i totally agree
i think bongo samples should be banned ! haha
and people should be forced to start a clean slate every time they work
(by the way i read another thread that us london guys start with the same settings everytime, well mark ,you can vouch for this , i never start with anything other than a completely zero'ed mixer and an empty sampler)
i definately feel that in the last 3 years or so techno has stagnated
a few people who have broken the mould would be:

si begg (definately but not always for the dancefloor)
jerome hill
the projex people
mr rush?
perhaps the reel musik guys
luke slater?

wow i'm struggling to think of more!!
help me please

most of this stuff is now "wonky" but it still aint that new. si begg has been around for years and years he used to make techno records as buckfunk 3000 on eukatech about 4/5 years ago
his sound has however moved with the times and prgressed much more than the belgium or swedish sound or the london sound for that matter
i totally respect these people for that

the point is
is there just too much of it around now for anyone to make a difference?
the copycats are as good as perhaps even better than the originators
everyone runs a record label but plays safe with it's output because the market is small,and getting smaller .this leads to a stranglhold on good music coming out which means we get lot's of same as same as.
i played with jerome last weekend and rob stow and i heard rob saying that something was "identikit wonky"! so even that style is beginning to be copied and oversold because it makes money.


and there it is folks
MONEY!!!!!
the great leveller
esentially everyone who works in this buisness has to spend a lot of thier time working at it to get anywhere which means you need to get paid right?
and if you are a record producer you're not going to sit in the studio and hum and har and waste VALUABLE time trying to write something really original (which can be really tough these days) when you can make something that's useful and good for a label straight away.
i mean it's not like original tracks never get written but esentially everyone in the music buisness has to make this compromise at all levels underground or not.
i mean if its a hobby fine but when it becomes a job and it quickly does if you love the music as we all do. then money and the lack of it becomes a very important factor in your life.


hence very few boundary breaking genre busting records being made.

that's my view
phew!