Post subject: A Journey Deep Into the Bowel of House (and Techno)
Even though I've been a member of this site longer than I've known who Kendrick Lamar is, I've never started a music diary. I've had ideas for them before but my listening habits are usually pretty random and unstructured so I never really had a genre or time period that I was digging into. I didn't feel like just talking about any old random thing I was listening to. Well, for a couple years I've been getting more interested in house and techno music but never really knew what to try next. A couple weeks back I decided to go back to the start of each genre and work my way through chronologically, which would hopefully give me more context for the different scenes in each genre. And I figured that since these are genres that aren't discussed much here it might be interesting to others, and would also be a good way to get recs. So here I am.
I started listening this a little over a week ago but I've been giving most things I listen to a couple listens, so it shouldn't be too much work to summarize what I've listened to so far. My primary resources so far have been Wikipedia and RYM, so I am by no means an expert in these genres and will probably say things that are dumb or untrue. I also realize they're not genres that are very friendly to the album format - releases seem to be singles, EPs, or compilations that are over an hour long - but I'll be mostly covering albums, EPs, and compilations here. Maybe some singles if an artist has no other releases or I can't find their vinyl-only releases on YouTube. Feel free to toss me recs, but like I said I'm trying to go chronologically so if you tell me to listen to Andy Stott I'll politely thank you and tell you to wait.
I've dug the deepest into techno so far but I couldn't toss out the thread name once I thought of it. Think I'll go through Detroit techno and then shift to Chicago house, we'll see. Maybe I'll update this post with a playlist of my favorite tracks, the possibilities are endless!
Subgenre playlists
Detroit Techno
Rhythm is Rhythm - Strings of Life
Model 500 - Night Drive (Thru-Babylon)
Inner City - Good Time
Psyche - Neurotic Behavior
Jeff Mills - The Bells
Robert Hood - Chase
Anthony Shakir - Arise
Galaxy 2 Galaxy - Hi-Tech Jazz _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Last edited by babyBlueSedan on 08/27/2020 22:05; edited 1 time in total
My first research into techno informed me that the genre was birthed in Detroit in the late 80's. The early Detroit sound was pioneered by a group of classmates sometimes called "The Belleville Three," though they didn't record together at the time. One of these three was Juan Atkins, who was in a group called Cybotron before he started producing techno tracks. Even though it's not a techno album, I thought their debut would be an interesting place to start since it sounds kind of like the "proto" version of the genre:
(1981) This is apparently a genre called Electro, which sounds a bit vaguely defined to me. Basically funky electronic dance music. I read a lot of Kraftwerk comparisons before listening to this, and they're pretty spot on. This sounds like Kraftwerk in a bleak, dystopian future. It's also...not very good. I'm going to avoid using the word "dated" in these reviews, partially because it's a misleading critique but also because most of the stuff I've listened to sounds pretty good. This, however, sounds a bit dated. It's a weird in between of the synthy sounds of Kraftwerk and the more mechanical sounds of what we think of as techno today. The vocals are also a bit cheesy; I guess the lyrics fit the mood but the vocoded vocals don't sound convincingly robotic. I'm glad I started here, but I only needed one listen to know I didn't need to dig any deeper. Here's the closing track, which was the big single. It's probably the most techno-sounding of the bunch, and the best song:
So after that I went to the next logical place and listened to some of Atkins's techno work. I went with this compilation, which includes most of his early singles:
(1993, recorded late 80's) Thankfully I liked this a lot more. This feels much more cold and mechanical, and more convincing. There are some vocoded vocals here too (like on "Night Drive"), and I'm still not a big fan of them, but the instrumental tracks work really well. It's big enough to dance too, but there's also enough going on just for headphone listening. I listened to this twice, and in both cases I got a bit bored by the end. It's not very long (just under an hour), but there's not a whole lot of variety. I'd recommend a listen though, especially to the first three or four tracks. This was on Spotify a week ago but it's not now, not sure what's up with that. Atkins released an album under the Model 500 name in 1995, which I haven't listened to yet but plan to. He's got a few other monikers and a two decade retrospective compilation as well that I might get around to, but first I'll be covering the rest of the Belleville Three.
