The Motown Elevator

I am moving to last.fm

2006-09-22T21:50:00.000+02:00

Yes, from now on, I will live in my last.fm page. I have realized that last.fm is a better place for someone like me who is not a professional Dj, nor producer, nor musician, nor even a music critic. I am not even interested in following the calendars of music events, raves and festivals (my kids don't let me go...). I am just a music lover. The only music-related gift I have is my taste and my music collection, something that can be better shared with others in a place like last.fm. That will be my contribution to the cyberspace. I can't give any other.
Blogging here was fun, I have learned a lot and it helped me to "met" a lot of nice people and great blogs (which I will keep reading, of course). But being "only" a music lover I sometimes felt that blogging about music was like dancing about architecture (with the permission of Frank Zappa). At last.fm I can share my playlists and my actual music (which I am quite proud of), and not only my words (which I am less proud of). Words still can be used there, as last.fm provides users with a journal and many other tools for inter-user communication. I am also interested in their social features to explore new musics, as for me, the joy of music is the joy of exploring, something that is difficult to do with blogspot, but is just a click away in last.fm. See you there !

Do you want to work with/for Underground Resistance ?

2006-09-05T22:45:00.000+02:00

Yes, they need people with "organizational skills, strong written and oral communication skills, professional demeanor, and strong computer skills" and offer a great opportunity for working in the recording industry. Check it here. Sounds good. Now, if I only live in Detroit...
(Yes, this blog is still alive, a bit dormant, but alive)

Tags: djing, detroit, dj, music, techno, electronic, job

New releases by Derrick May ?

2006-07-15T15:32:00.000+02:00

According to the great Sufmart blog (in spanish), Derrick May has promised new releases of brand new material. They said that Derrick has never ceased to produce during all these years, and now he's happy with the quality achieved. Great news. Read it in this interview with Derrick May (thanks for the link, Sufmart!).
That, of course, is the breaking news. But in that interview other interesting things are discussed by Derrick: how he disliked the word "techno" because he feared would add to confusion (how right he was!), how african-american people are not aware of what techno is and their lack of interest in it (reminds me a scene in "Mo' better blues" where jazz musicians said exactly the same about jazz!), how Detroit has managed to be always an "underground city", etc. Read it here.

Tags: dance, detroit, dj, electronic, music, techno

SONAR 2006 performances - for download

2006-06-23T20:36:00.000+02:00

Wonderful! I have found this web page at spaceboss.net with some links for downloading the live mixes and performances that took place just a few days ago at Sonar 2006, Barcelone. Including Jeff Mills, Miss Kittin and even Chic. Freak Down !

Tags: music, mixes, techno, sonar, electronic, dj

No gestures

2006-06-15T17:26:00.000+02:00

There is nothing like the air guitar in electronic music. The sounds that come from other music styles can always be identified to some human gesture like beating, playing the strings of the guitar, and the like. Not here. Of course, the dance community has developed their own gestures, obvious to anyone, but those gestures are, again, abstract and unrelated to instrument performance. Some will consider this just another face of dehumanization in electronic music but I consider it truly liberating. Software is more flexible than hardware. Freedom from physical constraints means infinite flexibility and endless malleability. The sky is the limit.

Tags: ambient, dance, dj, electronic, music, techno

Modulations - The documentary - in youtube

2006-06-11T10:47:00.000+02:00

The best documentary ever on electronic music is available in youtube in four parts. Contains more than 70 interviews with techno and electronic heroes. There it goes:

Tags: youtube, electronic, kraftwerk, berlin, detroit, ambient, techno, dj, minimal, mix, dance, music, house, IDM, rave

Flash animation: drugs and the brain

2006-05-24T12:21:00.000+02:00

It would be an hypocrisy to say that these things do not concern electronic music, for good or for bad. So please, inform yourself with this cool and amusing animations that show the effects that different drugs have in the brain.

Tags: brain, drugs, rave

Video: Minus records

2006-05-23T21:49:00.000+02:00

Very nice video made by M_nus about M_nus. How they work, who they are, releases in 2005, etc. Enjoy.

