Here's some of my thoughts about techno in general. What comes to IDM /
braindance / glitch the point of view Sean Horton threw in other email was
pretty good.
I'd say IDM is just another term stuck from early days when FSOL, Aphex
Twin and rest of Warpish stuff started pouring out. After 1988 summer,
people were so full of ACID (music and the substance) that they needed to
chill down. Finally when hardcore boom went over 300BPM and dancefloors
started filling with speed-deaths; chillout sessions landed on techno
culture permanently.
A lot of evolution is to do with fact of people grewing old. As first
generation of ravers, clubbers, promoters, DJs and producers finally
realized they will end up as another MDMA/speed/gamma body on the
dancefloor unless they eaze down. Also clubbers wanted to listen techno in
home too, but after hard drug-induced nights hardbanging beat didn't work.
They wanted to relax.
Intelligence is just a word in IDM. To me IDM is stuff, which can fit both
to dancefloor and home, but mainly toward home listening. But it's a grey
area. Rephlex label laid a new somewhat elitistic term braindance to
describe their IDM sound.
Personally as an artist & producer I aim to sound, which kicks ass on a
dancefloor, but has nuances for deeper listening. As I have explored many
areas my sound is
rather eclectic mixture from deep 'anything'. Philosophy, purity and point
of view is
another moniker describing 'something'. techno, house, electro, dnb with
'idm' flavour.
IDM, ha who cares. UIDM, unintelligent dance music. I like Mr. X and Mr Y.
Marusha rox too. Does that make me unintelligent? But if I listen also
Susumu Yokota does that make me instantly intelligent? Does that really
matter at all?
Then lenghty about definition of techno and detroit techno. Not exactly IDM
topic, but I gathered you focus also on electronic music & techno in
generally. We don't want to be too puristic or do we? I'd say repetition
with evolution
and soul into sound can be intelligent, but in a different aspect.
To generalize - IDM needs more conscious concentration to dig into deeper
into sound. I call that an ACTIVE PROCESS. Detroit techno as Juan
Atkins/Derrick May/Submerge/Axis/Tresor etc.. lay out repetitive sound,
which has soul and slow evolution throughout sound. It goes immediately
into your system (body & mind) and is more PASSIVE PROCESS. So repetition
in detroit is more important than the taste and taste is more important
than the repetition in IDM.
Still both definitions; both styles aim to exactly same thing. To bypass
that 7 second layer. To break conscious layer and open subconscious layer.
I personally have defined some of my own stuff as in-troit or nu-troit as I
can't really or don't want to categorise
my sound. I just do, rest be the judge.
To me idm may be many styles, not just 'idm'. I'd get rid of 'I(ntelligent)
' part. It is just too elitistic. I'd call IDM as DDM - Deeper Dance Music.
(my own term)
Many years ago I did listing for all electronic music genres. Out of
interest and out of fun. Also been digging history. Listed couple hundred
categories. Mostly just one-timers.
Techno in early 90's had a very distinctive sound, but these days inside
scene techno means also any electronic repetitive music. So, just like
electronica eats kind of anything, 'techno' does the same to most of the
people.
Some artist once said "true techno doesn't have any vocals". Hah. What a
definition.
Categorising may be fun, but more interesting is to find links in history.
Artists, labels and releases, which link together. Afterall it is the
actual sound, music, clubs, raves and people who define the culture around
ANY sound.
Debussy, 1920's Jazz, Javanese music, James Brown, Tangerine Dreams,
Kraftwerk, Afrika Bambaata, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, 808 State, Jeff
Mills, Aztec Mystics, Underground Resistance, The Advent, a guy called
gerald, LFO, KLF, Junior Vasquez, Larry Levan, Back 2 Basics, Stakker, Joey
Beltram, Josh Wink, Scan X, Luke Slater, Richie Hawtin, Cari Lekebusch,
Nightmares on Wax, Horrorist, Adam Beyer, Speedy J, Inner City, Johannes
Heil, Surgeon, Thomas Krome, Funk D'Void, Chris Liebing, Mauro Picotto,
Dave Clarke, Der Dritte Raum, Carola, CJ Bolland, Umek, Kevin Saunderson,
Carl Craig etc...
