"techno is too white"

[Tony]

as quoted from a recent magazine cover article with dave clarke.
i did think it through and reached a few conclusions.
techno, i feel is colourless in who it appeals to, but has definitions within its expression.
example: jackin stuff is clearly super black, though not exclusively written by black artists.
on another angle, the total flat out 4/4 approach could be described as distinctly white, but again not produced by exclusively white artists.

i would agree with dave on these points:
there is less total black sound to the techno released nowadays. there is no major movement for jackin chicago sounds at present and there are very few actually black artists who do that really well. ie green velvet, rush.
the majority of what has been present on the market is scandinavian, neapolitan, london acid, eastern block and the more 'white' edge as described above.

now before i dig a hole for you all to bury yourself in, or cause mark a headache by starting potentially inflammatory threads we must first all agree:
this is not a race issue as such, the lack of 'black techno' by description is not due to some considered 'white takeover'. it just seems that the market hasnt paid attention to these areas while other trends have flourished.
this is not a racist thread, i didnt read the article, but the cover qoute that i have used to title this thread got me thinking.

what does it make anyone else think?

[Esox Lucius]

some good points tony, although there are a lot of black artists still producing good techno music, but I see your point.

[Sunil]

what does it make anyone else think?

i agreed with most of what he was saying, it's like soul and funk, they were developed and pioneered by black people, the same way a lot of techno has been. if you look at it now, there's no black Detroit heads doing anything particular noteworthy, certainly not for the dancefloor, the same goes for DJ Funk and those guys, they make sweet fa as well. I think what Clarke is mainly referring to is the Ghetto techno stuff, although he's been making this point for a few years now already! i think the "techno is too white" thing has been blown up a bit too much, however there is some truth to it when you consider the amount of non descript European techno fodder being churned out over the last few years, one thing that must be said for UR/Detroit/Chicago etc. is that they haven't knocked out releases for the sake of it like many of their white counterparts.

[DJZeMig_L]

I would say it's more down 2 influences n what u grew up around with then colour (I do understand we r not going racial here)...

I am white as fuc* but still luv my booty, most times I go abroad I can always guess the shocked face of the people picking me up at the airport.. I mean they all expect a big Tattoed/ pierced Black MF... they get this short fatty white prepy guy... :dontevengothere:

But I am Latin there is loads of Africans in Portugal, so U kinda grow up around those sounds, smells, etc.. and u take it in.

But I guess it's harder 2 have a more funked/ souldfull sound if u live in a cold/ damp/ industrial place...

But I can remember a few white boys doing the "blac* thang"... Rees Urban, Paul Langley, Ruben Anderson, etc...

So I would say more in the way of climat/ melting (or not) pot/ lanscape, etc... then race/ colour!!

Z

[anx]

what the **** does color have to do with anything :roll:

[The Overfiend]

I think it has zero absolute zero to do with colour.
If your in the "black community or urban community" which are two totally different things.
It isn't exactly accepted by your peers to listen to this music we love.
Most of the time I tell people to shut the f*ck up when I put techno on, because the pop culture of america feeds people what they should be listening to I.e. 50 cent.
hearing Dave Clarke say this and get credit for stating the obvious was like duh.
No sh*t Sherlock.
It doesn't matter what colour techno is the more sub categories we keep giving it and separating as we go along the more separitist this music will be, theres enough nepotism.
Now were gonna have black white spanish techno?
N*gga please!!!!!!

[Tony]

just checking this thread for turmoil, as many threads have turned so on this board. but this is looking good.
productive chat and positive personal reflections. although anx has summed it all up so far.

Downwards Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:50 pm Post subject:
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some good points tony, although there are a lot of black artists still producing good techno music, but I see your point

definitely are!!!! and even black artists writing white styles, but these arent definitive terms, just more descriptive.
the obvious artists who write black 'sounding' techno arent necerserily black. but the sound is instinctive as to its colour and influence, and of course subjective.
more of everything for me. i just thought this was an interesting topic to chew on, and theres been some sound quotes
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[1992]

what the **** does color have to do with anything :roll:

Exactly. I think some people get their jollies off making arguments like this. They wish to claim that their race is better then another.

