QUOTE
The three individuals most closely associated with the birth of Detroit techno as a genre are the "Belleville Three"; Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. These three high school friends from a Detroit suburb would soon find their basement tracks in dancefloor demand, thanks in part to seminal Detroit radio personality The Electrifying Mojo. Mojo not only played the early homegrown techno tracks, but also influenced the new sound by playing electronic music from techno and electronic music pioneers like Kraftwerk, Philip Glass, New Order and Afrika Bambaataa.
Influences also came from Chicago's early style of house music."[1] (Named so for the new style of music played at a Chicago nightclub called "The Warehouse"). Although producers in both cities used the same hardware and even collaborated on projects and remixes together, Detroiters traded the choir-friendly vocals of House with metallic clicks, robotic voices and repetitive hooks reminiscent of an automotive assembly line. Many of the early techno tracks had futuristic or robotic themes, although a notable exception to this trend was a single by Derrick May under his pseudonym Rhythm is Rhythm, called "Strings of Life." This vibrant dancefloor anthem was filled with rich synthetic string arrangements and took the underground music scene by storm in May of 1987. With subtle differences between the genres, clubs in both cities included Detroit techno and Chicago house tracks in their playlists without objection (or much notice by non-audiophiles) from patrons.
Socially and geographically, it is important to note on a local level, that Detroit Techno as a genre created a newfound, integrated club scene in Detroit that had not been felt in a general sense after the Motown label moved to Los Angeles. Television programs like TV62 -- WGPR's "The Scene" featured a racially and ethnically very mixed selection of dancers every weekday after school, but the playlist was typically jammed with the R&B and Funk tracks of the day, like Prince or the Gap Band. Breakouts like Juan Atkins "Technicolor" under his Model 500 moniker eventually found their way onto The Scene, and helped to explode the burgeoning local Techno underground with validity for the urban high school set, college radio programmers and DJs from Chicago to London, and beyond. Also, the advent of huge circuit of local parties in Detroit spawned a number of DJs to compete on such a intense level requiring week long preparation for an party event. As a result of its popularity, these club parties had an impact on the social scene of the city's youth and demographic. The club scene was as much in transition as the city they were in. From "industrial boomtown to post-Fordist wasteland", the decline of the auto industry brought forth Detroit's economic downfall and with it came the degentrification of the middle-class black areas. The wide-spread popularity of techno across socio-economic and racial lines also led to a mixing between West Side and elite high school youths with ghetto and gangster "jits" (abbreviation for "jitterbug"). Unfortunately, the economic problems of Detriot and the prevalent social apathy and desolation led to a proliferation of gun violence within clubs and by 1986, the techno club scenes were wrought with gun shootings, fights, and acts of violence further compounding the sociological and economic recovery of Detroit.
Influences also came from Chicago's early style of house music."[1] (Named so for the new style of music played at a Chicago nightclub called "The Warehouse"). Although producers in both cities used the same hardware and even collaborated on projects and remixes together, Detroiters traded the choir-friendly vocals of House with metallic clicks, robotic voices and repetitive hooks reminiscent of an automotive assembly line. Many of the early techno tracks had futuristic or robotic themes, although a notable exception to this trend was a single by Derrick May under his pseudonym Rhythm is Rhythm, called "Strings of Life." This vibrant dancefloor anthem was filled with rich synthetic string arrangements and took the underground music scene by storm in May of 1987. With subtle differences between the genres, clubs in both cities included Detroit techno and Chicago house tracks in their playlists without objection (or much notice by non-audiophiles) from patrons.
Socially and geographically, it is important to note on a local level, that Detroit Techno as a genre created a newfound, integrated club scene in Detroit that had not been felt in a general sense after the Motown label moved to Los Angeles. Television programs like TV62 -- WGPR's "The Scene" featured a racially and ethnically very mixed selection of dancers every weekday after school, but the playlist was typically jammed with the R&B and Funk tracks of the day, like Prince or the Gap Band. Breakouts like Juan Atkins "Technicolor" under his Model 500 moniker eventually found their way onto The Scene, and helped to explode the burgeoning local Techno underground with validity for the urban high school set, college radio programmers and DJs from Chicago to London, and beyond. Also, the advent of huge circuit of local parties in Detroit spawned a number of DJs to compete on such a intense level requiring week long preparation for an party event. As a result of its popularity, these club parties had an impact on the social scene of the city's youth and demographic. The club scene was as much in transition as the city they were in. From "industrial boomtown to post-Fordist wasteland", the decline of the auto industry brought forth Detroit's economic downfall and with it came the degentrification of the middle-class black areas. The wide-spread popularity of techno across socio-economic and racial lines also led to a mixing between West Side and elite high school youths with ghetto and gangster "jits" (abbreviation for "jitterbug"). Unfortunately, the economic problems of Detriot and the prevalent social apathy and desolation led to a proliferation of gun violence within clubs and by 1986, the techno club scenes were wrought with gun shootings, fights, and acts of violence further compounding the sociological and economic recovery of Detroit.
- quote wiki link
Artists you might like uploads for ?
Robert Hood
Juan Atkins
Kevin Saunderson
Kenny Larkin
Richie Hawtin
Derrick May
Carl Craig
Eddie Fowlkes
Jeff Mills
Marc Kinchen
Blake Baxter
Claude Young
Below is a list of available Detroit artist releases on the tracker -
Please feel free to PM me or add new releases or items i may have missed
