Techno, The Postmodern Mandala
During these unprecedented times of uncertainty, solitude, and frustration, Spotify can be your passageway to distant lands and, indeed, new realms of consciousness. With its glacial synthesizer melodies and brisk machine rhythms, techno follows an unpredictable course of his own. It is difficult to pin down exactly what it is, as the decades in which numerous techno genres and sub-genres emerged make any categorization difficult and connoisseurship, if it exists, is nearly impossible.
Oftentimes in techno, none of the instrumental parts are actually recorded—the sounds of the saxophone, piano and drums are reproduced by machines. The final tune is simply a product of technology that sounds distinctly artificial and “hyperreal,” an extravagant simulation of reality. Listening to techno is actually a kind of improvisation, prompted by the desire of emotional enrichment, or perhaps, a strong need to escape.
If there is one central idea in techno, it is the harmony between man and machine.
Techno is also the perfect music for the imagination; with its ambient melodies, minimal rhythms and textural modulations, it is the postmodern mandala. The layered sound with varying beats and tempo fuses the musical texture of different cultures into the hyperreal. The erratic rhythm of the sound transcends the boundaries of the present, and produces a fast-paced, unnatural feast for the senses. If there is one central idea in techno, it is the harmony between man and machine. The urban juxtaposition of industrial repetitive beats is more of a characteristic of the Berlin underground techno with the patronage of notoriously-hard-to-enter Berghain than the Mediterranean-infused rhythms of barefoot-luxury Scorpios.
Check out this playlist of techno DJ sets, and visit https://boilerroom.tv for virtual DJ sets presenting sounds from Beirut, Barcelona, Istanbul, LA, Berlin, and more.
Fascinatingly, techno’s ridiculously domineering cloud of sound absorbs all of its external surroundings, evaporating the distinction between time and setting and plunging its experienced followers into heights of euphoria. Techno is an attitude, an ideology of perception that sounds futuristic, mechanical or surprisingly, nostalgic. Kerala Dust’s remixes of Leonard Cohen and Morrison cult classics at times confuses the power of lyrics, yet it simultaneously embraces and manipulates our past, fabricating an arcade of time.
Although the spontaneity of djing and the unique flavor of the settings make techno an experience rather than a mere genre, it is still possible to feel the vague memories and ever-changing moods which high-quality techno stirs in people even without the collective experience of raving. The energy and power of techno is not diminished if served at your very own home.
Check out this playlist for a gateway into the postmodern mandala of acid house and ambient techno:
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