#2000's techno

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Rise And Shine by Denver McCarthy Statra Recordings 2000 Techno / Electro / Ambient

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Misstress Barbara - “For All There’s Left” Relentless Beats Vol. 1 by Misstress Barbara Song released in 2000. Mix released in 2001. Tribal Techno

***Song starts at 5:43 and ends at 9:11***

The Italian-born, Montréal-residing Misstress Barbara (which is a portmanteau of "Miss" and "stress" to reflect her overactive, perfectionist nature and not really a dominatrix thing, if that's what you're thinking) has been steady on her dance music grind since the mid-90s. And while she's a beloved DJ who really wants nothing more than to play her sets according to whatever her personal tastes are at that point in time, as well as a Juno-nominated producer and singer (it's like a Canadian Grammy), the thing that she was most prominently known for at the beginning of her career was techno, plain and simple; both her ability to spin it in order to work a crowd into a frenzy, and her ability to make it.

And in 1999, Barbara landed a 12-inch on Swede Christian Smith's Tronic label, a then small-time outlet that specialized in the wall-vibrating, tribal style of the music. That same year, she launched her own label, Relentless, through which she released her own same type of records, and in '01 she brought her hard-nosed mixing talents to the venerated Moonshine Music, for which she made a fantastic and perfectly titled set called Relentless Beats, Vol. 1.

Like any self-respecting DJ, on that mix Barbara included some of her personal favorite cuts and sprinkled in some of her own material as well. And one of those tracks of hers that appeared on that mix was a blistering piece of tribalism, which was originally released the prior year on a 12-inch EP for Relentless called For All There's Left.

This track is really just a lovely, rhythmically primal assault of sorts. Misstress Barbara uses a heavy, pulsating 4/4 kick drum and rumbling, bonging sinister bass as her foundation and then proceeds to pile a packed stack of tightly woven percussive rhythms on top, making for a thickly layered brain masher of a track. Clapping, resonant rimshots(?) lead the way as they're soon sandwiched between a hot spring of rustling hi-hats and then a soft hand drum rhythm that runs alongside the bottom. But while she's got more than enough to make for a satisfying track at that point, Barbara still has even more rhythms in the tank to mix in and out in order to keep us on our toes.

Really can just never get enough of these super rhythmic and hard-slapping-tribal techno beats and Misstress Barbara has pretty much proven herself to be the queen of them.

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E.B.E. - “Serenity” Soma Compilation Seven 2000 Tech-House / Deep Techno

California’s not a place that’s really known much for its techno, but in a state that’s home to literally tens of millions of people, you’re bound to find at least a few great producers, and one of them is San Jose’s Lucas Rodenbush. Although Rodenbush may have looked like the bassist in a local skate-punk band during some of his most prolific years, don’t let his exterior fool you; under just a few monikers, he was actually able to proliferate his well-crafted blends of techno, house, and tech-house through a number of popular dance labels the world over between the late 90s and early aughts. Since then, he’s transitioned himself into an academic and is now immersed in the avant garde world of electro-acoustic music, but in his earliest days, Rodenbush channeled his always innovative music sense onto a globalized dancefloor instead.

One of the many labels on which Rodenbush’s music has landed is the highly respected Glasgow-based Soma Quality Recordings, through which he released two 12-inches under his primary stage name, E.B.E., between 1999 and 2000. The second 12-inch, the Neural Response EP, is a four-song release that has a fantastic keys-and-strings combo kind of track on it called “Serenity,” which also appeared on Soma’s Compilation Seven label sampler in 2000 as well.

“Serenity” is a tune that’s on a real deep-space tech-house kind of vibe, thanks in large part to its echoingly sharp, twinkling keys and its floaty bed of slowly swaying, French-inspired, melancholic synth work. And while these two integral elements, when combined with a 4/4 kick drum, closed and open hats, hand claps (is it just me, or does every fourth hand clap sound a little more thunderous than the others?), shakers, and some other hissing bits of percussion are enough to make “Serenity” a solid piece of inward-looking deep techno on its own in the early going, it’s the extra stuff that Rodenbush adds to the mix and the little changes he makes along the way that put this song over the top; more percussion, some lightly rumbling bass, spots of more keys with a little added heft, and the crowning pieces: a growing chorus of prickling, glassy string shards of varied lengths, plus an extra, brief mini-bed of strings that lie beneath the just-introduced strings, which sway in much the same way as the main bed of dreary synths at the track’s bottom. 

Just a wonderful early aughts offering from Rodenbush here; one where you can’t help but imagine an astronaut who’s fully equipped with feelings that’s floating above Earth and getting their little groove on.

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Today’s compilation:

Cocoon Compilation A 2001 Techno / Tech-House

Much like Cocoon Compilation B, Cocoon Compilation A is a tremendous release, but it doesn't represent what Sven Väth's Cocoon label is ostensibly supposed to be about, which is providing a platform for up-and-coming techno producers and DJs. Instead, we get an all-star lineup of phenomenal techno talents, which includes Marco Carola, Johannes Heil, Oliver Bondzio, Pascal F.E.O.S., Der Dritte Raum, Ricardo Villalobos, and Sven Väth himself. And with names like those appearing on this comp, there's just no way in hell that you're going to get a bad release.

If you're a novice who's looking to maybe try to get into techno, I wouldn't say that this is the best place to start, but the list of names on here definitely serves as a good guidepost, especially for mid-90s to early aughts fare.

Highlights:

Little Computer People - "552000" Johannes Heil - "The Winds" Oliver Bondzio - "Jakpot Allstars" Chris Liebing - "Seveneleven" Pascal F.E.O.S. - "Organic Protection" Toni Rios - "Marsina" Der Dritte Raum - "Ideallinie" Project 69 - "Karma"

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Today’s compilation:

The Second Porn Cut 2001 Techno / Tribal Techno

Favorite tracks:

Marco Bailey - “Twisted Ego” Cristian Varela - “Orgullo Fálico“

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Today’s mix:

I Love Techno 10 by T-Quest 2000 Techno

Listen to the full mix here.

This mix is twenty years and one week old today and it’s a rundown of some of the best techno that came out in the first ten months of the year 2000. “Love Story” by Andrew McLauchlan is an absolute one-hit wonder bop with Brazilian flavor (I’ve posted it before) and the Josh Wink / Lil’ Louis track repackages Lil Louis’ 1989 classic, “French Kiss,” for the new millennium, with Wink doing some superb Winkian stuff. A sampling of the songs that made the floors quake just a little over 20 years ago. Transport yourself back to 2000 with this one.

Highlights:

Dave Clarke - “Compass” Christian Smith - “Mojito (Original Mix)” Josh Wink, Lil’ Louis - “How’s Your Evening So Far” Andrew McLauchlan - “Love Story” R.S.P. - “Hypocrisy” Johannes Heil - “Golden Dawn” John Thomas - “Undisputed Life (Technasia Remix 2)” Clemens Neufeld - “1001″

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Today’s compilation:

Subterrain 100% Unreleased (Disc 1) by Mr. C 2000 Techno / Tech House

12-inch sampler of Mr. C’s 100% Unreleased mix. All the tracks appear to have been made exclusively for the mix, but their accompanying 12-inch samplers consist of full-length tracks instead. Good stuff.

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Rino Cerrone - “Rilis” Relentless Beats Vol. 1 by Misstress Barbara 2001 Techno

***Song starts at 46:38 and ends at 49:13***

Italy’s Rino Cerrone has consistently been one of the country’s top techno artists over the past two decades. A native of Naples, Cerrone has produced a prolific amount of techno, distributing his work among a variety of labels, including his own, Rilis. Originally an accomplished motorcycle racer at a young age, Cerrone found his next passion in music. Starting with punk and other types of rock, he would eventually gravitate towards the vast expanse of electronic music, and decided to try his hand at producing techno.

In ‘97, Cerrone made his debut in a trio called QMen and by ‘99 he was producing on his own. In 2000, he and his friend co-founded Rilis (pronounced “release”) and the next year, he released a whopping 14 records. One of them is titles Rilis 05 and its first track was included on a fantastic mix by fellow countrywoman Misstress Barbara.

With this untitled groove (nearly every song on Rilis is untilted, which lends to the dominant techno theme of anonymity), Cerrone brilliantly creates a track that’s simultaneously dystopian and tribal. Laid over top is a chirping, warped, metallic stabbing melody that signifies a dystopian environment and lying underneath is a tribal drumbeat. Revving bass pulses also undergird the song and when Cerrone drops in scratchy, pounding kick drums and open hats, this song becomes quite a top-notch techno floor stomper.

A superb piece of early 2000s Italian techno.