The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 9, 1999 - 11A icko's 'Rebels' pulses with Detroit techno scene echno Rebels an-Sicko illboard Books ** Shat exactly is "techno" music? It een around for nearly 20 years, et the majority of Americans are irly clueless about this new and xciting form of music edging its way to the mainstream thanks to artists uch as Madonna. Books such as Generation Ecstasy" and "Altered tate" discuss electronic music's rela- onship to drugs, but until the recent ublication of "Techno Rebels," no ne has exclusively focused on the i er of electronic music, techno. 0ring the course of 207 pages, an Sicko clears up most of the ambi- uity surrounding techno and its rela- onship to other electronic music enres. After convincing the reader at the question "What is techno?" as relevance, he then documents the volution of the genre from 1978 to e present. Instead of describing the ound of techno, he discusses the cul- significance of the music, lc ding its metamorphosis from uropean disco to a futuristic form of i-tech funk eminating from Detroit ith forward-looking ideals, immedi- tely adored by Europeans. The three-page preface to "Techno ebels" immediately correlates com- lexity with techno. It opens with the tatement: "Techno. The word evokes sponses as varied as there are etaphors for sound." &ko continues his attempt to terest his readers with other state- ents such as, "Trying to tackle a ubject like techno is a bit of a dan- qrous endeavor." With these sort of old statements, he does a convinc- ng job of dismissing the concept of echno as just a soundtrack for danc- ng. Once he has convinced his readers at techno indeed is an interesting o* worth exploring in an intellectu- I manner, he attempts to establish a ense of credibility. He boasts of his tatus as a Detroit native who formed is "musical tastes just as techno was tarting to forge its own identity and ork its way out of the minds of high chool and college kids." Since the najority of techn.o's undocumented volution took place in the intimate onfines of bedrooms and small a* parties of Detroit before being ransformed into myth by foreign nusic journalists, it's important to ave someone capable of disclosing be facts instead of simply recycling the myths. The first chapter discusses the pre- sent state of electronic music in America. Sicko immediately points towards the media for first attempting to market electronic music as the next new thing - "electronica" - then for presenting it to Americans in an improper format. He makes a compari- son to the Seattle grunge explosion at the beginning of this decade, driven pri- marily by the media's need for drama. He also points out the fact that rock 'n' roll journalists handled the major- ity of the initial media coverage for electronica. Though these rock jour- nalists are fully capable of composing intriguing literature on clectronica artists, they tend to focus on the per- sonalities behind the music. "Techno has personalities," Sicko writes, "but generally lacks the kind of rock 'n' roll antics that make for sensational stories." After the first chapter's overly brief overview of electronic music's cur- rent state, "Techno Rebels" begins to get interesting. Here the author begins to unravel all the myths and mysteries created over the past 20 years, beginning with the concept of "teenage kids finding escape and release in music." Sicko explains that "In the Detroit of the late 1970s and 1980s, the African American youth took that notion farther than anyone had imagined, and the resulting scene would lay the groundwork for tech- no's earliest development." Throughout this chapter, stories aided by numerous interviews are told of formalized party clubs oiganizcd by African American teenagers in rented halls with a heavy focus on Italo-disco music. These European sounds, thought of as progressive and high- brow by these youth, complimented their extravagant attire and attitude. By 1980, there were between two to three of these party clubs per Detroit school and multiple parties every weekend. In late 1983, violence between east side and west side Detroiters led to the demise of the party culture, but not before igniting a musical revolu- tion in Detroit. Here Sicko begins telling the tale of how a few Detroit teenagers such as Juan Atkins and Derrick May began producing their own variation of the Italo-disco music they heard at parties and on Detroit's eclectic radio stations. These produc- ers then proceeded to start their own record labels and DJ at a now-leg- endary club called The Music Institute where musical ideas were tested out and exchanged. Sicko's focus on Detroit's culture and its artists continues until the 46- I CIO rF A due to aforementioned interviews and Sicko's understanding of the city's cultural history. But when he focuses on techno's development in Europe, the book becomes thin, confusing and quite boring without any of the sup- porting interviews or a thorough understanding. Even though "Techno Rebels" claims to be the first book attempting to explore the question "What is techno?' its answer is biased. Of course, this is expected with a topic with such a glob- al reach, and Sicko even admits this bias in his preface. Electronic music connoisseurs may be left unsatisfied since many questions about European techno go unanswered. For example, how did trance -- currently the "hottest" form of electronic music -- arise from techno? Or why Northern European countries such as Germany became infatuated with techno while other European countries such as France never took much interest ? Above being the definitive work on Detroit techno, Sicko succeeds at making the book just as intriguing to the techno literate as it is accessible to those unschooled in the music's intri- cacies. It's easy for readers to get overwhelmed with electronic music jargon and its numerous subgenres. This doesn't happen with "Techno Rebels," making it the perfect book to begin educating American masses exactly what techno is. Hopefully, overseas scribes familiar with teh sounds and scenes that make up tech- no will soon tell their side of the story. Jason Birchmne er Among the artists featured in Sicko's book, the Chemical Brothers continue to bring techno into mainstream music. halfway point of his book where the focus shifts to Britain. There, around 1988, the techno sounds being imported from Detroit made an impression on many. The English then began imitating the techno sound of Detroit, giving birth to acts such as Orbital and 808 State. The Detroit techno records being imported also became anthems for the growing number of raves appearing in Britain. The book then shifts back towards Detroit once again to document a sec- ond generation of techno artists such as Plastikman and Underground Resistance. Here the author again tells all with the aid of several candid interviews. The remainder of the book attempts to document the diffusion of techno throughout the world into numerous sub-genres and variations. Though it may be important to understand the relationship of techno music to the beginnings of drum and bass, Sicko tries to cover too much ground too quickly. This point sums up the overall nature of "Techno Rebels." When the author focuses on his native city, Detroit, the book is informative and highly enlightening I (jowr riek'{Gt6I 4 1'He, cre~r IAc f oF C~C (-C46 d?,A5ic,, fwc' {hli~4er 4c2L4 4 cGKGW(4 cOUtFCot. >< Y. ,. _x,. " I it~ i, - ' se. t ' ;.. ,ry NS . ,; zt: