Techno is a form of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, USA during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno is seen as the foundation upon which a number of subgenres have been built.

The initial take on techno arose from the melding of Eurocentric synthesizer-based music with various African American styles such as Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz. Added to this is the influence of futuristic and fictional themes that are relevant to life in American late capitalist society—particularly the book The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler. Pioneering producer Juan Atkins cites Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" as inspiring him to use the word techno to describe the musical style he helped to create. This unique blend of influences aligns techno with the aesthetic referred to as afrofuturism. To producers such as Derrick May, the transference of spirit from the body to the machine is often a central preoccupation; essentially an expression of technological spirituality. In this manner: "techno dance music defeats what Adorno saw as the alienating effect of mechanisation on the modern consciousness".

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 commonly confused with generalized descriptors, such as electronic music and dance music.

Origins

The initial blueprint for techno was developed during the mid-1980s in Detroit, Michigan, by Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May (the so-called Belleville Three), and Eddie Fowlkes, all of whom attended school together at Belleville High, near Detroit.Sicko 1999 By the close of the 1980s, the four had recorded and released material under various guises: Atkins as Model 500, Flintstones, and Magic Juan; Fowlkes simply as Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes; Saunderson as Reese, Keynotes, and Kaos; with May as Mayday, R-Tyme, and Rhythim Is Rhythim. There were also a number of joint ventures, the most commercially successful of which was the Atkins and Saunderson (with James Pennington and Arthur Forest) collaboration on the first Inner City single, "Big Fun".

Detroit sound

The early producers, enabled by the increasing affordability of sequencers and synthesizers, merged a European synth-pop aesthetic with aspects of soul, funk, disco, and electro, pushing electronic dance music into uncharted terrain. They deliberately rejected the Motown legacy and traditional formulas of R&B and soul, and instead embraced technological experimentation.Cosgrove 1988a. [Says Juan Atkins,] "Within the last 5 years or so, the Detroit underground has been experimenting with technology, stretching it rather than simply using it. As the price of sequencers and synthesizers has dropped, so the experimentation has become more intense. Basically, we're tired of hearing about being in love or falling out, tired of the R&B system, so a new progressive sound has emerged. We call it techno!"Cosgrove 1988a. Although the Detroit dance music has been casually lumped in with the jack virus of Chicago house, the young techno producers of the Seventh City claim to have their own sound, music that goes 'beyond the beat', creating a hybrid of post-punk, funkadelia and electro-disco…a mesmerizing underground of new dance which blends European industrial pop with black American garage funk…If the techno scene worships any gods, they are a pretty deranged deity, according to Derrick May. "The music is just like like Detroit, a complete mistake. It's like George Clinton and Kraftwerk stuck in an elevator." …And strange as it may seem, the techno scene looked to Europe, to Heaven 17, Depeche Mode and the Human League for its inspiration. …[Says an Underground Resistance-related group,] "Techno is all about simplicity. We don't want to compete with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Modern R&B has too many rules: big snare sounds, big bass and even bigger studio bills." Techno is probably the first form of contemporary black music which categorically breaks with the old heritage of soul music. Unlike Chicago House, which has a lingering obsession with seventies Philly, and unlike New York Hip Hop with its deconstructive attack on James Brown's back catalogue, Detroit Techno refutes the past. It may have a special place for Parliament and Pete Shelley, but it prefers tomorrow's technology to yesterday's heroes. Techno is a post-soul sound…For the young black underground in Detroit, emotion crumbles at the feet of technology. …Despite Detroit's rich musical history, the young techno stars have little time for the golden era of Motown. Juan Atkins of Model 500 is convinced there is little to be gained from the motor-city legacy… "Say what you like about our music," says Blake Baxter, "but don't call us the new Motown…we're the second coming."Cosgrove 1988b. [Derrick May] sees the music as post-soul and believes it marks a deliberate break with previous traditions of black American music. "The music is just like Detroit" he claims, "a complete mistake, it's like George Clinton and Kraftwerk are stuck in an elevator with only a sequencer to keep them company."

The resulting Detroit sound was interpreted by Derrick May and one journalist in 1988 as a "post-soul" sound with no debt to Motown, but by another journalist a decade later as "soulful grooves" melding the beat-centric styles of Motown with the music technology of the time. May famously described the sound of techno as something that is "…like Detroit…a complete mistake. It's like George Clinton and Kraftwerk are stuck in an elevator with only a sequencer to keep them company."Juan Atkins has stated that it is "music that sounds like technology, and not technology that sounds like music, meaning that most of the music you listen to is made with technology, whether you know it or not. But with techno music, you know it."

The sound exerted an influence on widely differing styles of electronic music, yet it also maintained an identity as a genre in its own right, one now commonly referred to as "Detroit techno."

School days

Prior to achieving notoriety, Atkins, Saunderson, May, and Fowlkes shared common interests as budding musicians, "mix" tape traders, and aspiring DJs. They also found musical inspiration via the Midnight Funk Association, an eclectic five-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. Mojo's show featured electronic music by artists such as Giorgio Moroder, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream, alongside the funk sounds of Parliament, and danceable selections of new wave music from bands such as Devo and the B-52's. Atkins has noted:Despite the short-lived disco boom in Detroit, it had the effect of inspiring many individuals to take up mixing, Juan Atkins among them. Subsequently, Atkins taught May how to mix records, and in 1981, "Magic Juan", Derrick "Mayday", in conjunction with three other DJ's, one of whom was Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes, launched themselves as a party crew called Deep Space Soundworks (also referred to as Deep Space). In 1980 or 1981 they met with Mojo and proposed that they provide mixes for his show, which they did end up doing the following year.

During the late 1970s/early 1980s high school clubs such as Brats, Charivari, Ciabattino, Comrades, Gables, Hardwear, Rafael, Rumours, Snobs, and Weekends created the incubator in which techno was grown. These young promoters developed and nurtured the local dance music scene by both catering to the tastes of the local audience of young people and by marketing parties with new DJs and their music. As these local clubs grew in popularity, groups of DJs began to band together to market their mixing skills and sound systems to the clubs in order to cater to the growing audiences of listeners. Locations like local church activity centers, vacant warehouses, offices, and YMCA auditoriums were the early locations where underage crowds gathered and the musical form was nurtured and defined.

Juan Atkins

Of the four individuals responsible for establishing techno as a genre in its own right, it is Juan Atkins who is recognized as "The Originator". Atkins' role was likewise acknowledged in 1995 by the American music technology publication Keyboard Magazine, which honored Atkins as one of 12 Who Count in the history of keyboard music.

In the early 1980s, 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 rock and electro-inspired tunes, the most successful of which were "Clear" (1983) and its moodier followup, "Techno City" (1984).

According to a recent bio on MySpace, Atkins …coined the term techno to describe their music, taking as one inspiration the works of Futurist and author Alvin Toffler, from whom he borrowed the terms 'cybotron' and 'metroplex.' Atkins has used the term to describe earlier bands that made heavy use of synthesizers, such as Kraftwerk, although many people would consider Kraftwerk's music and Juan's early music in Cybotron as electro. Atkins viewed Cybotron's "Cosmic Cars" (1982) as unique, Germanic, synthesized funk, but he later heard Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" (1982) and considered it to be a superior example of the music he envisioned. Inspired, he resolved to continue experimenting, and he encouraged Saunderson and May to do likewise.

