In late December Kyle Hall will release his second album From Joy via his Wild Oats label.
The eight-track triple LP is the Detroit native’s first full release since 2013 when he debuted with the well-received The Boat Party LP. In the interim he has dropped a handful of 12″s.
From Joy collects material recorded before 2010 and the title is a reference to Joy Street in Detroit, the location of Hall’s father’s basement where the tracks were recorded. Wild Oats explains further, “The title is derived from the idea of finding a way to live life in a state of presence; detaching oneself from the mental, self imposed narratives echoed by society’s traditions and judgements. We as people tend to be at our most honest and present in our childhood, so in some ways From Joy serves as a mechanism and reminder to return to one’s youthful energetic state.”
Stream Kyle Hall’s Boiler Room DJ set via the SoundCloud player below where the tracklist for From Joy is also detailed.
Tracklist
A1 Damn! I’m Feelin Real Close
A2 Inverse Algebraic
B Dervenen
C1 Able To
C2 Wake Up And Dip
D Strut Garden
E Mysterious Lake
F Feel Us More
30drop Records will release Terrence Dixon’s Time Will Tell EP on 15th June.
The Detroit techno DJ and producer will drop the EP under his Population One guise, following the three-track 12″ he released in January.
According to 30drop, Time Will Tell “is a conceptual work” that includes “hypnotic and elegant minimalism” with “harmonic complexity and surrealism”. The four tracks are “imaginative and ambitious, the work gets into an unexplored territory to the delight of the most avant-garde dance floor.”
Stream Time Will Tell using the SoundCloud player below where the tracklist is also detailed.
In late 2014 Detroit techno innovator Kevin Saunderson was invited to Ford’s Michigan assembly plant as part of a forthcoming documentary on the Motor City.
Last summer esteemed DJ and producer Matthew Dear was invited to do a similar activity by General Electric and his resulting track, Drop Science, was composed using the resulting found sounds emanating from its machines.
In the three-minute video recently posted to YouTube, Saunderson searches the factory floor for samples, recording many of the sounds made by the plant’s machinery. As he searches for inspiration, milling around the plant and listening for the sounds of the production process while people and machines manufacture cars, Saunderson observes, “It’s the same tone; it’s the same frequency…then to just hear that there – it was probably used for a totally different purpose – but to hear that, it connected. It was love at first sound.”
“It’s hard to say what it will be used for,” the producer said during his visit. “You take samples, put it in the machine, and you never know what vibes it might bring. It could bring nothing, it could bring something amazing.”
Saunderson is one of the most adept in the stable of Detroit techno pioneers, both recording some of the hardest and darkest music to come out of the Motor City and regularly achieving success in the mainstream dance charts as well with his productions for his slick techno-house act Inner City.
Detroit-based deep house and techno producer Patrice Scott has unveiled the full details of his debut album, Euphonium. Consisting of nine tracks, the LP will come out on 27th April via Scott’s own Sistrum label, through which he has released numerous EPs and collaborative projects.
According to the press release, Scott will continue his exploration of the “modern sound of deepest Detroit”, with a collection of new productions that are described as “sublime and evolved with depth and authenticity as only Scott can convey.”
Ahead of the double-vinyl LP’s release, previews for all nine cuts on Euphonium can be streamed using the SoundCloud player below while the tracklist is detailed at the foot of this post.
Tracklist
A1 A Detroit State Of Mind
A2 Distr5th
B1 Escapism
B2 Hysteria
C1 Euphonium (E.T.A. Dub)
C2 They Walk The Earth
D1 The Dark Dance (E.T.A. Mix)
D2 Sync Deeper
D3 Music Therapy Pt. 2
“[A] complete mistake…like George Clinton and Kraftwerk caught in an elevator with only a sequencer to keep them company.” – Derrick May.
This piece is the first in a three-part series that will cover the three decades of Techno’s existence. The first starts with the genre’s origins in the 1970s and the genre’s growth in the ’80s, the second looks at the ’90s, the burgeoning Techno scene in Berlin and the second wave of Detroit Techno and the final article discusses the 2000s and the genre’s development across different countries and its and diffusion into sub-genres. Three Decades of Techno – Part one: The Conception and Development of Techno will explore the very beginnings of Techno in the 1970s and the effect European music and artists, especially, Kraftwerk, had on Detroit’s young inhabitants and how the genre grew into the style we know today.
The music of Kraftwerk was informed both by the clanging, rhythmic noise emanating from the factories in their native Düsseldorf and the funk of James Brown and, in particular, the Detroit-based label Motown. The bass and drum rhythms heard in the music of highly influential Motown were also informed by the unrelenting repetition of metal against metal heard in Detroit’s car factories, which were so sizeable and integral to the city’s economy it became known as the world’s automotive centre. The German four-piece simply replaced the traditional drums and bass that created Motown’s famous backbeats with homemade electronic drums and synthesisers. The unrelenting repetition now became even more precise and metronomic with the use of machine instead of man. These propulsive grooves drove them into dance music territory and a dedicated rhythm section in Karl Bartos and Wolfgang Flür brought them close to the traditional band setup found in Soul and R&B music and thus to Detroit. Bartos recalls, “we [Kraftwerk] were all fans of American music: Soul, the…Motown thing and of course James Brown. We always tried to make an American rhythm feel with a European approach to harmony and melody.”
This futuristic sound appealed to young Detroit inhabitants whose teenage rebellion tempted them away from their parents’ R&B and jazz records towards the exciting sounds of Kraftwerk and other European artists like Giorgio Moroder. They believed they had found the polar opposite of R&B yet in truth they were still listening to Soul music, due to influence of Motown and James Brown, only through unfamiliar sources. Techno pioneer Derrick May recollects, “Kraftwerk was always…culty, but it was very Detroit too because of the industry in Detroit, and because of the mentality. That music automatically appeals to the people like a tribal calling … it sounded like somebody making music with hammers and nails.”
The sonic aesthetics of mechanics and industry are fetishes of the Techno, which is reflected in the sounds created – robotic, precise and harsh. The exact drum beats and melodies written in strict 4/4 patterns with perfect quantisation, which would be unplayable by a human, feed into the fascination with impersonal industrial ‘hammers and nails’ clangour. Timbres are deliberately synthetic and multiple sounds are layered and affected to further convey the austere ‘machine music’ feel. The atmosphere of Techno is also indebted to its obsession with the future, whether this is one of streamlined perfection or an inhumane dystopia. A signifier of Techno and what separates it from its cousin Chicago House and Disco, is that its producers were, and still are, driven to find the limits of the technology.
Artists such as Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson were early participants in the fledgling genre were experimenting with hardware like Roland TR808 and TR909 drum machines, made deliberate errors and used them for roles they weren’t intended for. Manufactured in the mid-’80s, the Roland TB303 was a bass sequencer designed to accompany guitarists yet it was soon realised that it could be manipulated to create eerie, other-worldly sounds and effects, which have since become a foundation of Techno’s sound. An example of this is Phuture’s Acid Trax, which can be listened to below.
The initial flourishes of the genre thrived in Detroit’s environment arguably because it lacked the capriciousness and anonymity of large cities like New York or Los Angeles and was analogous to Düsseldorf’s industry-based economy. The Northwest of the city was the wealthiest part of Detroit and in 1979 the average income was 34% higher than anywhere else in Michigan’s most populous city. This was mainly due to the car factory assembly line workers, who were typically African-American, gaining promotion to office-based jobs. According to Juan Atkins, the children of these newly wealthier employees felt a need “to distance themselves from the kids that were coming up in the projects, in the ghetto”, and the negative stereotypes surrounding that environment. Hence why many African-American youths dissociated themselves from their parents’ R&B and Soul records, with their (unfair) association of poverty, and embraced European Dance music, which was generally perceived as being sophisticated and intellectual.
Through the mid-late ‘70s Techno spread throughout the city as the NW Detroit adolescents organised formal clubs; hiring spaces, lights and equipment and booking DJs. These parties had an elitist, exclusive nature with guest lists and dress codes the norm to separate themselves from the area’s poorer residents. The city’s empty and abandoned halls were tapped into as the local schools established two or three club nights per week and held multiple parties every weekend. At these events teenagers were exposed to New Wave, European dance, Electro and Italo-Disco. As they got older and bought cars they were able to visit clubs further afield including ones that had been established by youths living in the East of the city, which tended to be more inclusive so more people were able to attend. The music played at these clubs in Eastern Detroit was eclectic and orientated towards Funk acts like Parliament/Funkadelic.
Similar to the entrepreneurial approach that led to these numerous club nights, the teenagers also realised the importance of radio programming as way to continue people’s access to Techno and the other genres heard in the clubs. Radio DJs and stations were petitioned as they worked to conserve the variety of music broadcast. By doing this, many artists and their tracks were presented to the city’s residents, which helped open the channels for discovery and acceptance of European dance music in the city. Detroit radio personality The Electrifying Mojo is recognised as the most important figure in Detroit’s music scene. His show, which ran from 1977 to the mid ’80s and was a vital listen for Detroit’s teenagers, introduced a large audience to new tracks across a diverse range of genres that included Funk, New Wave, European Dance, Electro-pop and Italo-Disco and his passionate support of many Techno artists led to increased sales and interest in the genre.
Three of the most noteworthy names in Techno met at school in Belleville, a suburb on the outskirts of Detroit. Inspired by the cold European music of Gary Numan, Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder they had listened to via the local radio stations, Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson (often referred to as The Belleville Three) would theorise about how these artists created the songs and the steps the genre might take as it developed. Born in the early ‘60s and growing up financially comfortable, the three friends quickly bought turntables and a tape deck and learnt to DJ. They graduated to remixing records and performed at friends’ parties, gaining experience and fine-tuning their knowledge of equipment. Atkins declares, “When I first heard synthesisers dropped on records it was great … so I got one.” From this Atkins, May and Saunderson began releasing music under various pseudonyms and each was playlisted on Detroit’s radio stations.
They soon founded the Music Institute, a club in Detroit’s centre that became a home for the second generation of Techno DJs like Carl Craig, Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Stacey Pullen and Richie Hawtin as its environment encouraged collaboration and the sharing of DJ techniques.
In 1981 the trio set up the record label Deep Space Soundworks to provide a platform for their music. Atkins’ project Cybotron sold 15,000 copies of the label’s first release, Alleys Of Your Mind, in Detroit alone and the influence of that track and the successive LP Enter can still be heard on Techno tracks today. Cybotron’s Kraftwerk-like balance of Techno-pop and club oomph set the template for Detroit Techno: moody machine music to be appreciated nocturnally. After ending the Cybotron alias, Atkins progressed began releasing records under the guise Model 500 and founded Metroplex Records in 1985 and landmark releases such as No UFO’s, Interference and Nightdrive sold well and were broadcast frequently on the radio.
After considering a career as a professional American football player, Kevin Saunderson turned to DJing and formed the label KMS. Known for a dense, Gospel-inspired sound, his releases as a member of Kreem and Reese & Santonio were well received in the UK and his house-orientated group Inner City gained eight appearances in the UK Top 40 and four number ones in the American Billboard Dance charts, one of which was the 1988 hit Good Life.
Derrick May gained the most commercial success of the cadre, producing tracks that both sold very well and are considered some of the most original and influential in Techno. His classic sound incorporates streamlined percussion, piano stabs and string samples and mixes that with a warm, full sound that is normally found in House 12”s. May’s Transmat label was home to some of his best known hits like Nude Photo, the iconic and instantly recognisable Strings of Life and Kaos, which he produced between ’87 and ’89 under the Rhythim Is Rhythim alias. Though his releases near stopped during the ‘90s May still maintained his profile as a DJ and elevated Transmat into a worldwide respected Techno label.
May, Atkins and Saunderson were some of the first American Techno artists to tour the UK and they visited numerous times to perform, mostly at outdoor raves, and were often recruited for remixes by UK artists. By the late ‘80s the country had caught up with Detroit to embrace these futuristic sounds and English artists such as the Black Dog, 808 State and LFO, formed in large part to The Belleville Three’s influence, while the second wave of Detroit Techno grew momentum as the decade rolled into the ‘90s.
The second installment of Three Decades of Techno will be published on 30th March and discusses the genre during the 1990s, focusing on Detroit techno artists such as Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance and Carl Craig. It will also cover Techno’s development in Berlin and the beginnings of Minimal Techno.
In anticipation of his new album, which I wrote about here, revered techno artist Carl Craig talks to Bloc about his time in Detroit and introduction to music production in the video below.
Berlin label Tresor will be reissuing Harnessed The Storm, the 2002 album from Detroit techno duo Drexciya. Scheduled for release on 1st December 2014, it will be available as a 10 track CD and a nine track double vinyl.
In May this year, Drexciya’s debut LP Neptune’s Lair, whcich originally came out 1999, was reissued by Tresor. The duo of Gerald Donald (who now produces as Dopplereffekt) and the late James Stinson conceived Harnessed The Storm as the first of seven conceptual “storm” records, that were linked together by a complex code of Greek mythology, storms and the underwater city of Atlantis. It is also the only LP from Donald and Stinson that is credited to Drexciya as different aliases were used for the others. Dutch label Clone have previously re-released their Journey Of The Deep Sea Dweller EPs and compilations of their material.
Operating under the tradition of covert “faceless” techno, Drexciya are a highly-acclaimed outfit whose brooding and bleak influence can be heard in the music of Actress, Kyle Hall and Autechre. A large proportion of contempory techno is indebted to Drexciya’s relentlessly fast-paced blend of electro, acid and techno; their steely rhythmic texture and bite can be heard in almost every techno record to come from Berlin.
As with their close associate ‘Mad’ Mike Banks and his Underground Resistance collective (which included another techno icon, Jeff Mills), Donald and Stinson were one of the first and only artists in techno to use their music as a tool to discuss racism and social inequality, bringing a wider political consciousness to a genre that usually remains quiet on subjects that require extrospection.
The tracklist for the CD issue of Harnessed The Storm is set out below.
01. Under Sea Disturbances
02. Digital Tsunami
03. Soul of the Sea
04. Song of the Green Whale
05. Dr. Blowfin’s Black Storm Stabilizing Spheres
06. The Plankton Organization
07. Mission to Ociya Syndor And Back
08. Aquatic Cataclysm
09. Lake Haze
10. Birth of New Life
die Kanzel 