Stretching from the rave explosion of the early '90s to the development of nu breaks around the end of the millennium, producer/remixer/DJ Rennie Pilgrem has led the way for tough techno. He started out in Rhythm Section, authors of the early breakbeat hit Feel the Rhythm (Comin on Strong), and kept producing during the mid-'90s with tracks such as Thursday Club for Aura Surround Sounds and RS. Pilgrem also set up his own Friction label with fellow nu breaks pioneer Adam Freeland, and furthered the sound with a pair of Nu School Breakz compilations.

Another Pilgrem-run label, TCR (for Thursday Club Recordings), spread the breaks gospel as well; with help from old-school breaks pioneer Arthur Baker, Pilgrem produced two of the label's biggest hits, Like No Other and Hey Funky People. He's remixed a range of artists (BT, Meat Katie, Quivver, Filter) and has mixing residencies at his own Friction as well as Renaissance. The mix-album wrap-up Rennie Pilgrem Presents TCR 50 appeared in 2001. ~ John Bush, Rovi