"In a profound sense, underneath two decades of relentless sonic mutation, this is the same music, the same culture. What's also endured has been the scene's economic infrastructure: pirate radio stations, independent record shops (often in out-of-the-way urban areas), white labels and dubplates, specific rave promoters and clubs (again often in the less glitzy, non-central areas of cities)." - Simon Reynolds, 28/01/09
This is from Reynolds's introduction to his series of excellent articles for The Wire on 'Nuum sounds' 1992-2005. The economic infrastructure he mentions provides some tangible signifiers we could use to test the theory's ongoing relevance, and I'm afraid it doesn't look good. A club like FWD>> may embody its own continuum of UK club sounds, but they're not the same ones the Nuum dictates. Meanwhile pirate radio is being supplanted by internet radio, mp3s and podcasts, independent record shops are closing, and white label dubplates replaced by leaked wav files, or the perennial web query, '320?', as in 'do you have the tune in question at 320kpbs, so I can play it in a rave?'.
I can't think of a way to ask this that doesn't sound petty, so I'm just going to apologise and ask: how much time do the proponents of the hardcore continuum actually spend in raves these days? It can't be a coincidence that the most vocal critics of the Nuum are the same people I see in raves every week, hearing these sounds mutating, evolving, and igniting, chatting to the producers and DJs, and working it out with their feet as well as with a pencil.