Techstep

Techstep is a subgenre of drum and bass that arose in London in the mid-1990s, redirecting jungle toward the darker timbres of techno, industrial music and science-fiction film sound. Its productions favor quantized, heavily compressed two-step and chopped breakbeat patterns, distorted and modulated basslines built from detuned synthesizers, and sparse, minor-key atmospheres sampled from horror and dystopian cinema. Arrangements are functional and DJ-oriented, with long mixes, abrupt switches and few vocals. Techstep consolidated drum and bass as a studio-production discipline and directly preceded the neurofunk style of the late 1990s.