If you’re a fan of this site and techno music, you’ve probably been around the rave block quite a few times. By now, you know what you like and what you don’t like.
But, do your friends know about your passion for the “untz untz”? Do you need help dropping some knowledge?
Or, maybe you just happened to stumble upon this little portion of the internet and are curious about the world of techno and all the artists and fans who wear only black.
Either way, 6AM has got you covered with this “Beginner’s Techno Music Guide.”
If you were a music fan in the 90s, then you may remember the phenomenon of everyone calling anything related to electronic music “techno.”
From Eiffel 65 “Blue” to the Mortal Kombat theme song, people all said it was “techno.” This misnomer may have been led by the fact that techno, in general, has had a very vague, overarching definition.
Defining techno music is actually a pretty difficult task these days, because it has evolved so much and has integrated so many different aspects of music. Genres upon genres have grown out of techno. Today’s techno music doesn’t quite sound like the techno of back in the day.
Techno’s BPM can range from 120 to even 140+, making techno even more difficult to classify. However, most can agree techno is one of the oldest genres of electronic dance music.
It’s characterized by:
Typically, techno is associated with a darker feel and sonic elements compared to other genres. However, that’s not always the case. Compared to other genres of dance music, techno has a higher focus on percussive elements and is known for creating moments of tension and release.
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People either don’t understand why people love techno or people don’t understand why people don’t love techno. Many argue techno has very visceral qualities that appeal to our more basic nature. Other’s state listening to techno music is akin to ancient dance gatherings and connecting with one other.
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There are a variety of reasons why anyone would fall in love with techno or any genre for that matter. However, in the late 90s clinical studies were done on the actual hormonal effect listening to techno has on people.
The abstract of the study states, “Techno-music was associated with a significant increase in heart rate, systolic blood pressure and significant changes in self-rated emotional states.” The study also states, “Listening to techno-music induces changes in neurotransmitters, peptides and hormonal reactions, related to mental state and emotional involvement: personality traits and temperament may influence the wide inter-individual variability in response to music.”
Therefore according to this publication, negative or positive, techno has a profound experience on the listener to the point where the listener’s chemistry would actually be influenced. This phenomenon is bound to create techno lovers on such a powerful level.
There is not much data available out there that gives official stats on where people listen to techno the most. However, it’s a widely accepted fact that Europe, especially in areas such as Berlin and Amsterdam are huge fans of techno. Having massive techno focused events such as ADE and Love Parade, the Europeans have been techno’s aficionados as well as where many of techno’s producers come from.
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However, the love for techno does not stop there as the US, the birthplace of techno, has a great following for techno especially within the underground communities. Other regions such as South America have produced so many international talents such as Wehbba and ANNA. Thankfully, the list of techno lovers around the world goes on and on.
Although “The Belleville Three” is credited for creating the first “true” techno tracks, they sourced a lot of inspiration from European electronic music. More specifically, they were influenced by pioneering German electronic music group Kraftwerk.
Some have debated that Kraftwerk could be credited as the seed of electronic dance music, as they were called “The Beatles of electronic dance music”. To that note, there is even evidence of them performing music with a 4/4 kick drum pattern (synonymous with dance music) coupled with electronic synthesizers back in 1970.
By today’s standards that performance would probably not be considered dance music. However, using the generic definition of techno,you could possibly argue that this Kraftwerk performance was the first sign of rudimentary techno.
Make no mistake though,, The Belleville Three were definitively the first to fully flesh out the genre and helped it become the dance-crazy revolution it is known as today.
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Many would say the seed of techno and electronic music came from Europe’s growing electronic scene in the 1970s. However, it’s pretty much agreed that the core of techno music began with the Belleville Three in Detroit, Michigan in the 80s.
These techno legends created what is now called “Detroit Techno”. The Belleville Three sourced a lot of inspiration from the growth of house music in Chicago and electronic music coming out of Europe. Many music historians credit Juan Atkins of the Belleville Three with the first true techno song, 1985’s “No UFO’s.”
In the late 80’s to early 90’s, techno spread from underground clubs of Detroit to massive events in Europe. As the genre’s popularity grew, artists and regions began introducing different concepts and elements into the genre. This created various sub genres of techno.
Sub genres were created based either on the primary instruments used in the tracks or the general feel of the track. Thus, genres such as acid techno, minimal techno, and lots more began to arise. Many of these genres maintained the basic core concepts of the original techno with a different focus.
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Today, techno’s growth and incorporation of different elements has skyrocketed evolving into a drastically different variety of sounds. Beatport, one of the largest dance music digital music distributors had to address this growth a by updating their techno genres in the last few years. Even then they only expanded the category to a few more classifications.
Due to the fact that so many artists are now borrowing from so many different sub genres it makes more sense to focus on a very broad overall feel of the track rather than the specific elements that the track uses.
For example, one track may very well have acid techno elements along with industrial elements and then at times use minimal techno elements. It would make sense to just classify that track under one overarching genre like “peak/time driving” to let the listener know this is going to be a banger of a techno track rather than say its acid/industrial/minimal techno track.
Techno has even grown to a point where even “joke” genres are created criticizing artists/tracks that are considered over commercialized and appealing to a different audience.
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Acid techno came about in the early 90’s due to the introduction of the now infamous Roland TB303 machine. Initially the TB303 machine was meant to replace a live bass guitarist and was a commercial failure until dance music artists began incorporating it into their productions.
With the bass machine in hand, acid techno focused on the use of the sometimes squelchy and often trippy bass sounds.
Some notable artists that are often associated with acid techno are DAVE the Drummer, Plastikman, and more recently artists such as Amelie Lens.
Although developed in the 90s acid techno has made a massive resurgence. “[Techno] is the kind of genre that’s constantly developing and evolving,” says DJ duo Pan-Pot. “You can see this in between the last five to six years. Techno became super hard again very acid-driven.”
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Hardcore techno originated mainly in Belgium and The Netherlands in the 90’s and then further developed in the UK and Germany.
Hardcore techno can be distinguished from other forms of techno because of its:
There are even plenty of subgenres within hardcore techno. For example, while Happy Hardcore features accelerated songs with joyful vocals and piano riffs, speedcore has hyperactive snares and toms with a BPM as high as 300.
Dub techno has a more atmospheric and spacey sound. Though it is techno, it’s not exactly the type of music you’ll find yourself dancing to at a late-night warehouse party.
The subgenre is heavily influenced by Dub, a style of music which grew out of reggae in the late 60’s and early 70’s. A key characteristic of dub is that it consists of the reworking of recordings. When audio is transferred from one medium to another, it’s called “dubbing”, giving the genre its name.
Dub techno uses the key elements of dub, but emphasizes:
Minimal techno is a more stripped-back subgenre of techno music, often only utilizing:
There’s little melody involved, but lots of repetition and a subtle changes throughout. While songs in this subgenre aren’t likely to feature massive drops, they do typically have a groove and trance-inducing sound.
Minimal techno pioneer Robert Hood has said, ““It was to draw… Sort of like trance music. This is REAL trance music. I don’t know about that other stuff… This is the real deal. It was hypnotic.”
image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berghain
A four story massive structure located in Berlin, the club is infamous for bringing in huge acts while being almost impossible to get into. Â The venue has become an institution in the techno and house scene of its city and, factually, the entire world.
image source: https://printworkslondon.co.uk/
Located in London, a mecca to one of the biggest hot spots for clubbing and dance music. Printworks is infamous for its production and lighting, forming some of the memorable events of all time. Unfortunately it was recently announced that the iconic building may be turned into office spaces, but not without a fight.
image source: https://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/night/clubs/dc10_i.htm
DC10, Spain Ibiza, DC10 is known as the birthplace of the now infamous Circoloco parties back in 1999. The parties began as a free after party on Monday mornings from 6am to 6pm. The club and the party is now a worldwide recognized party brand.
image source: https://www.facebook.com/ClubSpace/
Arguably one of the largest and most popular house and techno clubs in the United States, Club Space brings in all massive headliners and events in which the whole world flocks to when they are in sunny Florida.
image source: https://www.w