On the spot or not (about techno music)

[Ritzi Lee]

So what makes techno for me really enjoyable to listen to?

Sometimes I wonder if from the whole spectrum of producers / artists who released something, how many really understand the art of shaping the sound that way, that in some way is a translation of some kind of concept.

The longer I think about it, the longer I realize that techno music itself can be considered an art form like painting something. And if I listen a lot of old stuff from the 90s, I think these people understood it. And the names of the tracks where not just names, but really had a meaning/concept behind it. Ofcourse the most genious part of it all, the same concept could be approached different ways on an individual level.

Fortunately once in a while I still see new sounds released, that are conceptually very strong and exciting, meaning the art is not lost yet. Those are the sounds that really can create that special admosphere in a liveset, or during an individual mental state. Doesn't matter if it's about some kind of feeling, or some kind of experience. The thing is it has to touch your deepest imaginations. The core that drives your inspiration and shapes the world. Your mind and hart!

And like all feelings and experiences. The once who want to face it, just go with the flow. And the once who want to create it (like producers) understand the art of translating and shaping it.

So in this concept, how do I see the DJ or Live act?

How I see this, the DJ or live act is the one who creates a total composition of what he/she wants to create. Like creating the coolest movie you ever saw. Could you imagine a DJ creating Return of the Jedi or The Matrix in one techno set? With the same experience and excitement like the movie? For me that would be the ultimate experience to see a total synchonisation between light, images, effects, lasers, the sound, the sences; in one big dark hall with a big crowd in harmony. Everything perfect.


A bad example for me:
Minimal music seen through the concept of techno.
- It doesn't give me excitement.
- It doesn't give me some kind of feeling.
- It doesn't give me some kind of experience in my mind.
- It sounds to me like a set of sounds together that totally have no meaning for me.
- Shallow / empty / lifeless / dead.




My wish is to see more producers taking back that framework, or just wake up and use their imagination again. And techno labels have the responsibility maintain quality. The world is full of things to reshape in techno sounds. Create this world!

[DannyBlack]

i hear ya. for me at the moment (not inflate ego's or kiss arse) you got the likes of clandestine/wetworks, brad lee, rhythm technologies, mutate to survive and a whole lot more really taking techno to newer more exciting levels.

i think, techno at the moment is really exciting. i love it.

[dirty_bass]

I agree with ritzi, there is very little art left, and certainly hardly anyone seeming to even try to do something new.
It`s almost looked down on if you mention these concepts, now days the most respected or sought after thing is the base part of the music. To make people dance, which when you strip it down, you can do with a kick and a hat.
There are a few labels pushing for new things, and few artists taking the music somewhere new, or at least away from the general stream.

Innigo Kennedy, Makaton, and the Dust Science off the top of my head seem to be some of the few really pushing in the mid tempo side of things.

There are lots of new up and comings who are making new sounds or reinterpretting things in new ways. But wether or not they will find an outlet I`m not sure.

There are still a lot (more than in techno IMO) of producers doing some really exciting minimal, but with everyone jumping on the bandwagon it`s hard to pick it out, and really I just lump minimal into the house category. It`s techno for techno people who don`t like to admit that they are making house now.

I`ve had this theory, or feeling for a while now.
If you look at music history, when any scene starts to stagnate, or deviate from it`s origins, something new springs out of it, a new scene and sound.

And I see this happening with techno now, more and more I encounter people or talk to people who are fed up with the stagnation and homogenous-ness of techno. Those that don`t completely jump to something else already created (minimal, dubstep), seem to be really pushing their music looking for something new.
Out of all this new energy of searching, experimentation and rediscovery, I think (hope) that something new will emerge.
Techno will give birth to it`s new baby for the newly settled millenium.

[DannyBlack]

I agree with ritzi, there is very little art left, and certainly hardly anyone seeming to even try to do something new.
It`s almost looked down on if you mention these concepts, now days the most respected or sought after thing is the base part of the music. To make people dance, which when you strip it down, you can do with a kick and a hat.
There are a few labels pushing for new things, and few artists taking the music somewhere new, or at least away from the general stream.

Innigo Kennedy, Makaton, and the Dust Science off the top of my head seem to be some of the few really pushing in the mid tempo side of things.

There are lots of new up and comings who are making new sounds or reinterpretting things in new ways. But wether or not they will find an outlet I`m not sure.

There are still a lot (more than in techno IMO) of producers doing some really exciting minimal, but with everyone jumping on the bandwagon it`s hard to pick it out, and really I just lump minimal into the house category. It`s techno for techno people who don`t like to admit that they are making house now.

I`ve had this theory, or feeling for a while now.
If you look at music history, when any scene starts to stagnate, or deviate from it`s origins, something new springs out of it, a new scene and sound.

And I see this happening with techno now, more and more I encounter people or talk to people who are fed up with the stagnation and homogenous-ness of techno. Those that don`t completely jump to something else already created (minimal, dubstep), seem to be really pushing their music looking for something new.
Out of all this new energy of searching, experimentation and rediscovery, I think (hope) that something new will emerge.
Techno will give birth to it`s new baby for the newly settled millenium.


in some respects i would have to agree with you, but in my opinion, now is a very exciting time to be a techno fan. but that is like i said, just my opinion.