Here's the opening track off this compilation, which I think was the best.
Link _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Next up on the list is Derrick May. I read somewhere that Atkins was considered the originator of Detroit techno, and as you can see by the name of the comp I chose for May, he was the innovator. Do I agree? Well before I get to that, please stop what you're doing and listen to "Strings of Life":
Ohhhh yeah, that's the stuff. Without a doubt the best song I've found on this short journey so far. It's so sublime, and unlike a lot of the Model 500 songs it ebbs and flows in a way that's really satisfying. Is it a techno song? Uhhhhh....I'm not sure. I think there's an argument that it's a house song, but I'll take the word of the people who have categorized these things before me. I couldn't even explain the difference between a techno and a house song if I tried*.
(1991, recorded late 80's) There are several versions and reissues of this comp, though they generally have the same songs. The most recent version has the six songs listed on BEA as well as "Hand Over Hand," which is skippable. It's kind of a mid-energy meandering track, but the six songs before it are all excellent. I like this more than Atkins's work because it's more focused on the percussion instead of the synths, which makes it feel a lot bigger and less robotic. Like on "Strings of Life" there's a heavy house influence, but there's still a mechanical feel throughout, it just feels more like floating in space than cruising through a crumbling future dystopia. The longer version of this comp has a few songs I couldn't find on Spotify, as well as a couple excellent dance numbers like "Freestyle" and "Salsa Life," as well as the much more Detroit sounding "Beginning." Easily my favorite of the albums I've covered so far, and I recommend checking out the longer version of this because it's all great. This is certainly a big step forward in the genre, and I think he earned his Innovator moniker.
*Though, I'm not sure I could describe any genre to someone who hasn't heard it. Could you describe rock to someone? Once I tried to explain the different between death and black metal to someone at work, and I just said black metal was atmospheric and death metal is crunchy. Which isn't true, but I was at a loss for what to say. I learned not to reference black metal at work. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Thanks Chief! A couple of those artists were already on my radar but I'll make sure to check out the others as well. And as you might have guessed, Inner City will be making an appearance real soon. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Last but not least of the Belleville Three is Kevin Saunderson. The forgotten source that called Atkins the Originator and May the Innovator called Saunderson the Elevator. What does that mean? As far as I can tell, it means he wrote absolute bangers. For the first time an album of late 80's material actually existed:
(1889) This is a different style than both Atkins and May, and it's the style that seems most designed for the dancefloor. It's also got vocals, and while the vocals are good I'm finding I really do prefer this stuff to be instrumental. Chief already posted one of the big hits in "Big Fun," but I think I prefer "Good Life" just a bit. Either way they're both great, but unfortunately they're really the only tracks from the album I'd say are worth hearing. It's the kind of album that's a lot of fun but not fun enough for me to put it on over other fun albums.
Like all of these artists Saunderson released records under a ton of names, though as far as I can tell none but Inner City released an album. He has a long compilation of tracks from his career that I couldn't find, but I did sample some stuff on YouTube. For the most part it was forgettable; I was excited to hear the track called "Funky, Funk, Funk" but it was not funky and was easily the most obnoxious thing I've listened to. Here's a track that sums up the style pretty well:
So overall I think Saunderson was my least favorite of the Belleville Three, but that's not a complete knock because I did enjoy some of his stuff. Up next is one last comp of 80's material that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, and after that I'll move into the second wave of Detroit techno. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
Great diary idea! I've been slowly getting into house and techno too and I haven't tackled many old school artists. This could be a point of reference. _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
Haha, I suppose you could say that, it's 90% of what I've listened to the last couple weeks. But actually the title is a reference to a track on one of my favorite house albums, Midtown 120 Blues by DJ Sprinkles. I'm sure I'll get around to talking about that one eventually if I make it into the 2000s. _________________ And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.
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