review by Hillegonda C. Rietveld

London South Bank University (UK)

The documentary We Call It Techno! provides a German perspective on the development of electronic dance music to both a German and English-speaking audience through subtitles and the choice of an English voice-over. Based on interviews with key people in the scene, it tells the story from the definition of post-punk electronica from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. There are two parts. The main film is illustrated by rare archive material from private collections of participants and key people of the developing scene. The second part consists of interview excerpts and additional interview material.

The following DJs, party concept designers, club promoters, label managers and record shop workers, all male except one, took part: Alex Azary, Andreas Rossmann, Armin Johnert, Ata, Boris Dlugosh, Claus Bachor, Cosmic Baby, Dimitri Hegermann, Dr Motte (of early Love Parade fame), Elsa for Toys, Frank Blümel, Hell, Jürgen Laarmann, Mark Reeder, Mike Ink, Mijk van Dijk, Ralf Niemcyzk, Sven Väth, Talla 2XLC, Tanith, Thomas Koch, Tobias Lampe, Triple R, Upstart and Wole XPD. The interviewees benefit from their maturity and their insights gained over decades, while the use of the German language produces a deeply reflective mode. In particular, Mike Ink places the scene's idealism in a wider historical-materialist perspective, while Azary observes that, "Techno expresses the emotion of today's times best of all, basically the blankness of society". The resulting documentary is a serious self-searching narrative that demonstrates that the term techno was very much the electronic sound track of the millennium.

The narrative starts with the introduction of the term techno as early as 1984 by Talla in a Frankfurt record shop called City Music, to indicate "music created technologically", such as "New Order, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Heaven 17, then later Front 242. I actually filed everything under Techno. And people liked it" (Talla). This was followed by the Techno Club, set up by Alex Azary and Talla, which hosted post-punk electronic bands, the NeueWelle (new wave), like D.A.F. (Deutsch AmerikanischeFreundschaft) and Nitzer Ebb. This club night became a hot spot for Electronic Body Music (EBM), a sound that was led by the Belgian Front 424. It also inspired the establishment of specialist magazine Frontpage that self-defined the merging techno scene. Initially the club attracted suburban males, until DJs like Sven Väth, who developed his career in this Frankfurt scene, moved away from industrial and EBM to embrace American techno and acid house.

Berlin had been physically segregated from West Germany, until the fall of the wall in 1989. According to Tanith, the electronic experiments by German pioneers, such as Klaus Schulze, were effectively forgotten by a younger Berliner generation that mainly listened to guitar rock. Until the arrival of techno-house from the US that is, which sounded more fun than the aggression of EBM. Acid house was introduced there via the radio shows of Monika Dietl, which were listened to on both sides of the Berlin Wall. When the wall came down, an extraordinary festive period emerged in Berlin, which brought together creative talents from East and West Germany. From this, the Love Parade emerged, in the summer of 1989, consisting of a sound system on a truck, playing acid house and Detroit techno.

The title of the documentary refers to a popular track of this period, "Call It Techno" (Breaking Bones 1989), an Electro Freestyle track by Brooklyn-based DJ Frankie Bones. Its musical influences seem to cover a wide range of electronica, including Kraftwerk, KLF and Afrika Bambattaa, while an electronically treated vocal summarises a history of techno from an American perspective. The documentary's version of techno's story is different from the usual one, of how Detroit DJ producer Derrick May and British entrepreneur Neil Rushton marketed Detroit's electronic dance music as distinct from the Chicago house sound in 1988. It becomes quite clear that techno was indeed a concept, a sign of the times, which inspired people in Europe and the US in parallel fashion.

The documentary subsequently charts the experience of young people devoting their lives to the party scene, which went into overdrive during the early 1990s: its idealism, its creative energy, the flaunting of hegemonic common sense in terms of lifestyles and regulations and the sense that a revolution had occurred, a break in history. More women became involved and footage reveals a distinct difference in gender relations. 1980s footage from the Technoclub shows an all male punk mob; while in footage from the early 1990s one sees boys and girls with happy grins, taking ecstasy pills, travelling from city to city to follow their favourite DJs. Each city seemed to have its own distinct approaches to this party phenomenon, some supporting the super star DJ and others being much more about the music itself, the crowd and the experience. Techno, in this version of events, accommodates a clear break in German history: pre-1989 techno as post-punk electronica, angry, macho, full of fear and loathing; post-1989 techno as fun, celebratory, camp and queer.

From this melting-pot of ideas, eventually a German trance aesthetic emerged, again first in Frankfurt, with DJ Dag and Sven Väth, which further developed in the techno-trance scene that revolved around the Berlin Love Parade. In sum, this DVD corrects the Anglo-American hegemony on the history of electronic dance music with a unique collection of images and interviews. It is therefore a must in the collection of anyone who studies and enjoys electronic dance music.

References

Frankie Bones. 1989. Call It Techno. Breaking Bones Records (12-inch). BBR-400. USA.

Various. 1988. Techno! The New Dance Sound Of Detroit. Ten Records Ltd (10 Records) UK // 303 322-406. DIXG 75. Virgin Schallplatten GmbH. Germany.