Tags: detroit, dj, electronic, Hawtin, labels, M_nus, music, techno

The way we listen music

2006-05-19T11:24:00.000+02:00

Too much music, too little time. As information overload permeates all aspects of life, in electronic music we also suffer from music overload, and that's why we need DJs. The phenomena is quite new.

Our parents were exposed probably to 1% of the music we are exposed today. Even in the 80s music distribution was scarce, at least by today standards. TV shows were scarce, good radios were scarce, no internet, etc. Finding some records was really a nightmare. If you had 100 LP's (a lot of music, for the time), that would fit in just 4 Gb. Today it is not uncommon to have 40 Gb of music (1000 LP's, only big stores could afford enough shelf space !).

The consequences (at least for me) are too big and deserve to be analyzed with care. First of all, my pattern of listening has changed. In the 80s I bough an LP and listened to it during days or weeks until I could almost memorize most of the songs. Nowadays, I have lots of files in my iTunes-iPod that I have only played once, and probably I will not play them again until next year, or in two years, who knows... Secondly, purchasing music in the 80's was like a permanent search for "the great song". Now, I do not pursue "great songs" anymore, and I'm happy with that. I just search for music that makes me move (physically or mentally), holds my attention and maintains me in some tension, or takes me up some peaks and down to some valleys...

Listening music in search for "the perfect song" is like reading blogs in search for "the perfect blog post". Nonsense.
Listen, enjoy, learn, go for more... That's how I listen nowadays.

Tags: dance, dj, electronic, house, ipod, iTunes, music, techno

Costello and techno. Just found this old quote.

2006-04-28T13:01:00.000+02:00

I am talking about Elvis, not Donacha, of course. I can't imagine how people with some taste and supposedly open to music can say crap like this:

"Costello: Techno? What is Techno? It sounds horrible when you hear it in your car. It's music that's out of control. They're hits to dance to when it's hot. Like these Ibiza compilations. I saw an advertisement on MTV for this disc and there were a ton of Englishmen dancing. Everything very ridiculous. I suppose that it's music for young people. I don't know. If you go to Ibiza, you feel the heat and you dance with it, all the same fun. But if you listen to it in the car, you can't even drive. It sounds like a vacuum cleaner. It's not music for listening, just dancing."

It is sad, because I really like (liked?) Costello back in the 80s, when I was a post-teenager. After "Blood and Chocolate" I lost interest in his career, geared towards the crooner side...
It is fun how some stars from the pop-rock circus hate electronic dance music, and how ignorant they are about it. Probably they are in a parallel universe and can't understand what's really going on and how things are now so different from their young days. Anyway, the history of music is full of quotes like this. Here is an old quote by Sinatra on Elvis (the real Elvis, now):

"Rock is sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons. By means of its almost imbecilic reiteration it manages to be the martial music of every sideburned delinquent on the face of the earth."

Years later, Sinatra and Elvis sung together in a duet. Maybe Costello is phoning Sven Vath right now...

Tags: dance, dj, electronic, music, party, techno

The D in HDR

2006-04-07T01:10:00.000+02:00

The D in HDR
Originally uploaded by UrbanTiki.

Amazing image from detroitean photographer UrbanTiki. To me this photo sounds like Sean Deason or Carl Craig. UrbanTiki has done it again. Congratulations.

Video: Derrick May on the birth of "Strings of Life"

2006-04-01T00:31:00.000+02:00

This is probably one of the best moments in the history of techno and electronic music. Derrick May talks about the creation of "Strings of Life". He says it was almost by accident, but the result was so good that it even scared himself !

Tags: detroit, dj, electronic, music, techno, video

iDJ2: iPod DJing for the rest of us

2006-03-30T21:10:00.000+02:00

Look at this wonderful machine for iPod DJing. I will not wait to Christmas to have one. The price is good as well (400 €, according to sufmart). Richie, watch your back ! Check it at Numark.

