Techno Ambient took the opposite direction, slowing the beats down and relying on watery electronic textures — it was used as come-down music, when ravers and club-goers needed a break from acid house and hardcore techno. Jungle was nearly as aggressive as hardcore, combining driving techno beats with breakbeats and dancehall reggae — essentially. All subgenres of techno were initially designed to be played in clubs, where they would be mixed by DJs. Consequently, most of the music was available on 12-inch singles or various-artists compilations, where the songs could run for a long time, providing the DJ with a lot of material to mix into his set. In the mid-'90s, a new breed of techno artists — most notably ambient acts like the Orb and Aphex Twin, but also harder-edged artists like the Prodigy and Goldie — began constructing albums that didn't consist of raw beats intended for mixing. Not surprisingly, these artists — particularly the Prodigy — became the first recognizable stars in techno. |