this post never made it to my inbox. if it posts to the list can someone let me know privately so i don't try again? thanks.
Kamal K. Stoddard Turner Broadcasting Systems Entech -----Original Message----- From: Stoddard, Kamal subject: RE: (313) If to be honest, I'd have to say chicago. there was so much interaction in the early days between the chi-town and detroit heads, as well as the oft spoken about mutual admiration/respect held for each city by the other in the early days. I understand the claims laid by the european cities as far as the amount of support they have given techno over the years, but if detroit is held up as the first city, then support cannot factor into the award at all (detroit = support HA!). as far as contributions to the sound, chicago was a major influence on the detroit sound (and vice versa) before any of the overseas heads ever got ahold of it, and continued to be a major factor in the shaping of the sound via labels like relief and their ilk. so i vote Chicago. the Berlin thing kind of disturbs me because as I see it, they were the ones that misdefined techno to the world. Derrick May was talking about this in his interview earlier ( "I have to redefine the concept of techno every time I play because people come in expecting... hard edged abrasive intrusive, into-the-cortex type music while I'm coming from a really melodic, rhythmic high tech soul angle..." ) I think a large part of the reason that people expect that non-melodic, abrasive, intrusive sound when they think techno is because that's what they were taught by the Berlin school (okay stockholm too) to expect. I laugh because even the creators of this music are trying to shake off that stigma many years later. I don't hold any contempt for Berlin or any of it's inhabitants (think it's one of the best places on earth right now actually) but i just feel that berlin's contributions to the advancement of techno (artistically speaking, not support-wise) are just recently comin! g into their own in the last 5 or 6 years. the berlin influence seemed to hinder that advancement early on by narrowing the techno field of vision to loopy aggressive bizness. dunno, guess i'm rambling now. hope I don't get flamed for this one. Kamal K. Stoddard Turner Broadcasting Systems Entech "Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn't about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating they have to be about change."
