Techno

Techno Music
Techno is a subgenre of electronic dance music; it was the result of merging between middle-class African-American youths in Detroit and Michigan. It was originally derived from merging black styles such as Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz with electronic music. The first time the term techno was used was back in 1988. The progressive producer and DJ Juan Atkins were inspired by Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" and used the word techno to describe the musical style he helped to create. This unique blend of influences put techno on track with the aesthetic referred to as Afrofuturism. Techno music has many styles but still, the Detroit techno is considered the foundation of many other subgenres.

Kraftwerk’s Teutonic electro-pop and Alvin Toffler’s concept of “techno rebel” influenced the emergence of techno music. In 1985, three DJs; Derrick May, Juan Atkins, and Kevin Saunderson drew attention to their music production. What made techno music famous in Europe was Rythim Is Rythim’s “Strings of Life,” Model 500’s “No UFOs,” and Inner City’s “Good Life”.

Detroit techno was different from house music in that techno has a more complex beat and it is all instrumental. Techno is a piece of repetitive instrumental music in its style. Depending on the style, techno temp ranges between 120 to 150 beats per minute. Where the central rhythmic component is usually in common time (4/4), such that a bass drum on each quarter-note pulse is used to mark the time while a backbeat is played by a snare or clap on the second and the fourth pulses of the bar, and finally an open hi-hat sounding every second eighth note. Drums used are mainly Roland’s TR-808 and TR-909 with software emulations of this retro technology are used often in techno music.

Techno music was an expression of technological spirituality, where the transference of spirit from the body to the machine is usually a central preoccupation. Techno gained popularity in the European rave culture where the neo-psychedelic subculture that is based around ecstasy-fueled all-night dance parties happens. Only then white producers took techno to a harder-edged direction. It was transformed to a more aggressive riff and druggy texture rather than the original dreamy elegance it had before when it started in the US. Hardcore techno that signified its militant attitude and ecstasy-driven hedonism was a new brand of techno, it was pioneered by Joey Beltram from New York City, Belgian artists such as 80 Aum and Human Resource, as well as second-wave Detroit labels Underground Resistance and +8. The music was also influenced by hip hop in the minimalist British bleep-and-bass and breakfast hardcore styles.

In 1990’s, several subgenres emerged from beneath the umbrella of techno, most famous of which is trance music that is characterized by metronomic beats and cosmic melodies, electronica music that is an atmospheric experimentalism designed for album-length home listening, jungle music which is based around sped-up hip-hop breakbeats and floor-quaking reggae bass and gabba music which is an ultrafast furor that is more similar to heavy metal than dance music. Chemical Brothers and Prodigy presented a rock-n-roll mutant of techno in 1997 which invaded the musical society back then.