Make Techno(music) Black Again!

[videogamestashbox.com]

An Introduction to "top tier" Techno Albums & Producers




I've been wanting to do this for awhile now but have been too busy.
Away we go!​

Previous thread:
I made a post in 'The Arcadium' called...

African Americans created a pillar of videogame music: Techno
https://www.thecoli.com/posts/18080578/

In that post I went over a brief overview of the genres' origins, how it applies to videogame music, and on the last couple pages I pulled/posted standout techno tracks from various videogames. I suggest you check it out when you get a chance.



This thread:
In this post I'm providing a general survey of top quality Techno albums. But why? In other genres we have an Idea of the top Jazz, Blues, HipHop, R&B, Gospel, Funk, etc etc albums but that's harder to glean in Techno which has two quirks about it that puts up a barrier to newcomers

• Similar to Jazz, the fact of few lyric heavy tracks makes it hard to find a song you may have heard and liked."what's that track that goes tick tick boom tick tick" doesn't make for the easiest search query.
• People / DJ's are likely to be vested in tracks over albums given the heavy club/setlist nature of the genre. As a result even non DJ's could likely simply mention fav songs DJ's play over entire albums.

This thread cuts through that introductory barrier by listing albums over single tracks.


Final Note:
This is not a list of "who's notable because they did this/that first" this is purely quality Techno albums.


@Temisan Adoki (verified) , @letti cook , @xCivicx

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

​

The Albums​

Model 500 - Deep Space (Album 1995)
https://www.discogs.com/artist/1141-Model-500
​

Jeff Mills - From The 21st (Album 1999)
Jeff Mills
​

Carl Craig - Landcruising (Album 1995)
Carl Craig
​

Galaxy 2 Galaxy ‎– A Hitech Jazz Compilation(Album 2005)
Underground Resistance
​

The Other People Place - Lifestyles Of The Laptop Cafe(Album 2001)
The Other People Place

Abstract Thought ‎- Hypothetical Situations(Album 2003)
Abstract Thought

X-102 - Rediscovers The Rings Of Saturn(Album 2008)
X-102

XOR Gate - Conic Sections(Album 2018)
Xor Gate
​

NRSB-11 - Commodified(Album 2013)
NRSB-11
​

Dj Stingray - Aqua Team 2(Album 2008)
DJ Stingray (2)
​

The Detroit Escalator Company ‎– Soundtrack [313](Album 1996)
The Detroit Escalator Company
​

Psyche / BFC — Elements 1989-1990(Album 1996)
Psyche
​

The Detroit Experiment(Album 2002)
The Detroit Experiment
​

Jeff Mills - THE OCCURRENCE(Album 2010)
Jeff Mills
​

The Detroit Escalator Co. – Black Buildings(Album 2001)
The Detroit Escalator Company
​

​

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

The Albums
(Continued)​

Suburban Knight ‎– My Sol Dark Direction(Album 2003)
Suburban Knight
​

Drexciya - Neptune's Lair (Album 1999)
Drexciya
​

Drexciya - Bubble Metropolis (EP 1993)​

Drexciya
​

Innerzone Orchestra ‎– Programmed(Album 1999)
Innerzone Orchestra

​

Waajeed ‎– Mother (EP 2018)
Waajeed
​

Paperclip People ‎– The Secret Tapes Of Dr. Eich(Album 1996)
Paperclip People
​

Robert Hood ‎– Nighttime World Volume 2(Album 2000)
Robert Hood
​

Model 500 ‎– Digital Solutions(Album 2015)
Model 500 - Digital Solutions
​

Urban Tribe ‎– The Collapse Of Modern Culture(Album 1998)
Urban Tribe
​

Robert Hood ‎– Nighttime World Volume 1(Album 1995)
Robert Hood
​

Cybotron ‎– Enter(Album 1983)
Cybotron
​

​

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Bonus:
I mentioned before that this wouldn't be a list of who did what first just stand out albums.
That said if the "Cybotron - Enter" album is the seed of techno this compilation is the first real sprout of Techno from the ground. No one knew what it was or had a name for the music until this compilation. As a result I added it as a bonus.

Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit (Album 1988)
Various - Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit


​

referencing Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit, CD, Comp, DIXCD 75
Stuart Cosgrove's liner notes:

think of detroit and you automatically think of motown, but be careful not to think too loud because the new grandmasters of detroit techno hate history.

juan atkins, 26 years old, and the self proclaimed captain of the techno sound is an articulate enemy of motown's supreme being. "berry gordy built the motown sound on the same principle as the conveyor belt at the ford plant. today the automobile plants use robots and computers to make their cars and i'm more interested in fords robots than gordy's music."

techno music is unashamedly modern in it's out-look. it is a mesmerising underground of new music which looks to the future, breaks with the past and blends european industrial pop with black american garage funk. according to derrick may, the immensely gifted young producer who works under the pseudonyms rhythim is rhythim and mayday, his music goes "beyond the beat". it is not simply dance music but a series of sound experiments that often defy the logic of more uncomplicated dance sounds like chicago house.

the origins of techno date back to the late 70's to the supressed identity of european synthesiser groups like kraftwerk and yello and to british electronic funk groups like heaven 17, new order and the human league. their music established the synthesiser as the creative core of new music, encouraging a whole generation of young musicians to turn their basements into makeshift studios. unknown to europe the ears of black america were listening with increasing facsination reversing the age-old flow of musical influence.

in west detroit, juan atkins a student at the city's belleville high school and an obsessive fan of kraftwerk, began to compose basic drum patterns on an old roland d115 eventually graduating to more complex synthesiser tracks which borrowed heavily from europe.

juan's first group cybotron released several records at the height of the electro-funk boom in the early 80's, the most succesful being a truly progressive homage to the city of detroit simply entitled 'techno city'. at the time he believed the record was a unique and adventurous piece of synthesiser funk, more in tune with germany than the rest of black america, but on a dispiriting visit to new york, juan heard afrika bambaataa's 'planet rock' and realised that his vision of a spartan electronic dance sound had been upstaged.

he returned to detroit to renew his friendship with 2 younger students from belleville high, kevin saunderson and derrick may, and quietly over the next few years the three of them became the creative backbone of detroit techno.

most of the tracks on this lp are the work of the belleville 3, juan's 'techno music' and the kevin saunderson experience's 'electronic dance' reflect the basic studio beat of techno, whilst derrick may's rhythim is rhtyhim track takes the music into the most unlikely areas turning new age ambience and film-soundtrack instrumentation into complex dance music.

derrick may is undoubtedly the philosopher of techno! he sees the music as post-soul and believes it marks a deliberate break with previous traditions of black american music. "the music is just like detroit" he claims, "a complete mistake, it's like george clinton and kraftwerk are stuck in an elevator with only a sequencer to keep them company."

amidst the experimental strangeness of this album are other more obviously commercial dance records. 'share this house' by members of the house which actually features george clinton as an uncredited visiting producer, takes its main influences from the chicago jack virus.

inevitably the detroit techno sound will be compared to the music of the nearby city of chicago,a problem that neither angers nor concerns the producers of techno! blake baxter, detroit's soft spoken sex symbol, and the whispered mind behind the promiscous 'ride em boys', has already had several hits in the chicago area, and derrick may's best known records to date - 'nude photo' & 'strings' - were instrumental in taking chicago's music into the abstract and lysergic mood now described as 'acid house.'

but derrick believes there's a huge differance between chicago house and detroit techno! "it's a question of respect, house still has it's heart in 70's disco, we don't have any of that respect for the past, it's strictly future music. we have a much greater aptitude for experimentation."

techno is undoubtedly the music of detroit but it has none of the latter day optimism of motown. the city is reflected in the music in an unsettling way. "factories are closing and people are drifting away" says derrick, "the old industrial detroit is falling apart, the structures have collapsed. it's the murder capital of america. six year olds carry guns and thousands of black people have stopped caring if they ever work again. if you make music in that environment it can't be straight music. in britain you have new order, well our music is the new disorder."

techno's sudden shift of tempo and relentless war on familiarity makes it sound like free form jazz for the computer era. it may well be the music of the new disorder but it promises to join george clinton's funkadelia and prince's minneapolis sound as one of the most experimental forms of music black america has ever produced.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Entire Drexciya story(playlist) in chronological order.




1st story blurb
Drexciya ‎– Aquatic Invasion (1995)

2nd story blurb
Drexciya ‎– The Return Of Drexciya (1996)

3rd story blurb
Drexciya ‎– The Quest (1997)

​

"Could it be possible for humans to breathe underwater? A fetus in its mother's womb is certainly alive in an aquatic environment.

