i've appreciated all sides of the debate, but i concur. After
Detroit, it's Berlin. If we are talking kindred TECHNO spirits, who
helped get detroit european exposure, collaborations, the whole
Hardwax/Basic Channel connection, remember that tresor compilation:
Berlin-Detroit: A Techno Alliance ;)
yeah you could argue Neil Rushton was doing similar with licensing
stuff for Network UK / Kool Kat though... Biorhythms... etc. etc. and
that might have been before UR got in so thick with Mark and Moritz at
Basic Channel/Hardwax.
Sound of Detroit///
True, but it never really worked though, well not in the numbers sense
that the label wanted, I also feel that the Face article did a lot of
damage - turning techno into something like a cheap consumer product
for the style whores - this view changes depending on my mood tho :)
Also i found the Chicago arguments interesting, the cross-pollination
was definitely there. For 2nd wave detroit/chicago crossover, DBX
personified it, btw. Sold big numbers here. So did the early
Metroplex records too. It's also funny, classically, DJs here play
Salsa Life here more than they play Strings of Life. Same record
sales numbers, but different cut for the different city. That was one
of the first things i notices when i started going out after moving
here 10 years ago. Salsa Life! It's grown on me immensely though,
prior to moving here i never gave it a second thought. But it tears
up a house room big time. Used to hear this at Red Dog, upstairs
smaller room, hot summer night sweatbox... wooo.
I only ever remember big mash-ups in the early days, remember hearing
Strings at the Hac but I remember hearing a lot more Chicago stuff
there than Detroit joints. Voodoo Ray was a magic moment tho...
Martin