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 UFOs," one of the first Detroit techno productions to receive wider attention and an important turning point for the music. Of this time, Atkins has said

Chicago

The music's producers, especially May and Saunderson, admit to having been fascinated by the Chicago club scene and influenced by house in particular. May's 1987/1989 hit "Strings of Life" (released under the alias Rhythim Is Rhythim) is considered a classic in both the house and techno genres.

Atkins also believes that the first acid house producers, seeking to distance house music from disco, emulated the techno sound. There is also suggestion that the Chicago house sound developed as a result of Frankie Knuckles' using a drum machine he bought from Derrick May. Juan Atkins claims:

The New Dance Sound of Detroit

In the UK, a club following for house music grew steadily from 1985, with interest sustained by scenes in London, Manchester, Nottingham, and later Sheffield and Leeds. The DJs thought to be responsible for house's early UK success include Mike Pickering, Mark Moore, Colin Faver, and Graeme Park.

By 1988, house music had exploded in the UK, and acid house was increasingly popular. There was also a long established warehouse party subculture based around the sound system scene. In 1988, the music played at warehouse parties was predominantly house. That same year, the Balearic party vibe associated with Ibiza based DJ Alfredo Fiorito was transported to London, when Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold opened the clubs Shoom and Spectrum, respectively. Both night spots quickly became synonymous with acid house, and it was during this period that the use of MDMA, as a party drug, started to gain prominence. Other important UK clubs at this time included Back to Basics in Leeds, Sheffield's Leadmill and Music Factory, and in Manchester The Haçienda, where Mike Pickering and Graeme Park's Friday night spot, Nude, was an important proving ground for American EDM, including the first techno from Detroit. Acid house party fever escalated in London and Manchester, and it quickly became a cultural phenomenon. MDMA-fueled club goers, faced with 2 A.M. closing hours, sought refuge in the warehouse party scene that ran all night. To escape the attention of the press and the authorities, this after-hours activity quickly went underground. Within a year, however, up to 10,000 people at a time were attending the first commercially organized mass parties, called raves, and a media storm ensued.

The success of house and acid house paved the way for wider acceptance of the Detroit sound, and vice-versa: techno was initially supported by a handful of house music clubs in Chicago, New York, and Northern England, with Detroit clubs catching up later; but in 1987, it was "Strings of Life" which eased London club-goers into acceptance of house, according to DJ Mark Moore.

The explosion of interest in EDM during the late 1980s provided a context for the development of techno as an identifiable genre. The mid-1988 UK release of Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit,, an album compiled by ex-Northern Soul DJ and Kool Kat Records boss Neil Rushton (at the time an A&R scout for Virgin's "10 Records" imprint) and Derrick May, was an important milestone and marked the introduction of the word techno in reference to a specific genre of music. Although the compilation put techno into the lexicon of music journalism, the music was, for a time, sometimes characterized as Detroit's high-tech interpretation of Chicago house rather than a relatively pure genre unto itself. In fact, the compilation's working title had been The House Sound of Detroit until the addition of Atkins' song "Techno Music" prompted reconsideration. Rushton was later quoted as saying he, Atkins, May, and Saunderson came up with the compilation's final name together, and that the Belleville Three voted down calling the music some kind of regional brand of house; they instead favored a term they were already using, techno.

Derrick May views this as one of his busiest times and recalls that it was a period where he

Despite Virgin Records' disappointment with the poor sales of Rushton's compilation, the record was successful in establishing an identity for techno and was instrumental in establishing a platform in Europe for the music and its producers. Ultimately, the release served to distinguish the Detroit sound from Chicago house and other forms of EDM that were emerging during the rave era of the late 1980s and early '90s, a period during which techno became more adventurous and distinct.Sicko 1999:95–120

Music Institute

In mid-1988, developments in the Detroit scene lead to the opening of nightclub called the Music Institute (MI), located at 1315 Broadway in downtown Detroit. The venue was secured by George Baker and Alton Miller with Darryl Wynn and Derrick May participating as Friday night DJs, and Baker and Chez Damier playing to a mostly gay crowd on Saturday nights.The club closed on November 24, 1989, with Derrick May playing "Strings of Life" along with a recording of clock tower bells. May explains: Though short-lived, MI was known internationally for its all-night sets, its sparse white rooms, and its juice bar stocked with "smart drinks" (the Institute never served liquor). The MI, notes Dan Sicko, along with Detroit's early techno pioneers, "helped give life to one of the city's important musical subcultures – one that was slowly growing into an international scene."

Developments

As the original sound evolved in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it also diverged to such an extent that a wide spectrum of stylistically distinct music was being referred to as techno. This ranged from relatively pop oriented acts such as Moby to the distinctly anti-commercial sentiments of the appropriately named Underground Resistance. Derrick May's experimentation on works such as Beyond the Dance (1989) and The Beginning (1990) were credited with taking techno in dozens of new directions at once and having the kind of expansive impact John Coltrane had on Jazz. By the late 1980s and early '90s, the original techno sound had garnered a large underground following in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Belgium. The growth of techno's popularity in Europe between 1988 and 1992 was largely due to the emergence of the party scene known as rave and a thriving club culture.

Exodus

In America, apart from regional scenes in Detroit, New York, and Chicago, interest was limited. Producers from Detroit, frustrated by the lack of opportunity in their home country, looked to Europe for their future livelihood. This first wave of Detroit expatriates was soon joined by a number of up-and-coming artists, the so called "second wave", including Carl Craig, Octave One, Jay Denham, Kenny Larkin, and Stacey Pullen, with UR's Jeff Mills, Mike Banks, and Robert Hood pushing their own unique sound. A number of New York producers were also making an impression at this time, notably Frankie Bones, Lenny Dee, and Joey Beltram. In the same period, close to Detroit (Windsor, Ontario), Richie Hawtin, with business partner John Acquaviva, launched the influential imprint Plus 8 Records.

Developments in American-produced techno between 1990 and 1992 fueled the expansion and eventual divergence of techno in Europe, particularly in Germany. In Berlin, following the closure of a free party venue called UFO, the club Tresor opened in 1991. The venue was for a time the standard bearer for techno and played host to many of the leading Detroit producers, some of whom relocated to Berlin. By 1993, as interest in techno in the UK club scene started to wane, Berlin was considered the unofficial techno capital of Europe.

Although eclipsed by Germany, Belgium was another focus of second-wave techno in this time period. The Ghent-based label R&S Records embraced harder-edged techno by "teenage prodigies" like Beltram and C.J. Bolland, releasing "tough, metallic tracks…with harsh, discordant synth lines that sounded like distressed Hoovers," according to one music journalist.

Berlin

Germany's engagement with American EDM during the 1980s paralleled that in the UK. By 1987 a German party scene based around the Chicago sound was well established. The following year (1988) saw acid house making as significant an impact on popular consciousness in Germany as it had in England. In 1989 German DJs Westbam and Dr. Motte established UFO, an illegal party venue, and co-founded the Love Parade. After the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, free underground techno parties mushroomed in East Berlin, and a rave scene comparable to that in the UK was established. East German DJ Paul van Dyk has remarked that techno was a major force in reestablishing social connections between East and West Germany during the unification period.

