Difference between techno and House via history

Idi0tb0x · #1 17.5.2006, 6:03 pm

I found this old email from my friend and DJ mentor Jack MF. He was breaking it down long before Maestro came out. He was explaining this to a co-worker who likes "techno"

Anyway I figured I'd post it because it also offers some insight into the history of the whole rave movement.

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House or house music erupted from Chicago around 1985. The term house comes from a gay club in Chicago called "The Warehouse" (dj Frankie Knuckles), which is where the style is said to have first emerged. However, we all know nothing is really new, and Frankie Knuckles was only echoing a style coming from New York, which would later be called "Garage". Garage was named after "The Paradise Garage" (dj Larry Levin) a members only club in New York City. Chicago House also owes its roots to the Warehouse's "straight" counterpart "The Music Box" (dj Ron Harding) as well as radio (Hot Mix Five: Farley "Jackmaster" Funk, Mickey "Mixin" Oliver, Scott "Smokin" Silz, Ralphi Rosario and Kenny "Jammin" Jason).

The difference between Garage and House is that Garage is actually just the signature selection of Disco, Funk and even some Rock music that Larry Levin played at The Paradise Garage between 1978 and 1987... where as House Music only "samples" these elements and places them over a straight forward 4/4 drum machine beat (like a musical collage rather than extended mixes).

The predecessors to The Garage were "The Loft" and "The Gallery". The Loft (early seventies) was a private party where ethereal Disco was played and people danced what would be later called "Lofting"... the predecessor to breaking or "break-dancing". The Gallery (1968-72) is where Disco is said to have had much of its start, and is where much of the pre-disco Philly sound was played, (i.e. O'Jays, MFSB, Three Degrees, Billy Paul, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, etc.) This is probably why orchestration, especially horns and strings were prevalent toward the end of disco. This is also where "Vogueing" started,

(vogueing was inspired by a style of strut during the 1920s called "Performance"). Meanwhile overseas in England, "Northern Soul", a collection of what was even then considered "Retro" obscure soul music from America, was enjoyed by Mods. This would plant the seeds for the massive popularity of American DJ culture in Europe.

Going forward, while New Yorkers and the rest of the East Coast were slowing down their beats from faster disco to slower post-disco funk (and "Electro") during the early eighties, Chicago people were still looking for faster music. They tended to settle for more Euro-disco and some of the new "Industrial" sound coming from Europe. The founding fathers of House were mixing the more techno sounding stuff (like Kraftwerk-Germany, Telex-Belgium, Georgio Mirodor-Donna Summer/I Feel Love, and Patrick Cowley-"High Energy") with older Garage tracks. So you can say in one sense that House music comes from Techno.

Not more than a year or two after House Music was born, new Techno was emanating from Detroit (Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson), where musical taste was even more industrially influenced (less blues influenced like Chicago). Although real underground music aficionados knew about Techno as far back as the mid seventies, it wasn't really officially agreed upon as a terminology until Detroit started putting out tons if it all at once in 1987. Even then, it was not well known until its revival in Belgium around 1990, well after House Music had made its mark all over Europe. So many people, especially during that time, assumed Techno came from House Music, not the other way around.

Meanwhile, while all of this is going on here in the USA... wouldn't you know that the only Americans who were hip to all of this were urban minorities, (Black, Latin, Asians). This is why it never really hit mainstream during the eighties. However, both house and techno were completely blowing up in Europe. "Raves" which were originally called "Acid House Parties" in England were modeled after the legendary clubs like Paradise Garage, Warehouse, and Music Box. Raves in turn inspired the "Ibiza Parties" which still go on today. "Balearic Beat" or what is now called "Progressive House" comes from Ibiza. The overflow of djs and promoters from England into California is what re-introduced Techno and House to the White populations in America, as well as the New Rave Wave of the early nineties.

Meanwhile back in the East Coast, we had already had hundreds of these "raves" since the eighties. Back then they were called "House Parties" and were usually attended by people of color, and a few lucky locals who had eclectic tastes in music. These parties started on Friday night and sometimes lasted until Monday morning much like the Paradise Garage.

There is really no other way to explain the difference between house and techno at this point other than to explain the history. Both techno and house take so many elements from one another, it's difficult to categorize anything that is worth listening to. The only other way to differentiate between the two is to explain the "stereotypes" given to each style. House stereotypically is slower, has more jazz or soul elements... vocals, and is bottom heavy in the beat. Techno stereotypically is faster, made with more strictly with synth and analog sounds, (versus samples or loops) and as a result has a colder or more "scientific" feel to it.

During the late eighties, several sub-genres evolved from House and Techno. Ironically, it wasnt long before each genre defined themselves with such strong philosophical differences, that these genres actually began to segregate the people into different scenes. At first it was not like this. Anyone who listened to House also listened to Techno, and the many forms that evolved from House, (Deep House, Trance, Hip-House, Acid House). However, when this music was reflected back to us from Europe, it broke up into "cliques".

In the larger cities like New York, Philly, and D.C., old school heads (those in the know pre 1990) leaned toward Deep House, because it clung more closely to the traditions of old house with its more sophisticated jazz and soul elements. Suburban white kids who were coming from a rock or industrial background leaned toward techno at first, and then graduated toward house, and eventually even rediscovered disco as they investigated more deeply into the roots of it all.

Trance enthusiasts became dead against House Music, and vocals of any kind. They tended to embrace a "modernist" attitude, believing their music was new or ground breaking (jokes on them). Ironically those who have called themselves trance heads in the last 10 years have not actually been listening to real trance, but a pop-homogenized version of it. Those who listened to jungle, a form of break-beat that claims to have been invented in England, (break-beat is Rave music based in the break of a record, like Hip-Hop) began to refer to themselves as "Junglists" and loathed being associated with any other form of dance music.

Today there are about 100 different sub-genres of house, and its really just become a ridiculous marketing tool of music magazine companies who have no real experience with this music, other than what they have read in other magazines that have attempted to document all of this. In my opinion, its really hard for anyone to "GET IT" unless they were actually there watching it all unfold and actually EXPERIENCING the movement.

If youre dizzy, try spinning in the other direction for a few seconds.

talk about a long winded answer, huh?

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Discuss...

Idi0tb0x · #2 18.5.2006, 9:31 pm

Yo, just figured I'd bring ya'll's attention back...it's an interesting post really! I swear!

*STAR* · #3 18.5.2006, 10:04 pm

dude i hella remember reading that online! i love it hahaha house is great!!

i love talking to people who understand that its not all calld techno

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

when are we going to hang out idiot box?

we should get to geather and spin some time