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| quote: | Originally posted by Yohan
People, point me towards some good hard techno |
HERE 
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I've been making this complaint for years. Most of what's being called techno is only superficially techno - that is, it's very dark and percussive and serious and often minimal with little to no hint of a melody or hook, but unfortunately also lacks many of the elements traditionally associated with techno like filters, mashups, funky or weird or old school samples, or even interesting or unexpected cuts and splices.
This happens with every genre though. It was the same with electro when it became just a buzzword for blips and bloops and farty basslines. |
Well put. What Toronto has, Techno-wise is too much of one style of music - there's little to no place for sounds and styles of playing that veer to one side or the other of what most of the "popular" d.j.s (meaning, there are tons of "popular" Techno d.j.s out there, the majority of which rarely or never set foot on North American soil) are playing these days. And it does happen with every genre - North American Jazz went through a big-band phase, then guys like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker broke away from that and shook things up, then Free Jazz followed and was openly criticized by Davis - talk about a merry-go-round. Of course, all the while the Europeans were lapping it *all* up, just like they are today.
What I hear in most of these 'minimal' Techno sets are too much of the same sounds, both being played out by too many d.j.s and in the actual sets themselves. There's an extended, grainy, ascending whooshing sweep that seems to qualify as *the* signature buildup in so many tracks that I hear - after hearing a however subtle variation of the same sound several times over in the same set, it has the tendency to lose its desired effect, that of building anticipation. Without that, what are you left with? I've only heard a handful of d.j.s who can consistently pull off uniquely interesting minimal sets, the rest of it simply comes off as mediocre bandwagoning.
I believe the classic minimal and harder sounds will become popular in Toronto again, but only when people in clubland start becoming exposed to, and appreciating it - just as all sub-genres of Jazz eventually found their place in North American popular culture and history (and even if it still gets TONS more love overseas). There's an entire generation of clubbers who were never exposed to the likes of Claude Young, Cari Lekebusch, Dez, Twonz or Murat when they used to roll through town and lay waste to 1000+ people at a time, and there's been little to fill the void since. I'm looking forward to seeing that change.
Last edited by PivotTechno on Aug-09-2008 at 16:24
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