As a semblance of normalcy has slowly returned to clubland over the last few years, there’s been a resurgence in unadulterated fun—from the revival of trance to frantic flips of “Cotton Eyed Joe.” A lot of this music felt like a necessary catharsis—a middle finger to the old gatekeepers as a new guard of punters, reared on TikTok reels, started piling into clubs. But as enjoyable as all of this has been, it was only a matter of time before it reached a crisis point. Sure, everyone loves a good Britney edit; but do we really need a hard techno flip of “Somebody I Used to Know“?
Underneath these post-Covid sugar highs has also been a return of one of dance music’s most underappreciated genres: hardgroove. It’s serious, but funky. Fast, but danceable. Banging, but not overbearing. Taking equal influence from hip-hop drum tracks and Detroit techno, the genre first came to prominence in the mid ‘90s thanks to the UK DJ Ben Sims and his mixtape series Hard Groove Trax—which later became a label of the same name.
It’s a tricky genre to pin down. Though they’re not exactly oxymoronic, “hard” and “groove” aren’t the most natural of bedfellows. Unlike the ascendant industrial styles of techno taking over raves in the late ’90s, hardgroove hit in the hips. Coasting along between a cool 130 and 140 BPM, the music was decidedly percussive—often associated with the cringely named “tribal” techno sound that was being pushed by the likes of DJ Rolando and James Ruskin. But it also placed an emphasis on swing.
The rising techno producer Elisa Bee captures this yin-and-yang in her definition: “It’s a colorful side of techno for me, raw and fun, fast and rhythmic, infectiously groovy.” What Bee is pointing to is a balance between rough-and-ready aggression and soulful swing that gives the genre its distinctive flavor. The duo Black Girl/White Girl see this as part of the way that the genre has always been in conversation with a larger continuum of Black diasporic traditions: “To us, hardgroove is the fusion of energetic techno with raw Chicago, Caribbean, and Latin rhythms,” they say, “creating gritty beats and infectious grooves that keep the dance floor moving.” You can hear this in some of the genre’s classic records, whether that is in the hand percussion on Jeff Mills’s 1998 classic, “The Alarms,” or that unforgettable synthline that sashays across DJ Rolando’s timeless juggernaut “Jaguar.”
Hardgroove has never exactly gone out of style. Producers like Sims, Ruskin, Truncate, Mark Broom, and Developer have continued to push a no frills, extra funkified style of techno. But in the last few years, the term “hardgroove” seems to be everywhere, from Canadian tastemaker Ciel’s hardgroove special to Resident Advisor asking Sims to revisit classic tracks. More than just a legacy genre, what has been exciting about hardgroove is how the sound is changing. A producer like Mexico’s Regal86, for example, takes the genre’s Latin and hip-hop origins and reimagines it with trap ferocity in his drum programming; or check out the bossa nova in LA producer’s 1Morning’s records. These are just a few examples of the way the genre is being reimagined with a far more diverse set of producers and DJs looking to find that sweet spot between ferocious club weaponry and hip-shaking funkiness.
That said, while the revival has certainly provided a boom for some lifers, it’s also meant that the genre is increasingly diluted and amorphous. 1Morning drives this point home: “[Hardgroove] has been thrown around so much I don’t really even know what it means,” he says. “I used to hear that term used to refer to a lot of hard tribal techno for the most part. Today, it’s been referring to this bouncy tech house sounding techno full of stabs and corny hip-hop vocals that all sounded like watered-down Ignition Technician. To me, when I think of ‘hardgroove,’ I think of early Ben Sims releases, which is how I learned of the term. But I often see that term being thrown around on a lot of stuff that’s just lacking that same gritty energy nowadays.”
1Morning is pointing to a recurring issue within the electronic music ecosystem: The constant balance between nostalgia and innovation as producers discover discarded genres and try to reimagine them. What happens is that a new genre descriptor ends up becoming just that, generic—easily repeatable, void of innovation, effectively paint-by-kick-drums. 1Morning continues this line of thought: “The hype around ‘groove’ and ‘funk,’ the obsession with these terms as sub-genre descriptors, and how these terms are being commercialized to sell ‘Hardgroove’ samples has been bothering me a lot. Tracks that are falling under the ‘groove’ and ‘funk’ umbrella today are starting to feel like a parody of 90’s tracks. They’re fun and very functional tools but not so interesting, too formulaic, and often lack soul. I think everyone would benefit from digging a little deeper on YouTube.”
YouTube rabbit-hole surfing aside, the producer ANNĒ waxes philosophically on this point, trying to figure out why there is such a temptation to recycle forgotten tropes of dance music: “Is nostalgia stopping our culture’s ability to surge forward, or are we nostalgic precisely because our culture has stopped moving forward and so we inevitably look back to more momentous and dynamic times?” I don’t want to pretend that hardgroove—or any genre for that matter—presents an answer to this question. But in the current crop of hardgroove revivals, you can hear a balance of producers paying homage to the past, while also driving the genre forward. Below, we collect a sampling of some of the most exciting records and producers making contemporary hardgroove.