In 1991 a number of party venues closed, including UFO, and the Berlin Techno scene centered itself around three locations close to the foundations of the Berlin Wall: Planet (later renamed E-Werk by Paul van Dyk), Der Bunker, and the relatively long-lived Tresor. It was in Tresor at this time that a trend in paramilitary clothing was established (amongst the techno fraternity) by a DJ named Tanith; possibly as an expression of a commitment to the underground aesthetic of the music, or perhaps influenced by UR's paramilitary posturing. In the same period German DJs began intensifying the speed and abrasiveness of the sound, as an acid infused techno began transmuting into hardcore. DJ Tanith commented at the time that: Berlin was always hardcore, hardcore hippie, hardcore punk, and now we have a very hardcore house sound. At the moment the tracks I play are an average one hundred and thirty-five beats per minute and every few months we add fifteen more. This emerging sound is thought to have been influenced by Dutch gabber and Belgian hardcore; styles that were in their own perverse way paying homage to Underground Resistance and Richie Hawtin's Plus 8 Records. Other influences on the development of this style were European Electronic Body Music groups of the mid-1980s such as DAF, Front 242, and Nitzer Ebb. In Germany, fans referred to this sound as ‘Tekkno’ (or ‘Bretter’).

A Techno Alliance

In 1993, the German techno label Tresor Records released the compilation album Tresor II: Berlin & Detroit - A Techno Alliance, a testament to the influence of the Detroit sound upon the German techno scene and a celebration of a "mutual admiration pact" between the two cities. As the mid-90s approached Berlin was becoming a haven for Detroit producers; Jeff Mills and Blake Baxter even resided there for a time. In the same period, with the assistance of Tresor, Underground Resistance released their X-101/X-102/X103 album series, Juan Atkins collaborated with 3MB's Thomas Fehlmann and Moritz Von Oswald and Tresor affiliated label Basic Channel had taken to having their releases mastered by Detroit's National Sound Corporation; the main mastering house for the entire Detroit dance music scene. In some sense popular electronic music had come full circle; Düsseldorf's Kraftwerk having been a primary influence on the electronic dance music of the 1980s. The dance sounds of Chicago also had a German connection as it was in Munich that Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte had first produced the 1970s Eurodisco synth pop sound.

Minimal techno

As EDM continued to transmute a number of Detroit producers began to question the trajectory techno was taking. One response came in the form of so-called minimal techno (a term producer Daniel Bell found difficult to accept, finding the term minimalism, in the artistic sense of the word, too "arty"). It is thought that Robert Hood, a Detroit based producer and one time member of UR, is largely responsible for ushering the emergence of the minimal strain of techno. Hood describes the situation in the early 1990s as one where techno had become too "ravey", with increasing tempos leading to the emergence of gabber. Such trends saw the demise of the soul infused techno that typified the original Detroit sound leading Hood and others to redefine the music as "a basic stripped down, raw sound. Just drums, basslines and funky grooves and only what's essential. Only what is essential to make people move". Hood explains:

Jazz influences

Some techno has also been influenced by or directly infused with elements of jazz. This led to increased sophistication in the use of both rhythm and harmony in a number of techno productions. Manchester (UK) based techno act 808 State helped fuel this development with tracks such as Pacific State from the mini-album Quadrastate, and Cobra Bora, taken from the 1989 release Ninety. In Detroit, a producer heavily influenced by said jazz sensibilities at this time was Detroit's Mike Banks, a demonstration of which can be found on the influential Underground Resistance release Nation 2 Nation (1991). By 1993, Detroit acts such as Model 500 and UR had made explicit references to the genre, with the tracks "Jazz Is The Teacher" (1993) and "Hi-Tech Jazz" (1993), the latter being part of a larger body of work and group called Galaxy 2 Galaxy, a self-described jazz project based on Kraftwerk's "man machine" doctrine. This lead was followed by a number of techno producers in the UK who were evidently influenced of both jazz and UR, Dave Angels' Seas of Tranquility EP (1994) being a case in point.

Intelligent techno

In 1991 UK music journalist Matthew Collin wrote that "Europe may have the scene and the energy, but it's America which supplies the ideological direction…if Belgian techno gives us riffs, German techno the noise, British techno the breakbeats, then Detroit supplies the sheer cerebral depth".By 1992 a general rejection of rave culture, by a number of European producers and labels who were attempting to redress what they saw as the corruption and commercialization of the original techno ideal, was evident. Following this the ideal of an intelligent or Detroit derived pure techno aesthetic began to take hold. Detroit techno had maintained its integrity throughout the rave era and was inspiring a new generation of so called intelligent techno producers.

As the mid-1990s approached, the term had gained common usage in an attempt to differentiate the increasingly sophisticated takes on EDM from other strands of techno that had emerged,including overtly commercial strains and harder, rave-oriented variants such as breakbeat hardcore, Schranz, Dutch Gabber. Simon Reynolds observes that this progression "…involved a full-scale retreat from the most radically posthuman and hedonistically functional aspects of rave music toward more traditional ideas about creativity, namely the auteur theory of the solitary genius who humanizes technology…".

Warp Records was among the first to capitalize upon this development with the release of the compilation album Artificial Intelligence Of this time, Warp founder and managing director Steve Beckett has said

Warp had originally marketed Artificial Intelligence using the description electronic listening music but this was quickly replaced by intelligent techno. In the same period (1992–93) other names were also bandied about such as armchair techno, ambient techno, and electronica, but all were used to describe an emerging form of post-rave dance music for the sedentary and stay at home. Following the commercial success of the compilation in the United States, Intelligent Dance Music eventually became the phrase most commonly used to describe much of the experimental EDM emerging during the mid to late 1990s.

Although it is primarily Warp that has been credited with ushering the commercial growth of IDM and electronica, in the early 1990s there were many notable labels associated with the initial intelligence trend that received little, if any, wider attention. Amongst others they include: Black Dog Productions (1989), Carl Craig's Planet E (1991), Kirk Degiorgio's Applied Rhythmic Technology (1991), Eevo Lute Muzique (1991), General Production Recordings (1991), New Electronica (1993), Mille Plateaux (1993), 100% Pure (1993), and Ferox Records (1993).

Free techno

In the early 1990s a post-rave, DIY, free party scene had established itself in the UK. It was largely based around an alliance between warehouse party goers from various urban squat scenes and politically inspired new age travellers. The new agers offered a readymade network of countryside festivals that were hastily adopted by squatters and ravers alike. Prominent among the sound systems operating at this time were Tonka in Brighton, DiY in Nottingham, Bedlam, Circus Warp, LSDiesel and London’s Spiral Tribe. The high point of this free party period came in May 1992 when with less than 24 hours notice and little publicity more than 35,000 gathered at the Castlemorton Common Festival for 5 days of partying.

This one event was largely responsible for the introduction in 1994 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act; effectively leaving the British free party scene for dead. Following this many of the traveller artists moved away from Britain to Europe, the US, Goa in India, Koh Phangan in Thailand and Australia’s East Coast. In the rest of Europe, due in some part to the inspiration of traveling sound systems from the UK, rave enjoyed a prolonged existence as it continued to expand across the continent.

Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and other English sound systems took their cooperative techno ideas to Europe, particularly Eastern Europe where it was cheaper to live, and audiences were quick to appropriate the free party ideology. It was European Teknival free parties, such as the annual Czechtek event in the Czech Republic that gave rise to several French, German and Dutch sound systems. Many of these groups found audiences easily and were often centered around squats in cities such as Amsterdam and Berlin.

Divergence

By 1994 there were a number of techno producers in the UK and Europe building on the Detroit sound, but a growing range of EDM styles were by then vying for attention. Some drew upon the Detroit techno aesthetic, while others fused components of preceding dance music forms. This led to the appearance (in the UK initially) of inventive new music, some of which bore little, if any, relation to the original techno sound; jungle (drum and bass) being a primary example, its origins having more to do with hip-hop, soul, and reggae, than with the EDM from Detroit and Chicago.

With an increasing diversification (and commercialization) of dance music, the collectivist sentiment prominent in the early rave scene diminished, each new faction having its own particular attitude and vision of how dance music (or in certain cases, non-dance music) should evolve. Some examples not already mentioned are trance, industrial techno, breakbeat hardcore, acid techno, and happy hardcore. Less well-known styles related to techno or its subgenres include the primarily Sheffield (UK) based bleep techno, a regional variant that had some success between 1989 and 1991, and a scene that was responsible for putting Warp Records on the map (largely as a result of its fifth release, LFO's self-titled 12″). By the end of the 1990s a number of post-techno EDM styles had emerged including wonky techno, ghettotech (a style that combines some of the aesthetics of techno with hip-hop and house music), nortec, glitch, digital hardcore, and so-called no-beat techno.

Commercial exposure

Whilst techno and its derivatives only occasionally produce commercially successful mainstream acts—Underworld and Orbital being two better known examples—the genre has significantly affected many other areas of music. In an effort to appear relevant, many established artists, for example Madonna and U2, have dabbled with dance music, yet such endeavors have rarely evidenced a genuine understanding or appreciation of techno's origins. The mainstream music industry has been responsible for the growth of a huge remix industry. This is largely a drive to gain exposure for artists that are not identified with club styles such as house, techno, and drum & bass. Many club acts and dance DJs have made very successful careers out of remixing alone, Armand Van Helden being a good example.

More recently, contemporary R&B has taken a significant foray into the dance genre, thanks largely to club scene remixes such as Freemasons' recent interpretations of Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland, and whilst some criticize this as indicative of the music industry's seeking greater exposure for its big-act roster, it can also be viewed as a natural part of the process of musical evolution. One R&B artist, Missy Elliott, inadvertently exposed the popular music audience to the Detroit techno sound when she featured material from Cybotron's Clear on her 2006 release "Lose Control"; this resulted in Juan Atkins' receiving a Grammy Award nomination for his writing credit. Elliott's 2001 album Miss E… So Addictive also clearly demonstrates the influence of club culture.

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. Even the Detroit-based company Ford Motors eventually became savvy to the mass appeal of techno, noting that "…this music was created partly by the pounding clangor of the Motor City's auto factories. It became natural for us to incorporate Detroit techno into our commercials after we discovered that young people are embracing techno." With a marketing campaign targeting under-35s, Ford used "Detroit Techno" as a print ad slogan and chose Model 500's "No UFO's" to underpin its November 2000 MTV television advertisement for the Ford Focus. In attempting to sum up the changes since the heyday of Detroit techno, Derrick May has since revised his famous quote in stating that “Kraftwerk got off on the third floor and now George Clinton’s got Napalm Death in there with him. The elevator’s stalled between the pharmacy and the athletic wear store.”

Proto-techno

In exploring techno's origins writer Kodwo Eshun maintains that Kraftwerk are to Techno what Muddy Waters is to the Rolling Stones: the authentic, the origin, the real. Juan Atkins has acknowledged that he had an early enthusiasm for Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, particularly Moroder's work with Donna Summer and the producer's own album E=MC². Atkins also mentions that "…around 1980 I had a tape of nothing but Kraftwerk, Telex, Devo, Giorgio Moroder and Gary Numan, and I'd ride around in my car playing it." Atkins has also claimed he was unaware of Kraftwerk's music prior to his collaboration with Rick Davis, which was two years after he had first started experimenting with electronic instruments. Regarding his initial impression of Kraftwerk, Atkins notes that they were clean and precise relative to the weird UFO sounds featured in his seemingly psychedelic music.

Derrick May identified the influence of Kraftwerk and other European synthesizer music in commenting that it was just classy and clean, and to us it was beautiful, like outer space. Living around Detroit, there was so little beauty… everything is an ugly mess in Detroit, and so we were attracted to this music. It, like, ignited our imagination!.May has commented that he considered his music a direct continuation of the European synthesizer tradition. Kevin Saunderson has also acknowledged the influence of Europe but he claims to have been more inspired by the idea of making music with electronic equipment: I was more infatuated with the idea that I can do this all myself.

The noted popularity of Euro disco and Italo disco music of various acts including Moroder, Alexander Robotnick, and Claudio Simonetti (referred to as progressive in Detroit) and new romantic synth pop performers such as Visage, The Human League, and Heaven 17 on the Detroit high school party scene from which techno emerged has prompted a number of commentators to try and redefine the origins of techno, by incorporating musical precursors to the Detroit sound as part of a wider historical survey of the genres development. This results in a chronologically distinct point of origination being removed. To support this view, they point to examples such as "Sharevari" (1981) by A Number of Names, danceable selections from Kraftwerk (1977–83), the earliest compositions by Cybotron (1981), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" (1977), Moroder's "From Here to Eternity" (1977), and Manuel Göttsching's proto-techno masterpiece E2-E4 (1981). Another example is a record entitled Love in C minor, released in 1976 by Parisian Euro disco producer Jean-Marc Cerrone; cited as the first so called conceptual disco production and the record from which house, techno, and other EDM styles flowed.

It is apparent that certain electro-disco and European synth pop productions share with techno a dependence on machine-generated dance rhythms but comparisons are not without contention. Efforts to regress further into the past, in search of antecedents, entails a further regression, to the sequenced electronic music of Raymond Scott, whose "The Rhythm Modulator," "The Bass-Line Generator," and "IBM Probe" are considered early examples of techno-like music. In a review of Scott's Manhattan Research Inc. compilation album the English newspaper The Independent suggested that Scott's importance lies mainly in his realization of the rhythmic possibilities of electronic music, which laid the foundation for all electro-pop from disco to techno. Another example of early EDM-like music has recently come to light (2008). On a tape, reportedly made in the mid to late 1960s by the original composer of the Doctor Who theme, Delia Derbyshire, is evidence of music virtually indistinguishable from contemporary EDM. Paul Hartnoll, formerly of the dance group Orbital describes the example as quite amazing and notes that it sounds not unlike something that could be coming out next week on Warp Records.

Music production practice

Stylistic considerations

In general, techno is very DJ-friendly, being mainly instrumental (commercial varieties being an exception) and is produced with the intention of its being heard in the context of a continuous DJ set, wherein the DJ progresses from one record to the next via a synchronized segue or "mix." Much of the instrumentation in techno emphasizes the role of rhythm over other musical parameters, but the design of synthetic timbres, and the creative use of music production technology in general, are important aspects of the overall aesthetic practice.

