Techno

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Techno is a form of electronic dance music that was developed in Detroit, Michigan, during the mid to late 1980s. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno, a genre in its own right, is seen as the foundation upon which many other subgenres have been built.^[1][2][3][4] The initial take on techno arose from the melding of various African American styles such as Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz with Eurocentric synthesiser based music. Added to this was an interest in futuristic and fictional themes that were relevant to life in American late capitalist society: most particularly the novel Future Shock by Alvin Toffler.

Techno music pioneer Juan Atkins cites Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" in Future Shock as inspiring him to use the word "techno" to describe the musical style he helped to create. Music journalists and fans of techno are generally selective in their use of the term; so a clear distinction can be made between sometimes related but often qualitatively different styles, such as tech house and trance. "Techno" is also sometimes confused with general terms, such as electronic music and dance music.^[5][6]

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

The template for a new style of dance music (that by the mid to late 1980's was being referred to as techno) was primarily developed by "The Belleville Three"; a cadre of men who were attending college together near Detroit, Michigan. The three would later begin recording together, and separately, under various names: Model 500 (Juan Atkins), Resse (Kevin Saunderson), Mayday, R-Tyme, and Rhythim Is Rhythim (Derrick May). The budding musicians, former high school friends and mix tape traders ^[7] found inspiration in Midnight Funk Association, an eclectic, 5-hour, late-night radio program hosted on various Detroit radio stations including WCHB, WGPR, and WJLB-FM from 1977 through the mid-1980s by DJ Charles "The Electrifying Mojo" Johnson.^[8] Mojo's show featured heavy doses of electronic sounds from the likes of Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream alongside the funk of Parliament and the new wave sounds of the B-52s.^[9]

Of the three individuals responsible for establishing techno as a genre in its own right, it is Juan Atkins who is recognized as the originator; indeed in 1995 American music technology publication Keyboard Magazine honored Atkins as one of "12 Who Count" in the history of keyboard music (this is remarkable considering Detroit techno was still relatively unknown in the United States at that time despite its notoriety in Europe). In the early 1980's Atkins began recording with musical partner Richard "3070" Davis (and later with a third member Jon-5) as Cybotron. This trio released a number of electro inspired tunes, the best known of which is "Clear". Eventually, Atkins started producing his own music under the pseudonym Model 500, and in 1985 he established the record label Metroplex. In the same year he released a seminal work entitled "No UFO's" which, in terms of it's aesthetic values, is credited by many as the first Detroit techno production.

Certain commentators who believe things are not so clear cut have attempted to redefine the origins of techno by incorporating musical precursors to the Detroit sound; as part of a historical survey of the genre. This essentially removes any chronologically distinct point of origination. To support this view they point to examples such as "Shari Vari" (1981) by A Number Of Names, the earliest compositions by Cybotron (1981), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), "From Here to Eternity" (1977) and the more dancefloor-orientated selections from Kraftwerk's repertoire (between 1977 and 1983).^{[citation needed]} Arguably, these electro-disco tracks share with techno a dependence on machine-generated beats and dancefloor popularity. However, the comparisons remain contentious; as do the efforts to regress further into the past to find antecedents. The logical extension of this rational entails a further regression: to the sequenced electronic music of Raymond Scott (The Rhythm Modulator, The Bass-Line Generator, and IBM Probe, being remarkable examples of techno-like music).^[10]

