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 ;)