DJ Trace is a producer and DJ closely associated with techstep, the darker turn drum and bass took in the mid-1990s. His records connected the London rave scene with the experiments happening around No U-Turn, before his own DSCI4 brought producers from further afield into the conversation.
Early tracks such as Inception and Teach Me to Fly came before the harder material. Working around Nico, Ed Rush, and Fierce, Trace helped develop the sound heard in Sonar and the Mutant records. In his UKF interview, he recalled taking that music to Philadelphia, where he lived between 1996 and 1999.
DSCI4 continued the international exchange. Online conversations helped introduce producers including SKC and Chris.SU, while the catalogue also connected him with Black Sun Empire, Mindscape, and Silent Witness. The label became a way to release the music those relationships produced.
DSCI4’s later catalogue includes Retox and Forbidden Codes, while the 117 imprint offered another home for breakbeat-led records. Techstep is an essential part of the history, but the labels also show Trace’s continuing interest in finding producers with ideas of their own.
