Hawtin doing this is a good thing, but mainly for him, not for techno. I'm glad to hear he's doing it but I don't think it's some huge opportunity for techno. Many people I see who have wholeheartedly supported (minimal) techno for the last 5 minutes are happy with what they're hearing now, a lot of 'em won't care about the rest of it, or who started it and developed it. This will apply to most of those that might hear Hawtin's Olympics piece and be interested. They'll just go to the Minus website, and make sure they catch him play sometime, or buy a Minus 12".

Hawtin is spearheading something now which is cool for that scene, and it will undoubtedly lead to some good things (Music, events, technology advancements) along the way. But a bit of focus here, Hawtin and the minimal thing are about the only part of techno which is being allowed flourish or prosper right now, while a lot of the rest of it is struggling to survive.

There's a clear division here, and while I still like what Hawtin is about to a certain degree, there's a whole other side... the grittier, off the hook stuff that most of us love, that is not being given a look in or being acknowledged by most of the media. Granted some good records need to come out to change perceptions, the minimal stuff is having too much of a good thing these days. It's hard times, but we need some fair play here, which extends to journalists covering 'good' techno right down to the guy who'll **** what the magazine says and make up his own mind. I guess this is an old arguement, although to see so many labels and producers drop out over the last year or two has been been shit. I mean Hawtin makes some good albums, but Inigo Kennedy makes killer tracks, and what chance is there of him getting out records on a regular basis anytime soon?

Anyway, my point is, not quite that this is war or anything (!) but that there's a big difference between the techno scene/market (as most of us refer to it as) and the minimal techno scene/market. Less hype with Hawtin would be no bad thing at all, with more Single of the months in magazines from Sugeon or whoever, rather than some Poker Flat two tracker :)

Less clubnights being too safe and fashionable wouldn't be a bad thing either. It comes back to what many people love about techno, and that is that it's primal. Is minimal techno or what the whole Minus crew is coming up with in any way off the edge? No, it's warm up/non peak time techno.