[Sunil]

what the **** does color have to do with anything :roll:

Exactly. I think some people get their jollies off making arguments like this. They wish to claim that their race is better then another.

i think you are all missing the point here, it's not a race battle. Clarke is making the point that when he got into techno it was funky and being made by black people, and now there's **** all black people making techno...maybe he feels techno has lost a bit of its funk??? i'd certainly have to agree with him.

[Esox Lucius]

what the **** does color have to do with anything :roll:

Exactly. I think some people get their jollies off making arguments like this. They wish to claim that their race is better then another.

you always get them dont ya :lol:

1992 - READ Tony's post properly.

[kebabman]

"Techno has become too white" or "Techno isn't black enough", is there a middle ground to Techno? Er, no. The nature of Techno is that it will do what it wants to. I certainly don't believe that being a black Techno producer means that everything you produce would have to have a stereotypical black sound (funk, soul etc.). Conversely being a white Techno producer doesnt mean that your sound would have to be stereotypically banging and loopy.
I dont think that Techno is either too much of anything, I've got funky stuff, minimal stuff, nosebleed stuff etc. All good.
After listening to Daves album I can't say that he's done anything thats new in the slightest and his coment about Techno being too white as far as I'm concerned is just to gain column inches.
Bad Brains (if anyone remembers them) didn't exsist to make Rock more black they just rocked.

[bornaa]

what the **** does color have to do with anything :roll:

Exactly. I think some people get their jollies off making arguments like this. They wish to claim that their race is better then another.

thats not the point here at all. people of diferent races ARE diferent...they look diferent and probably think diferent. their ancesters grew up in diferent soroundings and conditions and that is in their genes. their culture is diferent. i guess its gonna all level up with time tho. so races are diferent from each other and that will influence the music as well making some separations between "white" and "black" techno . kinda have a feeling alot of people here use anti racial talk in a way that "all human races are the SAME" rather than "all human races are equal".

[bornaa]

It doesn't matter what colour techno is the more sub categories we keep giving it and separating as we go along the more separitist this music will be, theres enough nepotism.
Now were gonna have black white spanish techno?
N*gga please!!!!!!

i agree with you as well. i actualy dont see the point of this discussion at all. maby it has a point, but its probably totaly irrelevant .

[Angrymann]

I reckon the reasons will be simple , nothing to do with colour or any shit like that. Just reckon some of the black producers may just have lost a bit of passion for it or may even think they've taken their productions as far as they can for the moment. Just as some of the white boys will have lost their passion too.

For the likes of Ghetto techno , to me it must come to a point where you can't do much else about " Ass and titties" etc ( just my opinion and probably not very balanced as I don't listen to a lot of it, but I did buy a few Ghetto records a few years back ). Perhaps they are just biding their time until Techno swings back round to where they feel they are at with their music.

Also a lot of the black producers of Techno made MASSIVE names for themselves straight away and produced a few Classic tracks. This means that they will pretty much be busy all the time making DJ appearances and stuff , so if they aren't getting that "itch" to produce then they'll just keep earning the bucks through Club appearances.

[Buttman]

Yet another reason to contribute to Dave Clarke being a totally clueless arrogant cunt.

[jonnyspeed]

Black, white, rich, poor... all rubblish. techno is a white scene and D&B is a black scene because of who are the key innovators... but not exclusively and the door are open to all - but you can't drag em screaming they've gotta wonna turn up.

So long as the pissed hooligan twats stay away who cares about race?

Anyway it depends what you call white - lots of very tanned Italians and Spanish come out in London.

[Esox Lucius]

Black, white, rich, poor... all rubblish. techno is a white scene and D&B is a black scene because of who are the key innovators... but not exclusively and the door are open to all - but you can't drag em screaming they've gotta wonna turn up.

So long as the pissed hooligan twats stay away who cares about race?

Anyway it depends what you call white - lots of very tanned Italians and Spanish come out in London.

techno a white scene?

[anx]

segrigation is bullshit

[The Overfiend]

Black, white, rich, poor... all rubblish. techno is a white scene and D&B is a black scene .

That was straight ignorant.

[anx]

this whole thread is