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History of Techno

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Re: History of Techno

#211

Post by radley »

james-bcn wrote: post #27

I'm surprised there's no mention of New Order's Blue Monday in there. I thought it was seen as a key moment in the history of techno? Can anyone with more knowledge than me comment on why it isn't there? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYH8DsU2WCk

There were tons of electronic dance tunes during that period of time. Blue Monday was a great tune and had some great original ideas, but it at the peak of synth pop.

That same year, Phuture released Acid Tracks which influenced Hawtin to make Spastik.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igNBeo3QSqc

Re: History of Techno

#212

Post by brianzelip »

emptyfile wrote: post #109
tmearnest wrote: post #101

I've been listening to techno (not EDM in general, Techno) since the 90s. It's definitely my favorite music for deep work; something about the tight repetitive loops is just perfect for concentration. Since the pandemic started I've been listening to techno mixes almost constantly in order to mask the noise from everyone else in my house. Initially, I found it difficult to find decent mixes since Techno has become a…

Here's a great channel I found in 2020 for techno mixes. Seems like its mostly folks from Berlin but there are a few big names also. https://www.youtube.com/c/H%C3%96RBERLIN/videos EDIT: There's craploads of content, a lot of styles, although I will observe that oldschool sounds have continued to come back in a big way in 2020. Rave, electro, acid. Here's my favourite party set from 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watc…

My favorite HÖR BERLIN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MBQFq06w5Y

Re: History of Techno

#213

Post by yowlingcat »

mmmmmk wrote: post #179
yowlingcat wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which became techno > Americans were late to the scene I think you've got to pick one or the other. It became techno in America in a culturally deeply American way. I wish people would embrace the cultural exchange and parallel/convergent evolution at the core of musical evolution instead of holding on to laughably provincial notions of cosmogony.

I'm not holding onto laughably provincial notions of cosmogony- it is just strange to start a history of a subject several years after its development, and only make passing reference to its progenitors. Krautrock developed into electronic music, including Kraftwerk, who coined the term 'techno'

> I'm not holding onto laughably provincial notions of cosmogony

> it is just strange to ... only make passing reference to its progenitors

Which one is it?

Electronic music didn't begin with Krautrock, it began with avant garde composers pushing limits. Messiaen, Ives, Varése, Cage; all of this in the late 19th century to early 20th century. Krautrock itself is deeply indebted to its own stylistic progenitors in American minimalism, including artists like Terry Riley (as well as Germans like Karl Stockhausen). Assuming you're not trying to make proto-nationalistic strawmans in service of which scene was the "one true" progenitor, it's hard to do anything but to think globally -- otherwise, you'll miss the forest for the trees.

I always felt that part of the joy of Krautrock was in how it was able to rebel against American influence and conservative German mores while dialectically integrating its raw materials. But that's why I would caution against being too territorial about these things. It's why I warn against provinciality. Electronic music developed in parallel across the globe, much like all modern music.

Re: History of Techno

#214

Post by jamal-kumar »

mqp wrote: post #117

I'm pleased to see accuracy in the history of techno. I for one did not know it's roots took place back in the 70s and from the black community. These days when I look at techno artists and their raving followers, its prodimently white. I have since taken active steps to seek out the lesser know black artists to support. Many modern music fundamentals are origins from the black community and very little is correctly…

If you want to see quite the videos check these out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV8_eUJ6C1w [ Acid Mix Detroit Chicago - New Dance Show 1989 ] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz2wInkVkRU [ Techno Jam - New Dance Show 1989 ] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aUAqboAvQM [ City of Techno (Detroit) - New Dance Show 1991 ]

Great examples of the racial diversity in the early scene in Detroit. I think this was some public access TV show?

Anyways speaking from living in Latin America the scene here is HUGE for techno and house, I would probably say the numbers here are bigger and more diverse than I've seen for the same scene in North America and balance out the melanation factor quite a lot

Re: History of Techno

#215

Post by mason55 »

aasasd wrote: post #131
tmearnest wrote: post #101

I've been listening to techno (not EDM in general, Techno) since the 90s. It's definitely my favorite music for deep work; something about the tight repetitive loops is just perfect for concentration. Since the pandemic started I've been listening to techno mixes almost constantly in order to mask the noise from everyone else in my house. Initially, I found it difficult to find decent mixes since Techno has become a…

‘Techno Live Sets’ are good at long mixes in the genre, though they do delve into house regularly: https://www.techno-livesets.com (IIRC they were on Mixcloud previously, but parted ways for some reason.)

Wow, I didn't realize they have a website. They're also on the iOS Podcasts app which is how I have always consumed the feed.

