Is techno too divided?

[SlavikSvensk]

question for anyone who cares about philosophical threads...

do the endless and multiplying subgenres within techno add diversity or do they stifle originality by creating institutionalized boundaries that artists consciously or subconsciously adhere to?

(my own opinion is probably fairly easy to figure out)

[rhythmtech]

techno is techno and should be techno.. play whatever you want in whatever way excites you.. just make sure you play good music.

[dirty_bass]

I think it does divide things too much.
but it`s the nature of life today
We are so spoiled we expect exactly what we want, what works for us now, and we want it again and again and again.
Burroughs wrote a very interesting essay on the dreary predictablility of human behaviour when it comes to pleasure.

People seem to focus in on the one tiny thing they like, and just stick with it, as a whole.
With more choice, society seems to get more narrow minded and self centred, and this is reflected in music.

Techno DJ`s playing an entire night of skkkkrannzzzzz or mnmnmnmllll
or whatever.

And people that go to a mnmnmnnmllll night only going to nights that are minimllmlmn, not going to somewhere else to try toher things.

I think it`s something that goes deeper than just music.

It`s more to do with us spoiled, stinking, westerners.

[SlavikSvensk]

people naturally categorize in everyday life. those who study things also categorize. in techno, the consumers are also the analysts. so we get crazy categorization.

"no, that's not mnml, that's minimal techno."

or

"no, that's not techno, that's tech-house"

or

"no, that's not schranz, that's hard techno"

now, i'm not saying there aren't valid differences between what is generally considered A and generally considered B. but on the borders these differences are fairly meaningless. it's also fairly meaningless to put a new label on anything that comes out. why is mnml (god i hate typing that) not minimal techno? because minimal techno is OLD and mnml should be NEW. maybe it also means a lot of mnml artists are not actually listening to basic channel, rob hood, etc. which would be a shame.

then there's the problem even of artists sitting down at the computer or studio and starting a track, but when it started to sound vaguely subgenred, they subconsciously steer it there because they have a clearly defined sense of what it SHOULD sound like.

i really wonder what techno would be like if we all just made TECHNO. maybe we would ALL be free...

free at last
free at last
god almighty
free at last

:)

[snooch]

I try not to pidgeonhole too much. Remember, it's ultimately about pleasing the crowd and playing to them and not to your own tastes. If you try and get too genre specific (unless that particular crowd is looking for that miniscule genre) you usually end up not giving them what they want. Yeah I play techno, but I usually run the gamut in what I play. I get bored if I don't diversify what's in a set.

[RDR]

Catagorisation is about identity, and IMO its no wonder people want to catagorise themselves these days, particularly in youth culture... there is a void of identity for most young people these days, especially when they find themselves identifying with brands and labels on clothing. Brands which change rapidly. And identity ridnig on the back of commercialism does no-one any good at all. There is no strength of time within in, not like the strength offered by family ties. Therefore its unsuprising that people obsess on a particular genre, espeicallly one that has a strong vision, such as hardcore, or happy hardcore. Sub-genre identification seems to be something that journo's happily create to make their writing easier, and something that half-minded record label owners cling to in an effort to get into the very same magazines that they despise.

Real momentum in music comes from forward thinking boundary breaking individuals who reject these catagories and go their own way, rather than be pigeon-holed. IMO the digital revolution will let people explore their musical boundaries, no be at the whims of distro/publishers, who I hold responsible for holding back creative culture within techno in the last 5 years. It isnt wholly their fault, piracy has led to a temporary dip in the way finance enters music and as a result non of them were willing to take a risk on new and untested music.

Commercialism.... what a joke.

[insert criticisms here please... i like learning]

[Si the Sigh]

Dunno? It's all house really innit?

[Jay Pace]

Bah

Play whatever you want.

Just be a good dj. If you're interesting, you'll get your props.

Screw genres.

[Ritzi Lee]

I can only talk for myself.
My sets are always diverse like techno itself is.
Hopefully organisations will appreciate this kind of approach again in the near future. But now it seems programmers are targeting too much on the styles.

