TranceAddict Forums (www.tranceaddict.com/forums)
- Chill Out Room
-- Vegas turns up nose at superstar DJs
Pages (5): « 1 2 3 [4] 5 »

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.Mystery There's one thing I'll say for Tiesto, though: at least he stopped beating the dead horse they call trance and moved on to something else. Granted, that something else might be utter horseshit, but he did it.

Yeah, honestly it does get tiresome after a while doing the same old thing. My only disappointment with these folks is that their older output is just so much better in quality. More creative, more experimental, more interesting. None of the above would describe the modern stuff some of them are doing.

I bet just few here ever heard this

quote:

Originally posted by planetaryplayer question to system j. who in your opinion is the single greatest export of UK techno? for me its Luke Slater but thats a heavily biased opinion. the only other person i think could be surgeon. u mentioned sandwell but i don't think regis is that great. overall though i would put UK #2 behind detroit in terms of techno producers for me

I'm surprised. I'd say we are a distant third behind the US and Germany, at best. We seem to have a lot of names of the calibre of Slater, Regis, Surgeon, Ben Sims, Dave Clarke, Slam, Perc etc. but none of them stand out as absolute legends. But then again, I'm not a massive techno head.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I'm surprised. I'd say we are a distant third behind the US and Germany, at best. We seem to have a lot of names of the calibre of Slater, Regis, Surgeon, Ben Sims, Dave Clarke, Slam, Perc etc. but none of them stand out as absolute legends. But then again, I'm not a massive techno head.

I'm really not a techno head by any stretch, but surely Dave Clarke has reached legendary status?

I would say Slater, Dave Clarke and Regis/Surgeon are absolute Legends. Mostly based off their releases in the early/mid 90s though.

quote:

Originally posted by Woony I would say Slater, Dave Clarke and Regis/Surgeon are absolute Legends. Mostly based off their releases in the early/mid 90s though.

concur. Those 90s tracks of they put out are beyond massive. You would know better, but imo those tracks have had a huge effect of someone like shed and his newer productions.

quote:

Originally posted by Woony I would say Slater, Dave Clarke and Regis/Surgeon are absolute Legends. Mostly based off their releases in the early/mid 90s though.

You were mocking Dave Clarke's Boiler Room appearance not so long ago. I just don't think UK techno has much of an identity. None of those names form a compelling mythos like Detroit or Berlin have.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J You were mocking Dave Clarke's Boiler Room appearance not so long ago. I just don't think UK techno has much of an identity. None of those names form a compelling mythos like Detroit or Berlin have.

Sure, the Red Series is blueprint techno though.

I don't know if UK techno as a whole has an identity but it's a whole country - I don't think German techno really has an unifying identity either - Berlin/Cologne/Frankfurt were totally different from the beginning.

I think Birmingham Techno has a pretty compelling mythos, it's of course totally made up since afaik there was never really a big "Birmingham-techno-scene" but the whole post-punk -> industrial techno lineage that Downwards/Sandwell represent is quite compelling. And like I said elsewhere recently, ripping off early Downwards is all the rage right now. If you listen to what popular labels like Mord are pumping out right now, it's totally Birmingham influenced.

I was never big on Clarke. But to this date Luke's production is still top class. If not best. I only caught him once in an LB dub corp vs PAS set and it was killer. Those guys don't come around here often.

Birmingham could only ever be considered compelling by someone who's never been there.

I didn't say the city was compelling. I said the made-up myth is compelling.

Yeah, but if you actually go there it's just not a techno city at all. Techno only really makes sense in the right environment. Detroit and Berlin are effortless techno dystopias. If there is a UK equivalent it would be Sheffield, "Steel City", home of bleep and bass and then Warp Records. There used to be a gigantic abandoned power station looming over the motorway viaduct as you came into the city. It was perfect.

Techno makes perfect sense the second you visit Detroit. My girlfriend who is not an electronic music aficionado by any stretch of the imagination went from actively despising techno to profoundly respecting the genre almost immediately after visiting the city for the movement festival. Listening to techno in that city is really eye opening. The only other equivalents that come to mind of cities to intertwined with an artistic movement are french new wave films and paris, and grunge and seattle.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J If there is a UK equivalent it would be Sheffield, "Steel City", home of bleep and bass and then Warp Records. There used to be a gigantic abandoned power station looming over the motorway viaduct as you came into the city. It was perfect.

