100 decent singles, half a dozen decent albums, I'd call that a good year.
1995:
Advent-elements of life LP, Internal 12s
Cristian Vogel-Absolute time LP, Conscious arrays, Defunkt,
Joey Beltram-Places LP,
Neil Landstrumm-Brown By August LP
Surgeon - manganese, electronically tested, pet 2000
Planetary assault systems - archives LP
djax up beats kicking it out
Disco B kicking it out
Force Inc kicking it out
and much more in 95 that I can't even remember right now..

you trying to tell me that this year (2005) had as many classics as 1995? 1996? 1997?

Ok, maybe some of us were lucky enough to be into this scene in this time, maybe we have a different perspective because we were younger and more naive in this time.. maybe it's because the scene itself was younger and more naive, and a lot of ground hadn't been covered that has today..
either way, techno isn't as fresh sounding as it was 10 years ago (although I suspect this can also depend on veiwpoit, age experiences etc)

as far as I'm concerned 95-96 was the peak of real quality techno, and also was a time where having a good selling record would earn you a good bit of money.

these days a lot of people are starting labels, and as I've said before, where you used to have maybe 100 or 200 (as an example) labels, and now you have probably easily in excess of 1000 techno labels.

ten times the amount of labels selling a tenth of what a label would sell ten years ago (if that)

with a decline in interest in techno (maybe because so much shite gets released, maybe because the time is past), are you suprised at the situation? so many records I hear sound the same as the next record, djs love them "because they fit well in my set".. a lot of people started labels and put out numerous records in quick succesion because they thought x amount of records = x amount of gigs, doesn't work like that. I've seen people put out albums this year, pure tosh, which was purely career motivated, and not about putting together a real quality product..

this is why we're in this situation.. distributors thought more titles=more sales but unless you have the quality control, all those records in the warehouse are going to come crashing down on top of you...

basically techno seems to be full of DJs, artists, Promotors etc and not many consumers/party goers.. the whole thing has become top heavy... fair enough if you want to make music, but it ain't going to buy you a jag, and it's probably going to cost you a lot of money...

as far as I'm concerned techno's been dying since 97, and this isn't neccesarily a bad thing, because as it goes back underground, only the true people stick with it... hopefully something new will emerge in the end, not techno but some kind of fusion of things... maybe this is what Grime is now.. maybe because we're not 17 year old kids in hackney we don't see it the same way... look at the way Dizzee and ms dynamite broke thru into the mainstream in the same way that underworld, leftfield, and the prodigy did 10 years ago.. you used to have Voodoo on late night TV, big coverage of techno in the music press

techno has become exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to be... the tradjedy is, as the style became defined it was inevitable that it would become the exact opposite of what it was supposed to be about i.e. INNOVATION... and this is the thing, when something falls out of the 4/4 kick to most people it's not techno any more..

I mean this discussion can go round and round, yes it's sad when businesses fall apart, yes it's sad when people lose money, it's very facile to blame mp3s, I mean for christ sake what about tapes in the past? how often do you actually see a dj playing mp3s?

I can't speak for the US, but in europe the only people I see playing with final scratch or whatever is in the MINIMAL scene, the scene that supposedly sells MORE records.. when I'm at a techno party, i see people playing RECORDS, and I'm out all over germany and other places in europe every weekend, I go to a lot of different places all over the continent and further...

and in the US, none of the US distributors want to pick up techno for fear of poor sales so of course it's going to be more mp3 orientated.. same with brasil where the import tax is so high, but I meet people in poland who spend the equivilent to them of like £50 for EACH record, and are buying all the old shite off e-bay..

the best thing you can do is not to get into bad business situations and cover your arse at all times, I've been burned loads of times in this game, you just got to brush it off and carry on... (and Jamie, this isn't any kind of dig at you, you know we're down man ;) )

and as far as "is techno alive" or "is techno dead" (yawn) why not just get on, write music you like, try not to think about the money side too much (Apart from using your head) and ENJOY IT... we ain't living in 1995 anymore... but there is still enjoyment to get out of the whole thing...


And by the way, if you want a good look at the way things have changed in the past ten years, Neil landstrumm's archive on the scandinavia site is a really good read, check it out here: http://www.scandinavianyc.com/nickedidea.html check out particuarly the press cuttings....