Honestly, the only places in the US where I feel techno has been shrinking rather than growing is NYC and Chicago.
Both have faced some problems due to legislation and actions from the local authorities or police which seem to be
very similar to what occured around England during the passing of the Criminal Justice Act (Repetitive Beats law or
whatever you guys called it). Depending upon where you are in the US, it's a different world. In the early to
mid-90's in NYC, the techno scene grew into something that, to a large degree, kinda **** itself. People got a
little more reckless than necesary, organized crime got involved, and that really meant it was just a matter of time
befre the state would start throwing up more obstacles. In the northwest though, it still feels like it's growing
out there to me. However, the people in that area seem to have a better understand of the opportunities presented by
open space. When I lived in Oregon, there was always a party going off in the woods somewhere
which, if a policeman (usually a forrest ranger) happened to roll by, they'd just wave or check to make sure the
fire pits were safe and then leave. In my opinion, NYC has not yet fully realised the opportunities presented by the
numerous open spaces and woods that are all roughly an hour or two outside of the city in NJ and NY. I blame it on
two things pretty much. One, a general hesitance of people who live in NYC to ever leave NYC and two, the fact that
many promoters and artists would rather be pampered or make a name in the big club of their choice than as some
anonymous face off in an unknown and under promoted woods party. There are plenty of people taking advantage of the
open space but, as of yet, it's just not pulling as many people as occurs elsewhere in the world it seems. Shiva's
point about the size of the country is a factor as well.
Committee. He's got limited electricity at the moment and is connecting to the net now and then through satelite
when available. So, I haven't heard much from him as of late.
Personally, I'm a bit in cynical phase on things. Most of the crews I once had respect for that were actually
pushing it forward have all taken huge steps backwards due to a lot of unnecesary bullshit. But, such is life.
Recent turns of events have gotten me back to working on sounds that have been dormant for years now and tweaking
them into something else. So, negative influences can have positive outcomes sometimes. As for atists, I can't say I
really follow any straight techno artists in the NYC/NJ area. I'm still enjoying a number of the work being done by
all the Apocalypse Recordings guys but they are pretty much the only local label I listen to that is still
consistently dealing with US rather than European artists. Satronica and Acrosome have been doing some cool stuff as
of late. Not so much my cup of tea but I think the sound is kinda fresh. Cool convergence of influences of industrial, pop,
and hardcore/techno. However, Satronica is off in Africa right now doing work for the International Rescuse Committee and I'm not sure if there is any future plans for the Apocalypse guys at the moment. So, as far as those who I know and like in the area, it seems to be a bit of a lull period for various reasons. I'm optimistic though. The silly oppressive local politics in NYC towards anything that's expressive which just might harm some millionaire's property values, coupled with the national political climate, has been brewing a lot of tension which is likely to result in another explosion of creativity which the state won't be able to cap. I'm just curious to see what's going to provide the spark to set it all off.