Techno is was born in Detroit 1987, deeply affected by House Music one of its features is 4 beats by a drum machine and developed from Disco oriented Soul Music.
Techno is Club Music played in Night Club, and it specialized in dance for crowd. The features are almost all sounds built by synthesizers, drum machines and samplers, no vocal, loop of a same phrase and beat. [(1) ’The Start It Up’ Joey Beltran, (2) ’Life Cycle’ Jeff Mills] And the almost all process of production of theses tracks is taken place by one artist, using a computer and synthesizers at low cost. (Almost artist also held DJ, they must not to have been evaluated both.)
Techno tracks sold by the format of record and CD, recorded in a disc as a ‘work’, and possess certain degree of integration. But, the state of track is very excited at the beginning, and the tack end with a fade-out suddenly. Techno tracks seem to be not produced as a solo ‘work’. They seem to be produced as they are listened by the audio at home. The tracks are specialized in the aim to bring forth ‘the good vibration of groove’ as ‘the state people participating musical communication share the internal duration of time’. [Ogawa, 1988]
If so, at night clubs, how the tracks to be used? At dance floors of clubs, the tracks are played continuously by DJ from opening to closing, and crowd dance all night while taking breaks. Dance floors are dim and heaped up by lighting technique. Turns of one DJ is 2 to 3 hours and they play with change. DJs play tracks continuously by more than two turntables and a DJ mixer. [‘Live at the Liquid Room Tokyo’ Jeff Mills, 1996] (On track 1, Mills started to play (1) at 5:00 and (2) at 9:15.)
A DJ processes music, constitutes a his play by any tracks and raises the tension, the music played there is added the value more than it by solely play music. Music played by DJ and crowd react each other, then the dance floor is more excited. Noi Sawaragi describe this phenomena like below, Club music ‘realized in unique space as night club which changes information content moment by moment, and completed for the first time with a sense of unity of performances and restless ecstasy by crowd come around every night.’[Sawaragi, 2001]
Almost cases, we don’t know and can’t understand the names of tracks played at club. Records played by DJ are distribution amount is small, and we can’t listen these tracks direct in mass media, we can’t turn out the artist and title of the tracks except we own CDs or records our own and tracks are accustomed to hear. In Techno or House Music, famous or anonymous of records or artists doesn’t matter. Anonymity of artist is high, and it doesn’t come visible presence of the ‘author’.
On the other hand, there are ‘anthem songs’ be known to authors and titles. ‘Anthem song’ in club music means the especial hit song in the club scene and frequently used by many DJs in a long period of time. Many of them are impressive songs change the mood of dance floor. [‘Strings of the Life’ Rhythim is Rhythim, 1987] They are played many times by DJ, and spread by word of mouth, Mix CDs or magazines, then take loot in crowd, further more become ‘common knowledge’ of the club scene. Anthems are played at peak time or last of party, activate mood of the dance floor.
Including effective use of anthems, tracks are played by DJ in the space of night club, a ‘play’ (set) of DJ and a party come to possess autonomy or self-completeness as a work (opus).
Techno is the underground music and it take the specific method of distribution and sales. By that, independent activities fit for the club scene and independence of artists are possible. Records are distributed by label, small production and sales company run by an artist himself and few stuffs, to record stores specialized in club music around the world. On the other hand, famous artists contract major record companies and release CDs.
Reviews of records can be read in club music magazines, but DJs and crowd can’t listen the tracks directly by radio or TV, and information of the tracks are limited. DJs and club music amateurs dig unknown records in record stores, while relying on the pop-ups, classification of genres, know labels. To seek records in record stores is called ‘digging’. The word ‘dig’ is a metaphor of treasure hunting or moles digging the ground. At record stores DJs look for records hurriedly and find their treasures. Then they preview discs by turntables set upped in the store. The way DJs preview records are very characteristic. DJs preview records on record shop to put the record needle here and there not play records from beginning to the end. Thus DJs quickly judge which a track contains good groove, good vibes or not.
On Techno, ‘good groove’ we can be experienced in clubs is the primary thing. Tracks are produced to assume the autonomy or self-completeness are granted when DJ plays these tracks, more than tracks are autonomous in records or CDs. One of the important factor produced the autonomy and self-completeness is the relationship of artists, DJs, crowd, night clubs as space and the system of distribution for records.
References
Hiroshi Ogawa, Doing-Music Society, (Keiso Books, 1988)
Jeff Mills, Life Cycle (Tresor, 1994)
Jeff Mills, Live at the Liquid Room Tokyo (S3, 1996)
Joey Beltran, The Start It Up (Trax Records, 1994)
Noi Sawaragi, Simulationism Revised Edition (Chikuma Books, 2001)
Rhythim is Rhythim (Derrick May), Strings of the Life (Transmat, 1987)
Related Posts and Pages
Semiological Analysis for DJ play
Brief History of Detroit Techno