[Aratron]

techno is full of steers and queers

[RDR]

techno is full of steers and queers

So which one are y.......


Oh.


;)

[Little_Fella!]

I think Techno is very divided...

Seems to me that everyone is wanting the Techno community to pull together n show some sense of unity, but by its very nature it seems not to allow this...

Is it just me, or do the other sections of dance music, or indie, goth n the likes all just seem to get on with enjoying the music n that is why I am looking over the fence n saying, "By they all seem happy n content over there...."

I think more is expected of Techno, than the other genres, to morph and twist which brings about a whole different dynamic within that musical community...

More musings needed but definitely something to be going on with....:)

[dirty_bass]

Is it just me, or do the other sections of dance music, or indie, goth n the likes all just seem to get on with enjoying the music n that is why I am looking over the fence n saying, "By they all seem happy n content over there...."

I think more is expected of Techno, than the other genres, to morph and twist which brings about a whole different dynamic within that musical community...

Other more serious areas of dance music suffer the same thing.
House, DnB, Dubstep, Garage, same with Goth and Industrial, you`ve got your EBM, your Darkwave etc
I think it`s pretty common generally, with people being very blinkered to their tastes.

I don`t think more is expected of techno at all, if anything, these days things seem to be dumbed down a hell of a lot more. You`ll find fanatics in any niche scene, which only intensifies the compartmentalisation that is in the up anyway.

[MangaFish]

question for anyone who cares about philosophical threads...

do the endless and multiplying subgenres within techno add diversity or do they stifle originality by creating institutionalized boundaries that artists consciously or subconsciously adhere to?

(my own opinion is probably fairly easy to figure out)

i hate genres. i'd actually go further and say that people shouldn't be limited by techno either. if you like house, trance, breaks, whatever then why not incorperate that in your techno.

lately i've not even been limiting myself to dance and have been throwing in everything from EBM to rock (all quantised and beatmatched) in my techno mixes.

[MangaFish]

I think Techno is very divided...

Seems to me that everyone is wanting the Techno community to pull together n show some sense of unity, but by its very nature it seems not to allow this...

Is it just me, or do the other sections of dance music, or indie, goth n the likes all just seem to get on with enjoying the music n that is why I am looking over the fence n saying, "By they all seem happy n content over there...."

I think more is expected of Techno, than the other genres, to morph and twist which brings about a whole different dynamic within that musical community...

More musings needed but definitely something to be going on with....:)

that's simply not true. In fact goths are particularly anal about the sub-denominations (sp?) of their scene.

as for other dance genres - hardhouse is a prime example. Theres hardhouse, harddance, hardtrance, hardstyle, hard NRG, Nu NRG, Hard Filth, Bounce, Techno NRG.... the list is endless (and even some of the styles i've meantioned get further sub-devided by people).

it's absurd.

i'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that genre names are there to serve only 2 types of people:
* DJs who loves and plays a particular style but it too coward to admit it so they invent a new name for their scene
* and DJs / producers who work in a particular scene but because they don't play a generic sound, they are forced to invent a new name for their sound to avoid the stigma attached with not playing a generic sound
....so in all - it's just a marketing stunt and shouldn't really have any serious baring on an artists creativity within a scene.

[dan the acid man]

it's force fed to us from an early age isn't it, everything has its own label and place.

We definetly all need to just play/make what we want and sod what people may want to pigeon hole it as

[dirty_bass]

it's force fed to us from an early age isn't it, everything has its own label and place.

We definetly all need to just play/make what we want and sod what people may want to pigeon hole it as

I say we screw it all.
Let`s get Ginned up and Riot.

[dan the acid man]

yeah, not sure about the gin though, i'll grab some red wine

[snooch]

That would be great if gin wasn't a vile substance. I find tequila and most forms of techno are a good mix.

[Roxy Trip]

if there was less pigeon- holing i definatly think there would be more room for different variations of sound.
i think people shouldnt get so attached to labels, theyre only words.
its not THAT important. what is important is wether it sounds good imo
techno is techno, its got a past present and future. but dont see the point in getting arsey about catogorising it :)