- Business techno meets a shapeshifting label.
- The sound of business techno is loosely defined, but it's like a lot of other things: you know it when you hear it. The aesthetic will likely shift with the tastes of the stadium-sized crowds its main proponents spin to, sometimes taking in white noise and big drops, other times working with big acid lines and EBM funk. Regardless of the sound, though, the single characteristic that unites business techno is a feeling that each tune is inspired by the current flavour of the month. Right now, that flavour is mean acid lines and EBM's growl, a style that artists like Kobosil have taken to ice cannon-equipped stages all over Europe.
BPitch Control, which recently pivoted from tech house to techno, has enlisted Regal—the producer who gave business techno its name with his desire to take underground music "mainstream"—for its latest EP. (This one even has a track called "Overground.") The Eyes is an intense, high-energy release in line with the rave-inspired sound of modern techno, with piercing kick drums, churning synths, 303s and tired vocal samples. (Across a single EP, we have vocals saying "Where's the bass?," "I need you" and a few variations on "Fire the engine.") As with most of the music Regal and BPitch Control release, these tunes will work in big settings. Even so, there are better versions of its familiar style. DJs digging for such sounds should look to more original sources.
TracklistA1 The Eyes
A2 Overground
B1 I Need You
B2 Stimulus