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Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk (Painted Turtle) by Dan Sicko
Although the most vital and innovative trend in contemporary music, techno is notoriously difficult to define. What, exactly, is techno? Author Dan Sicko offers an entertaining, informed, and in-depth answer to this question in Techno Rebets, the music's authoritative American chronicle and a must-read for all fans of techno popular music, and contemporary culture.
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First published May 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
May 24, 2024
This is a good rundown of the history of techno. It left me loving the genre more, but I feel more contempt for the Bushwick scene these days.
Alas, one shall perpetually yearn for Europe.
Alas, one shall perpetually yearn for Europe.
August 28, 2008
I'm surprised to see the lower reviews that this book receives on GoodReads; it's an entirely comprehensive study of the origins and maturation of Detroit Techno. The book does a great job of digging deep into the socioeconomics of the era that gave birth to the genre, so that by the time you get to the big Charivari party, you understand exactly why these kids are blending the things that they're blending together and where the genre was born.
To be fair, the second half of the book is scattered, attempting to quickly cover the all of the rest of Electronic Dance Music in about 100 pages. Bad idea - the reader is left with capsule descriptions at best of many notable subgenres, and as an artifact of the era in which the book was written (the late nineties), there are several flash-in-the-pan inclusions. This is unnecessary, though a legitimate holdover from the "Electronica" days where such a multitude of sounds and scenes were mentally and critically shoehorned into one umbrella term.
I still give the book five stars because the first half is an outstanding and realized history of Detroit Techno.
To be fair, the second half of the book is scattered, attempting to quickly cover the all of the rest of Electronic Dance Music in about 100 pages. Bad idea - the reader is left with capsule descriptions at best of many notable subgenres, and as an artifact of the era in which the book was written (the late nineties), there are several flash-in-the-pan inclusions. This is unnecessary, though a legitimate holdover from the "Electronica" days where such a multitude of sounds and scenes were mentally and critically shoehorned into one umbrella term.
I still give the book five stars because the first half is an outstanding and realized history of Detroit Techno.
March 4, 2013
An excellent and comprehensive history lesson for anyone into the electronic music genre that wants to know the beginnings.
September 4, 2022
I didn't even know anything about Kraftwerk when I started reading this. Soo eek learnt a lot!! Well put together, really good interviews, appreciated the geographic specificity. But thought it felt a bit linear? House -> techno -> edm. Given the 'global history' tone, would've loooved to c mention of French Touch etc.
March 1, 2019
3 stelutse cu minus. O cartulie cinstita, perspectiva istorica, cam enciclopedica si boring pe alocuri, orientata exclusiv pe muzica si mai putin pe restu culturii, ceea ce e meah. prefer cu inima curata Energy Flash a lu Reynolds.
January 30, 2015
This is a solid introduction to techno music, its trappings and origins, penned by Dan Sicko at the turn of the century as a sort of round up of techno's history up to that moment.
The undisputed strength of this book lies in its first half, which chronicles the rise of early techno from the crucible of Detroit's early eighties party scene. "Progressive" was the description given at the time to the mix of funk, new wave, disco and synth pop that held sway on the city's dancefloors, records drawn from distant locales including France, Italy, Japan, Germany and the UK (a global outlook before such was commonplace in music). Running in parallel during this period was The Electrifying Mojo, a visionary DJ who played a similar mix of styles (from Kraftwerk to Funkadelic to The B-52's to Prince to Tangerine Dream) during his extended late-night sets broadcast over Detroit's radio waves. This is the context from which Juan Atkins emerged with his early forays into electronic music that would ultimately culminate in his Metroplex label and the first very techno records.
The book remains strong as Sicko continues with the exploits of "The Belleville Three", rounded out by Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. These stories are simply classic, and Sicko's dogged pursuit of surrounding historical context seems to unfold them in three dimensions. Even as he moves across the Atlantic to cover 808 State and A Guy Called Gerald, along with the next generation of Detroit producers, including the likes of Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin and Underground Resistance, he manages to retain focus. Sometimes the writing lacks flash, and might seem even dry to some, but it gets the job done.
