Here's why your techno scene sucks.

[Dustin Zahn]

After scanning through various forums, websites, and discussions with people all over the world I finally feel the need to vent for a minute. First off, 'disappointed' is the first word that comes to mind when I see all this constant bickering between people about various sub-genres of techno. Since I moved to Minneapolis 18 months ago my whole view and perception of techno has changed 100% through the records I've released, bought, and dug through the bins for. I've been fortunate enough to play for people in many walks of life and I'm beginning to understand that there is "always another side" to techno.

The last 2 years have seen a tremendous change in the techno scene...distributors rising, distributors falling, labels coming and going, and producers changing their ways or just coming into the spotlight. 3, 4, even 5 years ago on some of these very forums/mailinglists/etc. people were complaining that there is no originality anymore. They were complaining they want something fresh and something new. People were tired of Adam Beyer and his friends putting out another loopy record on another swedish label. People were tired of seeing Planet Rhythm put out another compressed record. The examples are endless.

Fast forward to 2004. The loop record isn't the only thing on the shelves anymore. Tons of producers have come on the scene with their own take on things. The whole Jaxx crew took the dark industrial sound and ran with it. Richie Hawtin and friends helped bring minimal techno back into the spotlight. Adam Beyer and his boys now produce everything from minimal to trancey, melodic sounding techno. Jerome, Hawkins, Birken, and more all helped push the "wonky" movement. Techno is now more diverse than ever before. The options you have as a DJ and/or a listener of the music are now overwhelming. Yet, everyone is still complaining.

To be honest, I'm tired of DJs telling me they specialize in a certain style of techno. Since I switched to techno back in 1999 I've always been in this with a clear head, allowing myself to be open to anything techno. Along the way my tastes for certain styles have come and gone but I don't automatically count anything out. Look at the play lists from most DJs these days including bedroom DJs. Most of the time it'll be a list of 20-30 of the hottest records in the past 2 or 3 months. DJ mixes online usually amount to nothing more than an hour of 15-20 drum tracks that play out the whole time, with no dynamic or contrast in mixing whatsoever. @ "Are DJ Tools Killing Techno?" thread: No, shitty DJs are. A good DJ can take a loopy 5 minute track and make it work. They're meant to be tools, not songs...and a lot of bedroom DJs don't realize this.

What ever happened to mashing it all up in a DJ set? I read comments on minimal forums and I read comments on forums like this that just piss me off. Hard techno guys dissing minimal guys, and minimal guys dissing hard techno guys. Ever think of mixing the styles together? There's nothing wrong with getting a little gutsy and unique in your DJ sets. Try throwing a minimal record on top of Skoog record. Try dropping an old house classic over a Sims track, or drop an industrial track over some wonky techno. Put some attitude back into this music. You know why I really respect DJs like Ben Sims or like-minded folk? It's not because they make "salsa techno" (another glorious BOA term), or because they're the hot artists of the moment. It's because they have the balls to drop anything on top of anything and make it work.

In a given set, you'll hear Sims drop some jaxx techno, some hardgroove, swedish stuff, detroit techno, ghetto tech, house music, whatever. It makes for a rockin' party set and that's why he is who he is (the sick mixing skills don't hurt either). Surgeon is also getting a ton of props lately. Why? He is dropping everything from Downwards tracks to Aphex Twin to P-funk! Give it a try, it's actually quite fun and you'll be surprised what goes together well. You better believe some of my Basic Channel records push 140 over some beatin' techno. I'm not asking people to start mashing it up on a constant basis, I'm just saying it doesn't hurt to look beyond your usual labels and producers and try and find the good in something else.

