NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
From Industrial to Techno:
he Secret History of Pacific Northwest Techno
I imagined it all... secret underground cults of Pacific
Northwest techno DJs, worshipping Detroit in dark
warehouses far from the grind of the househeads...
and then I was snapped out of the dream.
This article is a creative trainwreck. Jeff Mills thrash-
ing three decks of words at 150bpm... My original
mission was to find that link between Vancouver's
revered industrial scene of the '80s and today's
explosion of techno, electro and experimental pro-
ducers in the Pacific Northwest who openly proclaim
their debt to Detroit's Afro-Futurist techno and
Germany's minimal dub explorations. The mission
was personal. As a techno DJ of many years in
Vancouver, I wanted to discover who laid the
groundwork for the subsequent techno enterprises.
Any trainspotter will notice cracks in the vinyl, and
also my own personal involvement with this scene.
This article thus remains subjective and Gonzo. Drop
the needle... the following mix only sketches out the
sonography. Memory tracks remain white labels in
the grooves of history...
Outside the House
Vancouver is primarily known for its house scene
through the Nordic Trax label, and probably the
most recognized DJ from Vancouver is Tyler "T-
Bone" Stadius. Tyler moved to Vancouver in the
early '80s, DJing funk, acid house, soul, reggae and
a "spot of techno." I asked him if there were links
between Vancouver's industrial scene — cEvin Key,
Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy, Phil Western —
and the early rave scene: "No, not at all," says Tyler.
"I'd really only heard of them. In the early days I'd
play a Ministry or Front 242 track but it was never my
first love." Maybe not for Tyler — but for anyone
else? People that have been forgotten, perhaps?
The answer was grim: "No clue."
6 Minty™ Magazine!
by tobias c. van Veen
Re-mixing the strategy and not to be dismayed, I
turned to CiTR's DJ Noah. Tyler remembers him well
as a DJ who "played more techno than most." I used
to tune into Noah's Homebass show on Friday
nights — which is still running — and it influenced
me for years. As Tyler says, "Noah played what
would later become known as 'Rave Classics'." But
like me, it was the style of Noah's DJing that was
most impressive. "The quality I admire most about
Noah's DJing," says Tyler, "is the fact that he can be
unpredictable — an attitude or style sometimes
associated with 'Techno' DJing." Indeed. Anyone
who has heard Donald Glaude throwing down tech-
no records can attest... it's not only the music, it's
the attitude toward the records, an unmistakable
grasp of the mixer and the EQ in a vicious speed
that combines the hip hop tricks of turntablism with
the beatmatch skills of a house DJ, ending up some-
where in uncharted turntable territory — a sonogra-
phy of skills akin to Toronto's Jeff Milligan, a.k.a.
Algorithm.
Which is where I had to jump — back East. With,
unfortunately, no response from Noah at press time,
I turned to one of Canada's most infamous techno
DJs, Algorithm, who was influenced by Vancouver's
industrial scene. He explains it like this:
"In Toronto, there were two types of people: the
ones who listened to ‘80s alternative music then lis-
tened to 'alternatechno' (Underworld, Orb etc.), and
the ones who listened to ‘80s alternative music, and
then listened to house and techno. I was kind of in
between both, but just like everyone else, I was lis-
tening to New Order first."
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
Industrial Isolation Trackin' Techno
The path to fame in Vancouver is weird, but normal It was in the same mid-‘90s era that Vancouver's
for the recognition of a sound. The industrial scene techno underground was forming. In Victoria, artists
had the most influence outside its coastal home... who are recognized today on Spencer's itiswhatitis
but this boomerang returned, for Algorithm and label were DJing and collecting gear and setting
other debtors to the industrial world, such as Richie forth their first productions — Matt Johnson, Tyger
Hawtin, had a longstanding influence on the gener- Dhula, Cobblestone Jazz and Colin the Mole.
ation of DJs that came after Tyler Stadius. But this Vancouver witnessed the appearance of Loscil, Ben
was evidently still a few years to come and on the Nevile, Kerry Uchida and Steb Sly. A primary force at
fringe of Vancouver's music history. this time was ex-house DJ Jess, whose Broken
Record Chamber experimental side project and Q
funk band provided a creative drive for further
In the mid-‘90s, DJs such as Micronian and Chris explorations beyond Vancouver's predominant
Schmidt in Vancouver mixed industrial, trance, and house sound.
techno. Artist Olo J. Milkman remembers the defi-
nite isolation of the "Freak Scene" in the days of the
goth/industrial club Twilight Zone: "The music was None of this would have been possible without a
electronic but not what we know as techno now, it dedicated and supportive framework of DJs and
was more like what became trance without the conceptual event curators that thrived in the mid-to-
builds, and again there was no beat matching, so late '90s and into the millennium for this music. In
the whole point of how the music is supposed to be Seattle, Dj Brahman's gr0k studios events, the
assembled was lost on the freaks." launch of Randy Jones' ORAC records, the success
of Jacob London, the madness of eriK's eventual
Phoenix Festival and the influence of producers such
Around the same time, the splintering of the '80s
as Ben Sims, Solenoid, Mike Perkowitz, Masa's 1200
industrial scene filtered into the domain of electron-
ic music, namely through the various admixtures of
the "Skinny Puppy scene" in Vancouver: cEvin Key,
Bill Leeb, Phil Western (Philth), Mark Spybey, Dan
Handrabur, Dave Ogilvie and a handful of others
that brought the world Frontline Assembly,
Download, DVOA, Noise Unit, Off and Gone,
platEAU, Floatpoint, Vuemorph, Outer
Sanctum... Yet it wasn't until 1994 that
ravers took serious notice. Nettwerk
records — in one of the few moments
of glory before a long fall into com-
mercialization — released a side
project by Bill Leeb and Rhys
Fulber. This was Delirium's first
album, Semantic Spaces.
