Bouncy techno

Bouncy techno is a hardcore dance music rave style that developed in the early 1990s from Scotland and North England. Described as an accessible gabber-like form, it was popularised by Scott Brown under numerous aliases. The sound became prominent in the northern United Kingdom rave scene before it broke into the hardcore homeland of the Netherlands through Paul Elstak, where it became known there as happy hardcore ^{[nb 1]} (i.e.: happy gabber).

A subsequent mainstream-aimed euro dance tangent appeared in Germany and itself back into the Netherlands. The music of Brown also changed the Southern England happy breakbeat style away from its breakbeat foundation and into a bouncy derivative. These different country entrails created a single pan European hardcore briefly in the mid-1990s. Bouncy techno rapidly declined from this point for a variety of reasons.

History

Antecedents: early 1990s

The breakbeat hardcore style that dominated raves across England was generally not popular in Scotland.^[3] The few Scottish-based DJs who supported this music found it difficult to be booked locally, amidst increased discontent. DJ Kid told the crowd to "fuck off" before he stormed off stage when ravers turned hostile towards him playing such a set.^[4] A divide in the United Kingdom rave scene occurred as a result with separate musical paths of development.^[5]

Scotland instead favoured techno and vocal/piano rave music. The Time Frequency (TTF) led the charge of local bands. After three chart hit records in the UK Singles Chart Top 40 across 1993, which peaked with "Real Love" at number eight, their commercial success in part resulted in a backlash against the band. With the vocal/piano approach now tainted,^[6] ravers turned their attention to an alternative form of underground music that had since materialised.

Origins: early-to-mid-1990s

Scotland and Northern England

Bass Generator introduced the gabber style to northern ravers;^[6] the hardest form of rave music. These sets would prove popular and earned him Best Rave DJ and Best UK DJ by Clubscene readers for 1993.^[7] To keep crowds receptive, the slower and softer vocal/piano anthems would also be played but unorthodoxly mixed at greatly increased speeds to match them to the much faster and aggressive gabber.^[8] This created a peculiar clash of styles; an early template of what would become bouncy techno (this concoction was something he would eventually release as "The Event" (1993)).^[6]

With a potential new avenue, Scott Brown reinterpreted the gabber sound into a more accessible interpretation for local audiences.^[10] His Bass X "Hardcore Disco" track in 1993 was the first hardcore release in Scotland (and the UK).^[11] The runner-up Best Scottish Dance Record for 1993^[7] set the trend in Scotland; followed-up by his Dance Overdose remix in a similar fashion.^[11] Other local acts replicated this popular winning formula.^[6] Even The Time Frequency also got in on the act and anonymously released "The Bounce" (1993) to fool their critics.^[12] Brown and his sound was propelled to the forefront of the hardcore scene in Scotland and abroad.^[10] Local artists and DJs soon appeared in Western Europe, Australia and Japan.^[13]

Netherlands and Germany

In the Netherlands, Paul Elstak felt that their own gabber was caught in a race to be the hardest at the expense of quality.^[14] He found a new direction with Bass Reaction "Technophobia" (1993); another production from Brown. It brought an unexpected cheerful melody to the heavy undercurrent.^[15] The track was re-released for the Dutch market in 1994,^[16] where its success inspired Elstak and others to produce the same less frenetic sound,^[2] which became known there as happy hardcore.^[16] Dutch labels dedicated to the "new rage" appeared such as Babyboom, Pengo, Waxweazle and Elstak's own Forze Records. Ironically, Brown's initial attempts to front Combined Forces new label venture was considered too hard in the Dutch landscape that he had changed. They expected music in Brown's own style and not that of gabber.^[10]

Concurrently, the Scottish duo Ultra-Sonic unconventionally combined the slower piano approach with the faster Brown-type beat; "Annihilating Rhythm" won Best Scottish Dance Record for 1993.^[7] The act claimed it "changed the face of dance music".^[17] The track became the inspiration for Scooter "Hyper Hyper"^[18] and Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo "Live At London" (both 1994).^[19] Both were the first such musical chart entries in Germany and the Netherlands respectively and in turn triggered a mainstream by-product in those countries. WestBam felt that "a lot of people [in Germany] have tried to copy this style and make it cheap".^[20] Whilst colloquially known as happy hardcore and commercially more widespread, Elstak considered them as euro dance adaptations and had enlisted people in this field to achieve a chart hit.^[21]

Southern England

In the Southern England scene of the mid-1990s, happy breakbeat DJs such as Dougal and Vibes introduced bouncy techno tracks to their breakbeat mix sets; Scott Brown versus DJ Rab S "Now is the Time" (1995) release being a catalyst.^[22] Artists in this field started to add bouncy techno characteristics to their compositions,^[23] which created a new type of happy breakbeat; a hybrid of the two where its inherent breakbeat patterns now took a back seat to the newly found bouncy beat.

