808

Name: M.Iizuka
Member Since: Jan 14, 2003
Rank: 3102
Average Vote Received: Needs Minor Changes (3.00, 1 votes)
Rated 537 releases, average: 4.42
Location: Kanagawa, Japan
Profile: "The Techno Rabels are, whether they recognise it or not, agents of the Third Wave. They will not vanish but multiply in the years ahead. For they are as much a part of the advance to a new stage of civillisation as our missions to Venus, our amazing computers, our biological descoveries, or our explorations of the oceantic depths. "The Third Wave Alvin Toffler.

"We're not really interested in tearing you up with the scraches and cuts tonight. We're more interested in... educating you for the future... " Derrick May, WJLB Radio Mix

It's 3am and the streets of America's seventh city are deserted as Derrick May pilots his car through a crumbling monument to the Second Wave - the age of industry and mass production-the age of Ford and Gordy who both ran their second wave empires from here. "This place is fucked man. It's finished", he says shaking his head increadulously. We pass a gutted building filled with holes that were once windows. Detroit is winding down the past and isn't sure if it wants to be part of he future.
Driving down Woodward Avenue, we pass the wooden house that was home to the carefully-honed pop soul of Motown. Motown was the musical backdrop to the Second Wave. Motown means nothing to Derrick May.

Via systems dance records like "Nude Photo" and together with fellow artists Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, Derrick has invested his time, money and energy in the future.
Detroit rolls by like a discarded set from Robocop, a film set in the city's fictional future.
"Now you understand why we make this music", he says, "We can do nothing but look forward..."
Alvin Toffler's book is a kind of bible to Detroit's new musical revolutionaries. This future shock manifesto sees the Third Wave technological future not as a cocktail of 1984 Numanoid nightmares and Robocop lawlessness, but as a place where man still controls. The nightmare of a brave new world where machines and robots call the shots has no place in this book. Alvin Toffler, like Kraftwerk, is not afraid of the pocket calculator and if he knew of them, it's likely the academic would approve of Model 500, Rhythim Is Rhythim and their positive futurism.
The music they both make is not afraid of the future and the view they project is as complex, as contradictory and as plausible as the world of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Detroit's electronic music community don't fear the robot. Unlike Gary Numan they look forward.
And unlike the ironic acid casualities of Chicagoor the scratch fanatics of New York, they have no interest in old records, or scratch science. They are the Techno Rabels-musical agents of the Third Wave who see the fusion of man and machine as the only future.
If Alvin Toffler hadn't learned to use a word processor, it's likely that he would be connecting sequencer to drum machine and releasing records on Metroplex, KMS or Transmat, three of Detroit's most active dance labels.
Names like Metroplex and Transmat are now bywords for a second which has hi-jacked dancefloors across the world and diverted the spotlight from Chicago - despite the fact that Detroit's new age electro sound has only a tenuous connection with House. Only House clubs and DJs are open-minded enough to deal with a high-tech sound which can find no other home. Like House it is a machine-driven dance music. And like House it has an idealised notion of Europe and European electronic music borne of a love for Kraftwerk.
But despite American dance music's long standing obsession with Europe - from the Munich Machine and Italian Disco to the popularity of records from artists like Telex and Klein And MBO - the new music of Detroit is the first to truly incorporate the European sound-a mxture of technology, detachment and neo-classicism (mirrored in the synthetic strings of Rhythim is Rhythim) so that it seems like something more than a strange metal leg on the wrong body.
From D Train and The System to Bambaata and Arthur Baker, this obsession has plotted its way through US clubland. Every US producer shocked by the starkness of Kraftwerk has since dreamed of Europe and the Trance Europe Express.
The reasons why the most vibrant musical community in the world should want to embrace Ralf and Florian's Robo pop are unclear. European music isn't intrinsically better than the second of America. In most cases it is uncategorically inferior. "Perhaps I an idealised image of Europe and its music," says Derrick May. "I have a certain way I see it in my mind. I feel I should be there, I know I'd feel right there."

To be continnued...

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no MP3/CD-R, no selling/buying anything, no eBay, no time to look around for something you want here in Japan unless you know me.
so there's not much point in asking...

808's groups (2)

Reviews:

Various - Retro Techno / Detroit Definitive - Emotions Electric - 09-Jul-03 09:46 PM
There was no warning. In the middle of 1987 and Chicago Ja-Ja-Ja- Jack fever a record from Detroit filtered into the UK. The label was called Transmat. The design was futuristic and suggested a 21st century Multi-National. It came from a bedroom in a neglected part of Detroit where taxi cabs would not go. Records from Detroit were the epitome of soul. This recoed was devoid of soul. It was however steeped in spirit. It was called "Nude Photo" The artist was Rhythim Is Rhythim. Listening to it the first time was weird. The second time made it seem even stranger. A sequenced mutant technology borne of a crazed imagination. A phone number on the label was answered by a man called Derrick May. He sounded... different. He sent a white label of the next 12". It was called "Strings Of Life" and it was a masterpiece. It still is. 20 year olds at Midlands Club where I played "House Music" hated it. The 15 year olds at the kids session went mad. Something was happening. Within two months Derrick arrived in England with four boxes of "Strings Of Life" to help pay for the flight. He had tapes of tracks with strange titles like "Sinister", "Wiggin" and "R-Theme". We didn't know it, but the bandwagon was already halfway down hill.

