Preamble, written after I completed this entry: This is an intertwined account of why I love techno and what I understand techno to be. I hope that makes some sense. It's going to be spread over a few posts if I can keep it up, so here's part one...
I was watching "Hackers" today. You know, that movie where Angelina Jolie looks all cyberpunk and seduces Jonny Lee Miller. From 1995ish. I used to be pretty obsessed by that movie just cuz I was already basically a computer addict mixed with gamer (crazily playing Doom 2 all the time.. and it was on five A drive disks, those little 3 1/2 inch hard ones y'know). First of all, if you're not aware already, YouTube is a great place to catch free flicks. The formula is "[movie title here] part 1" in the search bar. Usually you'll get some results that are real, but sometimes you may have to dig around somewhere else if you really are trying to catch a freebie... Hackers is on YouTube, or at least it was this afternoon. I'm not gonna break out a post about that movie though.. The real point I wanted to talk about here was the concept of Big Beat techno. Also, a little bit of trance is in here too. "Hackers" is flooded with some of the biggest hits of early to mid nineties electronica (which is a word you don't really hear much anymore?)... And from my massive, steady diet of techno tracks I ingested over the last three years or so, I've come to some interesting conclusions about the older sounds that this film uses.
REPLACE THESE STARS WITH FULL POST<-->
I am fairly certain my first exposure to Electronica was via Mortal Kombat -- the film, that is -- which featured the archetypal "trance" song, Orbital's "Halcyon + On + On" in its soundtrack. It's also in Hackers when the main character flies over NYC near the beginning. OK done talking about Hackers. The song's all soft reverb, quasi-spiritually-via-world-music sounding, four-to-the-floor stretching the length of the track with a few synths flying in here and there. I'm surprised that this song holds up so well even today, which is probably a testament to Orbital more than anything; still, I'm pretty sure I was intrigued with the idea of that song back then, as a clean, nice sounding track that was pop, dance, and purely electronic sounding all at once but without being boring. Later I learned that it was part of the rave tradition of trance music.
Of course, due to my being born in 1985 I have to concede I'm already a latecomer to the rave game (see Britain's Second Summer of Love and the Madchester scenes, or any classic American scenes for house...) so my understanding of trance and/or rave, and I guess therefore my usage of the terms, doesn't really concern anything before 1990. Sorry to anyone who thinks I am overlooking classic Detroit sounds or stuff like that. Disclaimer? Yeah.
Today when people hear the word "trance" it's basically the butt of a joke already and you're thinking E tabs, K holes, candy bracelets, huge Jncos, glowsticks et al, and that's probably because the music the genre was named for kinda sucked. Is that archetypal track from trance called "Sandstorm"? I think it is. I'm not looking it up right now because I it's late and my wife is asleep next to me as I write. You'll have heard it if you've been to a roller skating rink before when you were younger.
The complaints that trance songs were just long, same-like pulses with little to no change in them aren't too far off the mark. Any trance I found besides that song from Orbital and maybe a few other exceptions seemed to prove to me that this music wasn't worth my time. Personally, I was convinced that electronica was a very limited genre that was designed only for dance situations, maybe just parties or clubs, instead of close or personal listening. I was much more into listening to Nirvana and Pearl Jam at that point in my life. Techno / electronica, to me, was mostly uninteresting, repetitive, and lacked a human element that rock obviously contained. On top of that I certainly wasn't going to dance clubs at that point in my life so I figured the only place I'd ever hear techno would be the occasional music video on MTV.
With all this in mind: Queue me watching MTV in 1997ish. I sit on my couch to watch an apparently hotly anticipated video of a song we all know today, "Block Rockin' Beats." By Chemical Brothers. It filled in all the spaces of teenage fantasy I had accumulated about the idea of raves. It's a pretty humorous depiction (ironically speaking) of people dodging the cops while trying to make it to the crazy electronica party full of eccentric, progressively dressed dancers in a dingy part of town somewhere. Youtube it, you'll laugh. And yet, this song kinda kicked my ass. I still think this song is good, not great or anything. Back then though, I thought it might be the point of rave culture entering into a wider consciousness and, more importantly, the death of boring trance with a more exciting sound for electronica to rise as a phoenix.
