul thread, Mark EG said that Naked Lunch is one of the few labels keeping hard techno alive, but tbh I'm not sure how much of their output I'd even call hard techno. It is faster than minimal, but a lot of it is just as smooth, with similar production values, and overall not a very "hard" or rough sound.
(Even look at what the Advent and Industrialyzer are doing now - is that techno or minimal?! Generally around 135+ BPM which puts it in the techno category, but it has very much a smoothly produced, minimal sound to it)
In the recent Glenn Wilson mix which was posted up, there was a new remix of "Aural Exciter," the original of which was an absolute BEAST of a tune, but the new 2010 remix sounds much much weaker, flatter and less powerful than the original. I know things have changed, and styles have moved on, but that new remix just doesn't come close to the tough attitude and sound of the original, which is a real pity.
It's a difficult one - play too hard and scare the audience away, or give in too much to the "new techno" crowd and water it down...