As for people doing all this shit talking...why all the hostility? Minimal kids are nothing but coke-headed amateur producers? Schranz DJs are nothing but youngsters with a speed problem and a couple sample CDs? There is a time and a place for everything. Do any of you schranz kids realize there are minimal records out there (and have been for years) that will push 150bpm and hit just as hard as a 20-layered loop techno track of yours? Do you minimal freaks realize there are solid detroit and loopy techno tracks out there that are perfect for dropping here or there in a set that will give your set some dynamics? Hertz fans, do you have any idea how sick a wonky record may sound with it quietly in the mix? Stop going to the shops and saying "This record is okay, I'd buy it if..." instead you should think to yourself, "How can I make this record rock?" I know from personal experience I've had friends do this with certain records I've passed on. They'll play it and I think, "****, why did I pass on that?! THAT's why this record was made! It works so well."

In the end, if you made it through this huge rant you'll realize it's just another unity speech. I'm just tired of checking these random online techno communities from time to time only to see people stepping up at one another. I've retired from that crap and focused on the big picture. I'm concentrating on trying to help salvage what's left by helping with certain projects and promoting certain parties. The reason techno even came about is because the pioneers were willing to accept outside influences and make something of their own. Diversity is the key.

[steelgrooves]

THANK YOU!!!!!

You know ive never limited myself inside of techno i like ALL sub genres of the sound and love a dj who does not limit themselves to only hard or only minimal or only clubby techno ect ect.I see alot of people complain about there not being any good realeses this past year but for me it was the best year yet for techno.... I dont even live in a techno city but have collected records for 10 years..I mean come on the only thing that will Kill techno wich is a common topic on this board is the constant bickering between the people who support it... I LOVE Schranz,latin,clubby,acid,minimal ect ect ect!!!! If i hear a record and i feel it wont work for me in a mix i wont buy it and thats it.. doesnt mean techno is gonna die next year.

Dustin, I could not agree w/ you more homie i feel you have hit the nail on the head!!! Thanks for taking the time to spell that out!

[Mirsha]

everyone is still complaining.

People like a good moan, and will aways moan. I'm getting well fed up of my mates who went to see people like Subhead, Justin Berkovi and Steve Glencross this year and their verdicton the night "It wasn't hard enough". Of course it wasn't hard enough, there was a smattering of 4/4, big chunky breaks, and bits of filthy wonk scattered all over the place. **** 'em I say. You aren't here to make other people happy, playing out means getting your agenda across.

To be honest, I'm tired of DJs telling me they specialize in a certain style of techno.

I'm not. I would like to play wonky stuff and that would be akin to Ryan Giggs saying "I play football". I suppose it's the people who take it all a bit too seriously and want to pigeonhole themselves, and keep themselves in that pigeon hole as a sort of protection mechanism. It's only annoying when people become close minded to other stuff, some of my mates think I may be a bit close minded as I listen to nothing but techno by choice. That doesn't mean that when someone puts on Goldie Looking Chains as happened after Robert Nartus and Arkus P on boxing day I'll get into a frump, either I'll tune out if it doesn't grab my attention or I'll enjoy it if it does. I just don't chose to go out of my way for such things.

What ever happened to mashing it all up in a DJ set?

I like to think of it in another way and I like to call it attitude. Many of the sets coming out these days just seem to lack a sense of attitude, something which comes over in the artists performance which says "it really is me and not someone else". Atttiude for me is what lifts a set out of the run of the mill railroad mixing which comes across clearly in bedroom DJ sets.

A few years back one of the promoters of our local night Dogma went to London to visit family, ended up in this club called Ugly Funk and heard this DJ play whom no one had ever heard of at the time. His name was Jerome Hill. She promptly smacked the other promoters over the head to get him up to Edinburgh which has given rise to an absoloute fascination with the man. Even though he's now living in Brazil practicaly every time he comes back to the country folk snap at his heels to get him up here. Why? Becuase his sets are just full on utter ****ing bastards of a seek that reek attitude, style and brazen balls from every note. How many DJs do you know that will hump in the Trashmen into a techno set?