Tags: apple, dj, djing, electronic, house, ipod, music, techno

My missing link between goths and electronic music

2006-03-26T17:14:00.000+02:00

A recent article in The Guardian claims that goths turn out to be very succesful people when grown-up. Could be. Anyway, as I never embraced nor liked goth things (which could explain my unsuccesfulness) I know that I have a big hole in my music culture. I have heard that there was a time where goths embraced some forms of electronic dance music before anyone else and I have heard that there is a link between über-goth bands (like Bauhaus or Killing Joke) and some forms of techno. And I remember to see some goths in techno clubs in Europe in the early 90's (which surprised me at the time, as I associated them with other kinds of music). My knowledge about this matters does not go beyond the Joy Division - New Order link, but I am sure there is more...
So please, illustrate me and leave me some comments on this issue (or better yet, explain it in your blog and link me :-). Where is the missing link between Derrick May and Suicide Girls?

Tags: ambient, dance, electronic, goth, music, techno

ETA announces end of violence

2006-03-22T13:33:00.000+01:00

Yes, off topic, but this is the best possible news that I could read. It's a great day here in Spain.
Orain Bakea !

build-climax-release and verse-chorus-verse

2006-03-14T23:07:00.000+01:00

Interesting post about musical structures by frey. I don't agree totally with it, specially when it says that build-climax-release is not necessary in techno and house mixes (for me that's essential and it is something that really makes a difference among DJs). Check it here.

Tags: dance, electronic, music, techno

What? Our favorite techno-stars are MySpacers?

2006-03-10T14:26:00.000+01:00

Trying to find the URL of the video in my previous post I arrived to Kevin Saunderson's page in MySpace (!). And yes, you can read in his page that he really studied at the Belleville institute... My God ! I can't believe this. Isn't myspace the root of all internet evils today? The amazing thing is that he is not alone. Check out the myspace page of Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Kenny Larkin,... many of them !
This means that techno blogs like this need to update their links section asap. I think I will leave blogger and move to myspace, too (just kidding).

Tags: dj, electronic, music, myspace, techno

Video: Kevin Saunderson @ The Elevator Tour

2006-03-10T13:56:00.000+01:00

Wonderful video of one of our favorite stars on tour. Check it at 313tm. From the tour named "The Elevator". As you know, this elevator thing is one of the most recurrent ideas since the birth of techno. You will love the video.

(btw, does anybody know why all my links to pictures hosted in discogs are broken?)

Tags: detroit, dj, electronic, music, techno

Rhythm has no owner

2006-03-09T17:14:00.000+01:00

Rhythm belongs to us all. Melodies are copyrighted, but rhythms are not. Nobody will ever take control over them. Exploring rhythms is akin to exploring the layers of our brain that all humans share, the part of our brain that make us equal to each other. Everybody understands rhythm without being teached. Just like language, that also belongs to the people (but rhythm was born first). It is not surprising that electronic dance music, with its emphasis on rythm, is the only true global music, whose roots can be traced to all parts of the world and that is enjoyed by people in every country.
Read this quote by Peter Sadlo, percusionist: "Rhythm belongs to the most primordial form, musical expression. Animated by heart and heart beat, our ancestors where instinctively lead to transform this basic rhythm acoustically and integrate it into their patterns of life. Today, at the beginning of a new millenium, rhythmic and rhythm claim a fundamental importance in the conscience of people, placed well before melody and harmony."

Tags: ambient, dance, dj, electronic, IDM, music, techno

Joey Beltram: The Rising Sun

2006-02-25T21:03:00.000+01:00

As Zappa said, "talking about music is like dancing about architecture", so I will not try to explain in words how this production by Joey Beltram sounds. I can say, however, that different bones of my body can't stop moving when I listen to it. True hard, classic, physical techno tracks, born to be mixed, very basic but very effective. Not very soulful, and maybe nothing new but, who cares if "it works" better than a swiss watch? ("it works" is the title of the second track, Joey knows what he is doing). Just try it by clicking the iTunes button right here.

