Tribal Techno
Tribal techno – also known as hardgroove techno or hard groove – came up in the mid-1990s. Its main characteristic is the use of different percussion sounds as well as ethnic rhythms and vocal samples, resulting in often polyrhythmic layered grooves of both sampled percussions and electronic drums.
Unlike e.g. Latin house, tribal techno does not draw its influences from a specific culture but from the vast realm of »world music« – due to the fact that most of the genre's creators were based in Europe and did not have a specific ethnic background like African or Latin American. However, Brazilian music (i.e. samba) is an influence which can often be found in tribal techno. Therefore, it's sometimes described as »samba-esque techno«.
An early example of tribal techno is »Ambush 2« by German producer/dj Oliver Lieb, released 1993 under the alias The Ambush. With his EPs »Java« (1996) and »Steampit« (1997) – the latter including the track »The Alarms« – Detroit techno legend Jeff Mills can also be regarded as one of the genre's pioneers. Another important EP is »The Hardgroove Project« (1998) by British dj/producer Ben Sims.
Tribal techno had its heyday in the early 2000s with artists and tracks like Slovenian dj/producer Uroš Umek and »Mechanism E« (2000, released under the alias Mumps), » Man Alive« (2000) by Swedish duo Devilfish (consisting of Frederik Soderstrom and Sina Morshed Solouk), British dj/producer Mark Broom and »Shanty Star« (2003) and last but not least »Sunshine« (2002) by Belgian duo Filterheadz (released under »Tomaz vs Filterheadz«) which was a respectable Ibiza summer hit. More recent examples include the EP »032« by Anunaku & DJ Plead (2020) and dj/ producer Thomas Will from Uruguay.
Due to the bouncy percussion grooves, tribal techno is sometimes described as a faster, darker version of tech house. However, the overall structure and sound is more techno than house. Tribal techno may not be confused with techno tribal which similarly combines ethnic instruments and rhythms of Australian, African or North and South American native cultures with modern electronic instruments and sounds but belongs to genres ambient or new age.
