London Techno
Hard Techno anyone?
Over the last 12 months, fans of Techno are likely to have experienced a year of two distinct parts. Looking at the line-ups at the back end of 2008 and early in 2009, any fan of the sub-genre Hard Techno (often associated with another sub-genre known as Schranz) would have been pleased with the tantalising promise of seeing some of the leading DJs and producers performing in, or within reasonable travelling distance from, London. However, over the last six months we have had a shift in the availability of this particular type of Techno. There’s been an Ibizian Summer filled with the sounds of more Minimal and Funky Techno and some of the big festivals have already released line-ups with the Hard Techno arenas notably missing. So, what could be in store for our future Techno nights?
We’ll have look back to see whether the initial promise a year ago delivered the Hard Techno we were so eagerly anticipating and then review what’s been happening over the summer and further into the second half of 2009. Finally we’ll take a look at where the Hard Techno scene might be heading and what the future could hold for this wonderfully relentless, pounding, energising sub-genre of the immensely popular class of dance music known as Techno. But firstly, for those of you who are wondering what this Hard Techno thing is all about, maybe a quick definition is in order.
Whilst it is difficult to classify and maybe even inappropriate to pigeon hole music into genres, sub-genres, branches and niches of any kind, it is difficult to talk about the music I love without having to explain a little of what makes up Techno and why a particular style and pace of it so excites me. So, for those who of who don’t have their internal jukebox instantly recall a tune when I talk about Hard Techno, the following will hopefully give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
Techno is almost exclusively an electronic based music although many producers and DJs bring in live drums and instrumentals to enhance their performances. Whilst it’s difficult to pin down, the general consensus is that Techno was developed in the 1980’s in and around Detroit by a group of three producers called Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. It uses a myriad of synths, drums machines, sequencers and samplers, effectively utilising technology to mix strong melodies with heavy bass-lines and relying on pulsing rhythms with a typically structured 4/4 beat. A form of dance music with influences from soul, disco, funk and electro, Techno has a distinctive sound with heavy bass drums, or kicks, on every quarter note, a snare or clap on the second and fourth quarter note and high-hats every second eighth note. This produces the recognisable boom-cha-boom-cha-boom-cha (with the regular high hat tss-tss-tss-tss-tss over the top) template which is common amongst most forms of techno. Already we can see the enormous ranges of composition this can lead to, but it’s the pace and some more subtle influences which, for me, mark the difference between a perfectly interesting, listenable Techno tune to the goosepimply, high tempo excitement which is Hard Techno.
Hard Techno is often associated with Schranz and Hardcore Techno but for me it’s one big happy Hard Techno family! With faster tempos usually ranging from 150 to the dizzying heights of 170 beats per minute, Hard Techno utilises even harder/heavier bass drums than its Techno counterparts, meshing driving percussive elements with distorted looping syths to produce a unique sound, enough to make the best of us have to stop to catch our breath on the dance floor. The fast looping elements, still with the dance minded ease of a 4/4 beat, can include melodic segments and fragments and with a number of producers even sampling or creating classical interludes which are then rolled into the tune itself. With these tunes I like to imagine it’s what Vivaldi or Chopin would created if a syth and drum machine where available in the 1600-1800’s – piano/violin concerto madness! However, the best way to experience and understand the music is to have a listen to some for yourself – you can find some mixes of Hard Techno on the ADTEC website (www.adtec-techno.ning.com). Enjoy!
