DJ Trace

About

DJ Trace was an early member of the tight-knit crew of producers constituting popular techstep drum'n'bass label No U-Turn. Like colleagues <a href="spotify:artist:5Xlz84rhSNhlWzfAtVBJr1">Nico</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6gj4aZLxVGCdFPMThH6q6q">Ed Rush</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1ykeiSYDFg4zCUeQRNDSXJ">Trace's</a> first crack at broad exposure came through the Techsteppin' compilation, released by the Emotif label and containing a number of tracks licensed from No U-Turn studios. Released in 1995, the compilation helped seed a new direction in drum'n'bass, one characterized by heavy use of electronics, cavernous beats and basslines, and the dystopian histrionics that have since become trademarks of the No U-Turn/Nu Black sound. <a href="spotify:artist:1ykeiSYDFg4zCUeQRNDSXJ">Trace's</a> 1995 release on Emotif, "The Mutant" (itself a remix of <a href="spotify:artist:6RWwgz4MtFCHzptyShPC1c">T-Power</a>'s "Mutant Jazz"), also spawned a remix of its own, and <a href="spotify:artist:6gj4aZLxVGCdFPMThH6q6q">Ed Rush's</a> "Mutant Revisited" became an influential trial run of tech's by now cliched "hoover" bassline and rolling, relentless breaks. A popular DJ whose schedule busied as No U-Turn's popularity peaked in 1996, <a href="spotify:artist:1ykeiSYDFg4zCUeQRNDSXJ">Trace</a> moved from the U.K. to Philadelphia that same year and has participated in a number of U.S. events (including 1997's Big Top tour) both solo and with other members of the No U-Turn crew. ~ Sean Cooper, Rovi