Also when DJs try to throw in a bit of a '**** you' moment into a set one thing I love to watch is the crowd response. Ben Sims playing MC Hammer Can't Touch This a few years back was excellent, half the floor really weren't sure what to do and stood about like dazed punters. The other half bounced about off the walls and went mental. A similiar thing happened when Cari Lekebusch played shortly after Peel's death when he played the Teenage Kicks track that was Peel's favorite, a lot of confused people and a lot of people getting down to it, including me even though I didn't know what it was. Local boys throwing in Kylie/Britney samples into a techno set and layering it all up superbly? No thanks said half the dancefloor with their blank stares. It all comes back to what I said up above, the job of an artist is to get his agenda across and **** everyone else.

[MARKEG]

Dustin, I'm from the old school mentality of techno/house and I believe this means checking everything out that i can get my ears on. I didn't get into techno because I heard it on a dancefloor, I got into it because I heard it on the radio and it was good music. I make dark and hard techno, because i love the atmosphere it creates in a club - sometimes minimal techno can bore me in a club - but that doesn't mean i don't check it all out and buy anything that takes my fancy regardless of genre. I think if you think like this, you become a more musically enriched person. And this is leading me to believe that if you're truly into the experience of listening to music, how can you not want to check everything?? And perhaps this is where the problem lies. If you go out clubbing every weekend, in a particular scene, perhaps this can make you one track minded. Add to that the wealth of forums about that are club based or dj based, and you get to see why it's easy to then start bitching and being -ve. DJing is a fantastic artform, but it's too easy to play a set of similar sounding records and you go down a storm in your regular saturday night club.

I dunno, things are at an all time bitchy high right now. And add to that the fact that sales are down and people feel the need to moan even more and you've got a whole wealth of grumpy old men that can find nothing good to say about anything.

Anyway, just a quick reply to let you know I 100% agree with you. The solution I believe is to do your own thing and try to take this techno movement forward in your own way. Stop wanting everything yesterday, stop being greedy and just do your own thing.

Good words Dustin, that was a great read ;)

[ncw]

Good post Dustin.
It is disheartening to see so many people getting swept up in subgenres, especially when there are the records and tools available to put all kinds of things together. Whatever you think of Ableton as a performance tool it has opened up, undeniably, a totally new ballpark. The ability to put just about anything in the mix in time is pretty revolutionary, and wasted if people are just sticking one style of one subdivision of one wing of techno.

While I do appreciate some of music that comes from the Jaxx camp (good records on Emergence, some Exium stuff etc) I think that maybe they ran with it too quick. It kind of became a cliched sound before it had a chance to properly develop, and a lot of the stuff that poured out of Spain after the initial onslaught sounded like weak derivative cack.
For the more traditional DJ (myself included) it'd be good to remember that ONE of these "dark" Jaxxish tracks would have much more impact when surrounded by a greater variety of tracks, rather than 20 more Jaxx tracks. (Jaxx being just an example).

People seem to have forgotton that you can move through different moods, textures and sounds, let alone different genres. I find it too dull to play track after track of the same mood. Seems the only "mood" progression you get from techno DJs now is "harder faster".

The best thing about DJing is the ability to shape how people react. Its often more fun when they react unpredictably, and favourably. I started playing a bit more abroad this year, and was surprised at the way people went for more minimal (descriptive, not GENRE) sound, less about the broken beat, more about the subtle tonal stuff. But you can't just give a crowd the same thing all night, you gotta shake it up.

Records that don't sound utterly banging at home CAN still rock a floor! Try it, play an old 212 record, "Cobalt". At home it sounds pretty mellow, but it becomes an animal when you take it out. You won't lose the dancefloor by playing something that doesn't have THAT Liasions Dangereuses sample in it! Also, overproduced records sound shit on big systems. A bit of soul and grit never hurt anyone.

This rant/advice isn't aimed at anyone, feel free to ignore.
Hope 2005 leaves you less jaded Mr Zahn.

