Archive for May 2013
Plastikman
Richie Hawtin
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| Plastikman logo |
This guy right here is no "new stuff" around the people who enjoy electronic music. In fact, remember the Belleville Three that I wrote about some time ago? Well, believe it or not, this guy belongs to the pretty much the same era, the second wave of Detroit techno's artists.
One of of the most known minimal techno artists, he delivers abstract and minimal sound, under the pseudonym "Plastikman".
Having a father who was interested in electronic music, Richie Hawtin was introduced to Krawtwerk at an early age, this probably had something to do with him falling in love with the Detroit techno scene, and becoming a DJ at the age of 17.
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| Richie Hawtin in the "cage" |
During his career he has won numerous awards, many of which were awarded for his exceptional live performances, in which he gets in a sort of a cage, with tons of equipment inside. The deal is this, on the outside, the walls of the cage are monitors, playing intense visualizations which blend with the music, creating an amazing effect!
All in all, he has made a huge impact on the electronic music scene and I urge you to listen to the unique sound that he makes...
Detroit techno
The Belleville Three
I have an interesting find, a whole movie on YouTube, which explains the way Detroit techno came to be.
This should be interesting for any electronic music fan out there, because this already is music history.
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| Belleville Three |
Also, I’ll provide a short description of the birth of techno for anyone who isn't interested in the movie itself.
So basically, it all started around 1980s in Detroit. The thing that made it different from the electronic music of the day (house mostly) was the focus to repetitive sounds of factories, the technic sounds that it produced. At the time it seemed really futuristic.
The people that are held the most responsible for the creation of this music were three school friends, also called “The Belleville Three” (consisting of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May).
One of the first records to make it worldwide was Derrick’s “Strings of life” and it can really give you a good feel what was techno back then.
It has been said that the sound of Detroit techno was mostly influenced by bands like Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kraftwerk, Bootsy, Parliament, Prince and The B-52’s.
A funny quote from Derrick May, in which he described Detroit techno as a “complete mistake, like George Clinton and Kraftwerk caught in an elevator, with only a sequencer to keep them company”.
For anyone interested in more detail, I highly recommend the movie!
Jeff Mills
The Wizard
Jeff Mills, or "The Wizard" is one of the most known Techno artists of today. His skills at the decks are mind blowing and his minimal techno sound is completely unique.
His journey began in the early 1980s, in Detroit, as a radio show "The Electrifying Mojo" DJ with the pseudonym "The Wizard". Later on, he and "Mad" Mike Banks founded the "Underground Resistance" label, which was famous not only for its music, but for the original idea to appear in public wearing sky masks and combat suits. Jeff Mills is also the founder/one of the "Purpose maker", "Tomorrow" and "6277".
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| UR in combat suits |
He also released a DVD "Exhibitionist" which features him mixing on three decks (his perfect mixing technique can be seen here on Youtube).
Mills is releasing records and tearing up clubs even today, at the age of 48.
His sound is unique, with themes like space being the most common. The only thing that probably all of this records have in common is the rather small amount of sounds used in them, it's mostly very minimal.
PS. He is also one of the rare "non-mainstream" artists that actually made it on MTV(video at the top), gotta give him a thumbs up for that.
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| Jeff Mills |
Amon Tobin
With the current technological progress, it is great to see some musicians making use of it.
The reason why I bring him up here this time is because of his astonishing use of video mapping techniques that are projected onto a large cubic structure from which Tobin performs. As he told to Wired Magazine "The idea was to integrate myself, quite literally, into an audio and visual presentation of the album,".
This technology creates a surreal illusion and a new way of presenting audio and video. Personally I am very excited to see more of this type of performances and I can't wait to see it live. But for now, a fresh HD video for anyone interested.
Tag :
amon tobin,
visual