Re: History of Techno

#216

Post by kristopolous »

alisonatwork wrote: post #185
kristopolous wrote: post #13

This is about as conventional a narrative as you can get. I've never been happy with it though, it's way too much of a tidy, linear, clean through-line. For instance, this narrative always leave out free-style and electro like Hashim (example: 1983, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykK0uEjSsqY ), Newcleus, etc. Soulsonic Force (1982: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHQ11l4uiM4 ) predated Atkins Cybotron project and At…

It's a shame this isn't the top comment, because it's a lot more interesting than Ishkur's smartassery and all the across-the-pond sniping. There used to be a great website called Deep House Page which archived loads of Hot Mix 5 mixes, and you could really hear just how diverse that early era of post-disco dance music was, before it even got pigeonholed into "house" or "techno" and the myriad of subgenres that came…

I have all the dhp mp3s archived somewhere if you want one

Re: History of Techno

#217

Post by devmunchies »

mqp wrote: post #117

I'm pleased to see accuracy in the history of techno. I for one did not know it's roots took place back in the 70s and from the black community. These days when I look at techno artists and their raving followers, its prodimently white. I have since taken active steps to seek out the lesser know black artists to support. Many modern music fundamentals are origins from the black community and very little is correctly…

> it's roots took place ... from the black community

> origins from the black community

gotta give credit to the engineers who pioneered electronic music synthesis, like Robert Moog, or the Japanese who created Korg synthesizers in the article.

Influences for any technology, project, art, etc come from a large web of sources. Racial gatekeeping and attribution is close-minded.

Let the people enjoy techno without guilt.

Re: History of Techno

#218

Post by laumars »

CuriouslyC wrote: post #149
laumars wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slam, Adam Beyer (Drumcode) and Chris Liebling (CLR) are all good places to start. They all have weekly radio stations. From there on you can follow an guest DJs who you like the style off. Also when did “techno” become an umbrella term again? I was possessed off enough when “EDM” was redefined as a specific genre (and such a lousy one at that).

Swedish techno... That brings me back. If you like Adam Beyer, check out Cari Lekebusch and Jasper Dahlback too. His style is a bit less minimal, but Boris Brejcha is absolutely sick.

Already got a stack of records from Cari and Jasper. Particularly love Cari’s Agent Orange stuff.

I’ve not knowingly come across Boris before though. Pretty sure I’d have heard some of his records play but looking at his discography I think he might have started making a name for himself around the same time I hung up my own DJ headphones so he’s not a name that’s immediately recognisable for me.

I did recently hook my decks up again but not yet had a chance to play anything.

Re: History of Techno

#219

Post by spiralx »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #147
tern wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Histories of techno always leave out some of my favorites from the early 2000s Adam Beyer / Drumcode era of fast maximalist techno—Zenit records for instance https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPN0gicPJTTUJVhVMzCne... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOfuXwU6GoQ And I was surprised they mentioned Surgeon and Regis, but not their Downwards Records https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBilbhSIIhgKbRezA7RoO...

It's funny because I guess I'm old but that kind of stuff feels sort of like the "end of the road" for techno and not part of the history, more of the end of the history. I liked some of it at the time -- I have some of the Code Red Adam Beyer stuff on coloured red vinyl somewhere -- but it's a bit soul-less and monolithic. A very white middle class European straightlaced "thump thump thump" interpretation of the gen…

> I liked some of it at the time -- I have some of the Code Red Adam Beyer stuff on coloured red vinyl somewhere -- but it's a bit soul-less and monolithic. A very white middle class European straightlaced "thump thump thump" interpretation of the genre.

I've got a couple of those records and I can tell you that Adam Beyer and Drumcode still sound like that today, they've really nailed that "far duller than it sounds" sub-genre of techno.

> The stuff from Europe in the late 90s and early 2000s that I loved the most that got left out of the "techno history" was the "No Future" / Scandinavian Records school -- Neil Landstrumm, Cristian Vogel, Dave Tarrida, etc. really wonky wonk stuff, very creative. That's what I was playing back then.

I managed to see Landstrumm play two days before the start of lockdown last March as part of the 20 Years of Don't evening at the Bangface Weekender, how's that for good timing? :)

https://bangface.com/weekender2020/lineup/

I was going out to a lot of squat parties that played it in the 00s when there was tons of it coming out of London from labels like Don't, Yolk, Chancer, Victim and 4x4 Recordings, and also went to Jerome Hill's Uglyfunk night regularly (it's still going in fact but I've not made it there recently). Mark Hawkins was probably my favourite producer followed by Jerome Hill and Michael Forshaw.

Re: History of Techno

#220

Post by mixmastamyk »

mqp wrote: post #117

I'm pleased to see accuracy in the history of techno. I for one did not know it's roots took place back in the 70s and from the black community. These days when I look at techno artists and their raving followers, its prodimently white. I have since taken active steps to seek out the lesser know black artists to support. Many modern music fundamentals are origins from the black community and very little is correctly…

One root is there definitely in America. However this piece overlooks the work of Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream in Europe in the early 1970s.
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