I think the book does lose its way a bit when he moves into other genres like jungle and post rock toward the end; also when he starts giving a country by country breakdown of techno producers. The latter might have been more elegantly accomplished if they'd all been threaded together (along with Detroit cats like Suburban Knight and Sean Deason), emphasizing the increasing global nature of the music through juxtaposition (as it would have been during a DJ set) rather than splitting it all up into mini-sections (logical and encyclopedic, but leaves a bad aftertaste of entropy). There was also a reference to a form of proto-techno (called "tekno", apparently) associated with Talla2XLC in the eighties that I was hoping to hear more about, but it only got a passing mention.
This part of the book could have actually been fleshed out quite a bit more to maintain the tone of the first half, maybe telling the stories of artists like Ken Ishii, The Black Dog, Adam Beyer and Surgeon, while also managing to go into the Berlin/Detroit axis in more detail (Basic Channel/3MB) and document some of the global link ups (Orlando Voorn/Blake Baxter, more space dedicated to the Gerald Simpson Inertia record on Retroactive, Neuropolitique). Dobre and Jamez (Jark Prongo/René et Gaston/Klatsch!, etc. etc. etc!) certainly deserved a look in.
And the section where he moves into other genres touched by techno just felt far too cursory, in some cases it was almost as if he was winging it! Just coming at it from the technoid angle, the jungle section (for example) could have touched on not only 4 Hero's/Jacob's Optical Stairway, Photek, T. Power and A Guy Called Gerald in more depth, but also Detroit incursions like Soundmurderer & SK1, Sean Deason's dabbling in breakbeat science and the Dyonis record on Fragile. Beyond that, there wasn't any mention of techstep or ragga jungle, while L. Double and the Kemet Crew would have been more than welcome additions to the narrative. There's certainly a case to be made for these genres' duality.
All of this could quickly fill a book of its own, but it still might have been illuminating to give these tangents more space in the text (or else excise them completely). Impetus for the coverage of jungle could have sprung from the bleep 'n bass chapter, with the likes of Unique 3 and Shut Up And Dance serving as a bridge, rather than its being tucked way as a footnote at the end. Once rave music makes its appearance felt in the book, it would have made sense to look in on it from time to time for the sake of comparison, with the well-recorded animosity some techno producers had toward the style.
At any rate, I'm going off on tangents of my own here (I do generally think a lot of these genres get spliced apart from each other to their detriment), but suffice it to say that the parts of this book that work really work - and you won't really find them covered anywhere else (hence the solid five star rating). Its focus on historical context is its strength. Those left cold by the history would do well to check out Kodwo Eshun's More Brilliant Than The Sun, a more imagagistic mapping of techno and surrounding terrain. These two books complement each other extremely well.
If you're looking to start exploring techno music, Techno Rebels would make an excellent first port of call.
The undisputed strength of this book lies in its first half, which chronicles the rise of early techno from the crucible of Detroit's early eighties party scene. "Progressive" was the description given at the time to the mix of funk, new wave, disco and synth pop that held sway on the city's dancefloors, records drawn from distant locales including France, Italy, Japan, Germany and the UK (a global outlook before such was commonplace in music). Running in parallel during this period was The Electrifying Mojo, a visionary DJ who played a similar mix of styles (from Kraftwerk to Funkadelic to The B-52's to Prince to Tangerine Dream) during his extended late-night sets broadcast over Detroit's radio waves. This is the context from which Juan Atkins emerged with his early forays into electronic music that would ultimately culminate in his Metroplex label and the first very techno records.
The book remains strong as Sicko continues with the exploits of "The Belleville Three", rounded out by Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. These stories are simply classic, and Sicko's dogged pursuit of surrounding historical context seems to unfold them in three dimensions. Even as he moves across the Atlantic to cover 808 State and A Guy Called Gerald, along with the next generation of Detroit producers, including the likes of Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin and Underground Resistance, he manages to retain focus. Sometimes the writing lacks flash, and might seem even dry to some, but it gets the job done.
I think the book does lose its way a bit when he moves into other genres like jungle and post rock toward the end; also when he starts giving a country by country breakdown of techno producers. The latter might have been more elegantly accomplished if they'd all been threaded together (along with Detroit cats like Suburban Knight and Sean Deason), emphasizing the increasing global nature of the music through juxtaposition (as it would have been during a DJ set) rather than splitting it all up into mini-sections (logical and encyclopedic, but leaves a bad aftertaste of entropy). There was also a reference to a form of proto-techno (called "tekno", apparently) associated with Talla2XLC in the eighties that I was hoping to hear more about, but it only got a passing mention.
This part of the book could have actually been fleshed out quite a bit more to maintain the tone of the first half, maybe telling the stories of artists like Ken Ishii, The Black Dog, Adam Beyer and Surgeon, while also managing to go into the Berlin/Detroit axis in more detail (Basic Channel/3MB) and document some of the global link ups (Orlando Voorn/Blake Baxter, more space dedicated to the Gerald Simpson Inertia record on Retroactive, Neuropolitique). Dobre and Jamez (Jark Prongo/René et Gaston/Klatsch!, etc. etc. etc!) certainly deserved a look in.
And the section where he moves into other genres touched by techno just felt far too cursory, in some cases it was almost as if he was winging it! Just coming at it from the technoid angle, the jungle section (for example) could have touched on not only 4 Hero's/Jacob's Optical Stairway, Photek, T. Power and A Guy Called Gerald in more depth, but also Detroit incursions like Soundmurderer & SK1, Sean Deason's dabbling in breakbeat science and the Dyonis record on Fragile. Beyond that, there wasn't any mention of techstep or ragga jungle, while L. Double and the Kemet Crew would have been more than welcome additions to the narrative. There's certainly a case to be made for these genres' duality.
All of this could quickly fill a book of its own, but it still might have been illuminating to give these tangents more space in the text (or else excise them completely). Impetus for the coverage of jungle could have sprung from the bleep 'n bass chapter, with the likes of Unique 3 and Shut Up And Dance serving as a bridge, rather than its being tucked way as a footnote at the end. Once rave music makes its appearance felt in the book, it would have made sense to look in on it from time to time for the sake of comparison, with the well-recorded animosity some techno producers had toward the style.
At any rate, I'm going off on tangents of my own here (I do generally think a lot of these genres get spliced apart from each other to their detriment), but suffice it to say that the parts of this book that work really work - and you won't really find them covered anywhere else (hence the solid five star rating). Its focus on historical context is its strength. Those left cold by the history would do well to check out Kodwo Eshun's More Brilliant Than The Sun, a more imagagistic mapping of techno and surrounding terrain. These two books complement each other extremely well.
If you're looking to start exploring techno music, Techno Rebels would make an excellent first port of call.
Read
March 11, 2024Máis de 200 referencia a homes, só tres mulleres: dúas que cantaban sobre as pistas que facían os djs e unha administradora dun selo. Cústame creer que con todas as escenas que se refire o libro non haxa nin unha soa dj...Fillo do seu tempo que me enche de ira, fun na busca de referentes e saín escaldada 😡
September 1, 2011
i wanted to love this book. i love detroit. i love detroit techno. i loved dancing my ass off in filthy abandoned factories and warehouses with no lights. there was a joyful, creative, communal feeling that i got, and that my friends got, going into the ruins of detroit and making joy there. it was a triumphant feeling we got from our reclamation of those spaces. i wanted this book to capture that feeling that techno gave detroit. and it didn't.
it was a very informative book, which was nice. but it was basically an account of who started which labels and what disagreements led to labels breaking up or competing with one another. pretty much all of 1994-2000 wasn't covered, even though lots of parties happened in those years.
but ultimately, i don't think i would have liked this book more if he had covered those missing years (which just so happen to include the years i spent going to warehouse parties). because his coverage was all facts and very little feelings. and i guess i wanted this book to recapture those feelings for me--which i guess is a bit unfair on my part.
it was a very informative book, which was nice. but it was basically an account of who started which labels and what disagreements led to labels breaking up or competing with one another. pretty much all of 1994-2000 wasn't covered, even though lots of parties happened in those years.
but ultimately, i don't think i would have liked this book more if he had covered those missing years (which just so happen to include the years i spent going to warehouse parties). because his coverage was all facts and very little feelings. and i guess i wanted this book to recapture those feelings for me--which i guess is a bit unfair on my part.
May 19, 2016
This book is a well-reported and forcefully argued case for the primacy of Detroit techno in the world of electronic music. I particularly liked Sicko's dissection of the major-label driven "electronica" boom of the late 90s and how it managed to both co-opt real dance music and alienate the unfamiliar. I was very much a casualty of that era and it's taken me until recently to get over my confusion about what, exactly, dance music is and where techno (and specifically Detroit techno) exist within the many genres. Recommended, if you're into this sort of thing.
March 11, 2023
I feel like this is essential reading for a Detroiter who goes to techno clubs. Loved reading about how the movement started in Detroit and seeing now familiar DJ names pop up. I think this would make an epic audio book or podcast if they included samples of the songs - I had to keep stopping and looking the songs myself so I could really follow along with the conversation. I’m still not sure I could explain Chicago House vs Detroit Techno, but I think my takeaway is it’s a feeling and doesn’t really matter? Especially excited for Movement this year!!
August 6, 2024
I really enjoyed this book — it helped me fill in the gaps of my techno knowledge. I recommend listening to the records Sicko mentions while reading, it really enhances the experience. I did feel disappointed that this book left out some key female figures, namely Kemistry and Storm, who were involved in D&B before Goldie and were the ones to introduce the genre to him. It was the three of them, not just Goldie, who founded Metalheadz. It made me wonder how many other women may have been left out of this account of history.
March 31, 2022
Really excellent deep dive into Detroit Techno, which reveals itself as a vital part of the history of electronic music.
It makes me crave more on Detroit Techno. Is this the best book out there on it?
- Curious Researcher.
https://soundcloud.com/bartadamley
It makes me crave more on Detroit Techno. Is this the best book out there on it?
- Curious Researcher.
https://soundcloud.com/bartadamley
December 18, 2007
Easily the most comprehensive book ever written on Detroit Techno, and Detroit's overall contribution to the global electronic music scene. A must read for fans of Detroit, and electronic music.
July 15, 2018
Incredibly wide perspective of what Techno is about, as well as its history. Masterly written.
July 31, 2022
Great book about the origins of techno music
December 5, 2022
Quite a treat to read something more comprehensive about the origins of techno and Detroit and its connection to the rest of electronic music. The book felt real casual and conversational.
March 29, 2024
I read this book, but it’s not so good.
It’s good if you want to know about Detroit from the 80s, but talking about Techno music and its origins it doesn’t go deep into the history and origins of this music.
It starts as suddenly there were some high school students listening to The Electrifying Mojo playing European tunes mainly Kraftwerk and got inspired to copy and make that music, later a compilation was made in the UK and the guy managing the compilation named it Techno and since then it supposedly started.
But what happened before? How can one define the origin because someone just named a compilation of music? trying to copy music from someone else?
I think to name a genre it has to have a structure and form, that one can follow and understand the genre of the music, its origins; clearly you can listen in recording from the past before the 80s that, that style of music existed before Detroit, but none of this is written, it feels like propaganda writing.
The only good thing about this book is about the history of some high school kids in Detroit and how the scene was, but it fails to address the origins and history of it.
Many think that the origin of Techno music is because someone named a compilation Techno, this is clearly shallow and sadly it may put aside what existed before and claim something that it’s not.
So be careful reading this book, it’s a nice book about Detroit in the 80s but nothing more.
If you’re expecting a deep dive into the origins of Techno music, you might be a bit disappointed.
October 18, 2025
Como persona que no conocía el género más allá de haberlo escuchado forzadamente en algunos clubs... es un buen libro para adentrarse en su historia y desarrollo hasta los descendiente del techno.
Por el contenido yo separaría el libro en dos partes; la primera sería los tres primeros capítulos, que son mucho más amenos y aportan el contexto social del panorama de Detroit (las fiestas de institutos, las bandas, el nacimiento de los primeros músicos en la periferia...) que ayudó a la proliferación del género. Luego la segunda parte sería el resto, que ya empieza con la amalgama de subgéneros que influyeron y que nacieron (DnB, jungle, brit-hop, groove...), los sellos, las bandas, los festivales, y sobre todo la enemistad con el gigante de la industria y el mainstream... la forma en la que escribe Dan Sicko es un poco "y vuelvo a ser la rara..." vibes.
Por otro lado, he de decir que no sabía nada del anonimato de las figuras primitivas del techno, ni de las diferencias entre el techno nostálgico, industrial de Detroit, en comparación al techno europeo y la "eu(ro)foria" que ha llegado a nuestras fiestas gracias a, o por culpa de los alemanes.
Me ha faltado que profundizara más en el conflicto racial más allá de mencionar la incursión de Plus 8 al mercado europeo y de decir un par de veces que la recesión económica y las tensiones raciales marcarían a largo plazo la ciudad.
Por el contenido yo separaría el libro en dos partes; la primera sería los tres primeros capítulos, que son mucho más amenos y aportan el contexto social del panorama de Detroit (las fiestas de institutos, las bandas, el nacimiento de los primeros músicos en la periferia...) que ayudó a la proliferación del género. Luego la segunda parte sería el resto, que ya empieza con la amalgama de subgéneros que influyeron y que nacieron (DnB, jungle, brit-hop, groove...), los sellos, las bandas, los festivales, y sobre todo la enemistad con el gigante de la industria y el mainstream... la forma en la que escribe Dan Sicko es un poco "y vuelvo a ser la rara..." vibes.
Por otro lado, he de decir que no sabía nada del anonimato de las figuras primitivas del techno, ni de las diferencias entre el techno nostálgico, industrial de Detroit, en comparación al techno europeo y la "eu(ro)foria" que ha llegado a nuestras fiestas gracias a, o por culpa de los alemanes.
Me ha faltado que profundizara más en el conflicto racial más allá de mencionar la incursión de Plus 8 al mercado europeo y de decir un par de veces que la recesión económica y las tensiones raciales marcarían a largo plazo la ciudad.
May 15, 2023
a strong history of detroit techno, but i think sicko overstates the importance of detroit techno in the development of "techno" or raving or electronic music at large. he does a little rhetorical trick in chapter 4, on the uk acid house / rave era. he explicitly mentions that the 1988 detroit techno comp was not a commercial success. only a handful of djs were supporting the music, especially in sheffield. instead acid house and raves were immensely popular, but by the end of the chapter he's using the terms "acid" and "rave music" interchangeably with "techno". it's a trick that wouldn't be possible if the word "techno" wasn't so loosely defined.
i don't mean for any of this to take away from the pioneers of detroit techno accomplished. their work remains a creative high water mark in the history of electronic music, and it's obvious that many others would borrow from them in the decades to follow. but if anything it feels like raves influenced techno and not the other way around.
i don't mean for any of this to take away from the pioneers of detroit techno accomplished. their work remains a creative high water mark in the history of electronic music, and it's obvious that many others would borrow from them in the decades to follow. but if anything it feels like raves influenced techno and not the other way around.
February 25, 2025
As someone with a good amount of knowledge about techno, I can say that this book leaves very little if anything undiscussed that is of significance to techno and its specific history and development up to 1999. For example, I can't name a single pre-2000 techno artist that I think should have been included in some way or another but wasn't. Very comprehensive.
It was a fun read as well most of the time. Sicko has a smooth writing style and includes lots of fun little details. He also includes many direct quotes from the artists themselves, which help to make the history come alive.
The "buyer's guide" at the end of the book is also excellent. I checked and a lot of it is available on bandcamp (and on streaming services) these days.
The only thing that I had a minor issue with was the connection made with post-rock. I love Stereolab etc, but I'm not fully convinced that this music sprung forth out of techno in any straightforward way.
It was a fun read as well most of the time. Sicko has a smooth writing style and includes lots of fun little details. He also includes many direct quotes from the artists themselves, which help to make the history come alive.
The "buyer's guide" at the end of the book is also excellent. I checked and a lot of it is available on bandcamp (and on streaming services) these days.
