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The Laptop DJ Handbook: Setups and Techniques of the Modern Performer
Techno
In their DJ anthology Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, Bill Brewster and Frank
Broughton wittily sum up one of techno’s fundamental standards: “Its basic notion
is this: if house is just disco played by microchips, what kind of noise would these
machines make on their own.” Whereas house music principally originated as a homegrown industry evolved from disco, techno serves as a type of source code describing a
broader, international language. In opposition to house’s adaptation to and evolution
within a purposely designed environment, techno’s abstract conceptualization reached
beyond the physical and social constructs of its architects.
The narrative of the Belleville Three (after their high school)—Juan Atkins, Derrick
May, and Kevin Saunderson—is a thing of techno legend. The trio grew up with an
experience atypical of young, black Detroit teenagers in the ’70s and ’80s. Although
they were raised within a relatively affluent, predominately white Detroit suburb, their
incongruous, slightly dislocated experience of coming of age within Detroit’s crumbling, post-industrial landscape led the three to venture clear, mentally and physically,
of their surroundings in search of inspiration. A shared love of personal musical expansion eventually led to the discovery of synth-based European acts, such as Kraftwerk—
long cited as a foundational element underpinning the stylistic developments of house,
techno, hip-hop, and more.
Beyond their years, they realized that while Chicago’s house music and New York’s
disco were propagated from within DJ culture, techno was necessarily conceptualized
from the ground up—as musicians first. That is not to say that the club context of
music did not have its effect. Family visits to New York allowed Saunderson to
sneak into Levan’s Paradise Garage and Mancuso’s Loft. Simultaneously, May made
regular trips to Chicago to immerse himself in the atmospheres of Knuckles’ Power
Plant and Hardy’s Music Box. Taking this insight into the studio inspired the creation
of the first true techno records. In 1985 as Model 500, Atkins unveiled “No UFO’s”;
as Rhythm Is Rhythm, May loosed “Strings of Life” in ’87; while in ’86, as Kreem,
Saunderson released “Triangle of Love” and, of course, the insanely successful track,
“Big Fun,” in ’88. Devoted to the end, they additionally launched their individual
labels: Metroplex, Transmat, and KMS, respectively.
Techno’s second coming birthed new artists, DJs, and entirely new techno subgenres. In
the late ’80s, Jeff Mills and “Mad” Mike Banks formed the pioneering Detroit-based
Underground Resistance label collective, pushing edgier, industrialized techno. After
some time in New York, Mills eventually moved to Chicago and in ’92 launched his
highly instrumental label, Axis, followed by a lineage of sub-labels. In ’93, Rob Hood
popularized minimal techno’s terminology with the release of Minimal Nation on his
own imprint, M-Plant. Simultaneously, a young Richie Hawtin swelled to embody
techno’s current evolution through the continual reinvention of his artistry, most commonly with his Plastikman alias, as well as historic labels Minus and Plus8, the latter of