So, armed with our knowledge of what it is to experience Hard Techno, let’s take a look back at what the year promised and whether the reality lived up to expectations. Specialising in Hard Techno, the crew at Datablender have put on, and been involved in, some of the harder nights which you can experience in London. With events at various smaller, more intimate venues such as Jacks in London Bridge, Koncrete and the more recent Datablender parties have showcased some of the best DJs and producers of Hard Techno. We have been able to experience the uncompromising loops of Jeff Amadeus and Scott Kemix, the lyrical samplings of Boris S and some sets which have been bordering on Hardcore (a definition for another day!) from some high quality Spanish DJs such as Necro Dur and Richie Gee. These nights promised and delivered some of the best Hard Techno to be found in this country with the highlight being the one year anniversary of Koncrete at Jamm in February 2009. A notably hard night where the yells of “Harder!”, which frequently occur from the back of the room on disappointingly tame nights, were either not present or drowned out by the ferocity of the techno being hammered out by the Koncrete DJs. With a strong attendance of Londoners and visitors from all over Europe, the future of Hard Techno was looking rosy.
Other nights which were worth a look were hosted by Family Groove, the Liberator crew and of course ADTEC which is mentioned further below. Whilst there was plenty of good looking nights in the London and further afield in Liverpool (where the Panzram Industrial nights are going strong) the prospect of going clubbing abroad appeals even more to Hard Techno fans. However, to make travelling abroad worth the effort, larger events are called for. Two such classics have been the I Love Techno festival in Belgium and the Awakenings Festival in Holland. The former boasts 5 rooms of techno delights with each room hosting DJs from common sub-genres with a broad enough line-up to cater for everyone’s Techno needs. For the fast paced, high energy seekers, the Green room delivered everything you could hope for. A two hour set from DJ Rush on fine singing form was proceeded by one the hardest sets I have ever heard from Pet Duo and rounded off by a solid, Frank Kvitta finale. I must take a moment here to expand on this Brazilian couple. Using anything from 4 decks+mixers+effects to a dual laptop set, Pet Duo push the Hard Techno boundaries to 170 bpm creating a set which is uniquely recognisable. They are the highlight and headliners of many festivals and they also played at Awakenings, though this set sparked a debate over how much is too much effect layering and the danger of losing the 4/4 structure in favour of distortions, samples and fast breakdowns.
As with I Love Techno, Awakenings had an arena dedicated to Hard Techno, with Pet Duo being joined by Sven Wittekind, Marco Remus, Tetrapak (Boris S and Arkus P) and many more. However, being a day festival, the harder stuff was left until later in the afternoon, and with the likes of Josh Wink and Green Velvet playing in the sunshine, this saved any tricky decisions. These festivals, I am happy to report, were completely sold out. 50,000 trekked out to Ghent for I Love Techno in October 2008, with even more heading to the outskirts of Amsterdam for Awakenings in June 2009 showing the strength of the Techno scene in Europe. Both of the events are a must for any Techno lover and in particular for Hard Techno fans.
Final highlights of the year must of course go to ADTEC. Whilst not Hard Techno all night, ADTEC focuses on bringing a high quality music experience to a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where DJs are given an opportunity to play their favourite records to an easy going crowd. You will experience Techno interspersed with Breaks, Drum and Bass or whatever the DJs on that fancy playing that time round. Hard Techno of course is still on the menu with yours truly hammering it out as hard and fast as the crowd can take. Videos and pictures of the various nights can be found on the ADTEC website (www.adtec-techno.ning.com).
With great nights popping up all over the place early in the year and festivals getting a good balance between the different varieties of Techno, you would been forgiven to think that Hard Techno was on the up with packed out venues and heavily attended festivals. However, this has not been the case more recently. With the usual lull in the clubbing scene over the Summer as people head away on holiday or preferring to frequent the beer gardens of London rather than hit the clubs, the expected increases in nights hasn’t been seen so far. The new season supposedly starts with the August Bank Holiday weekend with a couple of London festivals marking the date. Most notable of these are the festivals in SW4 and the Nottinghill Carnival. Whilst Carnival tends to cater for the more Drum and Bass minded of us, SW4 has a wide variety of dance acts but with a glaring omission. No Hard Techno can be found - only a nod towards the Minimal end of the Techno spectrum with the likes of Richie Hawtin and Josh Wink. Sad given the packed out hard arenas abroad.