The only thing that I had a minor issue with was the connection made with post-rock. I love Stereolab etc, but I'm not fully convinced that this music sprung forth out of techno in any straightforward way.
Read
January 10, 2023The author is writing a book about Detroit Techno and it's impact, but I am left more confused by it's impact than ever. The feeling I get after reading the book is that acid house, acid techno, and German techno would have existed with or without Detroit Techno. Sure, the Germans embraced Detroit. But the Author makes no attempt to explain what sounds and styles came from where and who came first. An odd thing to skip when you are writing a book about where a genre came from.
A lot of the book is about the early 1980s Detroit party scene, but the scene appears to end before techno begins. The connections are all tenuous. Little is analyzed and few arguments are supported. Why is "Alleys of Your Mind" Techno vs Electro? He hints about how techno has its own song structure. Well, what is it? Didn't learn much from this book. Don't see the hype.
A lot of the book is about the early 1980s Detroit party scene, but the scene appears to end before techno begins. The connections are all tenuous. Little is analyzed and few arguments are supported. Why is "Alleys of Your Mind" Techno vs Electro? He hints about how techno has its own song structure. Well, what is it? Didn't learn much from this book. Don't see the hype.
September 23, 2020
Quizás esperaba más de un libro específico sobre el Techno de Detroit. Me parece que hace un muy buen trabajo al principio contextualizando los inicios del movimiento pero en cuanto avanza un poco en la historia del techno se queda corto y es demasiado superficial. Esperaba encontrar más datos de los viajes de los chicos de Detroit a Berlín como en Der Klang Der Familie pero no había. Sin embargo es una lectura amena y entretenida con no una excesiva cantidad de nombres de sellos y artistas que desborden la narración y hagan que un libro de este estilo sea una mera lista de referencia.
October 30, 2024
A love letter to a truly American genre that doesn't have the well reported and journaled history that rock or pop does. This book is for anyone who has ever wanted to understand how electronic music and its forefathers found their way to our ears.
January 6, 2025
Absolutely perfect length for a microscopic look into a music subgenre. No fluff.
May 24, 2023
Amazing book.
July 7, 2023
Twas’ a fun and light read on the history of oonz oonz
WE ONLY DID A HANDFUL OF GIGS AS “THE KNOB-TWIDDLERS” AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN WE ASSUMED JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE, AND RINGO [STATUS] ON STAGE. WE TOOK IT TO AMERICA—AND AMERICANS MAKE YOU WORK LIKE FUCK, DON’T THEY? THEY STAND THERE AND THEY GO “ENTERTAIN ME!”
DARREN PARTINGTON (808 STATE)
“WHAT BECOMES PAINFULLY OBVIOUS IS THE NARROW PERCEPTION OF THOSE IN POWER TO SEE THAT CHANGE IS A GOOD THING. IF ANYTHING, WHAT THIS MUSIC REPRESENTS IS A CHANGE, A RAPID DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS SOMETHING ELSE. ADMITTEDLY MORE ALIEN, MORE FACELESS, ELECTRONIC MUSIC REPRESENTS THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC. THIS IS PERHAPS NOT THE DEATH OF ROCK ’N’ ROLL BUT ITS RECONSTRUCTION.”
D&B [drum & bass] has gone through a few periods where it’s looked like it will truly fragment (à la House), but each time it’s pulled itself back together again. One of the great strengths of the scene is its ability to incorporate so many different styles and flavors under the same umbrella. The pigeon-holing obsession primarily comes from journalists and forum-heroes, and generally only serves a negative purpose (“I can’t stand neuro-liquid—I’m only into darkside-wobble”).
“I think there isn’t enough experimentation in music as a whole. Considering all the things that can be explored with computers and programming software, what we’re hearing from the music industry is quite disappointing. And the idea that people can only accept simple things is an insult. I believe techno music should endorse new thinking and new approaches to what can be done with sound and rhythm.” -Jeff Mills
“Efforts to expand the structure of techno are also producing myriad combinations with jazz music. Jazz is one music genre from which techno seems to take all kinds of cues, and in fact the cultural parallels between techno and bebop in particular are striking: both originated with African American artists, both faced early resistance from U.S. audiences and traveled to Europe for greater acceptance, and both became popularized (some might say watered down) by white artists”
WE ONLY DID A HANDFUL OF GIGS AS “THE KNOB-TWIDDLERS” AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN WE ASSUMED JOHN, PAUL, GEORGE, AND RINGO [STATUS] ON STAGE. WE TOOK IT TO AMERICA—AND AMERICANS MAKE YOU WORK LIKE FUCK, DON’T THEY? THEY STAND THERE AND THEY GO “ENTERTAIN ME!”
