"Techno-" as an adjectival modifier ("techno-thriller", "techno-urban",
"techno-speak", etc.) has been around for decades. It's clearly a
truncation of "technological," and its use as a modifier indicates the
rapid and pervasive growth of technology through modern society -- so
fast that new terms describing new kinds of economic and cultural
phenomena haven't had time to develop directly.
So the late-1980s sense of techno music arising from the cycle of utopian
early hopes and dystopian reality makes a lot of sense. Juan Atkins
didn't coin "techno" as a six-letter phrase helping to modify some other
term, but he definitely gets credit for extracting that phrase and having
it stand on its own for a distinctly identifiable music style that relates
to the same transformative nature of technology.
Doing this may seem obvious in retrospect. Then again, good ideas often
are like that ...
phred
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"In his seminal text 'Noise', Jacques Attali celebrates the prophetic
power of music. What is pioneered first within music-making is later
adopted as the political economy for the whole of society. For instance,
the constant turnover of hit records in the 1920s prefigured the mass
consumerism of late-twentieth century Fordism. According to Attali,
each epoch of music-making creates its own specific social,
technological and aesthetic forms. For instance, twentieth century
music developed some apparently unbreakable paradigms: stars, fans,
record companies, copyright laws, pieces of plastic, top 40 singles
and experimental albums. Yet, at the beginning of a new century, these
fixed Fordist forms are being superseded. What began with a few
skilled DJs mixing vinyl now involves almost everybody with access to
a computer and the Net.
"This new situation won't just create new social, technological and
aesthetic paradigms for music-making. As in the past, music is
pioneering a new political economy for the whole of society.
Napsterisation is a prophecy of the peer-to-peer future.
http://www.cybersalon.org/cgi-bin/cybersalon/events.cgi?articleid=151
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