The main drum part is almost universally in common time (4/4); meaning 4 quarter note pulses per bar. In its simplest form, time is marked with kicks (bass drum beats) on each quarter-note pulse, a snare or clap on the second and fourth pulse of the bar, with an open hi-hat sound every second eighth note. This is essentially a disco (or even polka) drum pattern and is common throughout house music and house-influenced genres such as techno. The tempo tends to vary between approximately 120 bpm (quarter note equals 120 pulses per minute) and 150 bpm, depending on the style of techno.

Some of the drum programming employed in the original Detroit-based techno made use of syncopation and polyrhythm, yet in many cases the basic disco-type pattern was used as a foundation, with polyrhythmic elaborations added using other drum machine voices. This syncopated-feel (funkiness) distinguishes the Detroit strain of techno from other variants. It is a feature that many DJs and producers still use to differentiate their music from commercial forms of techno, the majority of which tend to be devoid of syncopation. Derrick May has summed up the sound as 'Hi-tech Tribalism': something "very spiritual, very bass oriented, and very drum oriented, very percussive. The original techno music was very hi-tech with a very percussive feel… it was extremely, extremely Tribal. It feels like you're in some sort of hi-tech village."

Compositional techniques

EDM tends to be produced with the aid of instruments (synthesizer keyboards) that are designed with the Western musical tradition in mind but techno does not always adhere to conventional harmonic practice and such strictures are often ignored in favor of timbral manipulation alone. The use of motivic development (though relatively limited) and the employment of conventional musical frameworks is more widely found in commercial techno styles, for example Euro-trance, where the template is often an AABA song structure.

There are many ways to create techno, but the vast majority will depend upon the use of loop-based step sequencing as a compositional method. Techno musicians, or producers, rather than employing traditional compositional techniques, may work in an improvisatory fashion, often treating the electronic music studio as one large instrument. The collection of devices found in a typical studio will include units that are capable of producing unique timbres and effects but technical proficiency is required for the technology to be exploited creatively. Studio production equipment is generally synchronized using a hardware- or computer-based MIDI sequencer, enabling the producer to combine, in one arrangement, the sequenced output of many devices. A typical approach to utilizing this type of technology compositionally is to overdub successive layers of material while continuously looping a single measure, or sequence of measures. This process will usually continue until a suitable multi-track arrangement has been produced.

Once a single loop based arrangement has been generated, a producer may then focus on developing a temporal framework. This is a process of dictating how the summing of the overdubbed parts will unfold in time, and what the final structure of the piece will be. Some producers achieve this by adding or removing layers of material at appropriate points in the mix. Quite often, this is achieved by physically manipulating a mixer, sequencer, effects, dynamic processing, equalization, and filtering while recording to a multi-track device. Other producers achieve similar results by using the automation features of computer-based digital audio workstations. Techno can consist of little more than cleverly programmed rhythmic sequences and looped motifs combined with signal processing of one variety or another, frequency filtering being a commonly used process. A more idiosyncratic approach to production is evident in the music of artists such as Twerk and Autechre, where aspects of algorithmic composition are employed in the generation of material.

Retro technology

Instruments utilized by the original techno producers based in Detroit, many of which are now highly sought after on the retro music technology market, include classic drum machines like the Roland TR-808 and TR-909, devices such as the Roland TB-303 bass line generator, and synthesizers such as the Roland SH-101, Kawai KC10, Yamaha DX7, and Yamaha DX100 (as heard on Derrick May's seminal 1987 techno release Nude Photo). Much of the early music sequencing was executed via MIDI (but neither the TR-808 nor the TB-303 had MIDI, only DIN sync) 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.

The TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines have since achieved legendary status, a fact that is now reflected in the prices sought for used devices. During the 1980s the 808 became the staple beat machine in Hip hop production while the 909 found its home in House music and techno. It was the pioneers of Detroit techno [who] were making the 909 the rhythmic basis of their sound, and setting the stage for the rise of Roland's vintage Rhythm Composer. In November 1995 the UK music technology magazine Sound on Sound noted: By May 1996 Sound on Sound was reporting that the popularity of the 808 had started to decline, with the rarer TR-909 taking its place as the dance floor drum machine to use. This is thought to have arisen for a number of reasons: the 909 gives more control over the drum sounds, has better programming and includes MIDI as standard. Sound on Sound reported that the 909 was selling for between £900 and £1100 and noted that the 808 was still collectible, but maximum prices had peaked at about £700 to £800. Such prices have held in the 12 years since the article was published, this can be evidenced by a quick search on eBay.

Emulation

In the latter half of the 1990s the demand for vintage drum machines and synthesisers motivated a number of software companies to produce computer based emulators. One of the most notable was the ReBirth RB-338, produced by the Swedish company Propellerhead and originally released in May 1997. Version one of the software featured two TB-303s and a TR-808 only, but the release of version two saw the inclusion of a TR-909. A Sound on Sound review of the RB-338 V2 in November 1998 noted that Rebirth had been called "the ultimate techno software package" and mentions that it was "a considerable software success story of 1997". In America Keyboard Magazine asserted that ReBirth had "opened up a whole new paradigm: modeled analog synthesizer tones, percussion synthesis, pattern based sequencing, all integrated in one piece of software". Despite the success of ReBirth RB-338, it was officially taken out of production in September 2005. Propellerhead then made it freely available for download from a website called the "ReBirth Museum". The site also features extensive information about the software's history and development.

In March 2001, with the release of Reason V1, Propellerhead upped the ante in providing a £300 software based electronic music studio, comprising a 14-input automated digital mixer, 99-note polyphonic 'analogue' synth, classic Roland-style drum machine, sample-playback unit, analogue-style step sequencer, loop player, multitrack sequencer, eight effects processors, and over 500 MB of synthesizer patches and samples. With this release Propellerhead were credited with "creating a buzz that only happens when a product has really tapped into the zeitgeist, and may just be the one that many [were] waiting for." Reason has since achieved popular appeal and is now (as of April 2008) at version 4.

Technological advances

In recent years, as computer technology has become more accessible and music software has advanced, interacting with music production technology is now possible using means that bear no relationship to traditional musical performance practices: for instance, laptop performance (laptronica)and live coding.In the last decade a number of software-based virtual studio environments have emerged, with products such as Propellerhead's Reason and Ableton Live finding popular appeal. These software-based music production tools provide viable and cost-effective alternatives to typical hardware-based production studios, and thanks to advances in microprocessor technology, it is now possible to create high quality music using little more than a single laptop computer. Such advances have democratized music creation, leading to a massive increase in the amount of home-produced music available to the general public via the internet. Artists can now also individuate their sound by creating personalized software synthesizers, effects modules, and various composition environments. Devices that once existed exclusively in the hardware domain can easily have virtual counterparts. Some of the more popular software tools for achieving such ends are commercial releases such as Max/Msp and Reaktor and freeware packages such as Pure Data, SuperCollider, and ChucK. In some sense, as a result of technological innovation, the DIY mentality that was once a core part of dance music culture is seeing a resurgence.

