The Flying Game

Last week, I unearthed a long-forgotten copy of the compilation ‘Frankfurt Trax Volume 2: The House of Techno’. Released in 1991, it features contributions from and explorations into early European techno/hardcore from long forgotten acts like Mescalinum United, T-Bone Castro and some guy simply known as ‘Vaeth’. The album has stood the test of time and in some cases, eg The Mover’s ‘Nightflight (Nonstop to Kaos)’, predated styles like electro house by a decade, while tracks from Alien Christ and Project AE hint at the ‘illbient’ scene that subsequently emerged in the 90s. Listening to it was a reminder of less cynical times, when it was possible for producers to go out on a limb creatively and blur styles - witness the proto techno-trance of Dag Tribe’s ‘No Compromise (Airport 5am – 11.59am mix)’. The title of this track got me thinking not just about the music: the early 90s also marked the first time that DJs started to travel to different countries to perform, and in Frankfurt this had a particular resonance because the Dorian Gray club, where Vaeth, Dag etc played, was housed in the airport. This was the period that techno music and travelling started to become symbiotic, and the Dorian Gray used to attract visitors like the fashion designer Daniel Poole, who would catch an early morning flight from London with his entourage to arrive at the club just as it was really kicking off. Since then, DJs have travelled more and more frequently to far-flung locations, helping, in tandem with the rise of popularity of the internet, to make electronic music a truly global sound. The advent of low-fare airlines in the mid to late 90s has also made it possible for clubbers to go for one night to their favourite clubbing destination -  it would be interesting to see how many people who travel to Berlin to party for the weekend book a hotel room: not many I’d guess. However, at some stage, probably in the next few years, this phenomenon will decrease. The rising price of oil has made commercial flying much more expensive, and eventually it will become prohibitively expensive for the average city hopper to fly, and at some stage after that, too much for the club promoter to afford. What will happen next? For those based on the continent, the scenario isn’t that bleak: they’ll have to travel by train for the most part  (my favourite method of transport, especially through Europe), but gigging or visiting other continents will prove problematic. Maybe it’ll lead to a greater focus on local producers and DJs and less of an obsession with sounding like everyone else - something that ‘Frankfurt Trax Volume 2’ achieved all those years ago…

 

 

Comments

[Kenny]

While it is always nice to have quality acts and djs visit yer local town, being more sparse with these touring acts could mean a good focus on more local talent. When you pour in guest after guest it can then become difficult for nights to attract crowds to nights with locals who many a time can supply better music. Two things with this is that a) a venue can get on your ass over not packing out every week - a nightmare situation - b) some nights get caught up with the guest buzz, and you find them flying over guests just cause they have a few hot tracks out, yet can't dj for shite, or have a dull as dishwater live set, but are a name. People will still get attracted by the international, and then they go and ignore whats on their doorstep. everyone loses out. they pay more for an average nights music (as do the promoter), and then ignore what could be an infinitely better night with local acts.

A lot of people griped with the bodytonic line-up for the upcoming EP, going on about all the local acts "i can see them any weekend in dublin" yet many rarely bother, and just want big names. Like someone such as Kevin Saunderson. Chances are he'd attract a bigger crowd than a local night, yet has anyone heard a set by him recently? its fucking AWFUL. People have been going on about how dull richie hawtin has gotten (welcome to 4yrs ago) but people are willing to go purely on his name, or even though they know that recently he's more worried with looking keewwl behind the decks, they'll "give him another chance, cause he can be great". How bout giving someone else just one fucking chance instead.

[Kenny]

I don't know if a focus on whats happening local would mean that the music could follow suit in the manner you say re:the frankfurt comp, as music from all over the world is available at the touch of a button. We may become physically more isolated from scenes, but the internet means that all the music going on everywhere else will still be very prevelent. I think the time of the purely homegrown situation that arose in cities like Frankfurt, Chicago etc is gone. The whole thing is just too global now.

[tom/pipecock]

i think anything that can put a bigger premium on local talent is a winner. the more i look at it, i keep seeing an inverse relationship to how connected the world is and how diverse sounding the music and deejaying styles are. it seems to me that the most interesting things out there are a result of local taste and quirks, even when they include shit from all over the world.

[Brophy]

@ Kenny: I find this reliance or obsession with big names really unhealthy, but it’s a vicious circle. People don’t show up if there are only local names on, so promoters have to book international acts. Then people moan about how local people don’t get the breaks and that they are sick of international acts and that there is no indigenous scene! Maybe if punters turned up for the local acts we all wouldn’t be so reliant on the international guests

@ Kenny / Tom: I think that the fact that we have so much more music/information at our fingertips makes it possible to assimilate it and then interpret it differently to other localized scenes. So the more information there is, the more opportunity it poses for scenes/places to do their own take on that raw material. I agree about the Frankfurt/Chicago thing though - places can no longer exist or be creative in isolation…