Don't forget DJ Hell if you seek puristic hard techno.
Submerge, Axis, Tresor, Transmat, Drumcode, Mo'Wax, R & S, Novamute, Plus
8, Metroplex, Basic Channel, Soma, Trope, Bush, Red Planet, Planet E,
Iridite Production, Underground Resistance, Djax-Up, F Communications,
Petra, Hardwax, Ovum, Peacefrog...
70's disco, acid House, club, house, F Communications sound, mainstream
house
Rotterdam Terror Corps, dutch gabber, UK gabber, hardcore, happy hardcore,
garage
detroit -> techno -> monotrack minimalism -> cologne
summer of 1988
Today, old-skool techno is not produced in that scale as in early 90's.
Sound has moved into much delicate direction and is much eclectic. Going
towards detroit and cologne sound and deeper stuff copies Warp, Rephlex,
FSOL etc. turning into something else than techno.
Harder techno drops mostly under progressive house and hard house genres.
Even harder sound turns into either hardcore or monotrack. Maybe modern
Love Parade posse techno is closest to techno definition. but electro and
retro sound tends to be the trend these days.
What is techno in retrospective?
Stakker - Humanoid is one of the first techno tracks to transfer that sound
from underground to public arenas. MTV and Partyzone were one of the first
messengers to mainstream audience.
Modern techno has gone toward soulful qualities. More melody and more
depth. But that is not a new phenomenom. Model 500 / Cybotron & other
pioneers were influenced by 70's rock sound and Kraftwerk. Techno was very
eclectic, experimenting and with 'soul' in early days. Gradually sound went
rougher and rougher until 1988-1992 techno culture turned rapidly into a
business just like any other music business. Sound divided roughly in to a
'home listening' and 'club music'. Some of the stuff is released as a vinyl
only.
Technology to produce music has definitely had a great impact on sound. Now
we have way more control with more ways to experiment than tens years ago.
Yet, many follow relics. Respect relics and respect old ways, but do not be
blinded by our sound ancestors. Progress; techno should be eclectic as
well. Larry Levan and famous Paradise Garage club played very eclectic
stuff from any genre from any music style if it just fit the set and
reflected the mood of clubbers. Pompous Junior Vasquez with Twilo and Sound
Factory has been doing the same these days. Music and sets were much
eclectic.
Purism has conquered most of the clubs and events. There is hard house,
house, detroit, trance, dnb, hip-hop and so on. All the clubs and artists
want to distinct themselves to some genres.
We need genres as our guide. To set some sort of 'map' of music, but it is
only a map.
Purism is sometimes a good thing, but we need to go back in history and
bring back eclectic qualities. No genres, but musical collasions, which
also challenge a listener & raver to some degree.
Techno as any genre is as said, a term, which adapts into a current set of
music produced under 'techno' moniker. Releases, which stand out and which
are remembered as techno classics define techno music. So all genres are
really a one giant pile of mashed potatoes. IDM adapts in the same way, but
many use that term as a garbage pile when they can't decipher the style of
electronic sound.
Die hard ravechildren will always cheer when way too much played Jeff Mills
- The Bells and billion remixes of it blasts that very distinct sound from
the speakers. Classics are still played quite a lot as there's so much new
unknown wannabe techno-DJ's who fell in love to same classic tunes as so
many before them. Which is not necessarily bad as those classics bring back
good memories from events you've heard them before.
Techno was melody oriented originally. Early trance was more techno than
modern trance. Like Art Of Trance, Sven Väth and even Man With No Name.
Those started out with stuff, which was sort of 'repetitive trance'. Just
think of a classic trance track Octopussy for example.
Most of really dark very repetitive stuff goes into monotrack, which I
think has replaced hardcore sound these days to a great degree. Oh, those
days of Shadowland Terrorists and Thunderdome, Terrordrome, Mayday raves
and many more. Cheesy Raveyard compilations and thousands of wannabe-
artists banging hardcore sound out with Octamed tracker. C-Tank started out
with Octamed. Oldie rumors.
