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.