Even sadder though is the release of the line-up from I Love Techno for later this year which is usually a sure fire way of getting an entire room of Hard Techno for the whole night. The Green Room this year has been replaced by more of the sorts of Techno being played out in Ibiza this summer. Supposedly known as the Year of Techno, Ibiza nights are hosted by heavyweights such as Sven Vath with his Cocoon nights, Chris Liebing with Thursdays at Space and of course the legendary Carl Cox hosting I Love Space. Whilst these DJs are capable of putting together a great set, they would never be described as hard and it was a little sad to see world famous nights dominated by slower, albeit looped, melodic techno. With upcoming festivals, such as I Love Techno, seemingly looking away from harder, faster Techno which was clearly common place six months ago, do we think promoters are losing faith in the genre or is it a temporary glitch in an otherwise thriving scene?
The answer, I guess, can only come from looking ahead to the Autumn/Winter events starting up in London and abroad. With I Love Techno flyer safely filed in the bin, what can we find in our Hard Techno calendar to cure those Summer blues? Well, if it’s proper Hard Techno you’re after, then I can recommend two nights. First it’s another Datablender extravaganza on November 14th with Jason Little gracing the UK with his awesome presence. Producer and DJ of music at Pet Duo levels of hard, unadulterated madness and joined by Richie Gee, this will be a night not to miss.
Second, with a date soon to be announced, will be the return of ADTEC at Plan B. Following a fire at the venue days before a night hosted by ADTEC in the basement bar and Hot Chip upstairs, ADTEC will return with the usual musical mayhem. Hard Techno will be brought to you by an over excited DJTomec who is of course planning a set harder than we have heard at ADTEC to date. Expect a two hour thundering Hard Techno set combining vinyl, CDs and effects in a frantic no-holes-bared furious techno set! Not something to be missed!
So with all that, what could be in store for our Techno nights? Well, I think we’ll have to wait for the next instalments of Hard Techno from our favourite DJs and support the promoters out there like Datablender, ADTEC, Panzram, SUF and more, who continue to play the music they love to an eager crowd and hope they are not tempted to the dark-side in the form of Minimal Techno.
...and with that, it leaves me to say:
Enjoy your Techno responsibly and remember, if a DJ just isn’t cutting it for you, don’t be afraid of showing your support for your favourite type of music by yelling “Harder”!
DJTomec
We’ll have look back to see whether the initial promise a year ago delivered the Hard Techno we were so eagerly anticipating and then review what’s been happening over the summer and further into the second half of 2009. Finally we’ll take a look at where the Hard Techno scene might be heading and what the future could hold for this wonderfully relentless, pounding, energising sub-genre of the immensely popular class of dance music known as Techno. But firstly, for those of you who are wondering what this Hard Techno thing is all about, maybe a quick definition is in order.
Whilst it is difficult to classify and maybe even inappropriate to pigeon hole music into genres, sub-genres, branches and niches of any kind, it is difficult to talk about the music I love without having to explain a little of what makes up Techno and why a particular style and pace of it so excites me. So, for those who of who don’t have their internal jukebox instantly recall a tune when I talk about Hard Techno, the following will hopefully give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
Techno is almost exclusively an electronic based music although many producers and DJs bring in live drums and instrumentals to enhance their performances. Whilst it’s difficult to pin down, the general consensus is that Techno was developed in the 1980’s in and around Detroit by a group of three producers called Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. It uses a myriad of synths, drums machines, sequencers and samplers, effectively utilising technology to mix strong melodies with heavy bass-lines and relying on pulsing rhythms with a typically structured 4/4 beat. A form of dance music with influences from soul, disco, funk and electro, Techno has a distinctive sound with heavy bass drums, or kicks, on every quarter note, a snare or clap on the second and fourth quarter note and high-hats every second eighth note. This produces the recognisable boom-cha-boom-cha-boom-cha (with the regular high hat tss-tss-tss-tss-tss over the top) template which is common amongst most forms of techno. Already we can see the enormous ranges of composition this can lead to, but it’s the pace and some more subtle influences which, for me, mark the difference between a perfectly interesting, listenable Techno tune to the goosepimply, high tempo excitement which is Hard Techno.
