As an aside I remember reading an interview with Mr C around 2000 or 2001 where he was touting tech house as the sound to watch out for as it was fresh. He listed various weaknesses for every other genre, including the classic line "alright- UK Garage is doing well in the charts- but it's not going to progress any more, is it?". I'd imagine that this was written round about the time when 138 trek was popular. A year after that the Garage crews would've blown up, a year after that was Pulse X, a year after that was Dizzee's I Love You, Qualifide, plus Benga & Skream. If anything I'd say a decade in Garage probably showed more progression than any other dance genre out there.
Not to defend mr. C, if you call yourself mister Chelsea you've got everything coming to you, but increasingly I'm coming to the conclusion that tech house is more of a marketting term than even some other genres. For sure, the wiggle/swag/housey doingz sound genrified it, but for me and for many old skool orientated techno heads the dividing line between house and techno is that paurous. Unfortunately with all the news coming out about his sleazebag behaviour, Derrick May sets from around 93-96 illustrate this, where he was mixing up dutch fresh fruit gear with Sneaky Tim tunes on Dance Mania. I think partly the reason why tech house has gotten such a bad rap (including from myself on many an occasion) is precisely because the likes of MR. C streamlined it and took out the central question // is it house or techno? I like the idea and the unorthodox execution of the merger of techno and house, I just don't like the fans and most importantly the lore of tech house. If I'm going to a more purist techno night (of course purist is used in a relative and not absolute sense here) I expect to hear garage dubs being pitched up and mixed in. Eddie Richards has always been more on it for me, but that's because he is much more about the bassline.
Now there are some london mixes where the djs play house and techno tunes in the mix together drawing out the connections and that to me is what tech house should have been.
Some recommendations:
This Dave Angel one is one of the best mixes ever. Phat and chunky house and techno mixed at London pirate radio UK garridge tempo.
This one from the other DJ Pierre (the Belgian one not the American one) also goes there: