Live Techno

My crazy Russian buddy David M dragged me out to a live techno event tonight. I enjoy music like everyone else, and every once in awhile some music moves me to flight, other times it's just nice and enjoyable. I haven't been out to bars/clubs in a long while. I'm at the age where dinners with friends and intimate gatherings is more preferred. But I did enjoy the event tonight.

David M brought several friends with him, and I'm horrible with names and can only remember Nate and his girlfriend (gosh, can't remember) and another girl. They picked me up and when I got into the car, I liked them instantly. They were younger, but had a great sense of humor, very witty and it was easy to have conversations with them. We went to one of the first live Techno event in SF (so I'm told). I'm not an expert at all in the differences between all the electronical music genres, but there seemed to be quite an A list of dj's there who are passionate about techno including David M. www.KONTROLsf.com/

Event: [KONTROL] presents Bruchstuecke Records (Zurich, Switzerland) Style: LIVE PA, minimal techno and avant-house Location: Rx Gallery / 132 Eddy St, San Francisco.

I'm not much of a dancer either unless the music really moves me - but I do enjoy listening to trance and techno. The music was very good at some parts, particularly 10 minutes before the event ended. But the energy of the crowd and the venue was fantastic. I'm also not the easiest person to break the ice with, but I met several people who were so excited about the music, they needed to talk about it. One guy is a distributor and opened his company called Iris, another dj named Arrain Wheeler traveled all over the world to dj - he just returned from New Zealand, had traveled all through S. America etc. to play. He told me this is the first time he's heard good techno and live techno in SF and he was super excited. He even tried to explain to me the difference between good techno and house. When he dj's he uses 3 turntables, each one with a separate beat and merges it together to create music that flowed. I guess an analogy would be having three different instruments creating melody and harmony. He says with really good techno, if you try to listen to the seprate beats, you won't like the music, but if you stop listening to the beats individually and try to listen to all three as one beat/rhythm then you can understand the music. It's interesting, and I'm interesting in getting a better understanding. So I got his email and can't wait to get one of his cd's. Sapna will be so jealous, she's been looking to find such people to hang out with.

The energy there was fantastic because people were there to hear the music. They wanted to share in it, it didn't feel like a meat market. Everyone talked to you. Unlike psytrance parties where everyone is so high and in their own heads, no one is talking. This event was more participatory and sharing and talking - so in that sense, I really enjoyed it. It's truly unbelievable how music can affect people.