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Myth making

There is a gaping chasm of truth between what is written, said and discussed about many 'underground' artists and what is actually true. I feel that techno is especially prone to this mythmaking process because it has no stars, there are no hits, it doesn’t make its way into the mainstream media and there is no dedicated radio or TV to support it. No wonder that most of the exposure for this music has migrated online. Add in the fact that most people who make techno don’t really want to be in the limelight, have their photo taken or want to be famous - this facelessness and lack of egotism is something I have always found especially endearing: unfortunately, it’s not always apparent, but that point is sufficient for a whole new post  - and there is ample room to make up stories about techno’s heroes.It can be amusing to hear that so and so only makes music on a Wednesday or that a well-known label signed three EPs and an album from an esteemed electro act because that act wrapped the label owner’s 3-series BMW around a tree, but this also means that it’s disappointing when confronted with the normal, humdrum reality of the artist’s existence. I’m not a fan of PR firms, but, faced with the alternative, an artist who won’t do interviews or be photographed, then it’s not hard to understand why the myth making process starts. This is adopted and often embellished by the fan base and the myth gains credibility. As the artist refuses to comment or speak publicly, it is impossible to confirm or repudiate the rumours. The myth becomes reality. Maybe we’ll never know the truth about some of the artists we love and maybe trying to do so is to spectacularly miss the point – in the end, they’re all lying in the same gutter as us: they’re just reaching for the stars, and maybe that’s all that really counts.

Sounds of the summer

Apologies for the lack of updates lately, but I haven’t had much time to dedicate to the joys of blogging. Consequently, the site has become like techno tumbleweed, with a chill wind blowing through the domain. But hang on a second, what’s that I spy on the horizon - surely not some sunshine? Every year around this time - well, it’s usually a bit earlier, but forgive my slackness -  there is a brouhaha about what will be ‘the sound of the summer’. Invariably, it ends up with an array of different opinions and choices, but in the interests of avoiding a Moebius strip-style debate, I’ll be self-indulgent (well, it is my blog after all) and just list my candidates so for the sound of summer 08. Updates will be made regularly until the autumn leaves arrive.

If you plan to spend the rest of the summer months in darkened rooms, then the new release by Marcel Dettmann, ‘MDR04’, on his own paper-sleeve, hand-stamped MDR label is for you. Opening with a rush of white noise, it quickly descends into the heavy, fathomic and dense techno that has become the German producer’s trademark. A cursory listen may prompt the listener to dismiss this release as simplistic, but there is a very clever interplay at the heart of his work. Sure, the beats are ‘boombastic’ and the arranging is inspired by the dense, late 90s/early 00s loop aesthetic, but the tempo is considered and takes its cue from more recent techno developments. Add to this Dettmann’s penchant for clanging, metallic percussive elements and it’s clear that he is charting new, albeit dark territories.

Sleeparchive is also operating in isolation and ‘Hadron’, his latest hand-stamped EP on his own, eponymous label - noticing a trend here? – focuses on what he does best. Austere and unflinching, the dance floor tracks are powered by gradually tone-shifting bleeps, which in turn are underpinned by waves of bleak percussion. It’s not accessible, there’s not a hint of melody and yet there is something utterly hypnotic about it, the atonal cacophony sounding like a thousand space invaders games malfunctioning in unison on fading batteries. Just in case the repetition gets too much, one of the tracks ends abruptly in a wall of white noise.

Providing a counterpoint to these releases is Tobias’s ‘I Can’t Fight The Feeling’ on Wagon Repair. While the eerie, creeping minimalism of ‘Go’ does little to dispel the dark mood, the title track is a sun-kissed deep techno track, underpinned by rolling drums and featuring a sweet, playful female vocal. Tobias has produced some of my favourite records of the past few years, including ‘Dial’ and the now impossible-to-find ‘Street Knowledge’ – if anyone has a copy, I’m in the market for it -  but this is the moment where he could finally and , I’d wager, unwittingly, have a ‘big’ tune on his hands.

The other producer who is destined, or at least deserves, a big chunk of success is Osborne aka Todd Osborn. I’m a bit behind the times - there’s that slackness raising its slack head again - because he has released an album that is meant to be great, but so far I’ll be content with his ‘Ruling’ EP, a thing of immeasurable beauty. Based on a classic house and techno heritage, it’s the prevailing lightness of touch and breezy, infectious melodies that make every track such a delight. In particular, the discoy-house title track recalls 90s Chicago Relief/Sneak stylings and made me jump for joy as the needle dropped and the sun started to shine today…

Dopplereffekt tix

Hi, just a quick heads up that tickets are on sale now in Big Brother (aka Beat Finder), City Discs and Spindizzy for Dopplereffekt's debut Irish show in Dublin's Sugar Club  on Saturday, July 5th. They are priced 21 euro (including 1 euro booking fee). For those who live outside Dublin,  we can also accept payment by Paypal. We have an account set  up at electricitypromotions@eircom.net.