I went out and bought "Dig Your Own Hole" from the Blockbuster Music that was around the corner from my house on Shoal Creek (shout out to ATX, what what). I think I also bought "The Color and The Shape" at this time too cuz I really liked the song Monkey Wrench. It rawked me. Anyway, for all my prior excitement my first listen into Dig Your Own Hole by myself left me a little disappointed -- while it was definitely more listenable than any "trance" I had encountered prior, it still seemed to me it was specifically designed for dancers. Sure, there were recognizable A to B to C pop structures in some of the songs, which was the biggest improvement for me -- some guest vocals here and there... But I guess it didn't scratch my itch enough. The songs were shorter, they didn't meander, but they also didn't grab me. I blame my early grunge addiction; I had to have a human element, something more visceral and rock, I guess. As such, I listened to The Color... a ton, ton more. Yep, loved that record back in the day, scrawled Foo Fighters lyrics on my school notebooks, on tables and chairs. And as I went to a private Baptist school you bet your ass I was rebellious for it.
At that point I was a blossoming music nerd already, so I had to test the waters around me to see what my friends thought about the rise of electronica. People were definitely aware of stuff like Block Rockin' Beats, but what mattered more to a lot of my friends were the radio hits at the time, which were songs by Crystal Method and, more significantly, Prodigy. People were pretty nuts about "Breathe" at my school. There were some definite music cliques forming about my junior high class -- some people who "dared" to listen to harder stuff like Metallica which was about as rebellious as most of us could get, some people who were grunge with me, some punks, some radio listeners, some pop kids -- but it seemed like Breathe managed to cut through most of the lines as the most liked song. Prodigy definitely had an intense image thing going on that allowed them to rise above first impressions of typical electronica. Hell, their lead singer gave Rancid a run for their money for punk looks. I think it's more significant that "Breathe" utilized more organic sampled tone, namely the distorted "guitar" (cuz it maybe isn't one) riff that drives it, coupled with a pretty rock and roll vocal and some pretty intense lyrics that any disgruntled kid could latch onto and sing later, sounding cool.
While I saw everyone digging Breathe and heard it on the radio, I was convinced that it was more of the same electronica that turned me off for the same reasons Chemical Brothers managed to at first. Thus, it didn't set me off very much. Techno still wasn't my thing. Electronica was still a fad to me. It was still for dancers in my head. Same for Crystal Method. I kept returning to my rock records more often than not. Seemingly, I was trying to enjoy the new sound of electronica, or at least understand so I would know where music was going, but it wasn't working out for me. That is... until one day...
I was at an arcade (do people still make arcade games? Like, are there amazing arcade machines that have come out in 2008?) somewhere, I think in Austin, hanging with some friends. Carrying a backpack with me, I stored my discman with headphones, wallet, and an album I decided to pop in just to see if I could finally enjoy electronica again -- Crystal Method's "Vegas." It's strange how vividly I can recall this situation. So, like I said, I am a big gamer, always have been. I am particularly good at those top-down fighter jet games where you can fly around shooting upwards at the enemies who fly down shooting at you, and your progression from level-to-level depends on your ability to survive their downflow attacks and you kill everything in sight. Some people call those games total bullshit but I love them. I love Galaga, I love Aero Fighters... they are awesome. At this particular arcade I was rocking some Aero Fighters type game though. I'm off by myself, pump in the 25c and hit start, and slipped my headphones on, hitting play. "Vegas" fades in with a synth tone that pans the stereo field, then drops into some dance-y fast paced electronica (it's pretty much a big beat record). As I frantically fought off the high-speed onslaughts of my enemies, I found that my ears were basically getting a perfect, high-tempo soundtrack for my eyes' input. Suddenly, I found myself loving the hell out of songs like "Busy Child" and "Keep Hope Alive," singles I had definitely heard before on the radio but never enjoyed nearly as much as I did then.
It was a big epiphany for me cuz I had finally removed my categorizations of electronica from rigidly defined dancefloor situations to personal listening situations, albeit at first I was like "Maybe I can only listen to these records when I'm gaming." But as I went back to those electronica albums I had already bought again with a more open mind, I found myself able to enjoy them on my own as I never had before. I went back and bought Prodigy's "The Experience," which has the amazing track "Voodoo People." That song was somewhat of an anthem for me back in those days. It features prominently in "Hackers" too.