Decline: mid-1990s

With the influence now found across several different markets, a single pan European hardcore was formed.^[24] This was however short lived. Whilst the South English scene blossomed under this new musical direction, the Scottish one was already in decline. Due to several drug related deaths at Hangar 13 that attracted national press and parliamentary debate,^[25] local authorities clamped down on raves and clubs switched to house music.^[26] The diminished band of rave promoters similarly changed tack in an effort to disassociate themselves with hardcore music.

The new happy breakbeat from Southern England was heavily pushed in Scotland as the next big thing but with little success. Bass Generator singled it out as having "killed the music scene up north".^[6] Rezerection closed its doors in 1997 as interest dwindled. Synonymous with the rave scene and hardcore music; the two were inseparable. Brown said of the promotion's demise that "Scottish 'bouncy' hardcore is almost a thing of the past" and looked to expand his horizons to other music.^[27] Bass Generator's own Judgement Day looked to fill their void with a traditional Hogmanay rave to specifically kick-start a bouncy techno revival for 1998.^[6]

Meanwhile in Netherlands, hardcore fans became tired of funcore ^{[nb 2]} and felt betrayed by Elstak's subsequent chart forays.^[10] Dutch producers reverted to gabber after a final few parting shots with releases like Chico Chipolata "No More Happy Hardcore" (1996), Buzz Fuzz "Fuck Happy" (1997); whilst Bodylotion "Happy Is Voor Hobos" (1996) alternated between droll bouncy and no-nonsense gabber parts to get their message across.

Relaunch: late 1990s

As an alternative to the now formulaic music from Southern England, Brown launched the fittingly named Bouncy Techno record label in 1998. Plagued by distribution problems, the imprint at least revealed a new uplifting trance approach to his work. Brown's "Elysium" (1999) helped revitalise the domestic rave scene to much success. Producers picked up on this new trance direction, much like others had done in the past.^[28] Known as UK hardcore, this trance focused music became the prominent rave style locally across the 2000s.

Consequently, any new bouncy techno music was now out of favour, though the music from the 1990s is still occasionally played at raves. Throwback events had also appeared in the 2000s such as Back to the Future and Fantazia in Scotland, and Happy Hardcore in Netherlands. Kutski dedicated several sets to bouncy techno on his BBC Radio 1 show, like the Rezerection Free Range Mix in 2011.^[29]

Characteristics

Typical compositions have a tempo of 160 to 180 BPM, and use a 4/4 signature. Tracks can be instrumental, or use a short repeated sample at certain points. Singing is uncommon. Brown uses a regimented structure with components occurring for a fixed length. e.g.: beat solo, bouncy with beat, hi-hat added, riff solo, riff with beat, hi-hat added, etc. each lasting 8-bars. These parts would be pieced together with short fills and rolls. Drum kicks are slightly distorted, like gabber. Breakbeat patterns may also occur briefly in the background at certain points.

Whilst breakbeat hardcore itself was not popular in Scotland, its synthesiser sounds were found in bouncy techno's range of stab melodies. N-Joi's "Live In Manchester" (1992) feast provided further general inspiration.^[10] Its hallmark is the single-keyed offbeat note, which relates to its 'bouncy' designation (this offbeat focus was found in the latter bouncy house namesake). These rhythmic combinations and arrangements were described by Simon Reynolds as being reminiscent of klezmer music, fairground-like melodies and oom-pah offbeat notes.^[24]

The N-Joi group provided another important attribute.^[30] Unlike other rave music from this period, the Scottish scene was performance driven where bands often headlined raves rather than DJs. Acts were expected to have costumes, dancers and the best stage performance.^[31] Dancers were dressed in baggy tracksuit-like attire and had their own form of dance that involves a lot of rapid leg movements.^[32][33][34] The performances of Ultra-Sonic filtered through to the like Scooter on a wider level.^[17][18]

See also

• List of electronic music genres

Notes

References

Further information

• Reynolds, Simon (1998). Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture. Picador. p. 493. ISBN 0-330-35056-0. 
• Reynolds, Simon (1999). Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture. Picador. p. 287. ISBN 0-415-92373-5. 
• Presdee, Mike (2000). Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 0-415-23910-9. 
• Van Gageldonk, Paul (2000). De Gabberstory: Het Verhaal van DJ Paul en DJ Rob (in Dutch). LJ Veen. p. 200. ISBN 90-204-5681-4. 
• Borthwick, Stuart (2004). Popular Music Genres. Edinburgh University Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-7486-1745-0. 
• Brown, Scott (2008). Scott Brown: Livewired (DVD). United Kingdom: Evolution Records.