Lastly, I’ve been making techno a lot, but from a totally outsider perspective: indeed, I know almost nothing about it! Yeah, I’ve listened to some dj sets, been to a lot of techno nights, and know some tracks here and there… but that’s it. And I feel that I somewhat need to know at least some basic references to help me musically (at least for comparative listening mixingwise…).
Right now, I’m into Mord Records A LOT. Really dig that dark, cold techno sound. What labels should I listen to in the same vein? What are some techno absolute classics that I need to know to put things in perspective?
If u like Mord, take a look to all the Birmingham stuff, like Downwards, Counter Balance or Dynamic Tension.
The Spanish labels Pole Group, Tsunami Records, Warmup, Nheoma, Mental Disorder or Falling Ethics will be a good point too
To understand techno, all you need to know is that its a fusion of early electro and industrial. Juan Atkins made the first “techno” songs IIRC, it was his own idea of a futuristic rock music. A few more cats in detroit caught the bug and Detroit techno was born… 30 plus years later, the detroit techno sound has fusioned with industrial music so much that its hard to tell where one ends and another begins.
The industrial influence is what separates Techno from House music IMO… House music is a derivative of disco music.
So techno is a genre of fusions, a bit like UK jungle which takes influences from jamaican soundsystem music, funk and soul drums, dub and creates a new fusion.
Yeah, I’m more or less on point about the history of it, I read some books about it already, but it now has quite an extensive history, so it’s a bit hard to find by which door I can begin to explore it.
All good advice. I would personally add Downwards, Synewave, and Djax Up to this list of labels, as a second wave. Good to see what follows up Detroit and these labels have strong regional identity.
I haven’t kept up-to-date with more recent labels, but some of my faves are Stroboscopic Artefacts & Perc Trax.
I still think the best way to discover techno is the old time-honoured practice of crate digging. I just need to dig like a day or so to discover new talent I never heard of before, and those new names sprout more new names, and on and on…
This thread is teaching me that much like OP, I might sometimes make music that can be defined as techno, but I know Jack Shit about techno. Might even prefer it that way
Aside from listening to the music itself, Knowing the context that music is created in when you’re not necessarily engrossed in the scene could be a help.
To get a feel for what techno and electronic music in general is about theres some decent documentaries I’ve seen and countless others I’m sure people will be able to link.