Tags: dance, dj, electronic, music, rave, techno

Video: Richie Hawtin interview

2006-02-25T12:41:00.000+01:00

This time the video is from google. Better interface and speed than youtube. Enjoy.

Tags: detroit, dj, electronic, music, techno, video

A bunch of electronic music podcasts for you.

2006-02-18T12:04:00.000+01:00

These are the music podcasts I am currently subscribed to, via iTunes and my new iPod 60GB. Some of them can't be found in the iTunes Music Store, but you can subscribe anyway. The links provided here are for the feeds, so you can enter them directly into iTunes (just drag the link to iTunes or go to Advanced/Subscribe to podcast):

- David Guetta's audio podcast. Mixes, with playlists and artwork.
- Electronic periodic. Ambient music.
- FrequencyBerlin podcast. Artists like Pacou, Claude Young, etc.
- Istadream. The best free electro house podcast.
- Livefeed Rodz-Konez. Amazing! Live sessions by Surgeon, Mulero...
- Techno.fm
- Technopodcast. Very good sessions by spanish DJ PC Board.
- The Detroit Sessions with Brian Kage. Detroit techno and house.
- Trackwerk. Underground dance music.
- Transitions with John Digweed.
- Ultima Thule Ambient Music Radio. There is no better ambient.

Tags: ambient, berlin, dance, detroit, dj, electronic, house, IDM, ipod, iTunes, mixes, music, podcast, podcasts, RSS, techno

YouTube banned my videos from Winter Olympics opening ceremony

2006-02-15T05:54:00.000+01:00

Yes, banned. The videos in my previous post do not work any more. Sorry for that. They have been banned in YouTube. I received this e-mail today: "Your video Richie Hawtin @ Torino 2006 (2 of 2) has been rejected due to its inappropriate nature. Please refer to our terms and conditions for more information on what video material is not permitted on YouTube."
No more explanations. No way to reply that e-mail. No defence possible. Of course, as you can suppose, a video with a excerpt from the Opening Ceremony of Torino 2006 does not contain obscenity nor drug abuse. Copyright? it was recorded from a public television, the spanish TVE2. There are millions of videos in YouTube that contain similar material, like sport events, so I don't understand a damn thing.
[UPDATE: I have rechecked a bit and it seems that all videos related to Torino 2006 are being banned at YouTube. It seems that someone from the Olympics Committe or something told them to remove the videos. Oh, how lovely are those people, aren't they?]

Tags: torino, torino2006, dance, winter, fascism, Hawtin, music, freespeech, censorship, dj, banned, minimal, techno, puppy, electronic, youtube, olympics, copyright

Videos: Richie Hawtin's music at Torino 2006

2006-02-12T04:04:00.000+01:00

[UPDATE: YouTube seems to have banned all videos related to Torino 2006. See my post above.]

I recorded the opening ceremony of Torino 2006 with my EyeTV and I uploaded an excerpt to YouTube. This excerpt, of course, is the section featuring Richie Hawtin's music. The topic of this part of the ceremony was about Italian Futurism and engineering. Due to limitations in YouTube I was forced to split it into two parts. Enjoy !

You can also watch them in YouTube: Link to part 1, link to part 2.

Tags: dance, dj, electronic, Hawtin, minimal, music, olympics, techno, torino2006, youtube

Richie Hawtin on your TV on Friday

2006-02-08T17:48:00.000+01:00

I hate sports. I would like to propose the UN an initiative for 2007 to declare it "International Non-Sports Year". So I would never expect to publish a post related to the Olympic games here. However...
This friday, Feb 10, Richie Hawtin will perform in the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Torino. He will present new music created specially for this event. Get an appetizer of the music here.
This is becoming a standard, at least in europe. In the last Olympic Games at Athens we could enjoy a performance by trance DJ Tiësto (trance is not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed it, anyway). Still, these are european based events, albeit aimed to an universal public. I would love to see Jeff Mills perform at SuperBowl or NASCAR. That would be a sign that many things are changing in the musical scene in the US. Keep dreaming...

Technorati Tags: dance, detroit, dj, electronic, minimal, mix, music, torino2006, techno