During the greatest Holocaust the world has ever known, pregnant America-bound African slaves were thrown overboard by the thousands during labour for being sick and disruptive cargo. Is it possible that they could have given birth at sea to babies that never needed air?

Recent experiments have shown mice able to breathe liquid oxygen. Even more shocking and conclusive was a recent instance of a premature human infant saved from certain death by breathing liquid oxygen through its underdeveloped lungs.

These facts combined with reported sightings of gill men and swamp monsters in the coastal swamps of southeastern United States make the slave trade theory startlingly feasible.

Are Drexciyans water-breathing, aquatically mutated descendants of those unfortunate victims of human greed? Have they been spared by God to teach us or terrorize us? Did they migrate from the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi river basin and on to the Great Lakes of Michigan?

Do they walk among us? Are they more advanced than us and why do they make their strange music?
What is their quest?

These are many of the questions that you don't know and never will.

The end of one thing...and The beginning of another.

Out - The Unknown Writer"

Final story blurb
Drexciya ‎– Grava 4 (2002)

​

Drexciya presents Grava 4.
Earth has finally discovered Utopia. (Drexciya Home Universe)

"Earth scientist discovered the home planet of Drexciya on 2-14-2002. Within moments Dr. Blowfin was given the orders to initiate the seven dimensional cloaking-spheres to hide the other three planets from earths view. The star chart is authentic; you will be able to find the star by using the coordinations on the star chart. The planet Drexciya can be found in the international star vault in Switzerland & recorded in the astronomical compendium. (your place in the cosmos, volume 6) copyrighted in the USA available 2003."

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

[Holding space for sleeper wakes series]

 

[TEH]

Subbed

 

[Lord_nikon]

Subs 4 latet

 

[315]

5 Star thread

 

[Doin2Much Williams]

Respect due.


But i feel like Technotronic doesn't get their props due because they're mainstream and Belgian.



.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Respect due.


But i feel like Technotronic doesn't get their props due because they're mainstream and Belgian.



.

Oddly enough I was thinking about making a thread on "songs I didn't know were from Europe" mostly containing a lot of Eurodance like Technotronic & Snap! along with some early R&B like Soul II Soul.

 

[videogamestashbox.com]

Drexciya storm series in "my" chronological order

​

Within the Drexciya catalog there was a subset of related albums that told a single concept/story. This was called the storm series. Above I put in my chronological order. This was done because the person who was pivitol to the series passed away before clarifying the order of the last 3 projects. Through interviews and album art text we know for sure the order of the first 4. The last three has to be put together by looking over the entire story and making sense of it all. Below I put them in the order that makes sense to me based on.

• Pre established lore
• Track titles
• Interview details
• Inferred Progression from one album to the next

Storm 1
Drexciya - Harnessed The Storm


​

Story notes
This storm Establishes current Drexciyan context/Setting. It looks like this Dr. Blowfin character is attacking. Drexciyan troops embark on an attack mission and run into trouble on the way back. One of the Drexciyan troops seems to have their brain implanted with a cloned "new life"(consciousness). My assumption is that the "New life" depicted in the final track isn't a physical body but a cloned conscious by looking at Storm 2 & 4

Tracklist(story order)

1. Under Sea Disturbances
2. Digital Tsunami
3. Soul Of The Sea
4. Song Of The Green Whale
5. Dr. Blowfins' Black Storm Stabilizing Spheres
6. The Plankton Organization
7. Mission To Ociya Syndor And Back
8. Aquatic Cataclysm
9. Lake Haze
10. Birth Of New Life

Storm 2
Transllusion - The Opening Of The Cerebral Gate


​

Story notes
Here the cloned conscious is transmitted into a Drexciyan trooper. After being uploaded there is a Malfunction the trooper copes with. Sometime later other clones began fighting each other. Given clone war damage and Cerebral Cortex Malfunction the trooper crosses into a mental Astroplane.

​

Tracklist(story order)

1. Transmission Of Life
2. Negative Flash
3. Walking With Clouds
4. Cerebral Cortex Malfunction
5. Cluben In Guyana
6. Look Within
7. Unordinary Realities
8. Dimensional Glide
9. War Of The Clones
10. Crossing Into The Mental Astroplane
11. Do You Want To Get Down
12. Do You Want To Get Down (Vocal De Void)

Storm 3
The Other People Place - Lifestyles Of The Laptop Café


​

Story notes
In the Mental Astroplane the trooper lives out past memories of a Love affair.

