Techno Tales

It’s the mid-1980s in Queens, New York, where teenage graffiti artist, Joey Beltram, regularly rides the local M-train. These journeys of his begin from the last stop on the line, near where he lives in Middle Village. As Beltram takes the train, he meets other graffiti artists, and through these acquaintances he becomes introduced not only to different aspects of graffiti art, but also to the street parties that occur in their neighbourhoods. It is at these street parties that Beltram encounters djs playing a mix of hip hop and new electronic music sounds, including house. So drawn is he to the djs at these events, that Beltram will soon shift his creative energies from graffitiing to making music, eventually leading to him producing one of techno’s most iconic tracks, "Energy Flash".

It’s 1989 when university student, Ken Ishii, visits a musical instrument store in Tokyo, Japan. Ishii has long been enthralled by electronic music, such as that made by the Japanese group, Yellow Music Orchestra. It is however what he interprets as the less complicated production qualities of the techno coming out of Detroit at the time, that really galvanises his passion for this type of music, deciding that this is the kind of sound he wants to make and play himself. In the music store that day, Ishii accordingly purchases a Korg M1 synthesiser, which he learns is able to function as an all-in-one music workstation. Four years following this, Ishii will have released his first productions through one of the world’s most important techno record labels, including the track, Naiad.

It’s the mid-1990s in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where Chinedum Nwosu, a local teenage student, dances at nightclubs in the city. Nwosu dances not only socially, but also professionally, being paid to perform at hardcore, techno, and house music events. While this is only a part time job for her, Nwosu realises the importance of feeling and loving the music to which she is dancing if she is to do it well. When the presiding soundtrack across Amsterdam clubs then gradually changes against her liking, she reasons that she has to stop dancing, given she now isn't wholly engaging the music. Rather than heralding the end of her relationship with electronic music however, this marks a transition in her relationship with such music, as she instead begins djing the forms of it for which she has a passion. Nwosu’s djing then leads to her producing tracks, from which comes her first release, the instant classic, “Dillema”.

It’s the mid-1980s just outside Northampton, England, where Anthony Child attends a rural comprehensive school. Around the age of fifteen, while attending the school, he watches a video collection of clips featuring the writer and artist, William Burroughs. One of these video clips leaves a particular impression on Child. To this point in his life, Child has viewed forms of media, such as books and music, as having straightforward narratives. Witnessing Burroughs discuss the “cut up” method in this video,  reconfigures his young mind however, encouraging Child to focus on the process, rather than the content, of creative pursuits. Inspired by Burroughs’ use of cut up methods to rearrange the sequence of words in order to reveal a new meaning from them, Child applies it to his developing ideas around the production of sounds. In the years to come, this in turn will inform his creation of seminal 90s English techno, under the artist title Surgeon, such as the track, “Scorn”.