Alright, to begin with, Sandstorm is not techno. It's cookie-cutter trance. While "cookie-cutter" might seem like a word very befitting of the whole electronic music genre, hear me out first. Call On Me is not techno either. It's house, in a word. Anyways, back on topic...
Techno is ALL about the experience. It does have any catchy melodies, any recognizable parts to it (generally), and no hummable lyrics. This is not a radio edit of some popular song. This is a sonic journey we're talking about. The best place to begin to experience techno is in the comfort of your own room, ONLY listening to the music. Your mind cannot be occupied with anything else. I'm being completely serious too, by the way.
It's the rhythm that will first get you. The basic foundation of electronic music; the beat. It settles somewhere from which the rest of the song builds off of, usually organically. And by that, I mean things slowly rise, building on what previously been set, not coming in all of a sudden. It rises naturally, both sonically and logically, as if the track is climbing a mountain of sound, and the higher you get, the rougher the sound.
This brings me to my next point. There are no "edits" in techno. You will hard-pressed to find any techno track under five minutes in length, the usual length being a solid ten minutes. Why no edits? It's the sound that matters, the journey. It cannot be cut short for any reason. If you try to, it will absolutely ruin the entire mood and feel of the track. Again, it's the experience that will create and palpitate the understanding and love for the sound.
Additionally, it's also important to listen to this stuff with the proper mindset. You need to understand what you're about to listen to to fully appreciate it. Yes, it will be repetitive. Yes, it will probably start very quiet and very boring. Yes, there will probably be no melodic elements to begin with, if ever. People who gripe about this shit instantly piss me off: shut the fuck up and listen. Do I start complaining about Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Lady Gaga, or the Jonas Brothers as soon as one of their songs comes on? Of course! Because what you hear will never change. The song goes nowhere from where it starts. With techno, everything grows, slowly and quietly. So shut the hell up and be patient. It will get loud. It will get better. Just expect to hear all this when you listen to it, or else take off your headphones and go stick your head into a fan while listening to mainstream radio.
Alright, onto the tracks. Sorry for that rant. But seriously, those people piss me off so much. Anyways...
This first one is a re-edit by Eric Prydz of a classic Sven Vath track: the Beauty and the Beast. It still retains some tech house elements, which is why I start off with this. I want to ease people into this, not jar them instantly with some Pig & Dan or Ricardo Villalobos straight out of the gate. But it definitely has a techno mindset: dark, ominous, complete with eerie vocal swells and barreling, thunderous drums over a simplistic, wavering synth line. Great example of a slow start that builds to something bigger and better. Just wait for the rise...it's completely epic and rightly monstrous.
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This next track is a little spacier, but a definite techno cut if I ever heard one. This one absolutely lends itself to the atmospheric tag of techno. Close your eyes and try and picture a beach...it's really easy with this cut from Guy Gerber and Shlomi Aber. The track almost bubbles out of the speakers, filling the room with water over LFO-beefed synths and a rising, swelling background tone that just sounds so...sunny, spacey, and water...y?
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Finally, I'll start to move into some power techno. This is the truly monstrous, epic, thick, vicious, "evil-sounding" stuff that makes you feel like some kind of angry, empowered demigod after you hear it. This stuff will scare you. It will shock you. And if you're in the right mood, it might even make you angry. The bass is heavy, the sound grows completely and totally, peaking with a sincere, palpable sonic rage that actually pretty cool. Until you realize that the track is less than halfway done and the truly amazing part is only moments away. It's times like these that make the hair on the back of my neck curl. This a monster of a track; don't say I didn't warn you. I mean jeesh, look at the title! That alone should explain it. (P.S. Dios = God in Spanish. Yep.) Dubfire and Oliver Huntemann are two huge names in techno, and they both have other excellent tracks if you're at all interested.
Final note; I'll let the track speak for itself. Just remember...organic growth, faux climax, climax, atmosphere. That's all you need to know. Last warning. Listen at your own risk/enjoyment.
I will return soon with some more techno and some other tracks that EVERYONE can stomach...techno truly is not everyone's cup of tea. Enjoy, and keep on listening to anything and everything.
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