What is Techno music?

[azoc]

Yes, I'm serious!

I can't define what is techno music. I've read whole Wiki page on techno music and searched on YT for fine examples, but I still don't get what is Techno (people mistake Techno for Dance and Trance). Maybe a better question would be what defines Techno music as a genre (beat programming and synths)?

When I was a little kid, when people asked what music do u listen, I would tell, "I listen to TECHNO music-LOLZ" but I wasn't listening to Techno, it was Eurodance/Trance/Dance/Pop like DJ Sash!, Darude (Sandstorm) etc.


Is this techno (maybe Acid Techno)?

[tomtoo]

"A..CiiiiiiiiiD!!!!!!!"

For me dance tecno !

But ?

[GeckoYamori]

For me, the definitive aspects of Techno is that it differentiates itself from other dance music by not being bound by the traditional western pop structures. Ie intro, verse, chorus, verse, etc. It's a more seamlessly evolving music much like the neo-classical minimalist movement like Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams, etc. Harmonically I think it tends to be a lot more abstract as well. It's more about timbres than hooks or chord progressions.

[Tricky-Loops]

[azoc]

@GeckoYamori Yeah, it makes sense. So it's more about experimental forms...

@Tricky-Loops I think that this is Happy Hardcore, but Happy Hardcore evolved from Hardcore Techno, so is it still a Techno music?

[Tricky-Loops]

@Tricky-Loops I think that this is Happy Hardcore, but Happy Hardcore evolved from Hardcore Techno, so is it still a Techno music?

I think it's Happy Hypercore...

[codec_spurt]

Yes, I'm serious!

It's like you really care.

Really?

Are you really serious?

I think you're taking the piss.


Everyone that responds to a thread called, 'What is Techno music?', needs a whistle and a dog.



But carry on, this will probably be one of the better ones..

[ghettosynth]

@GeckoYamori Yeah, it makes sense. So it's more about experimental forms...

Be careful, a lot of music is about texture and experimental forms, but isn't techno. For example, a large selection of ambient music and noise meets the definition given so far. Neither is in traditional song form, neither is as much about chord progression and melody as they are about texture, and both can be very experimental. Techno is a genre of dance music, full stop. Yes, there is a lot of techno that really isn't dance music, per se, but it still has roots in the fundamental dance EDM forms. Noise isn't techno, until you loop it

So evolving, yes, but also repetitive. Even that's not enough though, if you get too general, a lot of different dance music genres fall into the classification. So, really, for example, although there is certainly funky techno, too much swing, groove, and looseness in the beat and people might start calling it house. Similarly, there is techno with more melodic components, but, go too over the top and your record is going to be tossed into the trance bin.

So simple harmonic structures, yes, and the consequent "constrained" melodic components, having a "disciplined" rhythm, that is contained in a repetitive experimental form, will help you avoid including too much stuff that isn't techno.

Like most forms of popular music, there will always be exceptions to such attempts to tightly classify the genre. I think that this is a good start of a definition but definitions should be thought more of as a way of identifying the best separating hyperplane as opposed to a perfect classifier, that is, there will be many records that some people will call house that others will call techno. I've purchased many records from the wrong bin and played them in what I think is the right set, but not everyone will agree. Once you start looking at the intersection of the sets of records that people who know genres reasonably well call techno, you will not have quite as broad a style of music that people fancy it to be. On the other hand, the union of those sets will probably encompass many, if not most, electronic styles. I think such an intersection gives us a better separation and makes the labels a bit more useful.

YMMV.

[azoc]

@codec_spurt Omg! :O
This is all one big conspiracy theory and Illuminati are involved! lolz

[azoc]

@ghettosynth

Genius! Very good post and it sums up all the info I need. I think I pretty much get it now...
Like in all genres of Dance music, one song is usually a mix of many styles and genres.

[ntom]

I thought Techno was the more digital-mechanical side of the EDM domain.

You know, more based around digital sounds, with loose melodies, usually minimal melodies.

[ghettosynth]

I thought Techno was the more digital-mechanical side of the EDM domain.

You know, more based around digital sounds, with loose melodies, usually minimal melodies.

Mechanical yes, digital no. While today you will certainly find a mix of digital and analog sounds and, there might be a preference for digital sounds in (some sub-genres of) current techno, there is no such preference historically, and, in fact, techno's roots are very much analog.

[djanthonyw]

Chemical Brothers.

[ghettosynth]

Chemical Brothers.

You're takin the piss, right? Chemical Brothers=Big Beat, the first frat boy friendly EDM style, they are absolutely not techno.

[Davias]

With the time passing, I forgot what is techno exactly. What differentiate it from house, I would like if someone could post examples of old or modern pure techno. Not mishmashed with any other 'genres'.