Dopplereffekt will be playing an early evening show. Doors are at 7pm with support from Decal. As capacity is limited, we advise people to buy tickets in advance for the show.

Thanks!

Cubism

4four's members have outdone themselves with a day's worth of hilarious posts about techno's most famous cubist. We should expect no less from the creators of the classic Ubercoolische and the more recent Cubercoolische. Troy, if you're reading this, get to the back!

Spinning out of control?

As anyone who has even the vaguest interest in the media coverage afforded to elections, wars and any other major events will be aware, spin now has a large influence on exactly how stories are covered and how news is 'broken'. So if the dark arts of the public relations industry has infiltrated the news room unhindered, what is the situation like in the music sphere? With print mags in decline and the internet becoming the primary source for fans to read about artists and labels to promote their artists, has new technology made the voices more questioning or merely provided a greater weapon for the PRs to get the angle on the story they want? By now, we are all aware about Hawtin's cube. While the debate continues to rage about whether it's all just a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun or a serious attempt by Minus to emulate the Jedis, there is no doubt that Hawtin has already won the PR battle. People are talking about it and clearly the exercise was to make people aware about and promote the Kontakt parties. In this instance, the maxim that there is 'no such thing as bad publicity' was adhered to. However, there is a more stealthy, creeping invasion by the PRs both offline and online and to my mind, this is a phenomenon both fans and critics alike should be more concerned about. As their pulling power wanes, it is more common to see print mags devoting acres of glowing reportage to major festivals and super clubs, or to bandy about absolutist terms like 'genius' or 'masterpiece' when reviewing or profiling mainstream acts. The concept of paying for editorial is nothing new, but at least in the past, the print media had more freedom to actually critcise the big acts paying the bills -  now some of the features read like a crash course in the art of the press release. Online, the PRs participate in forums, posting 'information' , ie press releases, about their artists and calling anyone who criticises the music they are being paid to represent  a crank. Recently, on an RA thread, I said that the new Josh Wink single wasn't very good. Straight away, the PR, who hadn't told any of the users of her vested interests, started calling me overly negative because I had criticised the single. This is just one of many, many examples of internet users being vilified by PRs for criticising an event or release. In some instances, the PRs have succeeded in getting threads deleted because they told uncomfortable truths. So free speech on the internet is under threat. Is this anything new? Not really. Seven years ago, Josh Wink - maybe he's just particularly sensitive -  was under pressure to explain the 'similarities' between his new release at the time an an old Dan Bell record. I was writing a piece about the conflict and in the interests of fair, even-handed journalism, I decided to ask both sides for their version of events. Dan Bell happily obliged, but when it came to Wink's turn to provide an explanation, all I got was a phone call from his PR at the time, explaining that any similarities were entirely conincidental and that if I printed anything to the contrary, then myself and the magazine it was to be published in would face the threat of legal action. Naturally we ignored him and printed the story. Thanks to new technology, it is easier to spread the spin, because as any good PR person will tell you, the more things change, the more they stay the same...

Sandwell of Time

Yes, I know, it has been very quiet around here lately, but I have had loads of other work on and many other issues that I don't want to bore you with to sort out (one of which is Typepad's awful new text editor). I'm back later in the week with a more lengthy post, but in the meantime, check out my first piece for RA, a profile of the excellent Sandwell District label. Thanks to RA for letting me do it...

DMX competition

Hi, we have limited guest list places for DMX Krew live at the Underground in Dublin, this Saturday, May 31st. 

To be in with a chance of getting in for free, just answer the following question: 

What is the name of Ed Dmx's label? 

A Breakin' 

B Breakbeat Science 

C Break for the Border 

Email your answer to testpromotions@gmail.com and we'll pick the winners from our Kangol hat later this week...

This week...