Hard Techno is often associated with Schranz and Hardcore Techno but for me it’s one big happy Hard Techno family! With faster tempos usually ranging from 150 to the dizzying heights of 170 beats per minute, Hard Techno utilises even harder/heavier bass drums than its Techno counterparts, meshing driving percussive elements with distorted looping syths to produce a unique sound, enough to make the best of us have to stop to catch our breath on the dance floor. The fast looping elements, still with the dance minded ease of a 4/4 beat, can include melodic segments and fragments and with a number of producers even sampling or creating classical interludes which are then rolled into the tune itself. With these tunes I like to imagine it’s what Vivaldi or Chopin would created if a syth and drum machine where available in the 1600-1800’s – piano/violin concerto madness! However, the best way to experience and understand the music is to have a listen to some for yourself – you can find some mixes of Hard Techno on the ADTEC website (www.adtec-techno.ning.com). Enjoy!
So, armed with our knowledge of what it is to experience Hard Techno, let’s take a look back at what the year promised and whether the reality lived up to expectations. Specialising in Hard Techno, the crew at Datablender have put on, and been involved in, some of the harder nights which you can experience in London. With events at various smaller, more intimate venues such as Jacks in London Bridge, Koncrete and the more recent Datablender parties have showcased some of the best DJs and producers of Hard Techno. We have been able to experience the uncompromising loops of Jeff Amadeus and Scott Kemix, the lyrical samplings of Boris S and some sets which have been bordering on Hardcore (a definition for another day!) from some high quality Spanish DJs such as Necro Dur and Richie Gee. These nights promised and delivered some of the best Hard Techno to be found in this country with the highlight being the one year anniversary of Koncrete at Jamm in February 2009. A notably hard night where the yells of “Harder!”, which frequently occur from the back of the room on disappointingly tame nights, were either not present or drowned out by the ferocity of the techno being hammered out by the Koncrete DJs. With a strong attendance of Londoners and visitors from all over Europe, the future of Hard Techno was looking rosy.
Other nights which were worth a look were hosted by Family Groove, the Liberator crew and of course ADTEC which is mentioned further below. Whilst there was plenty of good looking nights in the London and further afield in Liverpool (where the Panzram Industrial nights are going strong) the prospect of going clubbing abroad appeals even more to Hard Techno fans. However, to make travelling abroad worth the effort, larger events are called for. Two such classics have been the I Love Techno festival in Belgium and the Awakenings Festival in Holland. The former boasts 5 rooms of techno delights with each room hosting DJs from common sub-genres with a broad enough line-up to cater for everyone’s Techno needs. For the fast paced, high energy seekers, the Green room delivered everything you could hope for. A two hour set from DJ Rush on fine singing form was proceeded by one the hardest sets I have ever heard from Pet Duo and rounded off by a solid, Frank Kvitta finale. I must take a moment here to expand on this Brazilian couple. Using anything from 4 decks+mixers+effects to a dual laptop set, Pet Duo push the Hard Techno boundaries to 170 bpm creating a set which is uniquely recognisable. They are the highlight and headliners of many festivals and they also played at Awakenings, though this set sparked a debate over how much is too much effect layering and the danger of losing the 4/4 structure in favour of distortions, samples and fast breakdowns.
As with I Love Techno, Awakenings had an arena dedicated to Hard Techno, with Pet Duo being joined by Sven Wittekind, Marco Remus, Tetrapak (Boris S and Arkus P) and many more. However, being a day festival, the harder stuff was left until later in the afternoon, and with the likes of Josh Wink and Green Velvet playing in the sunshine, this saved any tricky decisions. These festivals, I am happy to report, were completely sold out. 50,000 trekked out to Ghent for I Love Techno in October 2008, with even more heading to the outskirts of Amsterdam for Awakenings in June 2009 showing the strength of the Techno scene in Europe. Both of the events are a must for any Techno lover and in particular for Hard Techno fans.
