On Tue, 21 Sep 2004, Stoddard, Kamal wrote:
> this post never made it to my inbox. if it posts to the list can someone let > me know privately so i don't try again? thanks. > > Kamal K. Stoddard > Turner Broadcasting Systems > Entech > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Stoddard, Kamal > subject: RE: (313) If I really agree with this. In all honesty, I think a lot of the Chicago stuff, acid house and the reflex, had more of an influence on the sound of electronic music globally than the Detroit style. That being said, I actually think that out of the "big three', only kevin made tracks that again converted into the next wave of electronic music, which happens to be the european stuff that came to define techno or dance music throughout the past 10 years. this isn't meant to be a deviding comment as much as just an interesting notion to think about. obviously, this list will focus on 313 techno- but i do sometimes feel like the influence of protottypical detroit techno is overstated. in the sea of electronic music, detroit techno is a significant buoy. but chicago seems more like lighthouse to me. thoughts? > > to be honest, I'd have to say chicago. there was so much interaction in the > early days between the chi-town and detroit heads, as well as the oft spoken > about mutual admiration/respect held for each city by the other in the early > days. I understand the claims laid by the european cities as far as the > amount of support they have given techno over the years, but if detroit is > held up as the first city, then support cannot factor into the award at all > (detroit = support HA!). as far as contributions to the sound, chicago was a > major influence on the detroit sound (and vice versa) before any of the > overseas heads ever got ahold of it, and continued to be a major factor in > the shaping of the sound via labels like relief and their ilk. so i vote > Chicago. i see two problems with your argument here. One, the hard "Berlin" sound actually had it's genesis in detroit with jeff mills, rob hood and that crew. and everyone of the detroit figureheads have played (i believe we decided the term was) loop-bangers at some point. And two, if you're saying that support doesn't matter when crowning detroit nad chicago kings, than why should the support berlin provided to the hard sound disqualify it? i'm agreeing with you that chicago should be considered city number two (or maybe number one given a more panoramic look at the question), but i see no reason to discount berlin (maybe as city number 3?) > > the Berlin thing kind of disturbs me because as I see it, they were the ones > that misdefined techno to the world. Derrick May was talking about this in > his interview earlier ( "I have to redefine the concept of techno every time > I play because people come in expecting... hard edged abrasive intrusive, > into-the-cortex type music while I'm coming from a really melodic, rhythmic > high tech soul angle..." ) I think a large part of the reason that people > expect that non-melodic, abrasive, intrusive sound when they think techno is > because that's what they were taught by the Berlin school (okay stockholm > too) to expect. I laugh because even the creators of this music are trying to > shake off that stigma many years later. I don't hold any contempt for Berlin > or any of it's inhabitants (think it's one of the best places on earth right > now actually) but i just feel that berlin's contributions to the advancement > of techno (artistically speaking, not support-wise) are just recently comi n! > g into their own in the last 5 or 6 years. the berlin influence seemed to > hinder that advancement early on by narrowing the techno field of vision to > loopy aggressive bizness. dunno, guess i'm rambling now. hope I don't get > flamed for this one. > > Kamal K. Stoddard > Turner Broadcasting Systems > Entech > > "Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn't about standing still and > becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about > change." > >