Now, I hadn't surrendered to the dance craze totally yet. I was still much much more of a rock and roll kid. At that age, I would begin to pick up the guitar, realize I loved Pearl Jam enough to buy all their albums, go through a totally exclusive punk rock phase, etc etc. This was far more important to me than realizing I could and did actually enjoy electronica/techno music. But looking back now, and given my taste now leans much more toward dance, techno, and hiphop than it did before, I can see how these experiences laid the seeds of my later music loves.
At this point I am making an executive decision based on 1) the length of this entry 2) my wife trying to sleep while I type, and extend my analysis of big beat/electronica into a later entry. This will basically a history of my love of techno that also talks about where techno has been, where it is going, and how I came to understand it. Part two will go from here to my discovery of IDM, house, my first raves, to my pivotal discovery of microhouse/minimalism in techno. Part three will talk about how I jettisoned all rock music for a few months as a sophomore in college, listening almost exclusively to hip-hop, microhouse and disco. This is about when I realized how the categorization of techno happens, so it'll have to be then that I talk about what I think about big beat vs. the rest of dance music. I'll analyze the effect of minimalism on dance music, discuss the rebirth of trance, the rise (again) of techno, and how big beat could reintegrate itself into the consciousness of listeners.
This might take four parts but I think the personal anecdotes combined with my insights could work.
Okie dokes?
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Iiiii've got the Big Beat AKA Why I Love Techno
Friday, January 30, 2009
Secret Weapons
Here are a few staples of my dance party DJ sets.
Eddy Rosemond - Funk It! - 1979
The Avalanches - Ray Zdarlight - 2006(?)
Kebekelektrik - War Dance - 1978
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Fearless SXSW 2009 Prediction # 1
Young Folks (the song, not the Casa Vista jam band) of sxsw 2k9:
Walking on a Dream by Empire of the Sun
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Stupid Song Saturday Vol. II
Today I bring to you...
Gil Mantera's Party Dream, Bunz Therapy
(if the player is not working, you can download the song here)
...from the album 'Bloodsongs'. Why is this song stupid? Well it's called "Bunz Therapy" and it's about getting high on a waterslide. Lyrics in totality: "I'm having fun on a waterslide. I'm feeling great and I'm getting high. Life is hell but I'm getting by. Whoah-oah, mmm-mm, uhh-uh".
That being said, isn't this song pretty fucken sweet? And, I know, now you want to get high on a water slide! METOOBRO!! Don't bother listening to the rest of the album, however. It sounds like if the nickelback singer were in Tears for Fears. Maybe you're into that.
He is supposed to be great live though.
Emo's, Feb. 20th for my fellow Austinites.
My Big Beachhouse Review (part 1 of 2)
REPLACE THESE STARS WITH HOMEPAGE SUMMARY<-->
Check this shit out!
REPLACE THESE STARS WITH FULL POST<-->
So check this shit out! (ha.) This is for Frederico. This Beach House record is fucking amazing. This record is a record, not a collection of songs, and I think it can be read chronologically, so I figure just go track by track, side by side (there are 4 sides on the vinyl I have). Also, this record is amazing.
SIDE A:
Track 1: Wedding Bells
This song is a deep groove, but it doesn't even start with the music, just the rhythm of the shaker. When the music hits it could be anything, but the shaker still makes sense once it gets going. What I mean when I say this has a deep groove is that it stays in the pocket. The repeats sound gorgeous...when they hit that second A section and it just topples on itself like perfectly. That's one of my favorite things in pop music, when an A section repeats and it works better and different than the first time. But what's strange is this isn't a style of music you would ever expect to sit in the pocket. I mean, its not exactly funk or soul, so its crazy when it turns out to have both. The backwards guitar solo is sick, almost ridiculously so, especially after the slide solo earlier. WTF. How did they think of that. Timbrely, I'll bet you, which is so weird because the timbre is relatively flat across the whole record (same instruments, basically.) The guitar push right into the last verse is all excitement and jubilance, which contrasts with the lyrical content of the record as a whole without going overboard.