I have been mainly listening to:

Subculture & Optimo: 'Sub Club: 20 Years Underground' mix CD (Soma)

Anthiliawters: 'The Miles Without You' LP (Isophlux)

John Daly: 'Solitaire' 12" (IRR)

Various Artists: 'Berghain 02 Samplers' 12"s (Ostgut Ton)

Silent Servant: 'Blood of our King' 12" (Sandwell District)

Steve Bug: 'Honeymoon' (Russ Gabriel remix) 12" (Raw Elements)

Peter Van Hoesen: 'Trusted EP' 12" (Time to Express)

The Beat(portal) stops

You may or may not have noticed this -  actually, you probably haven't noticed it because it only happened a week or so ago  - but I'm no longer reviewing for Beatportal, Beatport's online 'magazine'. Beatportal approached me last year to review for them. At the time, they were in start-up mode and said that for the first few months, there would be no money involved. Given that the Beatportal project was being headed up by a former colleague of mine from DJ Magazine, I agreed to work under these conditions. Once the project kicked in, I got paid for my reviews, albeit at half the rate one normally gets for print magazine reviews, which, as anyone who has ever reviewed techno knows, isn't a hell of a lot of money. But I felt I was doing it for the right reasons, and submitted my reviews, some positive, some critcial, but always constuctive if critical. Then, a few months ago, Beatportal asked me if I could submit reviews in a rolling format instead of in one go once a month as had been the case. I thought this was a good idea, even though I was a bit surprised when asked to only review releases that I recommended, eg, no more critical reviews. I was also asked to submit the reviews myself, in much the same way that I update this blog, something I had no problem doing. A few weeks ago, I got a strange email from my former DJ Mag colleague at Beatportal with the header 'Blogging for Beatportal'. I have the email somewhere in my mail folders, and to save my former colleague, who I still think is a decent guy, any blushes, I'll summarise its content. Basically, Beatportal were doing away with all of its reviewers, but wanted to retain my services and get me to blog for them, and pay me more. It sounded too good to be true. But here's the sting in the tail: they wanted me to blog from this site: after the first few lines of each post, there would be a link to the full text on Beatportal, where all manner of players and branded images could be displayed. Or to put it another way: Beatportal wanted to take over this site (or maybe just its content) and pay me the grand total of $500 a month (the fee I was going to get to blog for them) to do so. I politely turned down the offer and my former colleague expressed disappointment that I felt Beatportal was not an independent outlet. How could it be? It's owned by a company whose main business is selling music: surely all the glowing reviews I was encouraged to submit to Beatportal wasn't for the good of my health? I have always maintained that this site, like any good blog, should be independent. I don't run it to make money, so was I wrong to turn down the cash and allow it to be turned into a Beatport satellite? I feel I made the right decision -  what do you think?

Supporting role

Does techno need patronage? The powers that be in the West deem that electronic music is part of 'popular' music, even though it is a niche pursuit. This means that there is little or no arts funding available to electronic producers who want to make music full time. Seeing as radio is mainly limited to conservative playlists and print mags' readerships and influence are dwindling, the only other means by which techno can be championed and supported is online -  blogs, portals etc - or with the support of big-name DJs. Get a premier league performer behind your record and your profile will grow, your sales will shoot up, your bookings will increase. One of the best examples of this phenomenon was Sven Vath's support for Legowelt's 'Disco Rout' in 2002. Legowelt, then only known to those who followed the Italo/neo-Chicago-influenced Dutch scene, suddenly became a household name in global techno circles thanks to Sven's patronage. 'Disco Rout', which was re-released last year with new remixes, appeared on Vath's Cocoon imprint and the thousands of people who buy his mixes and go to his gigs bought the record. So is the concept of DJ patronage still important? I'd argue that it is. People who buy electronic music still closely monitor the charts of  DJs they like or respect and, even though the advent of digital may mean that the monetary gains that accrue to producers from such high-level patronage have decreased, there is greater availability for more people and the knock-on benefits are still there in the form of gigs and more releases. Of course, it makes sense to treat such patronage with a pinch of salt or at least a cynical set of ears. Last year, Richie Hawtin started playing Kabale & Liebe's 'Mumbling Yeah', an unremarkable if useful minimalist DJ tool. Unsurprisingly, sales of the track spiked and it became one of 2007's most popular tracks. RA's writers even saw fit to make it the site's single of the year. I'm not suggesting that Hawtin's patronage led them to arrive at this decision, but there is no doubt that with his support, the track's popularity and profile grew. While the big names' ongoing support for underground music is desirable -  given a choice, I'd still much rather Hawtin plays 'Mumblin Yeah' than Dubfire - those who closely follow what they play should be more discerning before they start crate digging...