Noted artists

• John Acquaviva (Canada)
• The Advent (UK)
• Dave Angel (UK)
• Juan Atkins (USA/Detroit)
• Si Begg (UK)
• Daniel Bell (USA/Detroit)
• Joey Beltram (USA/New York)
• Adam Beyer (Sweden)
• C. J. Bolland (Belgium)
• Frankie Bones (USA/New York)
• Thomas Brinkmann (Germany)
• Basic Channel (Germany)

• Dave Clarke (UK)
• Carl Cox (UK)
• Carl Craig (USA/Detroit)
• Kirk Degiorgio (UK)
• Vladislav Delay (Finland)
• The Black Dog (UK)
• Drexciya (USA/Detroit)
• Darren Emerson (UK)
• Dominik Eulberg (Germany)
• A Guy Called Gerald (UK)
• Laurent Garnier (France)
• Fred Giannelli (USA)

• Hardfloor (Germany)
• Richie Hawtin (Canada)
• DJ Hell (Germany)
• Robert Hood (USA/Detroit)
• Ken Ishii (Japan)
• Speedy J (Netherlands)
• Cari Lekebusch (Sweden)
• LFO (UK)
• Chris Liebing (Germany)
• Derrick May (USA/Detroit)
• Aira Mitsuki (Japan)
• Jeff Mills (USA/Detroit)

• Paulo Nascimento (Portugal)
• Orbital (UK)
• James Pennington (USA/Detroit)
• Regis (UK)
• DJ Rush (USA/Chicago)
• Kevin Saunderson (USA/Detroit)
• Slam (UK)
• Luke Slater (UK)
• Pan Sonic (Finland)
• 808 State (UK)
• Surgeon (UK)
• System 7 (UK)

• Keith Tucker (USA/Detroit)
• Umek (Slovenia)
• UR (USA/Detroit)
• Underworld (UK)
• Octave One (USA/Detroit)
• Sven Väth (Germany)
• Ricardo Villalobos (Chile)
• Cristian Vogel (UK)
• Adam X (USA/New York)

See also

• Detroit Electronic Music Archive
• Freetekno

Bibliography

• Anz, P. & Walder, P. (eds.), Techno, Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1999 (ISBN 3908010144).
• Barr, T., Techno: The Rough Guide, Rough Guides, 2000 (ISBN 978-1858284347).
• Brewster B. & Broughton F., Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, Avalon Travel Publishing, 2006, (ISBN 978-0802136886).
• Butler, M.J., Unlocking the Groove: Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in Electronic Dance Music, Indiana University Press, 2006 (ISBN 978-0253218049).
• Cannon, S. & Dauncey, H., Popular Music in France from Chanson to Techno: Culture, Identity and Society, Ashgate, 2003 (ISBN 978-0754608493).
• Collin, M., Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House, Serpent's Tail, 1998 (ISBN 978-1852426040).
• Cosgrove, S. (a), "Seventh City Techno", The Face (97), p.88, May 1988 (ISSN 0263-1210).
• Cosgrove, S. (b), Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit liner notes, 10 Records Ltd. (UK), 1988 (LP: DIXG 75; CD: DIXCD 75).
• Cox, C.(Author), Warner D (Editor), Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 2004 (ISBN 978-0826416155).
• Fritz, J., Rave Culture: An Insider's Overview, Smallfry Press, 2000 (ISBN 978-0968572108).
• Kodwo, E., More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction, Quartet Books, 1998 (ISBN 978-0704380257).
• Nelson, A., Tu, L.T.N., Headlam Hines, A. (eds.), TechniColor: Race, Technology and Everyday Life, New York University Press, 2001 (ISBN 978-0814736043).
• Pesch, M. (Author), Weisbeck, M. (Editor), Techno Style: The Album Cover Art, Edition Olms; 5Rev Ed edition, 1998 (ISBN 978-3283002909).
• Rietveld, H.C., This is Our House: House Music, Cultural Spaces and Technologies, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, 1998 (ISBN 978-1857422429).
• Reynolds, S., Energy Flash: a Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Pan Macmillan, 1998 (ISBN 978-0330350563).
• Reynolds, S., Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, Routledge, New York 1999 (ISBN 978-0415923736).
• Savage, J., The Hacienda Must Be Built, International Music Publications, 1992 (ISBN 978-0863598579).
• Sicko, D., Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk, Billboard Books, 1999 (ISBN 978-0823084289).
• St. John, G., Rave Culture and Religion, Routledge, 2003 (ISBN 978-0415314497).
• St. John, G.(ed.), FreeNRG: Notes From the Edge of the Dance Floor, Common Ground, Melbourne, 2001 (ISBN 978-1863350846).
• Toop, D., Ocean of Sound, Serpent's Tail, 2001 [new edition] (ISBN 978-1852427436).
• Watten, B., The Constructivist Moment: From Material Text to Cultural Poetics, Wesleyan University Press, 2003 (ISBN 978-0819566102).

Filmography

• High Tech Soul - Catalog No.: PLX-029; Label: Plexifilm; Released: 2006-09-19; Director: Gary Bredow; Length: 64 minutes.
• Technomania - Released: 1996 (screened at NowHere, an exhibition held at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, between May 15 and September 8, 1996); Director: Franz A. Pandal; Length: 52 minutes.
• Tresor Berlin: The Vault and the Electronic Frontier - Label: Pyramids of London Films; Released 2004; Director: Michael Andrawis; Length: 62 minutes
• Universal Techno - Label: Les Films à Lou; Released: 1996; Director: Dominique Deluze; Length: 63 minutes.
• We Call It Techno! - A documentary about Germany’s early Techno scene and culture - Label: Sense Music & Media, Berlin, DE; Released: June 2008; Directors: Maren Sextro & Holger Wick.