Hardcore scene died the day Johnny Violent topped every other track by
releasing Burnout. I laughed so hard when I first heard that tune in
radio. Out of pure cheer. Check it out if you dig dancing to 20 million
beats per minute. Still there seems to be enough niche market to indie
hardcore labels to survive and a lot of people are into old-skool gabber.
Noise is not dead and propably will ever be. Noise just is and punk never
really dies as every generation finds their own 'punk'-culture. Techno with
'DIY' phenomenom in early days resembled and still does, a lot of punk
culture in 70's and 80's. People just started doing shit and some good shit
in their bedrooms and started doing small gigs in garages and small
warehouses. They just go and do and do not care what other think.
And where techno stops hardcore starts.
Hardcore, noise, gabber, jungle warfare, speedbass, speedcore etc have been
influenced by punk culture, which has influenced hardcore rock/noise bands
today. I think one of the best 'mainstream' examples is Atari Teenage Riot,
which performs post punk/noise stuff. Singer is unfortunately dead, but
their video's still rule big time. Just check RevolutionAction. Reminds a
bit Come To Daddy by Aphex Twin. Ah, don't you just love movies Hellraiser
and Hellraiser 2 (rest are not worth it)? Dunno where RDJ got his
inspiration, but "Come To Daddy" is the slogan in first flick. "Come To
Daddy, we won't hurt you". "are you teasing us? She's teasing us"
Hyperreal IDM definition - quote "[Intelligent Dance Music] means the
opposite of stupid hardcore."
Yes, _stupid_ hardcore. IDM tends to flow into ambient direction and as
said
in that definition - works also in domestic environment = home listening.
Still, some noise acts can be [idm]. Sound, which needs your effort.
One could dispute whether idm sound is more about aesthetic or about
artistic qualities.
Is avant garde or abstract idm? Or just another form of 'art'. As same
sound could be
'easy' or 'hard' depending on a listener.
I really can't tell. But it's good to have some sort of paths around sound
as rules or
set of loose guidelines and categories are, as said, only a path, a
skeleton to adjust
our views about any culture or society-connection.
Then back to sound - techno sound to be specific
Some oldie techno tracks:
Acen - Trip 2 the Moon Altern 8 - Activ 8 Praga Khan - Move Your Body
(Injected With a Poison)
Those go more into jungle/breakbeat direction as well, but early Prodigy, 2
Bad Mice, Jungle Brothers & rest influenced techno sound and vice versa.
IDM sound is just one continuum and extension of 'simpler sound'.
If you think, we are only 1st and 2nd generation raving, clubbing, DJ's,
producing,
promoting, discussing, researching still so young rave-culture and
subcultures in
and around it.
Some classic choons
Phuture - Acid Tracks
Joey Beltram - Energy Flash
Juan Atkins - Infoworld
LFO - LFO
808 State - Pacific Aztec Mystics - Jaguar
Richie Hawtin - Orange
Underground Resistance - Punisher Dave Clarke: Red 2 (Wisdom to the Wise)
Derrick May - Strings of Life
Red Planet - Star Dancer Suburban Knight - The Art of Stalking
Luke Slater - Inductive Channels
and do not miss these classics
Robert Armani - Blow That Shit Out (Joey Beltram Remix) (from Blow It Out
2x12" / ACV)
Jeff Mills - The Bells (Purpose Maker) (maybe one of the most played tunes
in raves throughout the years)
Josh Wink (aka Winx) - Higher State of Consciousness (Manifesto 12)
Scan X - Earthquake (Earthquake EP / F Communications)
Joey Beltram - Game Form (Tresor)
Choice - Acid Eiffel (Acid Eiffel / Fragile Records) by Laurent Garnier and
not so known Ludovic Llorca)
Drexciya - Digital Tsunami (Tresor) RIP James Stinson
Point Blank - Meng's Theme (Joey Beltram remix) (Meng's Theme Remixes, R&S
/ RS 94 060, 12")
And couple very interesting not so known faces from detroit scene are Mark
Grant and Boo Williams.
The Many Definitions of Techno - point of view
If I had to choose only one track to define TECHNO as of today ---
Best tune is impossible and unnecessary to choose, but one track, which
grabs the essence of techno sound today in my opinion.
for me, it is Funk D'Void - Diabla (Kevin Saunderson Mix) (SOMA/SOMA 112R,
12")
Released in 2001, but is one of the best techno tracks in recent years. A
true classic.
