Retracing history to predict where techno is going.

[MARK ANXIOUS]

You know I went through lots of old stuff recently. From early 90's Plus 8, to R+S to Midtown to Industrial Strength to Lab Works to Communique to even Transmat to all the Jack Trax and acid house shit. I looked at the music as a progression, rather than a particualr style and I was blown away by a few things.

1st of all. Let's take this minimal thing. It's a buzz word, but if you look back on 90's techno, most of it was minimal - just a little less well produced and with more innocence. For those minimal haters out there, i don't get you. Can't you see that it's just a progression and is pretty much the same shit as the ppl you're influenced from???

2nd: The schranz thing and even minimal is for sure taking things to an extreme. And if you look at techno or even house from the 80's and 90's, you'll see that ppl take the thing that is the most in fashion and totally go to an extreme.

God I could go on but I'm dying to get back into the studio to play some of this early stuff. Hehehe.

Let's get your own comments! Do any of you have any other observations????? Looking forward to reading them :)

[koma]

I wrote something similar months ago.
when people get tired of something or frustrated, they tend to go extreme - not only in music. you might notice the same tendency in, let say, politics...

screw the hate, why poison your heart with hate when there's so much things to love - again, not only in music. :cheese:

minimal, house, techno, speedcore, jazz, soul, rock, metal.. whatever... you can find quality in any genre if you really want to. :)

[Aratron]

You know I went through lots of old stuff recently. From early 90's Plus 8, to R+S to Midtown to Industrial Strength to Lab Works to Communique to even Transmat to all the Jack Trax and acid house shit. I looked at the music as a progression, rather than a particualr style and I was blown away by a few things.

1st of all. Let's take this minimal thing. It's a buzz word, but if you look back on 90's techno, most of it was minimal - just a little less well produced and with more innocence. For those minimal haters out there, i don't get you. Can't you see that it's just a progression and is pretty much the same shit as the ppl you're influenced from???

2nd: The schranz thing and even minimal is for sure taking things to an extreme. And if you look at techno or even house from the 80's and 90's, you'll see that ppl take the thing that is the most in fashion and totally go to an extreme.

God I could go on but I'm dying to get back into the studio to play some of this early stuff. Hehehe.

Let's get your own comments! Do any of you have any other observations????? Looking forward to reading them :)

even im loving more minimal at the moment dude.
mutate to survive.

[Tiptoe]

its funny me and my freind were discussing this the other day everything seems to go round in cycle's doesn't it with music. look at all the minu's getting re released. they even have some in HMV in leeds. In fact hmv has a full section selling anything fromm player to stuff on miditional!!!! And they even label it as wonky techno ha ha.
I think what happens is when someone gets nored of things they go back to their roots, back to the early stuff they bought and because they haven't played if for a long time they forget how good it actually was.

[Clit Commander]

I'd say the Detroit bug has caught on again in a new form. It's in the spotlight quite a bit lately partly due to the Detroit influence on new mnml music. Some tunes are just straight up Detroit jams like Martin Buttrich's Planet E record. Others are just bastard attempts at Detroit techno.

[Lag]

i never was hating the music
but i hate the trend
and i hate stupid forcing of stuff
my image of a perfect scene would be lots of people making lots of music
not 50% of people making minimal and 50% making the rest
and i ****ing hate i cant listen to techno anywhere cause minimal and prog is in every club
and the people who come to these parties dont dance
they just stand around, nod their heads, drink their beers, and talk to people
and i hate when people get overexcited about some stupid song (which is good but not THAT good) who go "u dont like it? ure weird"
**** the trends
i didnt listen to techno neither when grindvik & hardcell, redhead and hertz style got popular :\

[Ritzi Lee]

I wouldn't agree minimal techno in the begin 90s is not so well produced. Minimal nowadays is too clean produced. This doens't count for all minimal releases. There are some records that still have that industrial cutting edge.

[holotropik]

Well as for retracing the past to predict or expect the future...

....cycles that refer to current environment is all you need to know.

[MangaFish]

For those minimal haters out there, i don't get you. Can't you see that it's just a progression and is pretty much the same shit as the ppl you're influenced from???

