Old school techno

The originators started as a group known as the Motown Four—Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, and Eddic Fowlkes. Detroit techno was born back in the 80s, right here in the USA.

I’m calling on all the true disciples of quality techno—not that cheap, mindless garbage playing through phone speakers, but the real deal. I'm talking about the lineage of Jeff Mills, Derrick Carter, and Damon Wild. Please join this thread; feel free to post upcoming events, links to download old demos, and anything else of substance.

As it stands, if you're looking for solid old-school vinyl collections, Pseudomonaz Channel on YouTube is probably your best bet.

My goal is to dig up even more—to champion the authentic sound rather than those flimsy, half-baked, low-quality DIY mixes you hear cluttering up modern clubs today.

Are we talking about Albert Camus now?

northerntrucker85, I guess your idea about those links isn't exactly brilliant, considering download links are prohibited here.

Anyway, Detroit techno is generally seen as the precursor to house. You have tekno, which is the German version, where Kraftwerk served as the predecessor (though Kraftwerk definitely influenced Detroit techno too).

For me, Atkins and Saunderson were at their best during the Inner City project (Big Fun, Good Life, Set Your Body Free). Saunderson was part of the group while Atkins handled the production.

Then you have Phuture from Chicago, who are considered the first acid house group; their acid tracks basically made Ron Hardy famous.😉

As for homemade mixes, Detroit techno was actually known for being composed of homemade tracks—that's essentially how it all started:

"Midway through the 80s, many Chicago DJs and clubgoers started experimenting with creating their own rhythm tracks. DJs would play these homemade tracks, and (in short) this is how house music was born"

😉

To me, May and Saunderson lean more toward tech house than actual techno... though Claude Young is definitely playing a different game 🙂 I actually caught him live twice in Washington, D.C.—the guy is just awesome... I even have a video from OTV; a friend was filming, and I managed to grab a photo with him and Rachmad Mills 😁 Mills was my absolute favorite about eight years ago, but honestly, he started to wear on me—it felt like the same sets over and over... personally, I tend to gravitate more toward artists like Clarke, Beyer, Lekebush, Liebing, Pascal, and Siegling

It’s honestly mind-blowing how Kraftwerk still sounds like they’re ahead of their time.
Classic and timeless—long live Kraftwerk!

You’ve got a thread similar to this one, I think it’s called Detroit techno or something like that :unsure:

here you go, right on

Angela Morales said:northerntrucker85, that wasn't exactly a genius move regarding the links, since download links are totally banned here...

Anyway, Detroit techno is usually seen as the predecessor to house music. You’ve also got techno which is the German version, and its predecessors were Kraftwerk (though Kraftwerk definitely influenced Detroit techno too)...

For me, Atkins and Saunderson were at their best during the Inner City project (stuff like Big Fun, Good Life, Set Your Body Free). Saunderson was part of the group while Atkins handled the production...

Then you have Phuture from Chicago, who are considered the first acid house group, and their acid tracks actually helped make Ron Hardy famous...😉

As for those homemade mixes, Detroit techno was actually known for being composed of all these homemade tracks, and that's basically how it all started:

"Midway through the 80s, many Chicago DJs and clubgoers started experimenting with creating their own rhythm tracks. DJs would play these homemade tracks, and (in short) this is how house music was born"

😉

Jesus, looks like someone's trying to act like an expert again without really knowing the facts...
Nobody besides you considers Detroit techno to be the precursor to house music, and even though those first primitive techno sounds popped up in 1981—well before the first house records—there's almost no real connection between that early techno and the later house sound. The official techno story kicks off in 1985 with Atkins' Metroplex label and those first releases under the model 500 moniker (no UFO's, Play IT cool), whereas the first house record appeared a year earlier, and house itself was already happening at various parties in the Warehouse and Music Box. Besides, techno has always been about futurism, space, electricity, and darker themes, while house grew out of disco and blended in influences from funk, soul, and other "warmer" Black musical styles. Vocals and piano lines have been there since house started, but they didn't show up in techno until 1987 when May and Saunderson began flirting with what we call Detroit house—a blend of the two genres. That was really the first time house and techno actually met. Atkins never really embraced that sound, and he never actually produced for Inner City, the most prominent Detroit house project (though he did do a couple of friendly remixes)... Techno moved to England in the early 90s, then to Germany (where they immediately created their own version of techno—faster, darker, and much less melodic than Detroit techno), then to Belgium and the rest of Europe. Personally, I'm most into the British version of Detroit techno, that broken and beatless style used by people like Kirk Degiorgio, Matt Cogger, the Black doga crew, B12, and John Beltran... The ultimate techno album for me is The Philosophy of sound and Machin...

