The Birmingham sound is a subgenre of
techno that emerged in
Birmingham,
England in the early 1990s.[1] It is most commonly associated with the city's House of God club night,[2] the
Downwards Records label,[3] and the local DJs and producers
Regis,
Surgeon and
Female.[4] It is characterised by a hard, fast and uncompromising style[1] that strips the music of the bassline funk that characterised the techno of Detroit and Berlin,[5] leaving only "huge slabs of unrelentingly unchanging minimalism".[6]
The Birmingham sound marked a turning point in the development of techno and its influence can be heard throughout the
Berlin techno of the
Berghain and
Ostgut Ton.[6] It also formed the starting point for Regis and Female's later
Sandwell District project.[7]
References
^
abSande, Kiran (9 June 2010),
"Regis: blood into gold", FACT Magazine, London: The Vinyl Factory, retrieved 31 August 2013