I don`t think sturgeons law applies really.
In terms of what`s getting released, techno has lower production values.
I think this is in part, down to the fact that
a) There`s less money involved now.
b) There`s more of a DIY attitude.

I`m not talking about good tunes, just production values.

Drum and bass also has a more rough and ready DIY approach, but the standards overall in what gets released are again a little higher, but I put this more down to the community around it.

Personally I have reached a bizarre position in regards to producing.
I was discussing this with someone the other day, who asked me, what do you think techno needs to do to progress?

And I thought about it, and essentially, I don`t think techno has progressed musically, for about 5 years now. You can still drop old tunes and they sound as fresh as the latest releases, so why buy new tunes?
I think it`s reached a kind of saturation point in it`s current form.

I`m not even sure it needs to progress now, it`s just a type of music that has grown and reached adult hood.
I kinda laugh when people still say "underground techno". I don`t think techno is underground any more, it`s not got the fresh edge, or any, kinda, street grittyness to it any more, it`s just an established form of abstract music.
Hell, the most underground uk techno peoples, the SUF, have all got married and had kids, done the big clubs with fergie et al.
Hardly undergound anymore ey?
Rock and roll, let`s have a voulevant

As a music that has reached adulthood, I think it is time for techno to have babies, and to birth new types of music, hybrids of itself and something else.

So myself, although I strive to go forward with techno, I`m starting to realise that I may be banging my head against a brick wall.
At it`s heart techno is dance music, for nightclubs, that provides people with a form of escapism from their daily grind.
To make the music more cerebral and more experimental, and to make the audience think more, may not be what they want, in that type of environment.

So now I just make techno for fun, it`s a form of dance music, no better or worse than trance or house or happy hardcore or whatever.

What I would really like to do however, is take the more progressive, experimental side of techno, and organise gigs, at live venues, rather than night clubs. where people expect to go to listen to music, rather than be made to dance.
How I am gonna do this, and who I`m gonna do it with, I have no idea yet.