[edit] Musical influences

The original techno sound drew heavily from its funk and soul music roots to create characteristically intense grooves and percussive basslines. Early pioneers of the genre melded the beat-centric styles of their Motown predecessors with the music technology of the time. In merging the sensibilities of soul music, funk, house music, and electro, with a European synth-pop aesthetic, the early producers pushed dance music into previously unexplored territory. What resulted was a typified "Detroit techno sound" that permeates the core of vastly differing genres today. This sound was refined even further, and given added sophistication, with the addition of jazz tinged colors. Arguably, it was the UK act 808 State that fueled this development, with tracks such as "Cobora Bora" and "Pacific", taken from the 1989 release Ninety. Another UK artist Dave Angel (Rotation Records) who had a 1991 release (produced by C.J. Bolland) on the Belgian label R&S, was also heavily influenced by said jazz sensibilities.^[11] By 1993 Detroit acts such as Model 500 and Underground Resistance had made explicit references to the genre, with the tracks Jazz is the Teacher (1993) and Hi-Tech Jazz (1993). At this time the terms intelligent dance music (IDM) and electronica, starting gaining common usage; to differentiate the increasingly sophisticated takes on electronic dance music from two other strands of techno that had emerged; one being a harder, faster, industrial sounding variant, and the other, an overtly commercial strain that was simply referred to as "cheese".

[edit] Developments

The original techno sound garnered a large following, initially in the UK, Belgium, and Germany, but was not as popular in the United States.^{[citation needed][clarify]} As the original sound evolved it also diverged to a point where a wide spectrum of stylistically distinct musics was being referred to as techno. This ranged from overtly pop oriented acts such as Moby to the distinctly anti-commercial sentiments of the appropriately named Underground Resistance. In the early 1990s, a number of notable techno producers in the UK and Europe built upon the Detroit sound but at this time (post-rave) an abundance of electronic dance music derivatives were emerging. Some drew heavily from the original techno aesthetic, while others fused components of preceding forms. Contrary to the collectivist sentiment prominent in the early rave scene, each faction had its own particular attitude and vision of how dance music (or in certain cases non-dance music) should evolve; some examples include ambient techno, trance music, industrial techno, breakbeat hardcore, jungle, gabber, IDM, happy hardcore, minimal techno, and electronica. Less well-known styles related to techno or its subgenres include the primarily Sheffield (UK) based bleep techno, a regional variant which had some success between 1989 and 1991 and a scene that was responsible for putting Warp Records on the map (LFO's self-titled 12" being its debut release). More recent off-shoots are nortec, wonky techno, and ghettotech (a style that combines some of the aesthetics of techno with hip hop and house music). Other notable niche scenes include speedcore, breakcore, digital hardcore and so-called "no-beat techno".^[12]

In recent years, the publication of relatively accurate histories by authors Simon Reynolds (Generation Ecstasy aka Energy Flash) and Dan Sicko (Techno Rebels), plus mainstream press coverage of the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, have helped to diffuse the genre's more dubious mythology.^[13] Techno has further expanded into the charts as more artists such as Orbital and Underworld have made the style break through to the mainstream pop culture while producers and DJs such as Laurent Garnier, Dave Clarke, Richie Hawtin and Jeff Mills have continued to explore newer sounds.

[edit] Production techniques and technology

Instruments utilized by the original techno producers based in Detroit included classic drum machines like the Roland TR-808 and TR-909, devices such as the Roland TB-303 bass line generator,^[14] with synthesizers such as the Roland SH-101, Kawai KC10, Yamaha DX7, and Yamaha DX100. Much of the early music sequencing was executed via MIDI using hardware sequencers such as the Korg SQD1, and Roland MC-50 and the limited amount of sampling that was featured in this early style was accomplished using an Akai S900.^[15]

Techno tends to feature a largely percussive feel, like the synthetic sounds, studio effects used as principal instrumentation, and usually a regular 4/4 beat with a tempo of 120–140bpm, sometimes faster, but rarely slower. An oft-used techno drum pattern features a kick drum sample on beats 1 and 3, a snare-like sound on beats 2 and 4 and a highhat on each upbeat; a kick drum is usually also present on beats 2 and 4. A similar pattern is often heard in hip-hop but at slower tempo (usually 80-110bpm). Some techno compositions have strong melodies and bass lines, but these features are not as essential to techno as they are to other styles of electronic dance music, and it is not uncommon for techno compositions to deemphasize or omit them. Techno is also very DJ-friendly, being mainly instrumental, and produced with the intention of being incorporated into continuous DJ sets wherein different compositions are played with very long, synchronized segues. Although several other dance music genres can be described in such terms, techno has a distinct sound that aficionados can pick out very easily.

