Vinyl | The Detroit Techno House

It’s not often you find classic Chicago house records in the bins at a Salvation Army. Usually all you find is piles of Christmas records, Polka’s Greatest Hits, and Sing Along with Mitch, but I always look anyway, because every now and again, the crate digging spirits throw you a curve ball, and you find something quality like this record by Raze I managed to get for $0.50. This is what 1980s Chicago house music was all about! The jackin’ drums, funky piano riffs, and warm, thick bass resonate through all the tracks of this EP. “Let The Music Move U” is an old school house workout with lots of jazzy pianos, cowbell and sultry female vocals to guide you along the dance floor. On the B side “Jack The Groove”(Jungle Remix) pairs a warm, deep bassline with strange synth and sound effects and a liberal amount of Latin percussion thrown in. A definite house burner. Also on the B side is “Get Down” which sports an awesome 303ish bassline bubbling up all over the track and crazy pitched out vocal samples commanding you to get down! For any of you vinyl junkies, I’ve seen this record in a few used bins, grab it up, and get a fantastic slice of House music from 1987.

Sometimes I like to really dig for my vinyl. I definitely frequent stores like Detroit Threads that specialize in electronic music records, where everything is neatly labeled so I can find exactly what I’m looking for. But every now and them I get super adventurous and decide to really dig the crates. This records was the spoils from one such crate digging adventure. Where would the world of modern electronic music be without the music of Kraftwerk? That’s not a world I want to live in. That’s why I was so pumped to find this track. “Pocket Calculator” is one of those tracks that you can listen to and hear how powerful of an influence it was on Detroit Techno, and all other forms of house and techno. The drums are very electro-ish and it has all those classic, super fat synth grooves that made Kraftwerk so famous. The synth sounds and glitched out calculator riffs are super spacey, and remind me of all the tripped out 70′s and 80′s cartoons I grew up watching. The flipside is the Japanese version of “Pocket Calculator” titled “Dentaku”. It’s pretty much the same track, slightly edited, with the song sung in Japanese. However the vocals sound all strange and robotic. Really an awesome version. While I doubt you’ll find this specific 7″, if you want a copy of this track, the full length record it came from in 1981 “Computer World” has been repressed recently, and you can find copies at Turntablelab.com.

Last night when I was about to go to bed I had a horrible scenario pop into my head. What the hell would I do if one of my Technic 1200′s broke or got stolen? What would I replace it with? With Techs being discontinued and increasingly getting harder to find, what do I do? Vestax and Numark tables are available but are more like space ships to me than turntables, and I don’t like the feel of the platters at all. Stanton ST150′s and STR8150′s seem to be one of the only options. I had a pair of these actually that were stolen when I lived in Pontiac a few years back(See why I’m worried?). They were good and functioned much like a Technic with some added features, but I couldn’t help but feel that I was using a Technic clone that was still not completely there. So this brings me back to my question. What do I get if my equipment is no longer? I know other DJ’s have to have this on their mind also. All major clubs that used to have Technics now have Pioneer CDJs. Older DJ’s from Detroit that have been strictly vinyl in the past are being spotted all over rocking CDJ’s now instead of using a vinyl system like Serato or Traktor. Most big name guys are switching to a 4 CDJ setup. Why?

Reason #1- Reliability

When you use a computer, there is always the fear of a crash. Before I got a Macbook a couple years ago, every vinyl system that I had on a PC crashed. To DJ regularly you need a good computer system, that you are constantly tweaking to keep your program running solid. If the sound shuts off when your spinning then your screwed. With vinyl you could throw on another record and at least not have silence. When DJing with a computer, you need a backup. CDJ’s are expensive but are rock solid and have been tested by the times. They don’t skip, shut down, or jitter. Also, the sound quality on the CDJ-2000′s are next level incorporating an industry admired Wolfson DAC processor. Continue reading »

Ahhhh…Record Store Day, my favorite holiday of the year. I mean for real, a day dedicated to supporting your favorite independent record store, what could be better for some rabid vinyl collectors like us? Of course we made it down to Detroits number one spot for electronic wax, Detroit Threads. Nice crowd in the store diggin’ the crates, and an amazing selection of tracks, as always. Picked up some amazing cut’s (re-press of “Throw” by Paperclip People!) and got to hear DJ Psycho throw down some hard ass techno. Bonus! Big ups to anyone who made it out to a record store on Saturday, support that local shit, fuck the “all digital” bullshit.

Saturday was also the the Motor Reunion, quite possibly the last electronic event that will be ever thrown at this iconic location. So many wonderful memories fill my mind whenever I reminisce of Motor, but alas, I learned an important lesson this weekend. Don’t sleep on the pre-sales for something like this! I missed out due to my procrastination(and the fact that it was sold the fuck out!). However, thank you Detroit Techno Militia for your massive photographic coverage. Make sure you check out all the pics on their Facebook page. Plus, there are some awesome pics of Record Store Day at Detroit Threads! It was an amazing weekend in Detroit overall, I hope you were there.

The Detroit Techno House

Featured Tracks: Raze “Let The Music Move U”

Featured Tracks: Kraftwerk “Pocket Calculator/Dentaku”(7″ jukebox 45)

DJ Ethics: The Pioneer CDJ

Reviews: Record Store Day, Reunion at Motor and such…

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