DJ Trace was an early member of the tight-knit crew of producers constituting popular techstep drum'n'bass label No U-Turn. His first crack at broad exposure came through the compilation "Techsteppin'" released on Emotif in 1995. It contained a number of tracks licensed from the No U-Turn studios, and helped seed a new direction in drum'n'bass, one characterized by heavy use of electronics, cavernous beats and basslines, and the dystopian histrionics that have since become trademarks of the No U-Turn/Nu Black sound.