References

1. According to Butler (2006:33) use of the term EDM "has become increasingly common among fans in recent years. During the 1980s, the most common catchall term for EDM was house music, while techno became more prevalent during the first half of the 1990s. As EDM has become more diverse, however, these terms have come to refer to specific genres. Another word, electronica, has been widely used in mainstream journalism since 1997, but most fans view this term with suspicion as a marketing label devised by the music industry".
2. Brewster 2006:354
3. Reynolds 1999:71. Detroit's music had hitherto reached British ears as a subset of Chicago house; [Neil] Rushton and the Belleville Three decided to fasten on the word techno - a term that had been bandied about but never stressed - in order to define Detroit as a distinct genre.
4. Rietveld 1998:125
5. Sicko 1999:28
6. Having grown up with the latter-day effects of Fordism, the Detroit techno musicians read futurologist Alvin Toffler's soundbite predictions for change - 'blip culture', 'the intelligent environment', 'the infosphere', 'de-massification of the media de-massifies our minds', 'the techno rebels', 'appropriated technologies' - accorded with some, though not all, of their own intuitions, Toop, D. (1995), Ocean of Sound, Serpent's Tail, (p. 215).
7. Kodwo 1998
8. Reynolds 1999:51. …techno artists often talk about what they do in the seemingly inappropriate language of traditional humanist art - 'expression', 'soul', 'authenticity', 'depth'.
9. Mc Leod, K.,"Space oddities: aliens, futurism and meaning in popular music", Popular Music (2003) Volume 22/3. Copyright 2003 Cambridge University Press, pp. 337–355.
10. Every Monday night, Natania goes to Koncrete Jungle, a dance party on new York's lower East Side that plays a hip, relatively new offshoot of dance music known as drum & bass—or, in a more general way, techno, a blanket term that describes music made on computers and electronic gadgets instead of conventional instruments, and performed by deejays instead of old-fashioned bands.
11. Brewster 2006:340–359
12. Cosgrove 1988a.
13. Reynolds 1999:12–40
14. Production credits for Inner City's Big Fun hosted at Discogs.com
15. Rietveld 1998:124–127
16. Rietveld 1998:127
17. Brewster 2006:350
18. Reynolds 1999:16–17.
19. Sicko 1999:56–58
20. Snobs, Brats, Ciabattino, Rafael, and Charivari are mentioned in Generation Ecstasy (Reynolds 1999:15); Gables and Charivari are mentioned in Techno Rebels (Sicko 1999:35,51–52). Citations still needed for Comrades, Hardwear, Rumours, and Weekends.
21. Sicko 1999:33–42,54–59
22. Dr. Rebekah Farrugia paraphrasing Derrick May in a review of High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music (Directed by Gary Bredow. Plexifilm DVD PLX-029, 2006). Published in Journal of the Society for American Music (2008) Volume 2, Number 2, pp. 291–293.
23. Keyboard Magazine Vol. 21, No.7 (issue #231, July 1995).
24. Sicko 1999:74
25. Cosgrove 1988b. Juan's first group Cybotron released several records at the height of the electro-funk boom in the early 80's, the most successful being a progressive homage to the city of Detroit, simply entitled 'Techno City'.
26. Sicko 1999:75. Adding to the impact of Enter, the single "Clear" made a huge splash and became Cybotron's biggest hit, especially after it was remixed by Jose "Animal" Diaz. "Clear" climbed the charts in Dallas, Houston, and Miami, and spent nine weeks on the Billboard Top Black Singles chart (as it was called then) in fall 1983, peaking at No. 52. "Clear" was a success.
27. Cosgrove 1988b. At the time, [Atkins] believed ["Techno City"] was a unique and adventurous piece of synthesiser funk, more in tune with Germany than the rest of black America, but on a dispiriting visit to New York, Juan heard Afrika Bambaataa's 'Planet Rock' and realized that his vision of a spartan electronic dance sound had been upstaged. He returned to Detroit and renewed his friendship with two younger students from Belleville High, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May, and quietly over the next few years the three of them became the creative backbone of Detroit Techno. "Techno City" was released in 1984. Sicko 1999:73 clarifies Atkins was in New York in 1982, trying to get Cybotron's "Cosmic Cars" into the hands of radio DJs, when he first heard "Planet Rock"; so "Cosmic Cars", not "Techno City", is the unique and adventurous piece of synthesiser funk.
28. Sicko 1999:76
29. In 1985 Juan Atkins released the first record on his fledgling label Metroplex, ‘No UFO's’, now widely regarded as Year Zero of the techno movement. Cox, T. (2008), Model 500:Remake/remodel, interview with Atkins and Mike Banks hosted on www.residentadvisor.net
30. Interview with Detroit producer Alan Oldham hosted at Spannered.org
31. Sicko 1999:77–78
32. “RIR singles like ‘Strings of Life’…are among the few classics in the debased world of techno”
33. "Strings of Life" appears on compilations titled The Real Classics of Chicago House 2 (2003), Techno Muzik Classics (1999), House Classics Vol. One (1997), 100% House Classics Vol. 1 (1995), Classic House 2 (1994), Best of House Music Vol. 3 (1990), Best of Techno Vol. 4 (1994), House Nation - Classic House Anthems Vol. 1 (1994), and numerous other compilations with the words "techno" or "house" in their titles.
34. Brewster 2006:353
35. Rietveld 1998:40–50
36. Rietveld 1998:50–57
37. Rietveld 1998:54–59
38. Brewster 2006:398–443
39. Brewster 2006:419. I was on a mission because most people hated house music and it was all rare groove and hip hop…I'd play Strings of Life at the Mud Club and clear the floor. Three weeks later you could see pockets of people come onto the floor, dancing to it and going crazy - and this was without ecstasy - Mark Moore commenting on the initially slow response to House music in 1987.
40. Cosgrove 1988a. Although it can now be heard in Detroit's leading clubs, the local area has shown a marked reluctance to get behind the music. It has been in clubs like the Powerplant (Chicago), The World (New York), The Hacienda (Manchester), Rock City (Nottingham) and Downbeat (Leeds) where the techno sound has found most support. Ironically, the only Detroit club which really championed the sound was a peripatetic party night called Visage, which unromantically shared its name with one of Britain's oldest new romantic groups.
41. Sicko 1999:98
42. Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit info at Discogs.com
43. Detroit's "techno" … and many more stylistic outgrowths have occurred since the word "house" gained national currency in 1985.
44. "The U.K. likes discovering trends," Rushton says. "Because of the way that the media works, dance culture happens very quickly. It's not hard to hype something up. …When the first techno records came in, the early Model 500, Reese, and Derrick May material, I wanted to follow up the Detroit connection. I took a flyer and called up Transmat; I got Derrick May and we started to release his records in England. …Derrick came over with a bag of tapes, some of which didn't have any name: tracks which are now classics, like 'Sinister' and 'Strings of Life.' Derrick then introduced us to Kevin Saunderson, and we quickly realized that there was a cohesive sound of these records, and that we could do a really good compilation album. We got backing from Virgin Records and flew to Detroit. We met Derrick, Kevin, and Juan and went out to dinner, trying to think of a name. At the time, everything was house, house house. We thought of Motor City House Music, that kind of thing, but Derrick, Kevin, and Juan kept on using the word techno. They had it in their heads without articulating it; it was already part of their language."
45. Sicko 1999:98,101
46. Sicko 1999:100,102
47. Sicko 1999:102. Once Rushton and Atkins set techno apart with the Techno! compilation, the music took off on its own course, no longer parallel to the Windy City's progeny. And as the 1980s came to a close, the difference between techno and house music became increasingly pronounced, with techno's instrumentation growing more and more adventurous.
48. Sicko 1999:92–94
49. Reynolds 1999:131. Moby's track "Go!", a work featuring a sample from the Twin Peaks opening theme, entered the top 20 of UK Charts in late 1991.
