Mus-I-C

Finally getting around to another post – the weather has been decent here, so I’ve been out hitting our spot and riding the beginnings of a new bike park at the local skill hill (Chicopee). But, I’ll be leaving the biking world behind me with this post as I want to get into the world of music. Not sure where to start here, so maybe I’ll start with a bit of history of Techno (Detroit techno) and House and then get into an interesting theory concerning minimal techno (interesting to me at least!).

DETROIT TECHNO

Ok, so Detroit Techno or High-Tech Soul as it is sometimes referred to, started (you guessed it) in Detroit with a man by the name of Juan Atkins (aka Cybotron, Model 500, Infiniti). The first track that started the whole thing was “Clear”, a track recorded with Rick Davis under the Cybotron moniker – this has been widely recognized as the first foray into fusing the extra-terrestrial funk of Parliament Funkadelic with the futurist visions of Kraftwerk – so Detroit High-Tech Soul was born.

Detroit at one time was a booming mecca of the US based on the car industry, which thrived there until racial tension reached a head in 1943, and a racial riot broke out. This was due to racial inequality directed at the Black Community. After the riots, Detroit began a slow downward spiral in terms of prosperity and racial integration. The city has suffered through some tough times, but people are slowly changing things for the better. The people of Detroit are strong willed people, if anyone can effect change, it's the people!

Detroit always had a very rich history of musical talent, Motown is one powerful example of this. The arts, music in particuclar, became an outlet for many people during these tense and tough times. This helped to foster the forward thinking artists of yesterday and today as they used art as a means to escape the desolation which was happening around them. Enter Detroit Techno. I’ve heard Techno be referred to as an escape from hardships of Detroit, because when you listen to techno, it truly does take you to another place. Just take for instance the first track considered to be Detroit Techno – Clear – which was recorded by Cybotron, CBYOTRON!! For those of you not down with transformers, Cybotron is the home world of the transformers. Think about that for a second… cybotron, a high-tech world based on robots and electronics (Kraftwerk) – what a better way to take yourself away from an unhealthy environment while taking advantage of the merging world of technology and music?! So Detroit Techno was born. You can see a parallel to what I have talked about above when looking at “the first wave” (Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May) of Detroit Techno Artists – a tendency to make music with a jazzy sense but with a high tech soul - that took you somewhere/someplace else. Detroit also has its fair share of house music producers who could stand up to anyone (Moodyman being the first to come to mind). Now I have to mention that Juan Atkins wasn’t really the only pioneer in this area. While he was growing up, him and his friends used to listen to a radio show by The Electrifying Mojo, and this ended up being their outlet for their music. The Belleville Three – Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May found The Electrifying Mojo playing some of their tracks which they were making at the time. Derrick May started Transmat and Kevin Saunderson started KMS and Juan Atkins started Metroplex recordings (check out their discography for a what’s what of early techno). I could go on about the early days for a while, but I think this will do for now (I’ll talk about the history of parties or Raves – I really hate that word – later).

HOUSE

House music. The story of house changes slightly depending on who you talk to. The widely held notion that house was invented in Chicago is pretty well on point. Chicago had a club scene in the early 80’s – after the national attack on Disco, people who still wanted to get together and dance had to look hard for places in order to fulfill this need. There were a few pioneering promoters who started nights at various locations throughout Chicago and one very important club in NY. There were a few staple DJ’s who controlled those events (Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles, Ron Hardy, Farley Jack Master Funk come to mind). Also to note here though is the Paradise Garage in NY which was another seminal establishment notorious for breaking down the barriers of race and sexuality, abandoning the segregation policies that were the norm for clubs at that time (Mr Larry Levan was the man behind the Paradise Garage). SO here you see the early beginnings of the scene and what it was originally about – getting people together from all backgrounds to listen and dance to this new type of music. Now the name. Big in this scene was a club called The Warehouse, this is where most of the events were held and is widely recognized as THE club in Chicago for this new sound. So, with this new explosion of music and events, DJ’s started to go to record stores to seek out certain types of records which they felt could be used effectively - so people came into record stores asking for tracks that were played at one of the warehouse parties or for stuff they though could be played at warehouse parties. Since most of the activity was at the club called The Warehouse, eventually they shortened Warehouse to just house, so DJ’s came in looking for House records. House was born. This was when Jack came out to play. Jack was basically a type of dance that was on display at these events and was eventually one of the things that house became known for… more on Jack later.

I’m sure I have missed parts of the history of both genre’s, so if you are looking for more info beginnings of techno click here . If you are looking for more info on the early days of house, click here. There is still a tonne to talk about concerning the history, but this give you a little taste of where the music I love comes from and how it evolved. I haven't even begun to talk about the TB-303 or the 909!! I’ll get into other aspects of the music and scene at a later date, but I think this is a good start.

TONE SHIFTING

So, last but not least I want to talk about that theory I mentioned wayyy back when! Tone Shifting. Now, I don’t think this is an accepted scientific theory as of yet, I actually read this on the 313techno mailing list several years ago, and it really struck home with me, so I figured I’d share! Silence plays as big a role if not bigger in terms of how you hear what is being played (I’m specifically talking about minimal dance music in clubs). By this I mean your brain interprets the silence between sounds in a unique way in that it bridges the heard sounds over the silence (pretty much your brain fills in the blanks). You may be thinking, “what the hell is he talking about, go smoke another one”, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Your brain is used to processing sounds at all times, this is instinctual – so your brain is used to hearing sounds throughout music. When the brain finds “space” between sounds it wants to fill the gap – this results in every listener having a unique experience. Now when I say unique experience, I don’t mean the song being played is being heard completely differently than the next person, the heard elements are the same for everyone. What is great here is your interacting with the music in a very unique way, experiencing it slightly different than the next person – makes the whole experience very personal. Now, for those of you that have not been to a club/party where minimal was on the menu, you may think I’m crazy (well that’s debatable!), but I have experienced this myself, so that’s why this rings true with me. I’ve consciously (as well as unconsciously) found myself either filling in gaps with words or other sounds – and makes for a very unique experience. There were times where I could hear lines from other songs or sounds that weren’t there which gave the song a different meaning or feel than when I would listen at home or in a different context. Anyways, without sounding like a complete nut, I thought I would throw that out there for you to digest. Maybe next time you’re in a club or situation where minimal is being played, take a quick second to try and “listen” to the silence, I think you’ll be surprised at what you hear!

Until next time….