It is notable for its deep, atmospheric soundscapes, layers of elaborate basslines, slowly developing musical phrases featuring heavy delay and reverb effects.
Dub music evolved from reggae,[1] characterized by slow tempo, instrumental remixes featuring heavy reverb, delay, deep bass and a laid-back, organic feel.
Techno, pioneered by Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson in Detroit, used much faster-paced synthetic sounds and repetitive structures aimed at dance floors of nightclubs.
[7][8] Their early releases, first under the pseudonym of Maurizio, introduced a new sound, blending Detroit techno's mechanical rhythms with the spacious, hypnotic effects of dub.
Moritz von Oswald and Mark Ernestus later expanded on these musical ideas through projects like Burial Mix and Rhythm & Sound, which included collaborations with Caribbean vocalists from Jamaica and Dominica.
[9] These projects reissued early works in a new form, highlighting a historically rare, two-way relationship between European electronic music and Caribbean dub traditions, countering the more common practice of cultural appropriation by the First World Countries.
It released early works from artists like Monolake, Vladislav Delay, and Substance, solidifying dub techno's position within the global electronic music scene.
The genre also gained traction in the UK, with artists like Andy Stott and Claro Intelecto, in Turkey with Havantepe, in Russia with Andrey Pushkarev, Martin Schulte, and Heaven Chord, in Lithuania with Grad_U, in Japan with Shinichi Atobe, and in Iceland with Yagya.
The magazine used the term "dub-Techno" (with a dash and capital T) in a review of two albums: Jan Jelinek’s Loop Jazz Finding Records and Vladislav Delay’s Anima.