The community around the techno genre exhibits notorious layers of exclusivity, as evidenced by recent remarks made by Dense & Pika. In a recent opinion column, the UK duo consisting of Alex Jones and Chris Spero argued that techno’s recent homogenization has distanced it from the creative vision of its originators.
“When techno was in its early stages it sounded like the future,” began the Ibiza Voice article. “People like Drexciya, Underground Resistance, Derrick May and all of that Detroit generation were imagining the sounds of the future. But then techno was bastardized and repackaged and now people are trying to make records that sound like they were made 20 years ago.”
Jones and Spero’s piece went on to denounce the “plastic techno” sound as “the new ‘deep house,'” alluding that the money at stake may have commodified the genre. “A techno DJ earning £30,000 per set was unheard of in the Nineties,” it read. “And it’s bigger than it’s ever been.”
Glass Houses
While Jones and Spero’s perspective certainly illuminates the modern techno dichotomy, it also speaks to their particular vantage point in the scene. Much of the recent Dense & Pika discography has come out on Adam Beyer‘s Drumcode imprint, whose mass appeal has designated it a target of criticism from fans of more obscure electronic music.
Jones and Spero did cite the likes of Nina Kraviz, Helena Hauff, Ben UFO and Anthony Parasole among the list of contemporary artists whom they consider pioneers. “When we first heard Lena Willikens we didn’t even know what genre she was playing and that’s really refreshing and exciting,” they wrote.
Dense & Pika’s upcoming single, “Suki,” arrives by way of Drumcode August 8th.
Source: Mixmag
