Here's something I forgot to mention earlier. I think a lot of harder producers maybe kept hearing about the minimal trend so they just fooled around in the studio for shits and giggles or simply to try their hand at it. They probably realized over time that it's quite refreshing to work on some techno music that doesn't require them to just throw some synth stabs on top of drum loops, filter out the break and call it a day. So, I think a lot of them are currently enjoying producing something a little bit different...cause a lot of those guys have done nothing but hard and dark drummy shit for the past 5-7 years straight.

Now, there's also another thing to be said for that...maybe it's their fault for following their own forumlas for too long or not experimenting years ago. Right now, I think people are just up for experimenting more rather than just putting out loopy shit for the sake of it. Sales are in the dumps so badly right now that producers can afford to take chances without taking too much more of a loss, and the funny thing is a lot of them are experiencing an increase in the number of sales.