Contextual Relationships - Detroit and Techno

The Oxford dictionary quotes Techno as:

"A style of fast, heavy electronic dance music, typically with few or no vocals."

but it is much more than simply that.

Techno is a very individual genre. This style of music is produced largely by solo artists or very small groups of maximum two/three components, often in their own bedroom/studios. They usually undertake all stages of music production from recording and advertising to distribution, very much in contrast with the massive record industry involved in other genres like rock.

To some people is an explosion of repetitive loud sounds, mad dancing and vivid colours generally associated with clubs and warehouses whilst others see it as drugs mayhem in dodgy basements. But there's also who views it as rather more intimate and exclusive experience, a way of channelling everyday's stress and concerns. It is more like a special perception, understanding how to use the available technology to express the human mind and soul. Although techno is today a wide spread global phenomenon and embodies all kind of new, boundaries-pushing electronic music, we need to understand the pivotal role that Detroit has had in the creation and subsequent development of the genre. The principal aim of this essay is to analyze the complicated relationship between the city and techno.

Pre-History of Techno in Detroit

Towards the late 70s and throughout the 80s, Detroit experienced a quick decline from the great era of the car industry. Corporations were swapping man power for machine technology and the city's once thriving centre, rapidly morphed into a no-man land, a ghost of its old majestic self. Derrick May, one of the founding fathers of techno, describes Detroit as a raw, unhappy and post industrial city. where the harshness of its dense life reflects straight into the music that is conceived here. He also points out at the characteristic air of sadness that always partners up with Detroit's artist community, because of the city's melancholic atmosphere.

In the twenty years that followed the 1967 riots, Detroit was gradually abandoned in favour of the suburbs. Decadence was strongly felt in the desertion of buildings throughout the city, a place where the city centre, at its best, was depressing on any week end's afternoon.

Kevin Saunderson remembers how he could walk for entire blocks without encountering a soul, stores and major shops were all closed and everywhere felt derelict. Detroit's people always felt very strongly about the fact that the government has greatly let them down with its trend of letting the city's industry and historic buildings going to rot.

It was in this period that African American kids were trying to find an alternative, a viable escape from the oppressions and depressions of everyday Detroit's life. Teenagers' clubs gradually closed so the school organised parties, or hanging out at the mall, were the only options available for young people to past their time.

In consequence to this depressive trend, North-West Detroit High school parties quickly turned from simple dances into exclusive male dominated social hang outs. This was a clear effort for kids to distinguish themselves from others, in the city, of different social elevation. Furthermore, more club parties were getting organised, attracting a considerable following by the city's youth. Some of these places were already doing specialised events to cater for the city's multiple subcultures (Punks, "preppy and jits"), and even some of them, like The Women City Club, also gave the opportunity for these kids of divergent circles to mix.

This social division had direct relation to the geography of Detroit with the long Woodward Avenue separating the city's "east and north-west" sides, the street crowd from the more affluent one. Thereupon, this social division caused further social exclusiveness to some events. Interestingly, when the de-gentrification of Detroit forced families to move to the suburbs and youth started to be able to drive, people's attitudes and rivalries seemed to become more relaxed. Places like Climax on the West side and UBQ on the East were some of the most influential names of that period. Nevertheless, this harmony was not to last long, as expected when mixing opposite ends of the social spectrum, and fresh and raw episodes of violence that generated in consequence of this, quickly escalated throughout the scene, ultimately killing it.

The Inspirations

Electro and disco functioned as the basis for the future development of Detroit techno(Youtube, 2015). By the early 80s the music world was at a transition point where the influence of 70s disco was still present and the world of the MTV pop era was still very much in its cradle. In this significant period, the German ensemble Kraftwerk employed synthesizers as sound mediums for the production of their outstanding avant-garde/experimental albums Autobahn (1974),

Trans-Europe Express (1977) and Computer World (1981). Moreover, by 1980, disco music had expired its commercial success moving from mainstream to the hidden corners of Europe, especially Italy, Belgium, Germany, France and also Japan. Producers like Giorgio Moroder (I feel Love,1977), Claudio Simonetti and Robotnick (Problemes D'Amour, 1983) among others, contributed to disco's metamorphosis into Euro/Italo Disco, which featured heavy use of synthesisers, like the Moog.

It was around this time that, after a lengthy import ban, American audiences started hearing this new wave of records, although they were already been released years before in Europe. Detroit was suddenly hit with an eclectic mix of European new wave synth pop as well as soulful R&B, which dominated the high school parties of that period. Young Detroiters were also listening to a very special radio show that used to be aired in Detroit, late nights, in the early 80s. The radio show on WGPR (Midnight Funk Association) was hosted by a very talented DJ, Charles Johnson AKA "The Electrifying Mojo".

His show were legendary and in direct contrast to the traditional rock'n'roll formula; he would play a very eclectic mix of music ranging from Prince, Funkadelic, Kraftewerk, B52, Parliament, and Tangerine Dream, exposing young Detroiters to a vast array of different sounds. Detroit's own Kenny Larkin observes how the city's techno artists have been severely influenced by the exposure to this diverse catalogue of music remarking on the fact that this type of sound was before unheard of.

Although the Electrifying Mojo was a clear inspiration to Detroit's artist community, another prominent figure to grace the radio waves on his programme is Jeff Mills. 3 Mills, a Detroiter from birth, took the notion of what could be achieved on a radio show in terms of records playing to its limits, by employing his technical skills and changing people musical perceptions, to give Detroit's techno landscape a strong foundation.

All of the above was to be of huge inspiration and would play a major role for future techno producers. Furthermore, local radio shows, such as "Fast Forward" subsequently helped by supporting and consolidating the city's techno scene.

The First Wave of Techno

Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson are famously known as the Belleville Three and widely credited with the creation/invention of Detroit techno.

Juan Atkins recalls how he did not like having to move with his father from Detroit to the suburbs of Belleville, a predominantly white area. Here he studied futurism at high school, a subject which would prove to be of great inspiration for the young student with DJ tendencies. The turning point for him was to meet mentor/electronic producer/visionary Rik Davies. Together they created a series of concepts to which base their music on, which was very similar sounding to Kraftwerk's, only much darker, murkier and more psychedelic, due to Atkins' fondness of George Clinton's Funkadelic. It was with the Electrifying Mojo's support on the radio waves, that Atkins and Davies successfully unleashed onto Detroit their first music releases Alleys of your Mind (1981), Cosmic Cars (1988) , Techno City (1983) and the single Clear (1983) , under the moniker "Cybotron". Subsequent divergent ideas caused Atkins to split from Davies, going on on to launch Metroplex Records and releasing in '87, what was the first proper techno success, Good-bye Kiss (1986), by Eddie Fowlkes. The actual "techno" name for the genre was coined from Atkins own European released album 1988 Techno, The New Dance Sound of Detroit (1988).

Derrick May moved from Detroit to Belleville with his family in the late where he met with his mentor, Atkins. Together they formed the DJ collective Deep Space, which also later became the vessel for Atkins early releases. May was greatly influenced by Chicago's sounds and artists such as DJ Farley Jack Master Funk and Frankie Knuckels, which he was exposed to on his trips to visit his mother. In 1986 he set up his own label "Transmat" releasing his first single attempt Let's Go (1986) which sounded very much like a techno/hip hop records. In '87 May, under Rhythim is Rythmin, released Nude Photo (1987) which defined his particular style, a combination of electronic engineering and Chicago house. In the same year, though, He released his most famous work, the dramatic Strings of Life (1987), which made use of piano riffs and samples from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra May is credited for having a tremendous impact on techno by giving it many different musical directions and his groundbreaking track Strings of Life is still very relevant nowadays.

In an interview Kevin Saunderson recalls how he got into music. He elaborates about how when he was younger there were very few choices for young people in Detroit to spend their past time. It was either getting into trouble like drugs and crime or sports, moreover he considers himself lucky to have gotten into music . He was the one in the Belleville trio whom achieved most commercial success, selling over 7 million copies, despite moving to Belleville when he was fifteen years old and meeting with May under uncommon circumstances (they had a punch up and then became best friends). In a short time he turned his basement musical past time into a full time affair ultimately adding to Derrick May's "Street Beat" radio show, which aired in the slot just before the Electrifying Mojo's programme . Saunderson says he was inspired, by Eddie Fowlkes 4 performing at a party, to join the Deep Space collective and to intensify his music practice. He went on to form his own KMS record label and also the Inner City ensemble with Detroit's James Pennington and Art Forrest first . Responsible for recording some of the hardest techno tracks of the late 80s, Saunderson also tried his hand at different, pop/house oriented material, like 1989s Big Fun - which employed the vocals of the talented Paris Grey- experiencing huge commercial success reaching No.1 in the Billboard Charts.

Further Influences

The trio from Belleville eventually all set up shop in the same building in Detroit's Gratiot Avenue (now "Techno Boulevard") with their respective record labels. This arrangement enabled this young techno pioneers to learn and develop from each other by working alongside.

The atmosphere of the area was that of hard working class people and the austerity could be breathed in the air, furthermore the cultural isolation and decadence of Detroit was vital inspiration for the development of techno. Moreover, it is quite remarkable how this incumbent, depressing and saddening feeling has contributed to Detroit's artists creativity. .

Detroit's characteristic sound is very hard and stripped-down, yet extremely powerful on a spiritual level. This very raw sound directly relates to the idea of industry/machinery surrounding

and affecting everyone's lives in the city. To a certain degree, everyone in Detroit has had connections with someone working in the car manufacturing industry. Parents would go back to their homes after a day work and recount their dealing/working with machines and youngster would undeniably be influenced by these aspects, and began mimicking their parents behaviours: playing with machines.

May points out how, perhaps, the most depressing aspect of working with machines is that they are soul-less and they do not give a human response/feel experience.

This creates a tendency in influencing their operators into being as soul-less as the machines themselves. Instead of rejecting the idea of progress and machinery, the revolutionary trio fully embraced the futuristic outlook of apocalyptic and desolated Detroit. The idea of techno was always hidden into the subconscious mind of these techno producers, where the use of machinery is employed to sort of mimic the hard sounds of the industry and the landscape. Furthermore, the introduction to the market of the affordable Yamaha DX-10, the Roland TR series and the TB-303 was extremely significant for the creation and further development Detroit's techno sound. This gave young Detroit techno producers the opportunity to use drum machines and synthetisers to create music just like a classically trained musician would use a guitar or a violin.

What Detroit Techno does is to "put the soul into the soul-less machines". May himself admits that he would never have been able to make techno music if he would have lived somewhere else than Detroit, the inspiration from the city being too great to ignore.

The Second Wave of Detroit Techno

When at the end of the 80s the Detroit techno scene was getting increasingly popular in Europe, where listeners were more open to the hard sounds of Detroit than the Americans themselves were, and also due to the closure of Detroit's techno club The Music Institute, many of the city's techno founding talents left to go take up residencies abroad. This created a sort of power-music-vacuum in Detroit which was promptly filled in by young producer Ritchie Hawtin AKA Plastikman .

Hawtin was born in England and as a boy moved with his family to Windsor, right across the river Pontiac from Detroit. He tells of how he and his family imagined their new home town environment to be, with plenty of nature and outdoor activities awaiting them. To his disappointment young Hawtin found a depressing landscape dotted with factories, nevertheless he looked upon Detroit as a bustling and vibrant centre where to go whenever possible to buy good clothes and records.

Although Hawtin was always hated and regarded, by many existing Detroit's black artists, as not worthy of being considered one of their own because of the evident background differences between the two sides. He was principally seen as being privileged on the basis of his white/affluent background. Nevertheless, he eventually went on to set up the infamous Plus 8 record label with friend Jon Acquaviva and also onto organise some of the best techno parties in Detroit (The Shelter). taking advantage of the many disused buildings in town. Here he unleashed on audiences his full musical creativity playing many of his own techno production Elements of Tone,(1990), We shall overcome(1990). Their third release was on a white label and was called "The Future Sound of Detroit" was seen by Detroit's techno musicians as a provocation, an audacious attempt to steal their music.