Yeah, surely the legacy of early Warp, and the likes of Aphex, Autechre, and other ambient techno sorts gives the UK some lasting techno cred. Certainly not the same level of fetishistic mythos as the other two techno havens have cultivated tho'.

disagree. Maybe the techno scene in UK is not on berlins level, but the caliber of producer / djs that have come out from there may be only second to Detroit

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J We seem to have a lot of names of the calibre of Slater, Regis, Surgeon, Ben Sims, Dave Clarke, Slam, Perc etc. but none of them stand out as absolute legends. But then again, I'm not a massive techno head.

If any one of those may be considered "legendary," it would be Luke Slater. He's been around since the late 80's and is definitely one of the pioneers of the hard techno sound that emerged around 92' (see X-Tront vol. 1).

I was never as fond of Dave Clarke, but he's been around for a while, as well. There was actually a thread on Discogs back in 05' or so, where Adam-X went on a personal rant against Clarke, complaining about never getting paid for his release on Clarke's label.

Well surgeon would be another possibly even Regis with the industrial sound. System j mentioned perc but he hasn't been around for nearly as long and his caliber of production is not the same as the previously mentioned. From a Brits POV who's their fav son in the techno scene?

I could put slaters discography side by side to some of the top Detroit guys and make the case for Luke. At this point in time he might be making the most interesting stuff aimed for dance floors. Surgeons last album was not my cup of tea, and his ep on ruskins label was sub par.

quote:

Originally posted by planetaryplayer Well surgeon would be another possibly even Regis with the industrial sound.

I wouldn't put them side by side with Slater because they just haven't been around long enough. He's been in the techno scene since pretty much day one, whereas Surgeon and Regis only came around in the mid 90's.

i wouldn't put them side by side with him based on my opinion. but evrytime i read articles or comments on slater people always seem to mention surgeon and regis. they have been long enough to leave a lasting imprint and have a strong body of work

quote:

Originally posted by planetaryplayer but evrytime i read articles or comments on slater people always seem to mention surgeon and regis. they have been long enough to leave a lasting imprint and have a strong body of work

Yeah, that may actually be because Slater's later output became more in the style of Surgeon, Regis, etc. His early stuff, however, was nothing like theirs. To me, Slater became rather repetitive and dull around 94-ish, more in the style of Surgeon, etc. Not that it's necessarily bad techno, but it doesn't compare to his (and others') earlier work by a long shot.

You can actually compare Jeff Mills's early work with Slater's - Waveform Transmission Vol. 1 and X-Tront Vol. 2, respectively. Very similar style in the early days, I wonder who influenced whom, and if at all.

not too sure about that. his PAS stuff is pretty dope (after 94) and i don't quite hear it in other peoples music but his. i can't quite describe it, but ill try : where each song kind of sounds like you're getting hit by a storm of severe magnitude or an earthquake. and when he holds back a bit on certain songs, i find those to be my favourite of his

I guess it's just a matter of taste, then. I prefer his earlier, more creative and experimental stuff - even though it may not be as dancefloor-friendly as his mid-90's stuff. Post-94' the techno sound in general became more repetitive and less experimental, which I don't really like.

I think there were far better releases in 94' then Slater's output in that year (e.g. Joey Beltram ‎� The Caliber EP) and from then on, I feel his sound just became more repetitive and commercial, even though it may have still retained his unique touch.

I like this one, for instance (96'):



...and while it may even be more dancefloor-friendly than his earlier work, you can clearly hear how it sounds more monotonous and less experimental than the earlier stuff.

What about James Ruskin? Althought needless to say he hasn't been a very active name, afaik.

I honestly don't see how you can call someone legendary if they haven't really done any pioneering work. Out of all of the above-mentioned, I think only Luke Slater and Dave Clarke can merit such a title. The early stuff they put out have become timeless classics, no matter how grating they may be to the ears now, after repeated listening.

While Surgeon, Regis, Ruskin, et al. may have put out some solid techno here and there, did they really do anything original or pioneering? That would be my idea of legendary, anyway.

From the list I reeled off earlier, I'd certainly say Slam have some pioneering classics to their name - whoever made a record like Positive Education before them? Soma is right up in the top tier of UK techno labels as well.

Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright © 2000-2021, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.