A cold, dark landscape filled with mechanical creatures, void of warm harmonies or softening voices – that’s techno for me. It’s supposed to be gritty and rusty constructions.
Here’s three of that kind.
Versace James (USA) – Too Techno
“Too Techno”, he said. Can it be too techno? No way. The problem today is rather those hybrid genres they call techno. Like, “Melodic Techno”… Pfffft. A contradiction.
Here Versace james delivers a techno track of a rather deep and minimal nature, and above all it’s just so bloody… Cool! I mean, the attitude of the track has the vibe of a cool kid all over. And of course, the ever-crucial darkness is maintained.
A lot goes on in the shadows here. And we are here for it.
startech42 (Germany) – Fabrik
There’s just no techno more mechanical, more gritty, than German techno. As is also well illustrated here. It’s this kind of techno that what made me fall in love with the genre. The unconditionally stomping, slamming, hammering kind.
I just have too many fond memories of club nights with this vibe in the air. Memories that’s well kept alive by artists like Startech42.
RxILZ (USA) – No Response
Here’s another cool one that I just have to show you.
It’s so different. It has a surprisingly low tempo for a techno track, a tempo that is played with throughout the entire duration. And it never really takes off at all, instead it operates down there, filling the canvas with a dark dungeon of hypnotic atmosphere.
It’s quite hard to pick tracks for this blog. There’s just so much music out there, and so much of it is solid. So one of the tests I apply to the tracks during the selective phase is asking myself, “would I have added this one to my DJ set?”. Then it usually becomes quite clear. Yes: Let’s go! No: Declined.
But this is not one of those cases. It was rather, “no, I don’t think I would! It’s just too slow…”.
But I still had to show it to you. I think it is a fantastic track. Maybe as a show opener? Regardless: It must be heard! And now you have.
You dig it too, right?
All three are added to our techno dungeon over at Spotify, “This Is Techno“. Weekly updated, this is one list for a stable source of excellent new techno tracks.