Derrick mentioned his old schoolmates, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins. "They make music too", he said. "We call it Techno". A meeting was arranged. It seemed we might be able to sell some records. Mick Clark at 10 Records agreed to take a compilation of this strange music. In Detroit I needed one final track to complete the album. Kevin pulled out a box with "Big Fun" scrawled across it. The next tape he played was "Rock To The Beat". I told Kevin to get ready to quit university. He thought I was joking. Within 12 months Techno had established itself as the most enduring influence on dance music. The niteties began and this remaind the case. Suddenly life was all about tracking how many millions of sales Inner City had chalked up, video budgets and remixes. Techno had gone mainstream. Too many conversations were about money. This album is from a time when Techno was a secret society. Not many people knew the codes. A time when staying up all night in Derrick's studio-come-bedroom where the taxi cabs wouldn't go meant hearing "It Is What It Is" for the first time. "Freestyle", "No UFO's" and "Just Want Another Chance" followed. It was wonderful. Retro Techno rewinds to them. It is what it was. Emotions Electric indeed.

Neil Rushton 1991

- text taken from the sleeve cover of this compilation -

Various - Objets D'art III - 16-Jun-03 09:17 AM
The fourth release of '96 saw the return of Stasis to the ART stable on production duties for the mysterious Paul W. Teebrooke & his Nova release which did feature a host of other artists. Whilst Blue Light was pure heavenly disco-techno, M42 really shook it up with the wildest scrach 'n' beats since the early 80's B-Boy heyday. The track has now been picked up as the soundtrack to the new multi-platform Tomb-Raiders commercial & remains at the cutting edge of breakbeat manipulation. Nova though is undoubtedly the eps highlight & is featured here in all its melodic glory, the programming is complex without being cluttered & it's funky & soulful as hell. This release also saw the Op-Art cover artwork finally getting it together coinciding with the label's growth in confidence & organization.

Op-Art began '97 with the Dutch masters Sensurreal who delivered three epic tracks that all twisted & turned as they unfolded. The entire side 2 of the EP is reproduced here on CD for the first time highlighting its meticulous production qualities. Lengthy intros seduce the listener, then a quiet before the storm & off into dancefloor orbit!

As a bonus Objets D'art III also features the ART artist Elegy & Kirk's own As One moniker. The two tracks featured originally appeared last year on the underground label Likemind Records. Flights of Fantasy is a superbly funky affair that again defies categorization whilst Light is a two year old a track from As One's Reflections sessions.

New Electronica are proud to collect together & present these tracks exclusively on this CD only compilation. As a testament to the uniqueness of ART the majority of the artists featured have now signed to major labels. We now await the 3rd generation of ART.

- text taken from the right side inside the sleeve cover of this compilation -

Various - Objets D'art III - 16-Jun-03 04:47 AM
Objets D'art III sees the continuation of the New Electronica series which highlights the cream of the material from Kirk Degiorgio's esteemed ART label. This third exclusive cd only compilation marks the progress of a label that is exerting enormous influence on the electronic dance scene, both as a source of quality & inspiration for other genuinely independent labels.

1996 was the most important year so far in the four year history of ART. After bringing forth ground breaking releases in limited quantitles, Kirk made the next step by linking up with RTM distridution & by doing so he aimed to bring a new diversity to ART as well as reflecting the electic nature of today's music scene & bringing the label's unique quality to the mainstream for the first time.

ART became the umbrella title for the entire organization & the record label assumed the title of Op-Art (Operation Applied Rhythmic Technology). This cahnge in structure was a visible sign that a metamorphosis was occuring whthin ART, but it was also a response to the way in which reviewers had continually referred to previous releases by the ART catalogue number rather than by the artist name (i.e. ART 6 RATHER THAN ELEGY WHICH WAS THE ARTIST'S NAME).

The New campaign began with Photek, a rising star within the burgeoning jungle scene. Before the media & majors got wind of this new talent Kirk had quietly collaborated with him & secured an ep which became Op-Art's debut release. T'Raneon became a landmark EP in the evolution of today's dance scene. Drum 'n' bass demos then came flooding through the new Op-Art PO BOX, but true to form Op-Art went downtempo & highly electic for their next release, the Tide of Filth EP by Autocreation. This hard-edged EP had a bit of everything from trip hop to jungle to industrial.

Op-Art had well & truly laid out their stall by the third release, an EP by The 4th Wave (aka Steve Paton) which like Autocreation needed a section of its own in the record stores due to the diversity of the cuts. Funky breakbeat with Detroit-school techno stood along side minimal Chicago-style house disco, OP3 had it all. To ensure better quality through louder pressings Op-Art has favoured three track Eps' at 33rpm, therefore due to the time limits the excellent Lounge music could not be included in the original EP, but it appears here for the very first time alongside Cosmic Dance.

- text taken from the left side inside the sleeve cover of this compilation -

Various - Objets D'art 92::95 - 12-Jun-03 08:58 AM
Kirk Degiorgio's ART label has been releasing some of the finest electronica in the UK over the past three years. Objets D'art part 1 was the first real documentation of ART & featured their first four releases. Objets D'art part 2 is the second installment in the history of ART with a mixture of tracks from part 1 & those which have been released recently. This is once again an excellent opportunity for those who missed out originally to pick up these historic tracks, (many of them on cd for the first time) & to savour their importance.

- taken from the sleeve -

Various - Objets D'art - 12-Jun-03 07:24 AM
Objets D'art is a highly collectable and special package which New Electronica are proud to bring to you as it features the original first four ep's ever to be released on kirk Degiorgio's Applied Rhythmic Technology label (ART). These ep's have found their place in the historical records of electronic music as they featured early works from Psyche, B.F.C (Carl Craig), Balil, Atypic (Black Dog Productions), Cmetric (B12), Neuropolitique (Matt Cogger), As One, Future/Past & Esoterik (Kirk Degiorgio). The importance of these collected works is all the greater due to the fact that all four ep's were only pressed in very limited editions of one thousand per title. Objets D'art is therefore a unique opportunity for these original works from the most prolific artists around to finally reach the wider audience that they deserve.

- taken from the inside of the sleeve -

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