Despite an Enigma-take on
world beat, the album remains
a chill-out favorite from the era.
And in 1996, Robert Shea
launched Map Music, going on
to release Phil Western's cross-
over album, The Escapist, in
1998. Shea was Harthouse
North America acid-techno
label rep and an early Vancouver
rave DJ alongside DJ Noah, and
probably represents one of the
strongest links between the indus-
trial and early techno scenes in
Vancouver.
NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
label, Joe "Mojo" Martin, Kris Markle and Matt
Corwine cemented a scene that is propelled today
by events thrown by Aron Schoppert et al. In
Vancouver, various techno collectives often operat-
ed in collaboration with Seattle and Portland crews,
including Beau Burke and Renegade Rhythms in
Portland. Vancouver's <ST> collective worked with
gr0k studios and supported the Notes from the
Underground events as well as a string of parties by
John Hawkey that brought Kenny Glasgow,
Algorithm and Adam Marshall. The energy was
maintained by connections between Vancouver's B-
Side, TeamLounge, HQ Communications and <ST>
with a West coast network of musikal tribes, from the
JoyScouts in Oregon to Cloudfactory in SF. Dave
Baphomet's Together 604 Network also actively
strove to bring together electronic genres in several
experimental events, culminating in his successful
introduction of Perlon records to Victoria at the now-
defunct Neptune nightclub. Yet it was not until 1998
with the launch of technoWest.org as an extension
of Toronto's techno.ca that SF's techno scene —
Sutekh, Context Records, the infamous Static night
— and Vancouver's were brought together through
an encounter with SF's DJ Forrest Green. Then,
bam... Y2K... Next thing you know, Vancouver has its
own techno-heavy Boomtown records, Kris Palesch
hooks up with UK electro-minimal househeads
Swayzak, Vernon and Tyler Stadius launch their tech-
house night at the Lotus, a slew of tech-house labels
sprung out of Vancouver, and Konrad Black turns
from jungle and the defunct HQ Communications
collective to put out a wildly successful single under
the moniker of "Headgear."
From here, the rest is history. At the end of the '90s,
CiTR's Brady Cranfield — who had been creating
experimental music as "LoveSucks" and Industry &
Agriculture with Joseph Monteyne — launched the
Open Circuits music festival. This opened channels
8 Minty™ Magazine!
with the Vancouver New Music Society by hosting
Oval at The Western Front artist gallery. In 2001, the
Refrains conference collaborated with Open Circuits
with a performance by Kim Cascone, leading to a
series of events at the Video-In featuring some of
the best of Canada and the West Coast's techno
scene: Tomas Jirku, Safety Scissors, Sutekh, Jetone
and with the New Forms Festival, Mitchell Akiyama,
Joshua Kit Clayton and Sue Costabile. Moreover,
many of Vancouver's local artists have gone on to
fame and fortune. Ben Nevile played Mutek 2002 in
Montreal, and Loscil toured with Stars of the Lid
through Europe. And did you know Tim Hecker,
a.k.a. Jetone, is from Vancouver? Seattle continues
to sprout labels and artists... and the region is fertile.
Which brings us practically to today, and
to the end of these words that have
skipped records, forgotten names and barely even
cracked the dusty crate of the
Pacific Northwest's notable and vibrant techno his-
tory.
DISPENSER
DownLow Music
422 East Denny Way
206.322.3333
I have a serious problem. No. Worse. An addiction. It’s
just that … I can’t stop buying records! Lots and lots of
records! No matter how poor I may find myself, no matter
how hungry I get, some uncontrollable force whisks me
away from my broke-as-hell reality and demands that I
spend my last few dollars on those precious 12" vinyl
platters. Fortunately for myself and other vinyl junkies,
there’s a new supplier of DJ-friendly record goodies in
Seattle.
At the corner of Denny and Olive on Capitol Hill, nestled
comfortably below Supercuts and directly across from the
now-defunct Beats International, DownLow Music may be
easily overlooked by the casual observer. A lighted ban-
ner on the brick building’s façade announces the store "It opened because there was a musical gap in the city
below. Descend the entrance’s ramp and find yourself in once Beats International closed," Ryno states. "I come
a clean, sparsely decorated and – for now – uncluttered from the Bay Area, where there are a ton of quality dance
vinyl sanctuary. At times a bit cold by way of a concrete- shops. That was the main focus, to try to bring a little of
enveloped basement, DownLow’s record mavens are any- that energy here for the people to absorb. The goal is to
thing but. provide all with a selection of quality tracks along with
some knowledgeable service."
Open since January, DownLow is the brainchild of local
DJ/Producers Jon Lee (www.tiltedrecords.com) and DJ Ryno concedes that business has been "slow" so far.
Ryno (www.djryno.com). Along with Wesley Holmes, Nonetheless, he believes that "with more support from
they’ve created an unpretentious, friendly environment the people like the DJs, dancers, ladies, clubbers and the
that welcomes aficionados and novices alike. kids, [DownLow] should be alright."
At first, the size of DownLow’s catalog may not seem that Find enough people with addictions as bad as my own (I
impressive. House music, in its many variations from deep hide my record purchases from my girlfriend now!) and —
to progressive, is the store’s prime focus. Yet, other cate- yes! — DownLow Music should be doing just fine.
gories include techno, breakbeat, hip hop, downtempo
and a minute section of drum ‘n’ bass. Upon listening to
PS: You guys still have that stack of records on hold for
a few records, though, it becomes obvious that the expe-
me?
rience Jon, Ryno and Wesley bring to the store bears its
fruits with one of the finest record selections around.
Indeed, each visit I’ve made has resulted in a drastic emp- - Jeromy Nail
tying of the wallet.