Also, one way I would describe "sitting in the pocket," especially in reference to what makes this record awesome, is that if you wanted, you could make 50 separate drum beats up and play them on top of this one, and the track would still take on the personality of the drum beat. That's an opinion, because there is no reason to say that you would ever want to put a separate drum beat on top of what's already going on, and there is plenty of good pocket playing where you couldn't do that, but I think it points towards a successful forethought involved in creating the sound. There are some technical things that I think contribute (voice leading and color tones) but the main focus is on complimenting the voice, which I think is this amazing centerpiece. It's all so moody, and ultimately this record to me is about mood.
Track 2: You Came to Me
This begins like it could be on "Moon Safari". You know, that was Air's first record?? That's the kind of DJ I would be, if I was a DJ. I would play a track off Moon Safari, and then a track off Beach House. People would be like "Did he just really do that?" and at some point it would be cheezy trying too hard like, "hey these are the same!" "yeah no shit!" but at the same time it would be like "what now? what do you do with this inescapable mood that has been created?" That's why I would be a horrible DJ and also why I want to be one so bad.
So right, again it starts with percussion. An ultra slow clave beat actually. After that and a short intro the focus is really on the voice straight through the first 2 verses, powering the slow melody for as long as it goes until the orchestra hits. Also, I think of the clave as an "open" rhythm. There is lots of harmony stuff in this record where at the end of phrases its an "open" harmony, and that helps the thing keep momentum, and sound good with a number or repeats, therefore sounding relaxed aka establishing the pocket. whew. Again, an opinion, but this is my favorite track on the record, and that is why. There is a certain continuity of sound, like where it no longer sounds like instruments to me (at points) but just this big block of moving sound.
Right, but I think the "openness" pervades the whole form of this song. I think of it as intro, A, B, and C. The openness comes in handy for this sectionality, making the transitions feel more natural. The intro is until the first words come in. The A is both of the first verses, adding instrumentation and making a little pyramid with it until the orchestral hits. the B starts with the orchestral hits, and is shorter but repeats twice. the C is everything after that, where it sounds like a music box, then with the background vocals, then with the vocal line over it. The pocket reappears at the beginning of the C section, that's really cool.
Track 3: Gila
That is one hard rolling organ. If you want to learn long melodies, learn how to play this song. This is different than say the long melody in Joni Mitchell's "Help Me" (which is also awesome) because it is so slow and unfolds over like 3 different sections. So that is cool and unique. That main guitar riff is so expressive. I'm not even sure of what, swarthiness or something, but its catchy and not in a cheap way.
For me, this is the "House of the Rising Sun" of the record. Also, this song is the "indie 'Umbrella.'" Ella. Aay. Aay. Aay. That's the pocket right there...
Another thing about this song...the color tones (6ths, 7th) in this all have perfect voice leading. Also the diminished chord resolves perfectly. This girl is classically trained, in case you didn't know. I like how the guitar on that one riff ends different ways, but I am amazed at how the organ follows that. Listen for it...that's cool, admit it. Admit it, Frederico!
SIDE B:
Track 4: Turtle Island
This was for a long time my least favorite track on this record. It's still not my favorite. I thought it was long, slow, and boring, and if you are like me, by the time you start getting into this track you are probably really into the record.
This song is slow as fuck. Again it does the repeat A section and have it sound better and different. The "How, what, why, when" thing is almost like Animal Collective going "A, E, I, O, U," which is to say, poetic if you buy into it. I think BH does a less good job than AC if comparing these two specific examples, but at least they are going for it.
Track 5: Holy Dances
I'm not wild about this track. I could sort of take it or leave it, if you know what I mean. I think the A section with the vocals is not their strongest, and it prevents the next section from gaining momentum. This is the track where I would understand how people think of Beach House as "nice, but boring" although I doubt this is the track those people mostly hear anyways.
Track 6: All The Years
I think of this track as the emotional heart of the record. The record is called Devotion, and this is the first time the actual word is used. Up until this part you won't know if it is going to be used or not, and its used in the majestic rising line. I feel bathed in holy light through the end of the verse when I hear it.
here are the lyrics:
"I was sitting on a rock, just waiting for a key
to sleep inside the house of old serenity
So I climbed onto your altar begged,
please don't let me falter,
we'll put our oaths at stake
in a heaven that all icicles make.