Final highlights of the year must of course go to ADTEC. Whilst not Hard Techno all night, ADTEC focuses on bringing a high quality music experience to a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where DJs are given an opportunity to play their favourite records to an easy going crowd. You will experience Techno interspersed with Breaks, Drum and Bass or whatever the DJs on that fancy playing that time round. Hard Techno of course is still on the menu with yours truly hammering it out as hard and fast as the crowd can take. Videos and pictures of the various nights can be found on the ADTEC website (www.adtec-techno.ning.com).
With great nights popping up all over the place early in the year and festivals getting a good balance between the different varieties of Techno, you would been forgiven to think that Hard Techno was on the up with packed out venues and heavily attended festivals. However, this has not been the case more recently. With the usual lull in the clubbing scene over the Summer as people head away on holiday or preferring to frequent the beer gardens of London rather than hit the clubs, the expected increases in nights hasn’t been seen so far. The new season supposedly starts with the August Bank Holiday weekend with a couple of London festivals marking the date. Most notable of these are the festivals in SW4 and the Nottinghill Carnival. Whilst Carnival tends to cater for the more Drum and Bass minded of us, SW4 has a wide variety of dance acts but with a glaring omission. No Hard Techno can be found - only a nod towards the Minimal end of the Techno spectrum with the likes of Richie Hawtin and Josh Wink. Sad given the packed out hard arenas abroad.
Even sadder though is the release of the line-up from I Love Techno for later this year which is usually a sure fire way of getting an entire room of Hard Techno for the whole night. The Green Room this year has been replaced by more of the sorts of Techno being played out in Ibiza this summer. Supposedly known as the Year of Techno, Ibiza nights are hosted by heavyweights such as Sven Vath with his Cocoon nights, Chris Liebing with Thursdays at Space and of course the legendary Carl Cox hosting I Love Space. Whilst these DJs are capable of putting together a great set, they would never be described as hard and it was a little sad to see world famous nights dominated by slower, albeit looped, melodic techno. With upcoming festivals, such as I Love Techno, seemingly looking away from harder, faster Techno which was clearly common place six months ago, do we think promoters are losing faith in the genre or is it a temporary glitch in an otherwise thriving scene?
The answer, I guess, can only come from looking ahead to the Autumn/Winter events starting up in London and abroad. With I Love Techno flyer safely filed in the bin, what can we find in our Hard Techno calendar to cure those Summer blues? Well, if it’s proper Hard Techno you’re after, then I can recommend two nights. First it’s another Datablender extravaganza on November 14th with Jason Little gracing the UK with his awesome presence. Producer and DJ of music at Pet Duo levels of hard, unadulterated madness and joined by Richie Gee, this will be a night not to miss.
Second, with a date soon to be announced, will be the return of ADTEC at Plan B. Following a fire at the venue days before a night hosted by ADTEC in the basement bar and Hot Chip upstairs, ADTEC will return with the usual musical mayhem. Hard Techno will be brought to you by an over excited DJTomec who is of course planning a set harder than we have heard at ADTEC to date. Expect a two hour thundering Hard Techno set combining vinyl, CDs and effects in a frantic no-holes-bared furious techno set! Not something to be missed!
So with all that, what could be in store for our Techno nights? Well, I think we’ll have to wait for the next instalments of Hard Techno from our favourite DJs and support the promoters out there like Datablender, ADTEC, Panzram, SUF and more, who continue to play the music they love to an eager crowd and hope they are not tempted to the dark-side in the form of Minimal Techno.
...and with that, it leaves me to say:
Enjoy your Techno responsibly and remember, if a DJ just isn’t cutting it for you, don’t be afraid of showing your support for your favourite type of music by yelling “Harder”!
DJTomec
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