It was during this period that Detroit experience its Second Wave of Techno culminating in countless illegal rave parties in abandon areas of the city, which were then promptly shut down by the always eager city police. This prompted parties to move from the warehouses to the clubs where the attention focus and atmosphere suddenly shifted from the people power to the elevation of the DJ figure.

At the same time, in 1991, Jeff Mills and "Mad" Mike Banks, a Detroit session musician, reconnected to the original notion of techno's black roots and founded the aggressive, almost paramilitary, Underground Resistance label. The focus of the label itself was to shun the traditional recording industry and to keep all aspects of the creation, production and distribution process, independent, as well as reinvesting into the local community and contributing to the regeneration of Detroit to this day. The Underground Resistance catalogue is of massive proportions and their fighting spirit philosophy, but also the melodic elements, can be heard, in tracks like some of the early tracks such as The Punisher (1991), Riots (1991), Sonic Destroyer (1991), High Tech Jazz (1993) and The Final Frontier (1991).

Banks and Mills' significant choice

of embedding sub-political scribbled messages on the records and their sleeves, greatly contributed to the air of subversive mystery that has always been part of UR concepts and way of operating. Mike Banks is the one charismatic figure that has always stressed about the fact that techno music should not be commercialised for fear of it dying as a consequence, therefore taking away the one thing that has kept many young Detroiters afloat amidst the city daily challenges. Banks has always stressed about the importance of the artist' anonymity, prompting him to 6 hide his identity behind a handkerchief/bandana every time he is interviewed. UR has also spawned many local bands, under the supervision of Banks - Interstellar Warriors, Galaxy to Galaxy.

Today, the Underground Resistance base houses Submerge and Somewhere in Detroit is also somewhat of a museum that can be visit by appointment only, apart from when it's Movement festival time. Connecting the divide between the first wave of techno of the 80s and the second of the 90s, Detroit's Carl Craig genius bounces to prominence. His music ranges from pure techno, to almost ambient and also funky, showing clear influences from the one radio show that he used to listen in Detroit when younger, Mojo's. Craig recounts how techno was never well accepted in Detroit and that is what pushed the local talent to move abroad. Detroit's techno musicians' mass migration in the 90s towards the more accepting European shores and the underground policies of UR , have pushed techno off the grid in Detroit.

Nowadays Detroit has long lost its sole connection to techno to the rest of the world, in favour of more street genre such as hip hop and rap. Craig recalls how he invested his own money in a bid to reconnect Detroit's youth to techno, by distributing educational techno tapes for free. The only time in the year that techno seems to be of interest in Detroit is when the Movement festival takes every year since over the course of a week in May.

Conclusive Observations

Detroit is still a pretty empty city today, where people do not go to dance halls anymore but dive into sport bars. Young people still fell the personal disconnection with the city and techno, and feel how the rest of the world is up with times whilst Detroit is still lagging behind, leaving a gap between the new technological world and the actual state of Detroit.

Techno music's convoluted concepts flourished in Detroit in the 80s because the new genre of music needed to be far away from big metropolitan cities to grow, a place where it could have its own space to develop without the risk of mainstreaming and running its course short. By embracing its own identity Detroit techno escaped from being labelled as a mere branch of Chicago house, where May took his first inspirations from.

But techno has long outgrown, and sort of left, Detroit. Berlin has been the world's techno epicentre for many years already. Many feel that The Movement festival alone is simply just not enough to preserve a healthy techno scene in Detroit, especially when its organisers do not set up any other events in the city throughout the year. Nevertheless, efforts of locals like Mike Huckaby's Youthville, an educational centre that supports youth and schools them on sports and music, let us hope for a brighter future for Detroit's young generations of musicians. In addition, the new wave of techno artists seems now to be concerned by rediscovering the old school techno material like UR, Jeff Mills, Kenny Larkin, Drexciya and Dopplereffekt and by starting to populate Detroit's abandon warehouses.

In conclusion I would like to add that techno is the music of the future, establishing the blueprint for the world's dance music and culture in the 80s and 90s, and its foundations are laid solidly in Detroit. There will always be plenty of inspiration here for any local techno artist.

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