There are many ways to make techno, but a typical techno production is created using a compositional technique that developed to suit the genre's sequencer-driven, electronic instrumentation. While this technique is rooted in a Western music framework (as far as scales, rhythm and meter, and the general role played by each type of instrument), it does not typically employ traditional approaches to composition such as reliance on the playing of notes, the use of overt tonality and melody, or the generation of accompaniment for vocals. While due (in part) to the limitations of early devices, some of the most effective techno music consists of little more than cleverly programmed rhythmic foundations and musical phrases that interplay with different types of special signal processing and frequency filtering. The resulting sounds are often mixed in such a way that it is not easy to distinguish the natural timbre of an instrument from the digital effects applied thereto.

Techno music can be created by using computer software programs. Some of the more popular computer software programs modernly used to create techno music include FL Studio, Reason, Logic and Ableton Live, among many others. Often, the composer can make techno tracks using just these programs without any recordings produced from live instruments.

Instead of employing traditional compositional techniques, the techno musician, usually acting as producer, treats the electronic studio as one large, complex instrument: an interconnected orchestra of machines, each producing timbres that are simultaneously familiar and alien. Each machine is encouraged to generate or complement continuous, repetitive sonic patterns that come relatively 'naturally' to them, given the capabilities and limitations of early sequencers — such sequencers, especially those built-in to old drum machines, tend to encourage the production of repeating 16-step patterns with a limited number of instruments being playable at once, yet they also allow sounds to be arranged in any order, regardless of whether live musicians could easily reproduce them. Rather than just mimicking arrangements playable by live musicians, the techno producer is free to prominently feature unrealistic combinations of sounds. Most producers, however, strive to achieve a listenable, dancefloor-friendly balance of realistic and unrealistic arrangements of mostly synthetic, semi-realistic timbres, rather than a demonstration of machine-powered extremes.

After an acceptable palette of compatible textures is collected in this manner, the producer begins again, this time focusing not on developing new textures but on imparting a more deliberate arrangement of the ones he or she already has. The producer "plays" the mixer and the sequencer, bringing layers of sound in and out, and tweaking the effects to create ever-more hypnotic, propulsive combinations.

[edit] Noted artists

[edit] Bibliography

Works that comprehensively explore the subject of techno music and its related culture:

• Kodwo, E., "More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction", Quartet Books, 1998.
• Reynolds, S., "Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture", Pan Macmillan, 1998 (also published in abridged form as "Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture", Routledge, New York 1999).
• Sicko, D., "Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk", Billboard Books, 1999.
• Toop, D., "Ocean of Sound",Serpent's Tail, 2001(new Ed edition).

[edit] Filmography

• High Tech Soul

Catalog No.: PLX-029 Label: Plexifilm Released: 09/19/06 Director: Gary Bredow Length: 64 minutes Year: 2006

• Summary: HIGH TECH SOUL is the first documentary to tackle the deep roots of techno music alongside the cultural history of Detroit, its birthplace. HIGH TECH SOUL focuses on the creators of the genre -- Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson -- and looks at the relationships and personal struggles behind the music. Artists like Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig, Eddie Fowlkes and a host of others explain why techno, with its abrasive tones and resonating basslines, could not have come from anywhere but Detroit.

[edit] See also

• Detroit Electronic Music Archive
• Freetekno
• List of electronic music genres

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sounds Like Techno – an online documentary exploring techno music, from its roots and early influences in the USA to its place in Australian music today.an exhibit at Detroit Historical Museum (Jan 2003 – Jun 2004)
• Piero Scaruffi's history of techno music
• Ishkur's Guide to Electonic Music – Detailed breakdown of techno styles and other electronic music, with sample sounds, links and more.
• Techno Music Style – Guide to techno music style; includes reviews of techno music and links to techno-related websites
• Korg EMX Summer in Detroit - A video example of Detroit techno being performed live
• photophunk.com - club 'n' dance photo archive with hundreds of djs, liveacts and bands

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