Techno, from Detroit to now

March 30, 2021 8:57 AM

Beatport's Definitive Guide to Techno As part of Beatportal’s new series on the history of electronic dance music, Marcus Barnes explores the rich history of techno, from the 1970s through to today. A long-form article packed with samples and tracks.
posted by hackwolf (9 comments total)

You are *not* allowed to post this type of awesomeness in the middle of the work day. I have a big project due and dammit, now my day is shot! ;)
posted by jeremias at 9:38 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the post - this brings back memories of buying CDs at Gramophone records in Chicago in the 90's. Looks like they haven't changed much. My tastes have shifted massively since then, but I still have a soft spot for Jeff Mills, Drexcyia, Robert Hood, Dan Curtin, Orbital, and more.
posted by Dmenet at 10:54 AM on March 30, 2021

My personal techno journey is that I discovered it as a teen, and it filed it under the aggressive, abrasive music I liked then, including punk, heavy metal and industrial. It scratched an itch for something that was not just off the beaten path in my high school, but radically opposed to it. Later in life I got heavily into dance music, but techno was my least favorite, as I spent most of my time listening to Drum n Bass, House, and "IDM." Now as a middle aged man, I find myself back into techno, but now I find it relaxing and hypnotic. I especially love Dub Techno... it helps me sleep! It's an amazing art form and the history is fascinating. Thank you for posting this.
posted by chaz at 11:40 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Listen. The Electrifying Mojo is the main reason I have decent taste in popular music. I was a wee classical snob and I might well have been one all my life.
posted by praemunire at 11:53 AM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

That article was packed! Thanks for posting it!

My musical tastes have always been parallel to Techo but not quite overlapping. Though Industrial/EBM also counts Kraftwerk as godfathers.
posted by cirhosis at 12:52 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

One cannot forget Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music, with branching genrelines tracked through the ages and hosted samples of artists from the Experimental/Musique Concrete days of 70+ years ago, all the way up to the modern ProgPsy, Synthwave and Darkstep hits of today. Originally created in Flash over twenty years ago (!!!), it's been a delight to dig into time and again.
posted by FatherDagon at 3:10 PM on March 30, 2021 [5 favorites]

I have no idea how these people got their cats in boots or why.
posted by bartleby at 3:34 PM on March 30, 2021

Related: the sadly neglected website of the Museum of Techno, originally founded in 1892 and home to the James Soame collection of badboy kickdrums (tragically offline at this time). I fear that one can no longer obtain their tee-shirts for £8, but they were badass.
posted by Hogshead at 4:47 PM on March 30, 2021

Really interesting history, however it downplays the influence of Chicago House on the eventual emergence of the techno sound. This essay helps bridge the Chicago and Detroit scene.
Beatport's article even claims "acid house exploded out of the UK and spread across Europe..."; true, acid house spread like wildfire across the UK and Europe, but it's important to acknowledge the pioneering work of Phuture and other Chicago artists/DJs who first coerced the style from the TB-303 before it blossomed overseas.
posted by prinado at 11:39 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]