-----------------
Then bits and pieces about origins of sound and also some insight about
jungle & drum'n'bass as IDM with broken beat is like a distant cousin for
dnb sound and culture. Especially the chillout and experimental stuff.
It is somewhat true that techno is based on sound more than artists. Also
as long as our race stays pretty much same in evolution wise any repetition
in any form will be fascinator number one.
Because repetition induces trance and trance induces way to focus on
ownself. Curiosity on our own mind is not likely to going to disappear
anywhere.
Also 135BPM is no coincidence. To average human who has heartbeat around
~60-70BPM, 130-135BPM is the most suitable heartbeat rate what comes to
stamina. Also any movement in range of 2-4Hz is likely to induce trance
state.
That's what native tribes did and do. They used drugs as well and danced
around camp fire, trying to get into trance. We haven't changed much in 10
000 years have we? there is only bassdrum, bassdrum is the key and the
core, everything else is irrelevant.
Bruce Lee once said "Before I studied the art, a punch was just a punch and
a kick was just a kick. Once I began practicing the art, a punch was no
longer a punch and a kick no longer just a kick. Once I understood the art
a punch was just a punch and a kick was just a kick"
(the Bruce Lee quote I haven't verified, but it was quoted by some
individual in
techno-scene related discussion forum)
happy happy joy joy.. History of electronic music and drum'n'bass started
around 19th century. Think about Beethoven, those compositions he made
resemble a lot uplifting trance in a structure.
Jazz was first considered as a phuturistic immoral (satanistic) music and
was also much related to drugs. It became acceptable only after white folk
started making same music for white community.
Drum'n'bass has roots in hip-hop, rap and old rhytm'n'blues. First DJ's
took 70's r'n'b and soul records and started experimenting with them. Most
of classic breaks in drum'n'bass & jungle are originally ripped illegally
from old records. James Brown was really pissed on that, but never saw any
money. Amen break and Apache break are two most famous drumloops, which can
be identified easily if you have been into scene for some time.
My electronic music experiences started seriously in early 90's with old-
skool jungle, italo-xtacy-techno and old-skool techno. Music, which was
really really different in that time. It was like founding a new continent.
BTW urban legend of origins for term jungle tells that members of Afrika
Bambaata once tried to get a gig in some club. This happened most likely in
the 80's. Club owner told that "we don't want your jungle music here."
Using jungle as a mockery for any black music.
Jungle and dnb can be identified as different genres, but these days people
usually refer drum'n'bass to include all breaks stuff. It is a very
eclectic genre. There is also mellow stuff if you are not into speedcore,
speedbass or jungle warfare or UK garage mayhem.
Artcore is a genre for jazzy influenced chillout jungle. Other eaze stuff
is produced by ie. by LTJ Bukem, Boymerang, Blu Mar Ten and generally all
stuff by Good Looking Records. To mention only some.
Progression Sessions series by GLR is by far one of the best d'n'b series
produced. In my
opinion. If you are into more industrial flavored hard sound the genres to
look are 2step or neurofunk. Bad Company is very famous for that sound.
Other talented artists and labels to look are Ed Rush & Optical, Virus,
Prototype and the legendary label Moving Shadow.
From jungle side I could mention some legends such as Mickey Finn, Tom &
Jerry, AK1200 and Congo Natty.
2-step was mainly invented to get sound, which would be easier to mix by
DJ's. Main driver in most of 2step tunes is heavy snare with harsh
bassline. Trance influenced mainstream d'n'b is the current trend. John B
is one of the first to tamper with producing dnb with heavy trance leads in
mainstream style. Some work, some don't.
High Contrast - Passion is a very good example of modern 'mainstream' club
drum'n'bass today.
-
But that's about these topics I have to say now. I know, more about techno
and dnb than 'idm', but for example posting dnb stuff in dnb discussion
list is mostly worthless as most of the readers know the stuff already.
Bare such, thou shall be open minded.
.]
Sogax, Deliciound, www.deliciound.net
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