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Perception - Abandoned Building (In Mono) (Windchime, Underground Resistance, 2004)
Title says it all.
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The World of Detroit Techno 1991-2005, A Photojournal by Todd Sines
I had first gotten my taste of “real” dance music in 1988 after hearing Kraftwerk’s Musik Non Stop. After getting sidetracked with industrial, goth, hip-hop, shoegaze and post-punk, in 1990, MTV‘s 120 Minutes showed a clip of 808 State performing “Cubik” at a Manchester rave; I immediately set my sights on techno. In 1991, I was sent an early Mute comp, Paroxysm, to review for my zine, featuring Underground Resistance; Mad Mike Banks called me afterwards, sent some records, and left a deep, lasting impression. Shortly after, I found “From Beyond,” Carl Craig’s project as Psyche—almost a fusion of Kraftwerk and This Mortal Coil. Within weeks, our band, Body Release, formed with key Ohio players Titonton Duvanté, Charles Noel [Archetyp] and Mike Szewczyk, dabbling in techno, IDM, jungle and house before we embarked on our own paths. In 1993, via Brian Gillespie, I was introduced to Detroit’s Carl Craig and Daniel Bell, which resulted in releases with Peacefrog, Planet E and 7th City within the year. We started throwing our own events, in collaboration with Ed Luna, as ele_mental in May of 1993, and brought Detroit artists to Ohio and vice versa. My world hasn’t been the same since—and these photos document our cherished memories across the midwestern rust belt in pursuit of house and techno.
— Todd Sines
Read the rest of the article on The Daily Swarm and browse the photos on Facebook.
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Will the members of the Midnight Funk Association please rise. Please go to your porch light and turn it on for the next hour to show us your solidarity. If you’re in your car please honk your horn and flash your lights, wherever you are. If you’re in bed, get ready to dance on your back, in Technicolor. And get ready for the MFA. The word is… Hold on tight, don’t let go. Whenever you feel like you’re nearing the end of your rope, don’t slide off. Tie a knot. Keep hanging, keep remembering, that it ain’t nobody bad like you. This session of the International Midnight Funk Association is being called to order. Electrifying Mojo presiding. May the Funk be with you. Always…— The Electrifying Mojo - The Midnight Funk Association
(Source: detroittechnomilitia.com)
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Dopplereffekt - Live @ Point Ephémère, Paris (2010-10-10)
(via Drexciya Research Lab)
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Friday Mixtape: Underground Resistance on WDET (2004)
Recorded in 2004 as part of a monthly segment called ‘Electronic Focus,’ WDET’s Liz Copeland and guest presenter Clark Warner broadcast a UR special, complete with a lengthy interview with Mike Banks. The Red Planet revealed.
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The Detroit Escalator Company - Shifting Gears (Shifting Gears, DEC, 1996)
An aptly named track to shift us into Summer gear, South of the Equator.
Neil Ollivierra is The Detroit Escalator Co., a Detroit-born producer/artist who appeared on the Detroit techno scene as the promoter of the legendary Music Institute (1988-89) and Transmat’s label manager (1988-1992). [1]
The Shifting Gears 12” is ultra-rare (150 copies estimated [2]) and a collectors item, even more so than the full-length album, Soundtrack [313], released later on Ferox Records. In order to really capture the city, Ollivierra rode his bicycle around Detroit with a DAT player, collecting audio samples. [3]
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The Third Man - Onwards & Upwards (Before We Begin, Ai Records, 2008)
Extract from a recent interview with Toby Leeming, The Third Man:
Some Detroit artists have a negative opinion on producers from outside the city trying to make music from the big D. What are your thoughts on UK and European producers making Detroit inspired music, and is it something we should be embracing?
TTM: “We should embrace anything good – I have zero respect for anybody who seriously thinks that. There is nothing shameful or wrong in being influenced by artists and scenes, and trying to develop the sound. Ultimately to me Detroit is synonymous with melody, that’s what I really get from that music. The younger producers can’t exactly corner the market in good techno music and expect people outside of Detroit to not be able to produce a certain type of music simply because their forebears made some banging music. Then it just becomes a postcode lottery as those born in Detroit get seemingly baptised with the ability to make good tunes, which for my mind judging by the recent output of quite a lot of Detroit based labels is patently not the case!”
Read the rest of the interview on Transition Sounds. For more Detroit references, listen to The Third Man’s Messier 66. A new release is due out on ART shortly, going into more melodic territory.
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Underground Resistance - Panic (Riot EP, Underground Resistance, 1991)
Can techno be subversive? UR’s “Mad” Mike Banks explains in this interview in Jockey Slut (1994):
My techno is. I can’t speak for anybody else’s, but mine is designed to be subversive and mind awakening. There are definite messages there through tonal communication and you can’t assess it — that’s why techno is deadlier than rap. With rap you have to vocally communicate your point but with techno you don’t.
I’m a big fan of Public Enemy — to me “Prophets of Rage” and “Burn Hollywood” were all warning signs of what was going to happen. And the “Riot EP” was too. “Riot” is a warning sign of what can happen when people try to dominate other people. The more you oppress someone the harder you make them — it’s like making a diamond. When they put the shit on the Vietnamese and they tried to force them into cheap labour and all that shit they became so hard that they couldn’t beat them. They couldn’t beat the motherfuckers because they’re so hard. They go to any lengths to win.
That’s what the governments are going to create out of the poor, the mismanaged and all that other part of society that they don’t like to deal with — they’ll create hardcore killers. I see it every day in the street, because people out here don’t give a fuck about nothing. You can’t control them.
You’ll wake up in a cold sweat, panic!
(cover art: Riot EP, Interstellar Fugitives 2)
