All of us now techno dads would cite certain music moments as being influential.
There is the HOLY TRINITY.
In no particular order
Dave Clarke @ Eurodance 1997
In an era that it was all about collecting tapes of dj’s. Pre internet, it meant going to a shop and buying a tape. I can remember working dahn sathhh somewhere and being right chuffed to be able to buy a Colin Favor (rip) tape. Then all of a sudden Eurodance was live on the BBC from Dublin or somewhere.
There was Dave Clarke, David Holmes, Carl Cox and others. But then Dave Clarke pulled something out of the bag that became the benchmark for years and solidified everyone’s interest in real techno.
Richie Hawtin – Dex FX and a 909
Orange and Nitzer Ebb, game over.
Hawtin Story –
We went to LOST. We’d jumped the train down to London after finding out where the venue was at the last minute, cos that’s how LOST operated back then. In fact, even getting there was a bit daunting for us northerners, especially as the final route to LOST was up what appeared to be a very darkened alleyway, not exactly on the beaten path. We just followed the thuds. It seemed to be a temporary venue of sorts. Christ knows.
So we got in. This was in the days before phones capable of taking pictures n that and they were confiscating cameras at the door.
This was a nuts night with Hawtin and the true Detroit Resistance in the form of Suburban Knight. I can remember that the main room was really loud, “can’t breath” loud. I swear to this day that there were speakers hanging directly facing the floor from above (although my sense of reality was well impaired by this point). There were people being sick outside of the room.
Suburban Knight finished his set, rushed on stage by his entourage. Then Hawtin kicked in, playing like the below. Probably the heaviest set I’ve ever experienced live.
Dex FX and a 909 came out, it marked a landmark moment in techno. An influence ever since and to this day it doesn’t sound old at all.
Jeff Mills – Liquid Rooms – Tokyo 1995
Jeff has lost none of his skills to this day. Still bashing it out with pretty much the same set up as he did here in 1995. This is a full thrash out, no holes barred.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen him drop ‘The Bells’. I’ve also lost the best 3hrs of my life seeing him on NYE at LOST decades ago.
When Liquid Rooms came out it was a game changer. Probably the first properly commercial techno cd (tape)? Everybody who’s a serious dj still plays his productions old or new and noone matches him in terms of the energy that he pours through the mixer.
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