[gary_human]

fair play mate - real good rant :clap: :clap:

I sometimes got affected by some of the words said on these forums (thinking: if I play these kinda tracks and drop this over that then Im not techno enough etc. and that if I make a loop track then its not techno enough?!!!), but I stopped myself and remembered what I loved - the music - irrespective of the name - i also enjoy listening to hip-hop, breaks, electro, county and western, a bit of house, some trance and a bit of pop but mostly techno.

If I stood by every word uttered on forums like these I really would get affected. The dancefloor is usually where techno has its biggest impact and that is where you have the ability to show your stuff as a DJ - people have remembered my sets more when Ive dropped stuff like Missy Elliot over Crystal Distortion tracks for instance rather than (insert sub-genre) techno track mixed seemlesly into another (insert same sub-genre) techno track . . .

. . . and I also hate it when people say "what kind of style is yours?"

its all techno . . .

and (tongue in cheek :lol: )Dustin you shouldn't realy be giving the secrets of how to become a good DJ away on a forum - you born with that shit ;) or not lol

[Ritzi Lee]

Music tell us more than a 1000 words.
So: http://www.blackoutaudio.co.uk/phpBB...ic.php?t=28653
and a happy new year. ;)

[Dustin Zahn]

Yeah, I hope I didn't come off as jaded sounding because that's not my tone at all. I'm far from jaded at this point. All of this nonsense has actually inspired me to push things further and harder. I'd also like to add that there is nothing wrong with having opinions and not liking certain styles of music, but I can't stand it when people don't even give things a chance. I'll be the first to agree that something such as minimal/microhouse for instance is an oversaturated bandwagon right now. I'll even go as far as saying that these new people in this genre are probably the worst for being cliquey and elite. At the same time, I'll also go ahead and say that every once in a while I pick up a few of these records and think they're the most innovative tracks I've heard in a long time. You just have to look beyond the bullsh*t, it's annoying and takes time but it can be worth it if you're truly into it.

[The Overfiend]

Preach on Dustin.
Say whatever the F*ck you gotta :!:

[romelpotter]

I agree with a lot of everything thats been said above this post so i won't just repeat it. i would add that in my opinion it creates interest in the mix. you can fold the dancefloor by dropping different tracks with different emotional feelings, and the magic of getting into and being part of a set that you can feel the energy and the vibe from your audience... well it just electrifies me and is probabliy why i am a dj/drummer

[audioinjection]

werdness

[Komplex]

I thought it was all just because of the drugs and knts posting on forums after a big night out whinging and being a btch.

The reality is often quite different to what you read about on message boards.

If you go to a party and its a full house, people are hanging off the ceiling having a good time, music is cranking and diverse, there will still always be people who come onto the message boards and complain about something the following day.

[Komplex]

You'll also probably find that heaps of people are into many styles of music too. They just aren't so vocal about hating shit.

[Clarkus]

*Inspired*
I'm of to dig thru my collection now and chop it up a bit :clap:

[xfive]

I've definetly always been one to appreciate DJs who can mix it up across the techno spectrum within one set, as that's always the way I have played myself.

Gotta have peaks and valleys man ;)

Good post.

[detfella]

i dont think its just about converging subgenres in techno & dance music. i think its about musical convergence full stop and that includes all genres. all music has an equal merit, be it happy hardcore, techno, breaks, jazz, rock,c ountry, _other_random_name_ - its all just music.

there's been some great posts on here recently, with a lot of people fired up & ready to take on the battle & take techno forward which is great to see. :love:

[dirty_bass]

"Variety is the spice of life"
is a fave quote of mine.

Also
"In-breeding contributes nothing to evolution"

and of course
"United we stand, divided we fall"

with

"Be excellent to one-another" Coming in as runner up.

[detfella]

"Variety is the spice of life"
is a fave quote of mine.
.

mine also, but fk me if it doesn't work with relationships :lol: :dontevengothere:

[dirty_bass]

Well, it can do, if you restrict the variety to varied sexual experimentation, rather than varied sexual partners

[xfive]

Or you can just be swingers......



:lol: