I used to rave, back before EDM was called EDM. In fact, in those days, the beeps and boops we ate acid to and danced until dehydrated were simply called “techno”. Oh, I’m sure the DJs in the know were aware of the various distinctions between the subgenres in electronica, but most of us on the dancefloor didn’t even know where to buy an album of the stuff, let alone positively identify it in a record store’s lineup.
I got into 808 State in ’93 with Gorgeous. Tracks like 10x10, Timebomb, Sexy Dancer, and Sexy Synthesizer were all mainstays on my mixtapes. I’d never heard Ninety before today, though versions of the track Pacific 202 have lived on my master playlist for decades.
I’ll put Transmission Suite on the to-listen list, though I am reminded of how I moved away from lyrical techno in the mid-90s, preferring melodic work mostly because the words were triggering panic attacks and flashbacks, an unfortunate side effect of years of drug abuse. It rarely—if ever—happens these days, but the adult me, a lifetime removed from sweating to death in dim warehouses, just finds crooning over breakbeats somewhat... annoying.
2025.02.22