DARREN PARTINGTON (808 STATE)
“WHAT BECOMES PAINFULLY OBVIOUS IS THE NARROW PERCEPTION OF THOSE IN POWER TO SEE THAT CHANGE IS A GOOD THING. IF ANYTHING, WHAT THIS MUSIC REPRESENTS IS A CHANGE, A RAPID DEVELOPMENT TOWARDS SOMETHING ELSE. ADMITTEDLY MORE ALIEN, MORE FACELESS, ELECTRONIC MUSIC REPRESENTS THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC. THIS IS PERHAPS NOT THE DEATH OF ROCK ’N’ ROLL BUT ITS RECONSTRUCTION.”
D&B [drum & bass] has gone through a few periods where it’s looked like it will truly fragment (à la House), but each time it’s pulled itself back together again. One of the great strengths of the scene is its ability to incorporate so many different styles and flavors under the same umbrella. The pigeon-holing obsession primarily comes from journalists and forum-heroes, and generally only serves a negative purpose (“I can’t stand neuro-liquid—I’m only into darkside-wobble”).
“I think there isn’t enough experimentation in music as a whole. Considering all the things that can be explored with computers and programming software, what we’re hearing from the music industry is quite disappointing. And the idea that people can only accept simple things is an insult. I believe techno music should endorse new thinking and new approaches to what can be done with sound and rhythm.” -Jeff Mills
“Efforts to expand the structure of techno are also producing myriad combinations with jazz music. Jazz is one music genre from which techno seems to take all kinds of cues, and in fact the cultural parallels between techno and bebop in particular are striking: both originated with African American artists, both faced early resistance from U.S. audiences and traveled to Europe for greater acceptance, and both became popularized (some might say watered down) by white artists”
September 19, 2016
A really quick, engaging read on a very maligned and misunderstood genre of electronic music. The perfect overview for somebody who may not know much about techno but wants to get into it. Unfortunately, it's brevity is also what hurts it. Due to the nature of its short, quick analysis, it runs through the history of the genre fairly quickly, not really giving the reader a lot of time to sit down and focus on little details, individual stories and anecdotes that contribute to the reader's understanding of where this genre came from and how people created it. I was also a little bit disappointed that it spent most of its time focused on the Detroit angle of techno, which makes sense, since it was created there, but it would've been nice to have more than a few passing mentions of such incredible British techno-inspired artists such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, and others. Overall, though, it's a very engaging and interesting read. I just wish it was a little bit more detailed.
July 26, 2007
While the book is kind of dated (written in 1999 -- it discusses mp3 as an emerging distribution technology) and the writing style is pretty dry (very academic in nature), the book does provide an informative history of techno up to 1999. I feel the author does kind of overemphasize the importance of developments in Detroit throughout the book, but he does at least somewhat cover techno developments elsewhere in the world. Or maybe I'm not giving Detroit the credit it deserves. Overall, much of the book reads as a who's who of Techno artists. Either way, I give the book 2 stars, mostly because it is so dated.
September 13, 2007
Not so much good writing. But some history I wanted: advent of detroit techno. How it came from Chicago "house" music. And how Canada relates. And how it really, and I guess not-surprisingly, well, how much of all this stuff comes from kraftwerk and 70's disco.
Pretty much disregarded the latter chapters -- those seemed more fanzine than history.
Pretty much disregarded the latter chapters -- those seemed more fanzine than history.
Want to read
September 17, 2008Does this count as "currently reading" if I'm kind of on hold with it? It's weird: as a techno freak I really should have read this book long ago. But I guess it just doesn't hold me, oddly enough.
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