​

Tracklist(story order)

1. Eye Contact
2. It's Your Love
3. Moonlight Rendezvous
4. You Said You Want Me
5. Let Me Be Me
6. Running From Love
7. Lifestyles Of The Casual
8. Sunrays

Storm 4
Abstract Thought - Hypothetical Situations


​

Story notes
Drexciyan trooper wakes from the Mental Astroplane back at their Bermuda Triangle home base. Here he is told about the Consequences Of Cloning and that his Life Is Fast Ending.

​

Tracklist(story order)

1. Bermuda Triangle
2. Synchronized Dimensions
3. Me Want Woman's Punani
4. Consequences Of Cloning
5. Solar Pulse
6. Galactic Rotation

Storm 5
Transllusion - L.I.F.E.


​

Story notes
Drexciyan trooper is coming to gripes with the fact that his Life Is Fast Ending by remembering his life. The Consequences Of Cloning hits and the trooper is carried away by emergency services on a code blue alert. As the trooper sits attached to life support his consciousness is readied to be transmitted away and Go Home.

​

Tracklist(story order)

1. Dirty South Strut
2. Memories Of Me
3. Bump It
4. Jogging On The Moon
5. Consequences
6. Rolling With The Punches Of L.I.F.E.
7. Code Blue
8. I'm Going Home

Storm 6
Lab Rat XL - Mice Or Cyborg


​

Story notes
While attached to life support the trooper serves as an Extra Large Lab Rat for the Drexciyan scientists & doctors operate on. Eventually his consciousness is transmitted home across the cosmos.

​

Tracklist(story order)

1. Lab Rat 1
2. Lab Rat 6
3. Lab Rat 5
4. Lab Rat 3
5. Lab Rat 2
6. Lab Rat 4

Storm 7
Shifted Phases - The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope



​

Story notes
The Drexciyan troopers consciousness is transmitted home across the cosmos to the home world Drexciya which obits the star Grava 4.

​

Tracklist(story order)

1. Solar Wind
2. The Freak Show
3. Waveform Cascades
4. Dance Of The Celestial Druids
5. White Dwarf
6. Implosive Regions
7. Lonely Journey Of The Comet Bopp
8. Scattering Pulsars
9. Flux

​

NOTE 1:

As stated before the last 3 storms noone really knows the correct order(You might come up with something better). For instance I'm pretty confident that storms 5 & 6 are in the correct order but I used to have storm 7 above "Shifted Phases - The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope" listed as the storm after storm 4. I figured the last two tracks in storm 4...​

• Solar Pulse
• Galactic Rotation

...signaled the troopers consciousness being sent into space after the galactic rotation leading into "Shifted Phases - The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope". Afterwards making it back to earth in "Transllusion - L.I.F.E." where he wakes back up in track 5...

• Consequences

...only to then be hauled away on life support and operated on in "Lab Rat XL - Mice Or Cyborg".


Note 2:
I just found something that may change my take on the story now. The following listing from the final Album list the locations of the places and people listed in the above 7 storms.


Drexciya presents Grava 4.
Earth has finally discovered Utopia. (Drexciya Home Universe)

"Earth scientist discovered the home planet of Drexciya on 2-14-2002. Within moments Dr. Blowfin was given the orders to initiate the seven dimensional cloaking-spheres to hide the other three planets from earths view. The star chart is authentic; you will be able to find the star by using the coordinations on the star chart. The planet Drexciya can be found in the international star vault in Switzerland & recorded in the astronomical compendium. (your place in the cosmos, volume 6) copyrighted in the USA available 2003."



Storm 1 spoke of Dr. Blowfin and Ociya Syndor in the tracks...

• Dr. Blowfins' Black Storm Stabilizing Spheres
• Mission To Ociya Syndor And Back

...which means these places are actually out in space instead of underwater on earth as I first assumed when I guessed the story.

 

[Crude Abolitionist]

I'm more into house.

I want that hat

 

[Mastamimd]

Subbed

Gonna zone out to this thread later.

 

[All Knowledge]

Great thread