How to start listening and appreciating

Discovering Music: A Journey Through House and Techno

I mentioned in the previous chapters of the course that the first time I discovered house and techno, it was difficult to actually find the records. There was one record store called Bonusbeat where they had all the imports. As a young kid, I was really impressed to step in and say,

"I don't know anything about it, but I love this music. Where should I start?"

It's funny because I don't know what you think about it, Medic, but I feel that this sort of fear, maybe a big word, still exists for the younger ones.

Where to Start?

Where do you start, especially now that house and techno have been around for 30 years? I'm not even mentioning classic jazz, soul, and funk records. I'm also thinking about house, 30 years later, where do you start?

It's a tough one. A lot of young kids (I call them kids; I'm old now) come in, shy and wanting to act like they know, but they obviously don't. They're not ready to ask for advice or engage in conversation, which is cool. That's the point of a record shop.

• Don't act like you know everything.
• It's okay to not know.
• We all started somewhere.

Even more than that, I can tell you that even 30 years later, I still learn things all the time. I discover new records that I had no idea existed every single day.

"That's the whole point of it, it keeps us excited."

The Pleasures of Collecting

There's another conversation I had with a friend who also owns a record shop. He has a theory about collecting and diving deeply into something, as we do with music and records.

If you collect, but then at some point you feel like you've done everything and covered everything, first, that's not going to be true. But if you arrive at that point, suddenly your entire collection feels worthless because you think you've finished the thing.

• The pleasure of collecting is continuous.
• Understanding music and digging deeper is a long-term journey.

You're never going to see the end of it, so accept it. That's the game, and that's the fun!

New Trends and Perspectives

In addition, I see a lot of younger music fans who are getting into styles that I personally am not into. For instance, today there is a trend in what kids call electro, specifically, Detroit electro, but of today. They like a very specific version of this sound, such as some of the British mid-90s electro bleep sounds.

We never thought of those specifications when we came across those records in the past. We just said, "Okay, cool. This record has more of a breakbeat, and this record has more electro flavor."

"But those kids have very precise specifications."

They're not only enjoying new music in this style; they are also reissuing all the records that have become their classics. For us, at least for me, it can sometimes be a little confusing because we wanted to be part of this music back in the day.

Crafting Their Own Sound

I understand that the younger generation needs to create its own style from what already exists. For example, someone might say,

"I like Deep House, but I like it more reduced."

They'll invent their own version of it, like the Microsoft or the Romanian sound, or whatever it's called. I get it, and it's cool! It's their thing.

However, I find it interesting that some people dig back into the past, select a few records that correspond to today's criteria, and build their own classics.

For us old-schoolers, we might think,

"If you don't know all the Armando records, you don't know anything about Chicago."

Looking back, I realize that a record which has been in my collection for 30 years might be perceived as an "okay, bleepy" record to me, but to the younger generation, it's their big classic.

A Different Perspective

This makes me go back and listen again to those records, as we discussed, trying to understand them from a different angle.

"In a good way, it's like rewriting history."

It's not a bad thing in music; it's, as we said, a different perspective, influenced by their background and their take on music. To judge a record, you can only compare it based on what you know, your own experiences.

And naturally, this will differ drastically from one person to another. This is how we rewrite history. Suddenly, a record that was just whatever at the time can become huge because it resonates with the kids in a way it never did for us back in the day.

"And that's the beauty of music."