from Hacker News

The Strange Devirtualization of Techno

by haywirez on 5/8/23, 8:22 PM with 21 comments

  • by sublinear on 5/9/23, 10:56 PM

    > As influencers and haute couture have firmly established in years prior, the Internet made it trivially easy to data-mine subcultures. By re-enacting their idiosyncrasies in shallow-yet-sufficient detail, they expand and reconfigure them, diluting their special meaning, washing away surrounding ecosystems.

    For those who didn't or aren't going to read it, this is the point.

  • by caseyohara on 5/9/23, 10:50 PM

    I really can't tell what this piece is trying to say.

    > The earliest producers of this music dreamt of “arranging energy”, of being conduits for the anti-social/inhuman, to “combat the mediocre audio and visual programming being fed to the inhabitants of Earth”. Gone are all the elements with clever blocks of alien dissonance, driving paranoia or ecstatic release. None of the tracks is pulled forward by second order rhythms of swinging, high-octane percussion that make them groove.

    This makes no sense to me. Techno is broader, deeper, and weirder than it's ever been. I think the author is just going to the wrong clubs and listening to the wrong producers.

  • by egypturnash on 5/9/23, 11:12 PM

    The last few paragraphs sure are making some broad conclusions about the overall health of the entire world's rave scene based on going to one mediocre rave put on by a Brand. Especially given that he opens this loose collection of impressions by admitting that he came to the party dressed in his office gear, bring some fuckin' energy into the party if you're gonna bitch about how the kids are doing it wrong, dude.

  • by magnusmundus on 5/9/23, 11:30 PM

    Ah, the evergreen "Berlin was so cool before everyone else arrived" drivel. Told in context of a party organized by a company capitalizing on said cool, based on a party where you arrive "slightly before midnight (...) with pre-purchased tickets"... see me swing from big meh to lololol

  • by wwalexander on 5/9/23, 11:55 PM

    So someone decided to pretend to be completely naïve to the scene and it led them to a mainstream, paid party full of tourists? Color me surprised! There’s still plenty of thriving techno scenes if you know where to look.

  • by chis on 5/10/23, 12:46 AM

    This honestly makes the raves sound kinda fun. I appreciate the author is self aware enough to realize they’re writing a cheesy “things were cooler X years ago” and nod to the fact that everyone is imitating someone, nothing is that original.

    I’m sure things were cooler before, old man.

  • by ianpenney on 5/10/23, 5:19 AM

    Freetekno was a movement in Canada where people exploited crown land laws and went to the middle of nowhere to rave in peace. They used early satellite maps and reconnaissance. It’s dead. Wish I had participated.

  • by morkalork on 5/10/23, 12:01 AM

    This is funny because I've been saying that Berlin is where DJs go to die. Every young up and coming local DJ that travels to Berlin to do a "residency" ends up coming back sounding the same.

  • by ianpenney on 5/10/23, 1:58 AM

    I’m having trouble explaining why many commenters are missing the point about this guys little diatribe, but I’m going to try because I like this community.

    The 10 dollar words in his work don’t impress me much, but there’s something of substance here. It’s gonzo and authentic. I like it.

    I don’t live in Berlin, never have, probably never will… but I’ve visited. And I was fortunate enough to visit Berghain, Ohm, Katerblau, Tausend and the Fuck Parade. All the “cool” spots in a very short set of trips over some years. I also framed my outings in my mind as “research”, with a cheeky grin. So there’s my pedigree that aligns with the motif of a neophyte Berlin experience.

    Some of these scenes are inclusive in the LBGTQ, racial, and identity sense, but exclusive in the attitude / personality sense. It’s not what you’re born with. It’s what you do with it. What a weird paradox. Inclusively exclusive.

    So, look, some of you reading this don’t want to go to things like this and take drugs (you don’t have to) and let loose. Some of you do. Some of you would be welcome and you’d “get it”. And some of you wouldn’t. And Sven Marqhardt [https://www.gq.com/story/berghain-bouncer-sven-marquardt-int...] isn’t psychic but he’s good at his job. (He pretended to try to tick me off by telling me cigarettes aren’t allowed when I knew they sold them upstairs.)

    And all that’s ok. The most striking part of Berlin’s music and party culture to me is the comfort with being bluntly but fairly critical. Of eachother, of music, of clothing and fashion… in order to create a time and a place for something we don’t even know what it is yet. That something has been created and then appropriated over and over again. They didn’t invite everyone to these parties for a reason, but due to the internet and their success? Here’s everyone! And there was I. But I tried my best to contribute positive vibes and make real human connections and memories. Not to just promote consumption and capitalism and some shitty clothing from SHEIN.

    The author was on a mission to journal the truth. They did a good job. What positive message one could take away from this is to be comfortable in yourself and what you like and remember that art of surfeit has hunger, and such is a fun way to while away your time before you die.

  • by dist-epoch on 5/9/23, 10:40 PM

    This seems to be a rant against "them TikTok kids" and "tehno appropriation and commercialization", yet I'm not really sure. What is author complaining about?

  • by djohnston on 5/10/23, 7:55 PM

    Meta question: Why is this flagged?