Sorry but I think that's grossly unfair - it's like saying I should prefer my coffee black because my mum drinks black coffee.

I don't like minimal. I don't like it because I just don't like it. I can't help not liking it and nor should I have to justify why I don't like it (in much the same why minimal fans shouldn't have to justify why they do like it).

It's just a personal preference - like saying some people like their coffee black with two sugars and others like it white and without sugar.

[SlavikSvensk]

who does minimal techno like basic channel, rob hood or maurizio nowadays?

the new minimal, IMO, has nothing on the minimal techno classics

[The Overfiend]

I think trying to track trends is a negative.
Or more of a means to figure out what will sell.
People should be doing what the feel.
If someone does minimal with a hard techno kick and a tribal rhythm
It should just be categorized at techno

[Ritzi Lee]

I think trying to track trends is a negative.
Or more of a means to figure out what will sell.
People should be doing what the feel.
If someone does minimal with a hard techno kick and a tribal rhythm
It should just be categorized at techno

and also i'd like to see some diversity on one record,
like it used to be on an EP. not strictly one kind of sound,
or strictly bound by certain rules.
i think with this in mind, people would take more time to make a record, but if the result is there.... it's there!

[prozac]

i think music has become too pigeon holed. Too many producers releasing the same sound over and over...
diverse eps is a great idea.
unfortunately its the same with most nights out. warm up dj plays the same as the main dj. it can get really boring.

This is a problem with techno at the moment I think, cause I do go to other gigs where there is a nice mash up (usually resulting in end of night breakcore!).

[MangaFish]

I think trying to track trends is a negative.
Or more of a means to figure out what will sell.
People should be doing what the feel.
If someone does minimal with a hard techno kick and a tribal rhythm
It should just be categorized at techno

too right

[Komplex]

who does minimal techno like basic channel, rob hood or maurizio nowadays?

I do, send me a pm with ur address...

Also check out some of Echoplex's work.


-Greg

[Aratron]

Considering the current trends in 'four-to-the -floor' kick-drum-orientated genres it is impossible to ignore the currently en-vogue electro-y house-y shit thats knockin arond these days which, with one quick browse on soulseek would seem to be very popular. With some tracks its evident the sound in its own right pays homage to some of the old minimal-y shit, but with splashes of the new style production like in flange-y hi-hats etc. etc.

[teknorich]

Modern day "minimal" comes form both techno and house, and you do find that a lot of it is the more house style (maybe as it has become more popular and "mainstream" thus house is more acceptable to the average listener than techno).
Personally I prefer the more techno end of minimal, such as Dapayk, Afternoon Cofee Boys, Camea, Tony Rohr, Sweet N Candy etc. Still comes under the umbrella term of Minimal, but definitely more from the techno end of the spectrum.

[t-dj]

Vinyl sales are nowadays between 300 and 1800 copies depending on how "trendy" your release is. I'd say it will take quite a few (I guess at least 20) more years before people *really* stop making new cuts. To me, vinyl is a very steady media after all, with the analog mastering and processing, the sound is often perceived as superior to the digital master.
CDR and hard drive media are changing and breaking every 3 to 5 years already from my experience. About 30% of my mp3 tracks (about 70 GB) have gone missing and / or needed re-recording since 2000.
Another thing is that the club culture is going strong as ever, so there is definetly a stream of money coming in. The key issue is, as that mnml trendy crap showed - the apparent lack of creativity among the new producers.
My guess is that most of them were "directed" by their APPLE (yes it has to be one) Powerbook to "create" their non-music.
Back in the 90s, computers were not powerful enough and the access to decent studio gear was very limited. The people who got their hands on a 909 were determined "soldiers" with a vision.
Still, I'm pretty optimistic that there is a lasting future for techno if you cut the crap out with a sharp knife. The pseudo mnml as well as the electroclash, schranz etc. will eventually fade and something "worse" will be on the frontpage...still no reason to say all is at the end.

[Little_Fella!]

Yey..!

More good stuff... I like the Ritzi Lee post n t-dj there...

Another thread that should be archived to be reflected upon in a year or so...:techno: