Define techno in a paragraph

[V Knid esq]

I've been trying to explain techno to some americans on another site who are like "uuhhh... portishead is techno, right?". Could you sum it up in a few short sentences, with examples where necessary? Preferably defining it not by emotive terms but as descriptively as possible...

[Mirsha]

I don't really think you can describe techno in terms like that, it really is about slapping someone over the face with techno and seeing if they get it. I get really piss annoyed with those hamsterfaced cunts that say Oakenfold is techno.

[tsr_robban]

mmmmmttchhhhmmmmmtchhhh!!

[namshub]

Originally posted by Mirsha
hamsterfaced cunts that say Oakenfold is techno.

hahahaha.....

[grobelaar]

Some people say Oakie is techno, some people say very little is techno - it all a matter of perspective... depend where u stand really dunnit... which don't help explain it to your mates, but if they can't work out somewhere to stand then maybe you best giving up... hurhurhur... :-)

[DsD]

there are only two definitions. my definition and the wrong definition.

[Sheridan]

certainly a hard topic. I always say techno is electornic music that is a bit faster than house with more wierder harder sounds. but then again that is wrong. I mean look at the techno that lets say jeff mills makes to the stuff adam beyer or then cristian vogel makes. all of it is techno, but it is all so different. techno is something one must experience first hand. it can't be easily summed up in a paragraph or packeged in a neat little box. you must wittenes it first hand.

I hate typing when I am drunk. fuck it though. it is my birthday.

[aleks]

happy b-day sheridan...

[Tomoki]

happy b-day Sheridan. how old are you now?

[jukka]

yeah yeah have a nice one sheridan

[marcel]

happy b-day mr sheridan!

@knid why not give em some links to the ftpserver?

right now im listening to the ultimathule ep, thats techno, baby!

[thetonewrecker]

Sheridan birthday
while a bit unusual
is very techno

[V Knid esq]

Originally posted by marcel
happy b-day mr sheridan!

Yay - have a top one Mr S!
[i]
@knid why not give em some links to the ftpserver?
[/B]

That's a superb idea, thanks!

[marcel]

i help there i can!:)

[amble]

techno is a groove.

happy birthday Sheridan!

[Tomoki]

Originally posted by amble
techno is a groove.


techno is a groove or THE GROOVE?:-p

[aleks]

techno is all about the bass...

[Tomoki]

The Phatter, the better!!!

[grobelaar]

Hmmm, I went round some friends house yesterday - they're into there Goldfrapp & Fischerspooner etc and uvver worthy stuff of that ilk (is it me or is this stuff like the Chris de Bergh of electronic music - I amazed how enthusiastic people get about it...)

Any way I had Dungeon Master on me (it was the only CD in my bag), so I whacked it on the stereo - it was funny because for the entire duration of the CD people talked about nothing but music, about Dungeon Master and music they liked, music they didn't like, what they thought of the album etc... quite funny... it was my mate that pointed out that in spite of a few people grumbling, that they didn't like it, it at least provoked debate.

Unlike the these 'aclaimed' electronic albums which seem after a few tracks to settle into the background of your subconscious and much like the refridgerator at night. you only realise you've been listening to something when it actually stops...

I think what I'm trying to say is I like music that engages the mind, its music that you listen to and not just a soundtrack to your life...

its like people who hate having to turn records over - I quite like the interuption

[MUX]

i consider techno kraftwerk , prince, and goerge clinton and gradmaster flash locked in a elevator

[Gameboy]

detroit city 1985

[phaedrus]

I like Jeff Mill's definition: "If you hear something that you'd never expect to hear -- that's techno. If you hear something that kind of sounds like you've heard it before, then it's not techno."

In essence, that's what techno is to me anyway.

Joris

[wheezer]

Originally posted by MUX
i consider techno kraftwerk , prince, and goerge clinton and gradmaster flash locked in a elevator

- grandmaster flash and that's an old derrick may quote, innit.

For me techno is something unpolished, unexpected, the old Mills quote that it's something you've never heard before really covers it fairly well...

kraftwerk + prince + george clinton sounds a bit too restrictive to me, and indeed I think may was mostly referring to the detroit sound.

[leatherface]

jeff mills is a wank. techno is something you ain't heard before (therefore why try and make it)

[grobelaar]

Originally posted by phaedrus
I like Jeff Mill's definition: "If you hear something that you'd never expect to hear -- that's techno. If you hear something that kind of sounds like you've heard it before, then it's not techno."

In essence, that's what techno is to me anyway.

Joris

So what has Jeff been doing these past few years then - hurhurhurhur ;-)

[wheezer]

So what has Jeff been doing these past few years then - hurhurhurhur


Securing his pension fund? lol

[marcel]

Originally posted by grobelaar


So what has Jeff been doing these past few years then - hurhurhurhur ;-)

hey,thats what i wanted to write too!hehe
but truely the old heros are sounding a lot of the time yesterdayish.
nevertheless the millsquote is exactly my def of techno too(although its thery general).
thats one of the reasons why im here and why i like the music of vogel, landstrumm,begg and subhead andso on. they can still surprise me. and i consider it to be hard to surprise me still nowadays
(even they dont get me always)

[owain_k]

Personally, I like to adopt a fairly broad definition, based around the idea that Techno is short for Technology really .........


"Music created through the use of (and interfacing with) technology (analogue or digital)................." :)

[grobelaar]

Originally posted by marcel


hey,thats what i wanted to write too!hehe
but truely the old heros are sounding a lot of the time yesterdayish.
nevertheless the millsquote is exactly my def of techno too(although its thery general).
thats one of the reasons why im here and why i like the music of vogel, landstrumm,begg and subhead andso on. they can still surprise me. and i consider it to be hard to surprise me still nowadays
(even they dont get me always)

Nah, Mills is off his nut... it's a crap definition... I mean it could be easy listening... certainly the last thing anyone expecting to hear at somewhere like Tresor or Neue Heimat innit? -

Old Rolf with his bit of bendy board and didg... singing 'two-little boys...'

Unexpected? Yes! techno? No!

[phaedrus]

Originally posted by grobelaar


Nah, Mills is off his nut... it's a crap definition... I mean it could be easy listening... certainly the last thing anyone expecting to hear at somewhere like Tresor or Neue Heimat innit? -

Old Rolf with his bit of bendy board and didg... singing 'two-little boys...'

Unexpected? Yes! techno? No!

I think you're mixing two things up here: dj-ing and producing. Mill's definition, at least in my opinion, was referring to the latter. It's about what happens in a track. I also think he probably was talking about how to define techno in the context of electronic music.

[MUX]

yeah i think derrick may or carter said the qoute i posted before..

do you guys agree that the sound we today conisder as techno has alot to owe to Roland? i mean imagine if roland never exsisted back in the 80's. image detrioit-ish techno without it...

well i have this mills story... we once did this event , with sven & mills in one night.. and mills apparently has this french prick as a manager... well and we are quite close the the Cocoon / sven crew and his managment and mates were also here with the 'Fuhrer'.. well one of the cocoon girls wanted to introduce me too him ( mills- cause he wont socilize.. he arrives at the venue 5 min prioir playing and leaves 2 minutes after ) .. and i kinda hold back claiming i heard this french guys a cunt... well a couple of minutes pass and i was taking some pics of mills in the dj booth, when this french dude swiftly turns around, hand outstretched , says.. ' hi stef, im ***** and i heard you think im a frech cunt'

[owain_k]

Originally posted by MUX


do you guys agree that the sound we today conisder as techno has alot to owe to Roland? i mean imagine if roland never exsisted back in the 80's. image detrioit-ish techno without it...



Exactamundo ............

But, don't you mean Roland f***ing up more like it...........
just imagine if they'd actually designed the 303 correctly........
Acid House may never have been ........ ACIDEEEEEEEE !

[MUX]

yeah yeah, i am not sure if i'm 100% correct about this one but wasnt the 303 invented for solo guitars to jam / play 2 or something?

[owain_k]

That's the one !

Still can't believe that some 10 -11 years ago .......... you used to see people selling them everywhere second hand for like £100 as most guitarists who bought one thought ....... huh ..... what a piece of rubbish !

Now, your like lucky to pay £500 just because there's so much hype about owning one.

[Tomoki]

@ mux
This French guy with the big nose is called Frederic Djaaleb. I have seen some people who had some problems with him, too and this only because of taking some pictures or talking a few words with Jeff.

He is one very rude and unfriendly guy. If you are not so into the techno scene you could think he is the superstar and not Jeff.

[MUX]

Originally posted by Tomoki
@ mux
This French guy with the big nose is called Frederic Djaaleb. yeah i was trying to avoid pasting his name tho tomoki.. but you did very well with taking care of that... hehe

im all the techno trash talk u'know...

[wheezer]

he certainly has made a name for himself, I've heard only the best of news from him up here too hehe...

[MUX]

oh yes , he's a real famous techno sweetheart alright...

[bitch one]

electronic nightclub science fiction funk music with a 4/4 rhythm, usually between 125-145 bpm.

unfortunately, i would say that cokey-oakey trance etc is techno, albeit shite techno.

[bitch one]

ps - if techno is something you've never heard before, then that means all the techno from 1990 etc is no longer techno because youve heard it. ??

so that's not a very good definition is it?

[wheezer]

for the uninitiated, "no ufos" et al is still something they've never heard before...I see what you're getting at but I think mills means tracks that give you that moment - naturally, thereafter you have heard that track, but it remains techno nonetheless.

[bitch one]

ok - but that means most of the music jeff mills has been makin is not techno cos it sounds a lot like music he's made b4...

[wheezer]

Originally posted by bitch one
ok - but that means most of the music jeff mills has been makin is not techno cos it sounds a lot like music he's made b4...

definitely - I like his definition, not his last 3-4 years worth of music...

[Sheridan]

real quick: thanks for all the b-day wishes. didn't mean to hijack the thread.

back to the topic:
I always liked a quote I read of oliver ho. he said techno was music that gave abstract ideas a language. like thoughts and feelings that couldn't be put into words. I always thought that was pretty right on. since I have always viewed techno as mental music. eventhough the detroit techno guys would have you believe otherwise. I have read so much about detroit techno being soulfull and funky and although it is to an extent, I don't think that is what techno has really become. if I want soulfull electronic music I listen to house. but if I want my mind warped and challenged then I listen to techno.

[piscaries]

on the roland tip: when their gear was used for what it wasn't supposed to originally do, that's when they had a big influence and gave birth to new music-making techniques. now that they "know" what their gear is for, they're making lame stuff that is killing the way people are making music. in a way, i partly blame roland for the amount of crap that is out there, but we also wouldn't have the great music of the last 2 decades without them.

[Sheridan]

I agree with you there piscaries. a lot of the new roland stuff and other new synths are shitty. when I buy gear in the future I plan on finding more obscure companies that don't just mass produce their stuff.

[piscaries]

exactly: quality not quantity
good gear places to check out:

www.en-port.com / www.davesmithinstruments.com / www.generation.net/~musicr / www.mfberlin.de/ www.spectralaudio.ch www.frostwave.com

as far as techno goes: i think it's anything made with electronic instruments that just makes you want to dance your ass off all night!

[emef]

"what the fuck????" or "boing boom tschak"

[piscaries]

Originally posted by invisibleplanet
V Knid Esq, twll them it all began back in the 19th Century when Hipps invented the Electromechanical Piano in Neuchatel (Switzerland), 1867.

smarty pants :D

[Martin23]

BJÖRK'S WORDS
"I had been away from Iceland for over a year and when I returned for New Year I stayed on top of a mountain. I went for a walk on my own and I saw the ice was thawing in the lava fields. All I could hear was the cackle of the ice, echoing over hundreds of square miles. It was pitch black, The Northern Light were swirling around and just below them was a layer of thick cloud. I could see the lights from all the towns of my childhood mirrored in the reflections of these clouds, with the lava fields cackling below. It was really techno...."

http://www.dustclub.com

[emef]

cool !