You may have noticed my affinity with anything dub, from actual dub to ragga, passing by lush deep minimal tracks, but of course dub techno too. Dub techno is a genre I have a hard time finding in clubs, only very few acts I was at were actively dub techno. Not sure if it’s because its heydays are behind, as the genre is seemingly seeing some kind of revival in recent years, especially through a more micro / minimal take to it; with artists like Romar, Janeret or Andrey Puskharev, but also with the coming of age of ambient techno artists like nthng or Anthony Naples.

Dub Taylor - Detect (2001)

The 90’s had its fair share of fast paced, dancefloor driven dub techno cuts, with artists that have a cult-like following in YouTube comments: Basic Channel and Vainqueur. Detect is one of the most refined examples of such track; although from a lesser known artist. Everything seems shaped within the noise of the ambient sample looping, sounds crackling and popping from this noise floor, chiseling a groovy bassline and chopped chords out of it.

I realize now through digging some info about Dub Taylor that he was close to Vladislav Delay (under his Luomo moniker), as they were both releasing on the same label, Force Tracks; in the 2000’s. I think it explains how this dub techno sounds so close to glitch ambient. Next Sunday I will touch upon Vladislav Delay; if this name does not ring a bell to you, stay tuned!