‘Its Been A Huge, JumbledUp, Confusing Development: Richie Hawtin On The Current State Of Techno
In the fall of 2012, Richie Hawtin toured the United States for CNTRL, a college campus tour designed to introduce young audiences to the history of dance music. The trip includes lessons in the afternoon and, of course, dancing after dark.
This moment was not chosen by chance. It was the dawn of the EDM era, when big room sounds lit up the main stages of new festivals and big clubs across the US, attracting a new generation of dance music fans like butterflies to a firework flame.
Sensing which way the wind was blowing, Hawtin formed CNTRL to bring new dance music fans an electronic sound beyond EDM, and Hawtin has been a key figure in techno and minimal techno since Canadian producers first turned to the sound in the late 1980s . (After all, his hometown of Windsor, Ontario, near Detroit, is the birthplace of techno.)
Over the past decade, Hawtin's vision of bringing techno to the masses has worked, perhaps too well. Over the past half century, the sound has moved from the underground to the mainstream, with one strand in particular, tech house, becoming the most popular and beloved dance music genre in the United States today, displacing EDM.
"What seems to have happened is that the techno sound has actually been influenced by the rise of EDM," Hawtin said on Zoom. “What's happening on stage is really a mixture of '90s techno and EDM, big flops and individual music. In the last four or five years, the development has been very confusing, even dizzying.
Rereading the number, Hawtin decided it was time for another tour designed to educate the public through the dance floor. The eight-show "From Our Minds" run, which ended earlier this month, toured US cities, showcasing his skills in creating techno with a "faster, louder, but much more minimalistic speed and power." (One of the featured artists, Lindsay Herbert, discovered techno while attending CNTRL sets in 2012.)
Hawtin sees the team—Herbert, Barboza, Declan James, Decauder, Henry Brooks, Jay Yorke, Michelle Sparks, Huey Mnemonic and Gia, supported by Deep Pedi—as part of a network of underground farmers trained during the pandemic. He called that time “a great incubator for new talent because it leveled the playing field. Anyone who can plug in a computer and stream or put on a good set is likely to appeal to fans who are at home, don't go to clubs and don't expect international tours. I think that's what has helped the new generation of artists, especially in North America, to go further than they have in recent years.
The post-pandemic moment completely reminds Hottin of his early days on stage, only moments of full circle remain in From Our Minds. Here, Hawtin reflects on touring and techno in general.
Given the dominance of techno in the US right now, are you happy with what you have? Are you happy with the sound?
Yes, that's a good question. "Satisfied" is a good word. I think part of me is glad that electronic music and even forms of techno are really becoming mainstream. This is a big one. If before on the big stages you could say it was a form of trance or a form of house, now it is definitely a form of techno. And yes, it caters to a man who has always wanted more people to come through techno's doors.
But it doesn't satisfy my need to feel part of something alternative. Because I don't think that all the music that's being played on the biggest stages today is created, created or appeals to people who feel a little bit different from the crowd.
What do you mean?
I talked to everyone on tour and we all love this music because it just didn't fit together. We feel like freaks. I probably don't feel as weird as I used to, maybe I'm pretty normal now, but that's a big part of the appeal that no one hears about anymore. So, while part of me might be a little cocky, part of me is so excited, fed up and inspired to be back on tour with like-minded people playing minimal music and playing to crowds that when they look out, they feel a little left out and on another dirty dance floor.
That's almost what you're trying to do with CNTRL, in terms of teaching a mainstream audience about the roots of dance music, it works really well and it's like, "Oh no, it's really important now because it's mainstream too." "
Yes, be careful what you wish for. I've thought about this a lot: how a tech giant got so big. I remember some of the decisions [I made]; I also reread some old interviews from 20-25 years ago and what I said or did to welcome people into this world. I never wanted it to be so insular and internal that it became hierarchical.
Electronic music, techno, the music that started my career and got me in the late 80s, these are very different things from what was happening back then. people I would never have met under other circumstances. I hope this dream continues on the dance floors where I play. I think that as the music and the scene gets bigger and more people-friendly, the bigger it gets, the less that happens and the more even the dance floor becomes.
Why do you think size and stature lead to homogenization?
Is there an answer? Can I do this without offending anyone? I believe that an open, eclectic and free dance floor should be run and/or filled by many open minded people. And really, I think that the Internet and social media have spread the idea that "we're all different," they've also spread the idea that "we're all the same." When social media and these platforms become the main source of promotion, marketing and informing people about what is there, the more you grow, the more you focus on the look, the voice, the character and everything else.
Globalization, facilitated by social media, flattens everything so that everything looks the same regardless of region.
When you think about music and places like Spotify and the long queues they talk about, it's all weird at the end of [these lines]. things that sound the same. The same artist over and over again. I was talking to a friend of mine about a pretty famous electronic artist who just released a new album. I thought, "It looks like they're inviting a lot of people to work together, just like any other pop album." It's very similar.
You say house became big techno, but how did it evolve into the weird spaces you love?
What I really want to do on tour is the music I've always loved. It's based on what's happening now and other styles of electronic music, which are definitely based on a much faster and louder tempo and power, but a lot more minimalistic, which I definitely like. It is stripped of most of the vocals and other samples and is simply adorable.
I recently spoke with another artist who had just performed in New York. It was a big party in the lineup, but they were playing a lot more of that [hypnotic] style of music, and they weren't sure of the reaction because people weren't raising their hands. And there's no ban on raising your hands - [in] open spaces or big festivals, that makes sense. But in a dark, noisy crowd, I think the best thing you can do is let people sink into the music and maybe they won't react, maybe they won't even look at you. Maybe you shouldn't be on stage. At all our events, everyone basically stands on the floor or maybe a little higher so people can see their heads .
An installation that denigrates the artist.
This. I don't know if we want or have to go back to the faceless DJ in the corner who never gets any attention or respect, maybe it's too much. As part of the tour, we brought in Aslice, which allows [artists] to upload [track lists] after the show and [people can] donate money to those songs, like tip banks, to bring other money to the producers who make the music and who don't make money enough money through various forms, especially streaming.
I am a fan of this platform and fully support such initiatives. Because, firstly, artists and producers need this money, and secondly, it also reminds us that no matter how good a superstar DJ is in front of the dance floor, if he doesn't play good music, he won't go anywhere. . .
Good. It also detracts from the focus on the artist on stage and reminds people that it takes a lot of artists on that stage.
This tour should also remember and celebrate that we're all making [man-made] music that doesn't really exist. It's a very special situation when someone else's music is playing and someone else is directing it, and people are immersed in music that they may never have heard before or may never hear again. It's not like 99% of people who go to 99% of concerts expect to hear and sing their favorite song.
It sounds like this tour allows you to present the artists you admire in a format you truly believe in.
The dance floor format, the dark composition, the simplicity is the basis for the whole scene. As we said, we can be satisfied that they actually [become] very different things. But if the fundamentals are not maintained, and if the fundamentals are not respected, and if the invisible artists and producers [are not respected], then things start to fall apart. If I've played a small part in helping things grow over the past 30 years, I also want to play a part in keeping that foundation strong for the next 30 years.
