The first Techno record I ever heard was by Caspar Pound.
It was 1990 and "Total Confusion" by A Homeboy A Hippie & A Funki Dredd
came out of my radio one day, playing on KXLU (local low-wattage hip Uni
station). It immediately grabbed my attention - I remember where I was,
and I remember making my best "WTF IS THIS?!?!?" face and racing over to
the stereo to p-p-p-pump up the volume.
I was an Industrial rivet-head at the time - as strange as it may seem
to you Brits or Midwesterners, it wasn't all that hard to exist without
hearing (80's style) Techno music in Los Angeles at that time. No
specialist radio shows existed to play it, no Mojo, no Richie Rich,
no Wizard, no nothing. (103.1 MARS FM didn't come into existence until
at least a year or more later)
To me, "Total Confusion" sounded like Dwayne Goettel from Skinny Puppy
sat down with Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto to jam, with the
added "whoop ... whoop .... whoopwhoopwhoop"s over the top for fun.
(Hey, one usually compares anything new to what one knows, right?)
Yet, at the same time, I knew it wasn't as simple as that little
mental mixture. I knew I'd heard Something Totally New, but had no
idea what it was. All I knew was that I wanted to hear more of
whatever the H*ll it was. I don't remember much of 1990 after that,
but I do know that I've got a fair sprinkling of Rising High vinyl in
the closet behind me because of that one fateful day. I even have
some Rising High records with "Trance" in the title, before that
became a dirty word :-)
Thus began a journey that continues to the present day.
Thank you, Caspar Pound. I don't know why you were chosen to leave us
so early, but thank you for helping to change my life, and for leaving
us a fair share of wonderful music as your legacy. Rising High, indeed.
- Greg (who, sadly, isn't really sure he'll make it this year, Kent)