Developer
Hexmode
The most exciting part of the current crop of hardgroove tunes getting airplay is the way it’s helped the originators of the genre find a new audience. Although Ben Sims might have been the first to coin the term, West Coast OG Developer was an early promulgator of the genre. As he explains: “I believe Ben Sims started a label named Hardgroove back in the ‘90s, so it wasn’t me that coined it. Although it’s pretty obvious that we are playing just that: hard grooves.” For the past two decades, he’s refined that formula, and you can hear the fruits on Hexmode, 12 tracks of undiluted hardgroove minimalism. Across the record, eerie synth work and minor chord melodies add a fraught tension to the record, while the drums hit with ferocity. But still, there is something indelibly groovy here as he locks into a velocity where you can help but shake it.
Regal86
La Onda
It’s hard to think of a record that made more of a splash in the past two years than Regal86’s La Onda. The Monterrey-based producer might very well be the most productive producer in all of techno, turning out tracks like the act of doing so is going out of style. But his bread-and-butter remains no-frills techno, right around 135 BPM. On La Onda he seems to conquer the final boss with a record of functional techno filled with personality and swagger. Whether that is the throwback rave stabs on “Move Ahead,” the dreamy chords on “Good Hit,” or the teetering wall of layered percussion on “Ghetto Fleiva,” this is not your grandmother’s hardgroove.
ANNĒ
Symbiosis
Vinyl LP
ANNĒ has become one of the brightest stars in the current hardgroove revival. The Greek DJ has proven herself a formidable force, with a rumored collaborative EP with genre originator DJ Rolando in the making. “Groove is the urge to move and to dance,” she explains. “The motor activity within us is not just a reaction to the music’s rhythms but a way to engage with it. No groove, no dance!” It’s a simple philosophy, but an effective one that you can hear across Symbiosis, an EP she splits with Sera J. ANNĒ’s contributions hew towards the more soulful end of her sound: Dreamy melodies, moody chords, and even the occasional vocal loop hover wistfully over the steel-soldered march of the drums. This is still Techno with a capital “T,” but it’s made for the more intimate and tender moments of the night.
1Morning
Transitions
LA continues to be the ground zero for the past, present, and future of hardgroove. The newest protege from the City of Angels is 1Morning, who searches for feeling and functionality around 135 BPM. On Transitions, you hear the full range of experimentation that defines this latest generation of hardgroove producers. Drawing a line from jazz to bossa nova to dub techno, the tracks on here somehow hit with a punishing force, while also gently pirouetting across the stereo field. No track captures this better than “CYCLES.” Here, 1Morning which wraps a rubbery bassline around a loose hand drum to create the grooviest tune of 2023.
Black Girl/White Girl
Delusion
Black Girl/White Girl have dabbled in all sorts of musical genres, but they’ve found a niche with stripped-down techno. Delusion, their debut EP for legendary hardgroove producer’s Truncate eponymous label is a no frills, heads-down approach to dance music. Describe their production process, BG/WG say they, “strive to create infectious hooks and rhythms that compel movement on the dance floor, capturing raw, visceral energy and translating it into explosive, colorful soundscapes that inspire movement and evoke a sense of euphoria.” This description captures Delusion in a nutshell. Each track is minimal—jacking, swung drum patterns, a simple, distorted melodic loop, and the occasional interjection of an acid line or a cowbell here or there. But still, the record transcends functionality.
Elisa Bee
Send Me a Vision
Elisa Bee isn’t exactly a newcomer—she’s been DJing for over 15 years and releasing records for nearly just as long. But it wasn’t until the past couple of years where her style of lean, muscular techno started making waves. Her debut for Ben Sims’s label Hardgroove is a masterclass in what the genre sounds like in its current revival. It’s a record that splits the change between vintage Detroit and contemporary UK techno—the melodies are, at turns, bright and beautiful and disturbing and eerie. But the real showstopper here is Bee’s drum programming. Each snare and kick are chunky, but somehow bouncy, and never out of place.
Truncate
The Drill
Vinyl LP
It’s only fitting to end this list with a record from Truncate. For nearly 15 years, the LA producer has been issuing some of the best techno around. Coming up in the early ’10s, he was part of hardgroove’s second generation and has never been one to chase trends, instead distilling techno to its most elemental—sharp, swung drums, wiry melodies, rubbery basslines, and the occasional dose of acid. Working with these essential building blocks, no one makes it funkier. You’d be hard pressed to find a record that captures this essence better than The Drill: Four pitch-perfect DJ tools that will never go out of style.
