I'm guessing he's not a big John Cage fan. Seriously, though I have great respect for Larry Heard as a producer, I have to disagree. A certain kind of feeling might define a GENRE, but it can never define all the possibilities available in the exploration of music as an art form. These fixed ideas about what is music and what is noise prevent innovation and evolution. And to fear evolution is not very "techno".
Musically we are living in a period where every form of noise has been "liberated" - not to express something but rather to be explored for its own sake. I don't need music to carry some supposed meaning or feeling. There is a place for music with feeling, but there is also a place for abstract music that explores structured sonic possibilities for their own sake. Techno was ALWAYS about the surface anyway, it never was substantive compared to, say, Mozart. Techno is a special effect, a slowly mutating surface of noise vibrating over extremely repetitive rhythmic patters. And that is just fine with me. np: Autechre - Untilted ~David > but he called it a collection of noises - not music > > MEK