Two more corrections: there's no such thing as the "Belleville Four," it's the "Belleville Three," and while Fowlkes went to that high school, he wasn't part of that specific crew. Though the guy definitely belongs among those three in terms of importance and influence. Also, Phuture didn't make Ron Hardy famous; it was the other way around. Ron Hardy was already an established DJ by then (probably alongside Knuckles as the most important figure in Chicago), whereas Phuture hadn't released a record or had any impact on the scene until Ron started playing them...

So, does a thread actually exist for EPIC Flam in 3, 2, 1...?

Let's just de-escalate the tension here

@northerntrucker85:
Look, what you're talking about here is Detroit techno, not just plain old techno 😉

And yeah, mixes aren't banned, but since EPs and LPs are, you can totally drop links to DJ sets

@briskbear51
It used to be techno back in the day, but things have changed

Oh, and those guys you mentioned—Clarke, Beyer, and the rest—they're all doing fake minimal now, just basic plink-plonk stuff

If you ask me, Clarke has totally lost his edge ever since he ditched the vinyl for CDs.. 🤣

how'd they switch from techno to klopot 😂

Gregory Harris8 said:Jesus, someone's trying to act smart again without actually knowing anything...

Well, I'm not really acting smart; I'm just stating what I remember.

Yeah, yeah, I am actually talking about Detroit house—music tied to the Warehouse club. That’s what I meant when I said it was the precursor to house, not early Detroit techno. Honestly, I don't even know much about that (probably going to get an answer like "well, it shows"😁). I guess I didn't realize there was such a thing as early Detroit techno distinct from Detroit house; I thought they were the same thing.😳🙈

But, I do know acid house started in Detroit.

If we had been "taught" things as clearly as you wrote them here back then, everything would be a lot clearer.🙂

I mean, back in the 90s, when shows like Top DJ Mag or DJ Is So Hot were explaining the origins of techno, if I recall correctly, they always talked about the Warehouse and what was obviously Detroit house. We all know that music eventually migrated from Detroit to Europe. I'm a 90s kid, and I listened to what was generally called rave.
Also, if my info regarding Ron Hardy is wrong, feel free to correct me, and I sincerely apologize for that.

Back then, when I was listening to Inner City, I was only 11 or 12, so it's entirely possible that incorrect info was floating around or, more likely, that I just remembered it wrong. I remember Atkins produced one or more of their tracks—that's how I recall it, unless that was also wrong, which seems likely. I didn't know he never actually embraced that specific sound.
Anyway, in the late 80s, besides pop, I wanted to be the cool kid, so I listened to what was called acid house—S-Express, Bomb the Bass, Coldcut, Timelords/The Jams (later KLF). I assume that kind of music grew out of those acid house roots in Detroit (expecting a correction here😁)
Regardless, I'm a 90s generation kid, so I'll leave the later 80s house and techno stuff to the experts like you. 😉

Come on, write more about this, it's actually pretty interesting!

In general, I'd be embarrassed if I didn't know something and was just bluffing on the forum, but this 🤷, well, I'm not a DJ, so I shouldn't be expected to know all this in my sleep.😬

So I see a lot of smart 😬 hanging out here... check out High Tech School. It does a killer job breaking down the early days of techno—you can call it whatever you want, but this one focuses on the German scene

Also, that Universal Techno doc is pretty solid too 😉

Here are a few good ones to watch 😉
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7ReerCwt4
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=PIRK38D5pC4
And this one is my favorite:
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT3v5H...eature=related

So, basically 🤣

I actually tried to be polite in my reply, unlike the person I was responding to... didn't want to seem like I was looking for a fight like most people on this board. I just asked for more info regarding the origins in Detroit, since that's stuff the older generation—which Gregory Harris8 clearly represents—would actually know about. But now they think they're experts, trying to lecture me on subgenres of Techno music like we haven't heard of them before.

Thanks, but I'm well aware of how things evolved from the 90s onward.

In my opinion, the real debate is what qualifies as Detroit techno versus house 🙄 back in the 80s. I guess myrza made a good point that those two were leaning more towards house than techno.

Let's goooooo.

boldjackal10 said:Come on, let's get moving!

take care🤣 🤣 🤣

boldjackal10 said:Come on, let's get this show on the road.

As long as they're making noise, I guess it counts.🙏

boldjackal10 said:Come on, let's goooooo!

Unknown organization!!!

I guess I just lose my mind a little bit whenever I hear that at a party😁

Man, he's just total chaos. Honestly, Jesus, someone should just take him out right now—no trial, no jury, just done. I remember back in the day, it was the Best. This guy would be walking around mid-thigh deep in it, acting up every five minutes, and I was just like, "Dude, seriously, can you just chill out? What the hell are you even doing?"