All my devotion,
compelled by an ocean,
of all the years to come
of all the years to come
So we'll work until the night is quite
what once all our dreams were like;
doing all the housework,
returning all the schoolbooks, for good
Let's go on pretending that the light is neverending
we still have the summers
to be good to one another, yay hey"
At the very end, once the slide guitar comes in to me it just feels like such a unified sonic block again, like how "The Soft Bulletin" never did.
This song makes me sad the way "Where the Wild Things Are" makes me sad. I babysat last night, and saw that in the kids library so I read it to him and I was just fucking heart broken (he was fine). This song is the adult version of "Where the Wild Things Are." It tells the end to the story thats different than "...and it was still hot," ...the ending being not all bad, but certainly not all good. This song is the underlying adulthood and point of view of the record.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wish I Could Do Otherwise but I Can't
This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.
Read More......Thursday, January 22, 2009
King Sunny Ade
King Sunny Ade - 365 is my number / the Message
Certified jam. I've only listened to this one King Sunny Ade record so far, but he takes some of my favorite elements of Fela Kuti (notice this melody is really similar to Expensive Shit) and replaces the horns with spacey dub effects and poppy guitar picking.
I will understand if you hate this....
....but if you hate this, that's like hating your dad. Or at least, my dad.
Cream-Sunshine of Your Love. Clapton is not the singer, that's the bassist.
This is Traffic doing "Freedom Rider" live in Santa Monica 1972:
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Dietary Concerns #1
Not to go bananas, but due to the positive response garnered by my previous post, I give you Dietary Concerns #1. Dietary Concerns may or may not become a regular feature in which I delve into the minutia of culinary experience.
In today's episode...
I have started eating a bunch of plain yogurt for breakfast. I have it with honey, and bananas when we got them, and sometimes throw in a bit of rice crispies, when I am feeling extra sassy. Anyways, I bought 2 big things and finally ran out, but what did I realize, opening my near barren fridge, but that we still had the usually first to go flavored yogurt cups left (do those have another name...that sounds weird, "flavored yogurt cups" but maybe you know what I am talking about.)
Anyways I had one of those for the first time since having all the plain yogurt, and they tasted like this delicious candy. They were so sweet and flavored like fruit, and I was not taking that for granted anymore. It was totally awesome.
And thus concludes Dietary Concerns #1
Cooking Like an Idiot #1
In what could become a regular feature, I bring you Cooking Like an Idiot.
So I had this half bag of hashbrowns taking up room in my freezer for quite some time. We didn't have a pan so they just sat there. Well I decided to bust it open and stick it in the oven. First thing I learned...you don't actually make hash browns in the oven. That's why it says cook in a skillet on the bag. Because that's what you are supposed to do. But we were out of cooking oil, so there was no way to fry them up. I stuck them in the oven at 350. Shane said to stick it on 275 of else they would burn so i did that. But then they are almost ready right now and i taste tested them, and they are so fucking freezer burned I will probably just throw them out.
And that has been our first addition of Cooking Like an Idiot.
I Am A Kurt Cobain Diehard
Nirvana. First rock band I can state "I was obsessed with" truthfully. Probably the reason I learned to play guitar. Definitely the reason I first grew out my hair. Largely culpable for my lengthy love affair with rock music. While I've seen my fair share of interview footage, live shots, and documentaries on Kurt and the band, this is the coolest set I've found in a while. Good quality for early 90s footage of a concert. No hair-brained theories about whether Kurt is alive (there's a blog like Kurtisstillalive.blogspot.com for your lols) or was murdered, no awkward "he's stoned" interviews, no omens. Just rock.
And for the record In Utero > Nevermind.
REPLACE THESE STARS WITH FULL POST<-->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsOQHB0WLHc&feature=channel_page
Sorry, I don't feel like putting the actual video in there.
Setlist:
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Drain You
Breed
Serve The Servants
Come As You Are
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Sliver
Dumb (cut in half a bit)
In Bloom (replete with the I-don't-like-guitar-solos guitar solo)
About A Girl
Lithium
Well, personally, I am thrilled to hear Radio Friendly Unit Shifter anytime... But the other songs hit very hard too. Only thing I'd have love to have in there that wasn't is a "Scentless Apprentice." This footage is a rare, well-preserved document overall. I am in 8th grade again, and I will probably have weird dreams as this was the last thing I did before I went to sleep.