50. Reynolds 1999:219–222. Presenting themselves as a sort of techno Public Enemy, Underground Resistance were dedicated to 'fighting the power' not just through rhetoric but through fostering their own autonomy.
51. Sicko 1999:80
52. Reynolds 1999:219
53. Sicko 1999:121–160
54. Sicko 1999:161–184
55. Reynolds 2006:228–229
56. Reynolds 1999:215
57. Sicko 1999:181
58. Short excerpt from special on German "Tele 5" from Dec. 8, 1988. The show is called "Tanzhouse" hosted by a young Fred Kogel. It includes footage from Hamburg's "Front" with Boris Dlugosch, Kemal Kurum's "Opera House" and the "Prinzenbar".
59. Robb, D. (2002), Techno in Germany: Its Musical Origins and Cultural Relevance, German as a Foreign Language Journal, No.2, 2002, (p. 132–135).
60. Messmer, S. (1998), Eierkuchensozialismus, TAZ, 10.7.1998, (p. 26).
61. Brewster 2006:361
62. Henkel, O.; Wolff, K. (1996) Berlin Underground: Techno und Hiphop; Zwischen Mythos und Ausverkauf, Berlin: FAB Verlag, (pp. 81-83).
63. Reynolds 1999:112
64. Sicko 1999:145
65. Schuler, M.(1995),Gabber + Hardcore,(p. 123), in Anz, P.; Walder, P. (Eds) (1999 rev. edn, 1st publ. 1995, Zurich: Verlag Ricco Bilger)Techno. Reinbek: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag.
66. Reynolds 1999:110
67. Tresor II: Berlin & Detroit - A Techno Alliance album details at Discogs
68. Sicko 1999:199-200
69. Mike Banks interview, The Wire, Issue #285 (November '07)
70. Robert Hood interview hosted at spannered.org
71. "Electronic producers of all stripes are now inspired by a broader jazz palette, whether as fodder for samples, as part of the search for rhythmic diversity, or as a reference point for their own artistic aspirations toward a cerebral sophistication removed from the sweat of the dance floor." The article provides, as examples, the music of Kirk Degiorgio, Matthew Herbert, Spring Heel Jack, Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher), Jason Swinscoe (Cinematic Orchestra) and Innerzone Orchestra (Carl Craig with ex-Sun Ra/James Carter group members, et al.).
72. Sicko 1999:198
73. Gerald Simpson (A Guy Called Gerald) maintains that "Pacific State" was intended for a John Peel session exclusively, but 808 State's Graham Massey and Martin Price added additional elements by drawing upon Massey's collection of exotic jazz records for inspiration. This led to the inclusion of a distinctive saxophone solo. Massey recalls that: We were trying to do something in the vein of Marshall Jefferson's 'Open Your Eyes'…That track was happening everywhere. The production was released as a white label in May 1989 and later issued on the mini-album Quadrastate at the end of July that year, just as the second Summer of Love was flowering. Massey remembers taking the white label to Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, and Jon Da Silva, and notes that it rose through the ranks to become the last tune of the night. Lawrence, T (2006), Discotheque: Haçienda, sleeve notes for album release of the same name, retrieved from the authors website
74. Butler 2006:114. Graham Massey has discussed the use of unusual meters in 808 State's music commenting online in June 18, 2004, that: I always thought Cobra Bora could have stood a chance. It was sometimes played at Hot Night at the Hacienda despite its funny time signature (the feel of the track was created by combining parts in 6/8 time with others in 4/4).
75. Kodwo 1998:127
76. "Galaxy 2 Galaxy is a band that was conceptualized with the first hitech Jazz record produced by UR in 1986/87 and later released in 1990 which was Nation 2 Nation (UR-005). Jeff Mills and Mike Banks had visions of Jazz music and musicians operating on the same "man machine" doctrine dropped on them from Kraftwerk. Early experiments with synthesizers and jazz by artists like Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Weather Report, Return to Forever, Larry Heard and Lenny White's Astral Pirates also pointed them in this direction. UR went on to produce and further innovate this form of music which was coined 'Hitech Jazz' by fans after the historic 1993 release of UR's Galaxy 2 Galaxy (UR-025) album which included the underground UR smash titled 'Hitech Jazz'."
77. Angelic Upstart: Mixmag interview with Dave Angel detailing his interest in jazz. Retrieved from Techno.de
78. Brewster 2006:364
79. Reynolds 1999:183
80. Anker M., Herrington T., Young R. (1995), New Complexity Techno, The Wire, Issue #131 (January '95)
81. Reynolds 1999:182
82. Tracklisting for the Warp Records 1992 compilation Artificial Intelligence
83. "Of all the terms devised for contemporary non-academic electronic music (the sense intended here), 'electronica' is one of the most loaded and controversial. While on the one hand it does seem the most convenient catch-all phrase, under any sort of scrutiny it begins to implode. In its original 1992-93 sense it was largely coterminous with the more explicitly elitist 'intelligent techno', a term used to establish distance from and imply distaste for, all other more dancefloor-oriented types of techno, ignoring the fact that many of its practitioners such as Richard James (Aphex Twin) were as adept at brutal dancefloor tracks as what its detractors present as self-indulgent ambient 'noodling'". Blake, Andrew, Living Through Pop, Routledge, 1999. p 155.
84. Reynolds 1999:181
85. Reynolds 1999:163. The traveling lifestyle began in the early seventies, as convoys of hippies spent the summer wandering from site to site on the free festival circuit. Gradually, these proto-crusty remnants of the original counterculture built up a neomedieval economy based on crafts, alternative medicine, and entertainment…In the mid-eighties, as squatting became a less viable option and the government mounted a clampdown on welfare claimants, many urban crusties tired of the squalor of settled life and took to the roving lifestyle.
86. St. John 2001:100-101
87. Cox 2004:414. Any form of electronica genealogically related to Techno but departing from it in one way or another.
88. Loubet E.& Couroux M., Laptop Performers, Compact Disc Designers, and No-Beat Techno Artists in Japan: Music from Nowhere, Computer Music Journal, Vol. 24, No. 4. (Winter, 2000), pp. 19-32.
89. Kodwo 1998:100
90. Sicko 1999:79
91. Sicko 1999:71
92. Silcott, M. (1999). Rave America: New school dancescapes. Toronto, ON: ECW Press.
93. Brewster 2006:349
94. Sicko 1999:45–49
95. Brewster 2006:343–346
96. Reynolds 1999:190
97. Sicko 1999:48
98. Extensive collection of review excerpts hosted on the Raymond Scott website.
99. Butler 2006:12–13,94
100. Butler 2006:8
101. Fikentscher, K. (1991), The Decline of Functional Harmony in Contemporary Dance Music, Paper presented at the 6th International Conference On Popular Music Studies, Berlin, Germany, July 15-20, 1991.
102. Butler 2006:208–209,214
103. Butler 2006:94
104. Keyboard Magazine Vol. 21, No.7 (issue #231), July 1995, 12 Who Count: Juan Atkins.
105. 909 LIVES!: Overview of the Roland TR-909 drum machine published by Sound on Sound magazine in November 1995.
106. 808 Statement: Overview of the Roland TR-808 drum machine published by Sound on Sound magazine in May 1997.
107. BORN WIBBLY Steinberg/Propellerheads Rebirth RB-338 v2.0 Techno Microcomposer Software For Mac & PC. Overview of the original ReBirth RB-338 published by Sound on Sound magazine in August 1997
108. THE COOL OF REBIRTH Steinberg/Propellerheads Rebirth RB-338 v2.0 Techno Microcomposer Software For Mac & PC. Overview of the ReBirth RB-338 V2 published by Sound on Sound magazine in November 1998
109. Jim Aikin, Keyboard Magazine, reprinted in Software Synthesizers: The Definitive Guide to Virtual Musical Instruments. Backbeat Books, 2003.
110. ReBirth Museum
111. REASONS TO BE CHEERFULPropellerhead Software Reason Virtual Music Studio. Published by Sound on Sound magazine in March 2001
112. Overview of Reason 4 hosted at the Propellerhead website.
113. Emmerson, S. (2007), Living Electronic Music, Ashgate, Adlershot, pp. 111–113.
114. Emmerson, S. (2007), pp. 80–81.
115. Emmerson, S. (2007), pp. 115.
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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.
• From the Autobahn to I-94: The Origins of Detroit Techno and Chicago House – reminiscences by techno and house innovators
• Korg EMX Summer in Detroit - A video example of techno being performed live.
• Clip from a 1989 documentary featuring interviews with Gerald Simpson (A Guy Called Gerald) and Derrick May.