Your Heart's A Mess
Today begins my second semester in law school. Some of you have asked how it's going -- for those who haven't, and I ain't mad atcha, I'd just like to say that I'm finding it to be a pretty decent fit for me. Wish me luck / that I stay on the path of being responsible.
So, I'm going to enclose my first MP3 post here. This is a track I've been very fond of since I heard it the first time. It's Supermayer's remix of "Heart's A Mess." From my first google search for this track's title and disc listings, I realized unfortunately that I cannot confirm or disconfirm if this, in fact, is Supermayer's Supermessy remix, but maybe that's the original track title.
REPLACE THESE STARS WITH FULL POST<-->
This is the song I'd love to whip out for someone who says they just aren't too into techno / remix tracks. Especially if they are of the camp We Think Techno Lacks Soul or a human element -- this track is longing, melancholy, and nostalgia in my ears.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
fancy upgrades // "...and also another great thing about vinyl..." // Me + Beach House Record = Devotion, Pt. 1
You may have noticed a fancy html upgrade since your last visit as well as some l33t hax0rs shit. I know I have, and I think that's rad. Hopefully, as with everything else pertaining to this blog, people will use "discretionary self-policing" and we can leave it at that. But that's not what this is about...this is about.......Beach House, and me convincing Fredirico RocketJ. the hows-whys of how and why they are so fucking great. And also why vinyl is so great.
Ok. So, I have been continuously listening to Beach House-Devotion lately, despite the fact that it makes me sad as shit and I both know this and have no desire to be repeatedly put in a bad mood. I bought it on vinyl and it's an interesting one because it is on two 12' records, even though I think its like, not even a 40 minute record. Which is to say it probably could have fit on one, but at some point it was decided to stick it on two records anyways. I wouldn't really like to wager why this was done...I would rather someone who knew the answer just told me, but it could be any number of things for sure. Maybe I will write the guy from Carpark.
But I think this is another consideration of format that makes vinyl the superior purchase for the serious listener. With vinyl, you have to explicitly consider the music playing more often that with CD or especially digital (you are forced into reconsidering if you want to continue your listening experience every side. And you can choose at that point to listen to a side again if you like.) The net result is that the percentage of close listening you naturally do is much higher with vinyl than, say, the mp3s you listen to at work to keep from slowly going insane (which is not to say maintaining sanity at work isn't important.)
And I sort of like that with vinyl you are punished for listening to records that are not good all the way through and therefore begin to value records that are, not just based off the money that you had to spend to purchase the record, but on the quality of your interaction with the object. Then also on the other end, artists rewarded for making a record where every track is solid.
And I'm not trying to start Bill O'Reilly's "War on Christmas," only with CDs and MP3s as the boogyman rather than the "liberal media," I just sort of find some ironic humor in the fact that a few years ago it was taken for granted that things were shifting away from the album format, and that a broader historical view going back to 78s was being trumpeted, and about singles being in vogue etc. I don't have a problem with singles, or singles bands...its hard enough to write one song that a band who writes great singles one at a time shouldn't be discouraged because they can't make "a great album" (which is a loaded concept in itself, that in my opinion is annoyingly taken for granted as a value to be aspired for. I'm fucking tired of people talking about "perfect albums" in history i.e. My Bloody Valentine-Loveless...I'm way too much of a relativist to think that's anything besides total bullshit.)
Of course, saying all this, I sort of feel like Bill O'Reilly with his "War on Christmas," except in my version, the bad guys are kids listening to music on their computers instead of nefarious agents of the liberal media.
And that's where this Beach House record comes in. 11 tracks over 4 sides, 3 songs each for sides A, B, and C, and just 2 songs for side D. That is the only way I can understand this record, and I have a lot to say about it. It makes the most sense to review each and every side chronologically, or rather, alphabetically--A, B, C, then D. (ha) So anyways, I'm going to save the actual review for its own post maybe in a day or two, but know its coming...
Posts
